Additional charges and defendants have been added to a federal case arising from the abduction of a boy from his Las Vegas home in October 2008.

"Keeping guns out of the hands of the Mexican drug warlords is a top priority for the Department. It is a priority that the President and the Attorney General have promised to address quickly and aggressively."

Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs today announced two new members of the Office’s leadership team. Mark D. Agrast and Judith Appelbaum have been appointed as Deputy Assistant Attorneys General.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the appointment of Brian M. O’Leary as the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) Chief Immigration Judge. Prior to his appointment, Judge O’Leary served as an immigration judge from May 2007 to June 2009 at the Arlington, Va., Immigration Court. He served as a temporary board member on the Board of Immigration Appeals from May 2006 to May 2007 and as a deputy chief immigration judge in the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge from March 2003 to May 2006.

A retired U.S. military official pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges relating to Department of Defense (DOD) contracts in Afghanistan. According to the plea agreement, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago today, First Lieutenant Robert Moore (Ret.) pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges.

Beazer Homes USA Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $5 million dollars, plus contingent payments of up to $48 million dollars to be shared with victimized private homeowners, to resolve allegations that it, and Beazer Mortgage Corp., were involved in fraudulent mortgage origination activities in connection with federally insured mortgages.

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted a physician assistant late yesterday for his role in a $7.7 million Medicare fraud scheme.

The United States has joined a whistleblower suit against Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC); Applied Enterprise Solutions (AES); Dale Galloway, Chief Executive Officer of AES; Stephen Adamec, former Director of the Naval Oceanographic Major Shared Resource Center (NAVO MSRC) at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi; and Robert Knesel, Deputy Director of NAVO MSRC.

A federal judge in Tampa, Fla., has permanently barred eight men – including five tax preparers and two Certified Public Accountants (CPA) – from promoting an alleged tax fraud scheme involving bogus income tax credits.

A Kansas woman pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI during an investigation into allegations of fraud against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-Rate program. According to the plea agreement, filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., Mary Jo LaDuron, aka Mary Jo Gault, of Leavenworth, Kan., lied to FBI agents who were investigating allegations of fraud against the E-Rate program.

A former executive of Bennett Environmental Inc. (BEI), a Canadian-based company that treats and disposes of contaminated soil, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks and commit fraud at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site, Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J. The former executive also pleaded guilty to participating in a money laundering conspiracy and impeding a proceeding before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A former State Department employee was sentenced today to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for illegally accessing more than 50 confidential passport application files.

A 35-year-old Minneapolis man was sentenced today in federal court on one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda. In Minneapolis, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim sentenced Mohammed Abdullah Warsame to 92 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

The Department filed a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee alleging it violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by refusing to provide Michael Crivello, then an incumbent Milwaukee police officer, with a make-up promotional examination for detective that he missed while away on active duty military service with the Air National Guard and thereby failing to properly determine his reemployment status as a police officer eligible for promotion to detective.

A fourth individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files.

A federal jury in New York has rejected the $24 million tax refund claim filed by Altria Group Inc. relating to its investment in lease-in, lease-out (LILO), and sale-in, lease-out (SILO) tax shelters. The verdict follows a three-week trial in the Southern District of New York before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell.

Dustin I. Nix, 21, of Donaldson, Ark., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Hot Springs, Ark., to two federal civil rights charges for his role in a conspiracy to force a woman and her young children from their home in Donaldson because she associated with African Americans.

Everett Cooney waived indictment and pleaded guilty in court in Little Rock, Ark., to a federal charge of sex trafficking an underage female. Chief U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes accepted Cooney’s guilty plea.

Frederic A. Bourke Jr., 63, was found guilty today by a federal jury in Manhattan of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Travel Act, and making false statements to the FBI.

An employee of a Sewell, N.J., sub-contractor that provided temporary electrical services was sentenced today to serve 20 months in jail for his role in a kickback and fraud scheme at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund site in New Jersey. The sub-contractor was also ordered to pay $154,597 in restitution to the EPA, jointly and severally with his co-conspirators.

George Michael Lee, Duc Cong Nguyen, Hop Nguyen and Tien Duc Vu were sentenced today in San Diego for their roles in a scheme by the "Tran Organization" to cheat casinos across the United States and Canada.

Endoscopic Technologies Inc. (Estech), a medical device manufacturer, has agreed to pay the United States $1.4 million to resolve civil claims in connection with the alleged promotion of its surgical ablation devices. Surgical ablation devices use focused energy to create controlled lesions or scar tissue on a patient’s heart or other organs.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced more than $8.7 million in Recovery Act funds for three communities in California to use in fighting crime and drug trafficking as part of the Justice Department’s Southwest Border Strategy.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that $500,000 in Recovery Act funds have been awarded to the Support for Harbor Area Women’s Lives (SHAWL) House, a program of the Volunteers of America of Los Angeles (VOALA).

The Department released a new technical assistance fact sheet on legal requirements relating to admitting individuals with HIV or AIDS to occupational training schools and granting state licensure in occupations such as barbering, massage therapy and home health care assistance.

Panagiotis Stamatakis, the chief engineer on the Cyprus-flagged M/V Myron N, and the second engineer, Dimitrios Papadakis, both citizens of Greece, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., to using falsified records that concealed improper discharges of untreated bilge waste from the cargo ship.

