Potential victims encouraged to contact (302) 577-5293 or ReportAbuse@delaware.gov   Tyrone Clark, 64, has been sentenced to a total of 125 years for the rape and abuse of a 12-year-old child in his care.  “No crime is more offensive, more heinous, and more dangerous than the sexual abuse of a child,” said Attorney General Jennings. “I’m grateful to […]

The Investor Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice is encouraging anyone who invested with precious metals dealers Metals.com, Tower Equity, Chase Metals, or Barrick Capital to learn more about whether they may have been defrauded and the process for potentially recovering some of their losses. In September, the Investor Protection Unit joined the […]

Attorney General Jennings announced Monday a settlement with Boston Scientific Corporation (Boston), a medical device manufacturer, to resolve allegations of deceptive marketing of its transvaginal surgical mesh devices for patients. The multistate settlement follows a 2019 settlement with Johnson & Johnson, Ethicon, Inc. and a 2020 settlement with C.R. Bard, Inc. for similar conduct. Surgical […]

A New Castle woman has pleaded guilty to Murder by Abuse First Degree, 6 counts of Child Abuse First Degree, and 2 counts of Child Abuse Second Degree. Following an extensive investigation by the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit and the Delaware Department of Justice, a grand jury indicted Dejoynay Ferguson in July for the repeated […]

DOJ has indicted nine public officials in Jennings’ term Attorney General Kathy Jennings and the DOJ’s Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust (DCRPT) announced Tuesday the indictments of two public officials, William Freeborn and Rebecca Walker. “We cannot and will not tolerate violations of the public trust,” said Attorney General Jennings. “We fought hard to […]

Legislation passed by the State Senate on Tuesday is one step away from ensuring Delawareans are protected from unfair business practices by a statute as protective as the law in nearly every other state. House Bill 91, sponsored by Rep. David Bentz, D-Newark, and Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, amends Delaware’s Consumer Fraud Act to explicitly add unfair practices to the list of prohibited practices. […]

The First State is one giant step closer to being a national leader on transparency.  I’m thrilled that more than a year’s worth of hard work and dedication now means that a statewide body camera program heads to the Governor’s desk. This will mean stronger community relationships, trust, and accountability. This legislation makes Delaware a […]

A Superior Court has sentenced a New Castle woman to life in prison for the repeated abuse and murder of a child, and the abuse of four other children in her care at a daycare facility where she was employed. Dejoynay Ferguson pleaded guilty in April to Murder by Abuse First Degree, 6 counts of […]

Today Delaware is ready to fix one of America’s weakest use-of-force laws, period. This issue has come up again and again throughout our state’s debate on police reform. The need for reform is overwhelming: not only the Department of Justice, but police reform advocates and the police themselves all recognize the need to better align […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Tuesday that a Pennsylvania man has been formally charged with 41 felonies, including the murders of two people and the attempted murder, assaults, and/or robbery of four other victims, among other offenses. Prosecutors allege that Keith Gibson, 39, went on a brutal crime spree in Delaware, killing two victims and […]

Jennings held out from a prior deal that would have been $4 billion less Attorney General Jennings announced a historic $26 billion settlement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors and one of its largest opioid manufacturers, which will help bring desperately needed relief to those struggling with opioid addiction. The agreement resolves investigations and […]

Prosecutors have secured the conviction of a Newport man in 2018 double murder committed near Prices Corner. Glenford Blackwood was found guilty of two counts of Murder First Degree after prosecutors showed that he had murdered Doris Dorsey, 15, and Vincent DiMenco, 36. Blackwood was also found guilty on two charges of Attempted Murder for […]

Ex-officer receives felony conviction, permanently stripped of badge and gun Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Wednesday that the Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust (DCRPT) has convicted a former Dewey Beach police officer for assaulting an innocent, injured person and then lying to the Court to have the victim incarcerated. “Abuse of authority, brutality, and dishonesty […]

Claims include public nuisance, trespass and unjust enrichment Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings filed a lawsuit Wednesday against agrochemical giant Monsanto and two of its corporate spinoffs for long-lasting damage to Delaware’s natural resources. The lawsuit seeks to recover damages and clean-up costs associated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), extremely toxic and persistent chemicals which Monsanto […]

Lengthy DCRPT investigation yields five charges, including felonies Charges include orchestrating State contract with political consultant Indictment alleges McGuiness hired teenage daughter, paid her while enrolled in college   Following an investigation involving dozens of witness interviews, thousands of document reviews, and more than a year of work, Attorney General Kathy Jennings and the DOJ’s […]

More than 1,500 Delaware borrowers to see relief Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Thursday that Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, will provide $1.85 billion in relief to student borrowers under a multistate settlement stemming from allegations of widespread unfair, deceptive, and predatory practices. More than 97% of Delaware’s $5.34 million share […]

