"We simply cannot stand for an epidemic of violence that robs our youth of their childhood and perpetuates a cycle in which today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals."

“A noose is an unmistakable symbol of hatred and violence in our nation, conjuring up images of a despicable period in our history. Mailing a noose to an individual who advocates for racial equality sends a clear threat of violence,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

“It is critical that Medicare providers base their DME purchasing decisions on what is in the best interests of their patients,” stated Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

Arctic Glacier International Inc., headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $9 million criminal fine for allocating customers. Three of the company’s former executives pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy.

The United States has reached a settlement with ranchers in a longstanding dispute over livestock trespasses on public lands in Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nev.

Gunther Wenzek, a German national, pleaded guilty today before District Judge Anna J. Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, to one count of smuggling coral into the United States at the port of Portland, Ore.

A federal district court in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and other overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in the Nov. 4, 2008, general election.

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a Clean Air Act settlement filed today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.

Pine Hills Kiddie Garden of Fort Wayne, Ind., will take necessary steps to ensure that a child’s diabetes care is integrated into the usual routine of its day care center and programs as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it discriminated on the basis of disability.

Solomon Nathaniel of Sterling Heights, Mich., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.

“With the nation’s focus on health care, this settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring that federal health care dollars are spent appropriately,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

The Army Sergeant has agreed to pay $90,000 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation.

Twenty defendants have been charged in seven cases for allegedly participating in Medicare fraud schemes that resulted in more than $26 million in fraudulent bills to the Medicare program.

Medicare fraud charges have been filed against six individuals in the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Houston.

A Panamanian company that operated a 40,000-ton oil tanker ship pleaded guilty today for deliberately concealing pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea.

"The recipients we honor here today could all be making a lot more money working somewhere else, and could certainly spend more time with their families doing other jobs. But they have all answered the call to duty, the call to service that binds us together."

Three Ohio residents, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 29, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 46, and Wassim I. Mazloum, 28, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from more than 8 years to 20 years for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and other terrorism-related violations.

The department today announced a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Brookline, Mass., to ensure access to medical facilities and services for individuals with disabilities.

Rosa N. Rivera, a resident of the Bronx, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to aiding and assisting in the presentation of a false individual income tax return for clients and to filing a false individual income tax return.

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging David Vega and Francis Rowe with committing violations of the Clean Air Act while they were project managers for Gordon-Smith Contracting, Inc., an asbestos removal company owned by Keith Gordon-Smith

Tommy Handy, aka “Tom Tom,” waived indictment and pleaded guilty in federal court in Little Rock, Ark., to a federal charge of sex trafficking of an underage female.

David Plummer, Spencer Plummer and Terry Green, operators of a fraudulent tax shelter that offered tax benefits in connection with the leasing of thoroughbred mares, pleaded guilty today to a criminal information charging them with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

While no words can lessen the sorrow being felt today by these families, I hope their loved ones know they have the unending respect and gratitude of this nation. They certainly have mine.

Troy, Mich., resident Syed Aziz pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.

A Highland Falls, N.Y., woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to defraud and embezzle funds from the U.S. government by authorizing nearly $3 million in payments from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., to a bogus corporation she controlled.

James E. Haas Jr. pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, to charges that he engaged in a kickback and fraud conspiracy at the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, N.J.

"Our common values and our mutual interest in protecting our citizens strengthen our resolve to deepen our cooperation with Europe."

A Mobile, Ala., grand jury has indicted a waste disposal company, its president and top manager for offenses involving the illegal disposal of waste into the sewage treatment systems of Mobile and of neighboring municipalities.

The department announced the release of a new video aimed at educating employers about the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Miami resident Daisy Martinez pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.

Noel Wayne Jhagroo, 47, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore in the U.S. District Court in Houston. 

Robert Young, 57, a former captain in the U.S. Army, was sentenced today to 97 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to steal approximately 10 million gallons of fuel from the U.S. Army in Iraq, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride.

A federal court in Milwaukee, Wis., today issued a preliminary injunction ordering a Milwaukee heating contractor and its owner and president to comply with federal employment tax payment requirements.

John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods Inc., and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods of the Carolinas Inc., based in Atlanta, Ga., have agreed to pay a $350,000 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

"My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family of Dr. Eduardo Caraveo, a Bureau of Prisons psychologist who was killed Thursday at Ft. Hood, as well as to all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones in this tragic event. No words can ease the pain they are feeling today."

Susan Holloman, 58, of Washington, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with unauthorized computer access.

After conducting a careful investigation of the proposed transaction between Oracle and Sun, the Department’s Antitrust Division concluded that the merger is unlikely to be anticompetitive.

The government complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas alleges that Travis Nicholas Stenline of Seagoville, Texas, operates a business he calls Nick Tax or Nick’s Taxes that prepares fraudulent returns for customers.

Two companies and the city of St. Maries, Idaho, have agreed to clean up a superfund site in St. Maries at a cost estimated more than $12 million.

A South Korean businessman was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy involving a $206 million telecommunications contract and employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).

A former consultant for Willbros International Inc. (WII), a subsidiary of Houston-based Willbros Group Inc. (Willbros), pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conspiracy to pay more than $6 million in bribes to government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and officials from a Nigerian political party.

Steven W. Burgess, a former Jackson County, Mo., sheriff’s deputy, pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the civil rights of a teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted in his patrol car.

“The federal Clean Water Act requires that cities act to eliminate or reduce their sewage overflows into the nation’s rivers, lakes and oceans,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Charles Paul Edward Jumet of Fluvanna County, Va., pleaded guilty today in connection with his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to Panamanian government officials to secure a maritime contract.

Former U.S. Congressman William J. Jefferson, 62, of New Orleans, La., was sentenced today to 13 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for using his office to corruptly solicit bribes.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that since 2003, defendants have violated the False Claims Act.

Scott Anthony Walker, 36, of Australia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to solicit a kickback.

Richard Hendryx, 79, of Morristown, Ariz., was sentenced today to two years in prison and lifetime supervised release to follow his prison term for travel with intent to engage in sex with minors.

"We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing, and will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives."

Detroit resident Jaquita Lovelace and Miami resident Timothy Pierce have pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit to participating in conspiracies to defraud the Medicare program.