News

A Chicago man made his initial appearance in federal court after allegedly attempting to open an emergency exit door and the flight deck door during a commercial flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chicago, Illinois, forcing the aircraft to divert to Miami.

Three South Florida men were sentenced to prison for their participation in a scheme to defraud Medicare and launder more than $2.2 million in illicit health care fraud proceeds.

Francisco Javier Ravelo, of Coral Gables, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and three years of supervised release, during which he is not permitted to have any unsupervised contact with animals. Ravelo was sentenced in connection with his involvement with online groups dedicated to distributing videos depicting acts of extreme violence and sexual abuse against monkeys in violation of the federal Animal Crushing statute.

A grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging a Fort Lauderdale man with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after allegedly firing at a police K-9 during a pursuit in Fort Lauderdale.

The owner of a company that produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced today to serve 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuel credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.

The owner of a company that produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuel credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.