News

Tahj Rankine, a member of the GoodFellas criminal street gang, was sentenced to ten years in prison for his participation in a February 2021 drive-by shooting that injured an innocent bystander. 

Two former U.S. Postal Service mail carriers, a former Alpharetta assistant bank manager, and a convicted felon face federal charges after participating in a scheme to steal valuable items from the mail, including a $4.9 million U.S. Treasury check.

Servando Corona Penaloza, who is a Mexican illegal alien and Georgia state prison inmate, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for orchestrating the sale of more than 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and fentanyl and the purchase of over 200 military-style firearms that were transported to Mexico for use by Mexican cartels. Fourteen other members of Corona Penaloza’s organization have been convicted and sentenced, with two defendants awaiting sentencing in the coming months.    

A former Atlanta Hawks accounting executive, Lester T. Jones, Jr., has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison for embezzling approximately $3.7 million from the NBA team through fraudulent expense reimbursement requests and misuse of corporate credit cards.

Luther Davis and CJ Evins pleaded guilty today to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges after they tricked lenders into providing nearly $20 million in loans by pretending to represent professional athletes. As part of their scheme, the pair posed as managers of the athletes and wore disguises to impersonate the athletes. 

Maximo Fitzhugh has been sentenced to 10 and a half years in federal prison for a pair of violent crimes, one of which resulted in a gun battle in the Buckhead district of Atlanta. 

Jorge Martinez-Arellano, a/k/a Jorge DeLeon Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico with a lengthy criminal history, faces federal charges after Rabun County deputies found a firearm and approximately 300 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop.

Monica Dominguez Torres has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading a transnational criminal organization that operated methamphetamine conversion laboratories in the Atlanta area and laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds to Mexico.

Edwin Brant Frost IV, former president of the now-defunct, Newnan, Georgia-based First Liberty Building & Loan LLC (“First Liberty”), was arraigned today on a federal charge of wire fraud for orchestrating a massive, multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.   

Jarvis Matthews has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for his role in leading a multi-million-dollar drug trafficking and money laundering operation from the confines of Calhoun State Prison. After a trial in October 2025, a federal jury found Matthews guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl, five counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and money laundering conspiracy. When he committed his federal crimes, Matthews was already serving sentences of life with possible parole for murder and felony

Multi-convicted fraudster Jonathan Dupiton has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for using stolen identities to obtain millions of dollars in unemployment insurance benefits.

Edgar Zamarron-Cobos, an illegal alien from Mexico, faces federal charges after law enforcement seized over 130 pounds of methamphetamine from his vehicle.  Zamarron-Cobos was arrested after he fled from troopers and crashed into innocent motorists at a DeKalb County intersection.