Defendant convicted of racist harassment of Governor’s employee The Attorney General’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust (DCRPT) secured a historic guilty verdict in a felony hate crimes case, Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Thursday. A New Castle County jury convicted Defendant Matthew Gregg of Hate Crimes, Harassment, and Terroristic Threatening, for repeatedly verbally […]

Attorney General Kathleen Jennings urges all Delaware residents who believe they were impacted by the data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021 to take appropriate steps to protect their information from identity theft. On August 17,  T-Mobile reported a massive data breach compromising the sensitive personal information of millions of current, former, and prospective […]

Jennings successfully appealed from original deal, more than doubling Delaware’s recovery with up to $25 million extra Institutions may remove Sackler name from buildings, scholarships; Sacklers to be banned from opioid business and Purdue to dissolve Attorney General Jennings announced today a tentative settlement worth as much as $6 billion with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family […]

Defendant facing life in prison for repeatedly raping two juvenile victims, ages 8 and 14 After one week of trial, a Kent County jury convicted a Magnolia man of 77 felony offenses in connection with the serial sexual abuse of two juvenile children. Richard Haines, 59, faces a 462-year minimum mandatory sentence and will be required […]

Defendants face felony charges, including Perjury, for submitting fake documents The DOJ’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust has secured a guilty plea to Perjury, and two indictments on Perjury and Forgery charges, against three Delaware men who submitted forged documents in their applications to the Delaware Board of Pardons. “You can’t begin a second chance with […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Friday that the Department of Justice charged 130 gun offenders and secured more than 245 total years in prison sentences on 18 gun convictions in the month of February.  Since 2019, the DOJ has an 83% conviction rate in Superior Court gun cases. “My first priority is combatting violent crime—particularly gun […]

Prosecutors seek additional victims of Ellendale pastor The Delaware Department of Justice is seeking the public’s assistance in the prosecution of a Sussex County pastor indicted for Unlawful Sexual Contact, and is requesting that any additional victims contact law enforcement. Major Foster, a Lincoln man who at the time was employed as pastor of Ellendale’s […]

The Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust (DCRPT) has secured two convictions against William Freeborn, the former Executive Director of the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank (WNCLB). “If you abuse the public’s trust we will hold you accountable,” said Attorney General Jennings. “The defendant used a position of public confidence to […]

All 50 states reach agreement with Intuit for deceiving low-income Americans into paying for free tax services Attorney General Kathy Jennings today secured over $400,000 for low-income Delawareans from the owner of TurboTax, Intuit Inc. (Intuit), for deceiving Delaware consumers into paying for tax services that should have been free. As a result of a […]

Attorney General Kathleen Jennings announced today that the Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit is investigating tech sales bootcamp Prehired and its CEO, Joshua Jordan. The investigation began in March, after Prehired filed nearly 300 debt-collection lawsuits in the Delaware Justice of the Peace Court seeking to enforce its income share agreements. Prehired started […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings released the following statement today regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: “Just one day after dramatically curtailing states’ rights to regulate guns, the Supreme Court has upended a half-century of legal precedent by permitting states to regulate women’s most basic freedom — control over […]

Delaware is joining a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force of 50 attorneys general to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing a majority of foreign robocalls into the United States.

Public-private-nonprofit initiative will provide free legal advice & information on reproductive health   Joined by reproductive health advocates, Attorney General Jennings announced Wednesday the launch of the Attorney General’s Abortion Legal Helpline, a collaborative initiative led by the Department of Justice with support from nearly a dozen partner law firms, and several nonprofit and advocacy groups including the […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings and fellow attorneys general have reached an agreement in principle with opioid maker Endo International plc and its lenders that would provide up to $450 million to participating states and local governments, ban promotion of Endo’s opioids, and require Endo to turn over documents related to its role in the opioid […]

Attorney General Jennings announced today a $438.5 million agreement in principle between JUUL Labs and 34 states and territories resolving a two-year bipartisan investigation into the e-cigarette manufacturer’s marketing and sales practices. In addition to the financial terms, the settlement would force JUUL to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms severely limiting their marketing and sales practices. […]

Two defendants affiliated with the Wilmington-area gang MGS have been sentenced to a collective 61 years in prison in connection with multiple shootings, including three murders. Both defendants were identified and arrested as a result of a years-long investigation into MGS, a violent gang at the center of nearly 200 criminal charges involving 19 defendants and […]

A Kent County couple has been indicted on 646 charges, including more than 80 felonies, for abusing their two children. Over a period of 20 months, Mary Vinson, 45, and Charles Vinson, 36, are alleged to have abused their children, including making them stand for long periods of time; withholding food; force feeding them; and […]

Attorney General Jennings today announced a multistate settlement with Experian Data Corp (“EDC”) for failing to warn affected consumers after it learned that an identity thief was posing as a private investigator and retrieving sensitive personal information from Court Ventures Inc., a database that EDC had purchased. In 2012, the U.S. Secret Service notified EDC […]