Dr. Gabriel DeCandido, a physician practicing internal medicine in Largo, Fla., has agreed to pay the United States $1.7 million to settle allegations that he defrauded the Medicare program. In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, United States ex rel. Michael Flanery v. Dr. Gabriel DeCandido, et al., the United States alleged that Dr. DeCandido violated the False Claims Act by billing the Medicare program for higher levels of service than he actually rendered to patients and by billing for services not provided.

Feliciano Sanchez, 34, a former officer with the Bell, Calif., Police Department, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles to a federal civil rights charge for sexually assaulting a female motorist. Sanchez admitted that on May 16, 2007, he sexually assaulted the victim by forcing her to provide oral sex after stopping her for a traffic violation, according to documents filed in court.

A federal court has permanently barred a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,-area woman and her company from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the government complaint in the case, Carole Exantus of Plantation, Fla., operated a company called J’s Corporation in Miami. The court found that J’s Corporation repeatedly prepared federal income tax returns claiming false tax credits and deductions that it knew would result in understating customers’ tax liabilities.

A Georgia temporary staffing company and its owner/president have agreed to plead guilty to making a false statement to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Patriot Services Inc. and its owner/president, Stephanie Blackmon, have each agreed to plead guilty to a one-count charge of making a false statement to the SBA, which was filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden today announced plans by the Department of Justice to significantly expand its training and education operations at the National Advocacy Center (NAC), the core training facility for local, state and federal attorneys, law enforcement agents and support personnel.

Today the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury announced coordinated actions against the Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas drug trafficking organization, now known as the "Company," in the latest in a series of efforts by the U.S. government to neutralize and dismantle this violent cartel.

"The Palmetto Project – as it is known – will allow the Department of Justice to expand the capabilities of the National Advocacy Center. As the core training center for prosecutors, law enforcement agents and other personnel from across the nation, the NAC is crucial to the continued success of the Justice Department’s mission."

The Department filed a lawsuit against the owner and employees of Rolling Oaks Apartments, a 72-unit complex in Clanton, Ala., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race or color in the rental of apartments. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleges that the employees, Kenneth R. Scott and Frankie L. Roberson, told white testers that a selling point of Rolling Oaks Apartments was the lack of African American tenants and that they had adopted rental policies intended to discourage African American rental applicants.

Western Energy Company, the operator of the Rosebud Mine on federal coal leases outside of Billings, Mont., has paid the United States more than $12 million in mineral royalties and accrued interest as the result of a settlement agreement. Under the agreement that was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Western Energy has agreed to pay $12,239,538 in additional royalties and interest, 49 percent of which will be shared with the state of Montana because the production occurred on federal lands in that state.

The state of New York and New York City have agreed to pay $540 million to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted, or caused to be submitted, false claims for reimbursement for school-based health care services, primarily speech therapy and transportation, provided to Medicaid eligible children from 1990 to 2001. The settlement is a record federal recovery by the Justice Department for the Medicaid Program.

Warren Mumpower of Spokane, Wash., was sentenced to life in prison today for his activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise.

Antonio McWherter, a police officer in the East St. Louis, Ill., Police Department, was charged today in a two-count federal indictment stemming from a January 2006 incident in which the officer allegedly punched a handcuffed arrestee in the mouth. The indictment charges McWherter with a felony civil rights violation and with making false statements to the FBI.

A federal judge today sentenced Waquita Wallace to 20 years in prison and five years of supervised release for a federal civil rights charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion for compelling a young St. Louis woman to commit acts of prostitution.

"The Asset Forfeiture Program is critical to our efforts to reduce and deter criminal activity. Your use of civil and criminal forfeiture to seize and forfeit the assets of organized crime targets is essential for this fight."

"As a prosecutor, you need to be determined enough to pursue every single violent criminal, no matter how cold the evidence. You need to be dogged enough to charge all meritorious cases, no matter how difficult the challenges. You need to be tough enough to withstand public scrutiny, no matter how unfair the criticism."

Michael Bullard and Richard Armstrong were convicted yesterday by a jury in Boise, Idaho, on federal hate crime and conspiracy charges in connection with the racially-motivated assault of an African American man outside of a Wal-Mart store in July 2008.

"Our system is predicated on an adversarial model and the separation of powers between the branches but that separation need not make us adversaries or antagonists. Rather, it makes us essential partners in balancing that tension to ensure our system protects the fundamental principles of liberty, equal justice, and the rule of law."

A federal grand jury in Casper, Wyo., Thursday returned an indictment charging Randy Lee (a/k/a Jimmy Lee) and Jay Lee (a/k/a John Marks, a/k/a Anthony Romero) of Cheyenne, Wyo., with odometer tampering, title fraud, securities fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to commit these offenses. The indictment alleges that the defendants worked as used car dealers at Lee’s RV’s, Inc., a dealership in Cheyenne.

Robert Young, 56, a former captain in the U.S. Army, pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

A Virginia man pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

A father and son pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., to illegally over fishing striped bass, also known as rockfish, from 2003 through 2006.

Consultores de Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to pay a fine of more than $2 million and serve three years of probation for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas.

Jeffrey P. Chernick, of Stanfordville, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to charges of filing a false tax return. Chernick, who owns a corporation which represents toy manufacturers in China and Hong Kong, appeared today before Judge James I. Cohn in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $8 million in Swiss bank accounts.

"These COPS grants we are announcing today help fulfill President Obama and Vice President Biden’s commitment to meet the challenges of our struggling economy with solutions that will keep our country safe and keep us moving forward."