Attorney General Kathleen Jennings announced today that Delaware, along with 39 states, has obtained two multistate settlements with Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (“Experian”) and T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) concerning a 2015 data breach experienced by Experian that compromised the personal information of more than 15 million individuals who submitted credit applications with T-Mobile. Under the […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced that Delaware has reached a settlement with Walmart to resolve allegations that the company contributed to the opioid addiction crisis by failing to appropriately oversee the dispensing of opioids at its stores. The settlement will provide $3.1 billion nationally and will require significant improvements in how Walmart’s pharmacies handle […]

Defendant faces decades in prison Department of Justice prosecutors indicted a man Monday for robbing and brutally assaulting the owner of a Wilmington jewelry store in September 2022.  Calvin Ushery, Jr., 39, is charged with multiple felonies — including Assault 1st Degree — for the attack, which was caught on video. In the video, Ushery pistol-whips the victim […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Friday that the DOJ’s Fraud Division has secured revocations of the corporate charters or certificates of formation of multiple Delaware-registered business entities connected to criminal entities, including a Venezuelan cartel and a federally sanctioned online pharmacy based in Argentina. “Delaware’s central role in the business community is both a privilege and a responsibility,” said […]

Together with prior deals, Delaware now expects to recover a quarter-billion dollars to combat opioid crisis Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced that she has finalized settlement agreements with CVS and Walgreens, bringing the national amount from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis to more than $50 billion. Delaware’s […]

DOJ, DSP seeking additional victims   A former Seaford High School employee faces six felony child sexual abuse charges under an indictment returned by a Sussex County jury, Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Tuesday. Jerry Sodano, 52, of Bridgeville was charged Monday following an investigation into allegations of an illegal sexual relationship with a student at […]

Delaware’s bans on assault weapons, large capacity mags remain in effect  A federal judge hearing a right-wing challenge against two common-sense gun safety measures in Delaware has ruled against the gun lobby on a critical question in Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, Inc. et al. v. Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security et al.  In an […]

Defendant faces multiple felonies after stealing drug evidence  The Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights & Public Trust has indicted a Millsboro police sergeant and evidence custodian after an investigation revealed that he tampered with and used drugs stored in the Department’s evidence locker.   Matthew Dufour, 34, faces ten charges—including multiple felonies such […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings today sued Avid Telecom for allegedly initiating and facilitating billions of illegal robocalls. Avid Telecom sent or transmitted more than 7.5 billion calls to telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and made 27 million calls to Delawareans.  “We often think of illegal robocalls as a nuisance, but they […]

Prosecutors have secured indictments against four defendants charged with multiple carjackings, along with kidnapping, rape, and theft.   On June 5, the Department of Justice secured indictments against Defendants Tonnaire McNair-Matthews, 24, of Wilmington; David Hinson, 21, of Bear; Mahkiya Powell, 20, of Wilmington; and Michael Caldwell, 21, of Wilmington. The charges stem from an April, […]

Two Delaware women have been sentenced to probation and suspended prison time for tax-related crimes after falsely claiming thousands of dollars in itemized deductions on their tax returns and submitting falsified documents during their respective audits. The cases represent the first prosecutions brought under the new initiative between the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance targeting state tax fraud “These convictions are the result of great work by our prosecutors and our […]

                Attorney General Kathy Jennings joined a group of 15 state attorneys general calling on Target to support inclusivity and to reject anti-LGBTQ+ hate, intimidation and discrimination.                The letter, sent to national retail chain Target during Pride Month, comes in response to Target’s recent decision to remove certain Pride-related merchandise from its stores and […]

Gun dealer under investigation for lax prevention of shoplifted ammo Attorney General Kathy Jennings, through her Office of Impact Litigation, has asked the Superior Court to enforce a subpoena against Cabela’s, Inc. (“Cabela’s”) seeking answers about a half-million rounds of ammunition that were shoplifted from its Christiana location.  After more than three months, Cabela’s has […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings released the following statement Friday in response to the House, Senate, and Governor’s commitment to pass Senate Bill 2, legislation creating a permit to purchase handguns, when the legislature reconvenes in January: “Hard things are hard; this is no exception. All of us — not only me, but the sponsors and […]

A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for violent assault and robbery. On August 25, 2023, Zykeem Fields, 23, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by probation, by a Superior Court judge. Fields, who lived part-time in Wilmington, pleaded guilty to felony charges of Assault 1st Degree and Robbery 1st Degree following a brutal attack in 2022.   On September 28, 2022, Fields followed […]

A federal judge has denied another right-wing challenge to a commonsense gun safety law that allows gun dealers in Delaware to be held accountable in court for the violence they create.   This is Attorney General Kathy Jennings’ third consecutive legal win over the gun lobby.  Earlier this year, the same federal court ruled against plaintiffs challenging Delaware’s assault weapons ban and large-capacity magazine ban.  Both remain in effect, as well.  “Sometimes the facts of a case tell you all you need to know,” […]