Justin Hanson, 21, of Mason City, Iowa, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids to violating the civil rights of an African-American family.

A 32-year-old Colombian citizen, Luz Mery Gutierrez Vergara, who was extradited from the Republic of Colombia on Thursday, made her initial appearance today in federal court in Washington, D.C., to face charges for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to provide material support to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, commonly known as the “FARC.”

Three brothers who were convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to life prison terms. U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Dritan Duka and Shain Duka to prison terms of life plus an additional, consecutive 30 years. The third brother, Eljvir Duka, received a life prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

James Freeman of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was sentenced to life in prison today for his activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise. Freeman, a registered sex offender, was found guilty following a six-day trial in January 2009 of six counts relating to his criminal activities as a member of the child exploitation enterprise.

Christopher Neil Gauntt, the former supervisor of the Fort Gibson Water Treatment Plant in Fort Gibson, Okla., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Muskogee, Okla., to falsifying a monthly operating report that certified the safety of drinking water from the facility.

The former director of information technology for a non-profit organ and tissue donation center has entered a guilty plea to intruding into her former employer’s computer network.

Style Craft Furniture Co. Ltd., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., to one count of smuggling cribs containing internationally protected wood known as “ramin.”

The United States has intervened in a civil lawsuit against two former suppliers to the National School Lunch Program – Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company Inc. – for submitting false and fraudulent claims to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). All ground beef containing defendants’ products was recalled by USDA as of Feb. 16, 2008, and defendants no longer supply beef to the National School Lunch Program or AMS.

A former officer and two employees of Teamsters Local 743 (Local 743) were convicted today in federal court in Chicago of federal labor fraud and theft charges in connection with stealing union ballots in an effort to rig two elections in favor of an incumbent slate of officers in 2004. A federal jury returned guilty verdicts today, after deliberating since April 29, 2009, against the three defendants whose trial began on April 6, 2009.

Philip Gabriel Pettersson, aka "Stakkato," 21, a Swedish national, was indicted today on intrusion and trade secret theft charges.

On May 15, 2009, the Fifth Circuit, in Klamath Strategic Investment Fund v. United States (No. 07-40861), affirmed the district court’s decision denying over $50 million in claimed tax losses arising from the taxpayers’ investment in a “Son of Boss (BLIPS)” tax shelter.

Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, a 35-year-old resident of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda.

Regency Nursing and Rehabilitation Centers Inc. nursing home chain will pay the United States $4 million to settle allegations that Regency submitted false claims to Medicare and the Texas Medicaid program. The Victoria, Texas-based chain currently owns and operates 24 nursing home facilities located through the state.

Anthony G. Merlo, a former resident of Fort Worth, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The United States has filed a civil complaint against PowerTrain Inc., Wood Sales Co. Inc., and Tool Mart Inc., all based in Golden, Miss., alleging that they imported and sold more than 78,000 Chinese-made engines that do not meet federal air pollution standards. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., is part of an ongoing effort to ensure that imported non-road engines and equipment comply with the Clean Air Act’s emissions standards.

Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division, will participate in the eighth annual International Competition Network (ICN) conference in Zurich, Switzerland, from June 3-5, 2009. At the conference, senior government antitrust officials, private-sector antitrust experts from around the world, and representatives from intergovernmental organizations will meet to discuss competition issues.

Donald Charles Collier III, 45, of Carpinteria, Calif., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge George H. Wu to one count of mailing child pornography.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a judgment upholding the Navy’s termination for default of a contract with McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics for the A-12 stealth attack aircraft.

The owner of a Costa Rica-based telemarketing call center and two employees of another Costa Rica call center were sentenced for their roles in schemes that targeted and defrauded thousands of American victims of more than $10 million.

At the eighth annual International Competition Network (ICN) conference in Zurich, Switzerland, the ICN adopted new Recommended Practices for substantive merger analysis and presented two new reports on the analysis of tying and bundled discounting and loyalty discounts and rebates under unilateral conduct laws.

"By focusing on increased cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican governments as well as enhanced communication within U.S. law enforcement agencies, the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy we introduce today provides an effective way forward that will crack down on cartels and make our country safer."

Since the 1990s, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has investigated and successfully prosecuted a wide range of international and domestic terrorism cases — including the bombings of the World Trade Center and U.S. Embassies in East Africa in the 1990s.

An indictment was filed today charging seven individuals -- three former shareholders of the Jenkens & Gilchrist law firm (J&G), the former Chief Executive Officer and a former tax partner from the BDO Seidman accounting firm (BDO), and two former bankers from a foreign bank with headquarters in New York (Bank A) -- with tax fraud conspiracy and related crimes arising out of tax shelters promoted by J&G, BDO, and the bank.

After a bench trial held last week in the Northern District of Georgia, U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr., announced today that Syed Haris Ahmed, 24, has been found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Rodolfo Rodriguez Cabrera, 43, a Cuban national, and Henry Mantilla, 35, of Cape Coral, Fla., have been charged in a scheme to produce and sell counterfeit International Game Technology (IGT)-brand video gaming machines, commonly known as slot machines, and counterfeit IGT computer programs.

The Department announced that it has moved to intervene in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Jackson, Miss., challenging inaccessibility in Jackson’s public transportation system. The pending lawsuit, filed by 11 residents of Jackson with disabilities and two non-profit organizations that work on behalf of people with disabilities, alleges violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA).

The city of Duluth, Minn., and the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District have agreed to make improvements to the area’s sewer system, estimated to cost about $130 million, to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows in an agreement filed today in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minn.

A former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) social work associate was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud the United States of her honest services in connection with her work finding suitable housing and daily care for mentally ill and disabled military veterans and then obstructing the VA’s investigation into the fraudulent scheme.

Jeffrey Davis, a former employee of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta to engaging in a felony conflict of interest by collecting fees from customers of a company he owned and operated for services he performed as part of his official duties at NARA.

Herbert L. Corn, the former superintendent of the city of Rochester Wastewater Treatment Plant in Rochester, Ind., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Ind., to falsifying monthly discharge monitoring reports that concealed violations of the Clean Water Act at the Rochester plant.

Roderick Prescott, a resident of Orem, Utah, and a former principal of National Trust Services (NTS) in San Jose, Calif., and later Selma, Ore., pleaded guilty today to tax evasion. Prescott admitted to evading at least $550,000 in personal income taxes for 1998 and 1999. Prescott was scheduled to begin trial on July 7, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Ore.

Arthur Sease IV, a former Memphis Police Department officer, was sentenced today to a prison term of life plus 255 years by Chief Judge Jon P. McCalla in Memphis, Tenn. A jury convicted Sease in February 2009 of 44 counts of civil rights, narcotics, robbery, and firearms offenses.

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.

An individual pleaded guilty today in federal court in Detroit for his role in creating and marketing software designed and used to send bulk commercial e-mails, known as "spam," in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act.

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.

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.

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.

The former director of information technology for a non-profit organ and tissue donation center was sentenced today to two years in prison for hacking into her former employer’s computer network.

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.

"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."

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.

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

Colorado Interstate Gas Company (CIG), the operator of the Natural Buttes Compressor Station located on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation near Vernal, Utah, has agreed to pay more than $1 million and install environmental controls at its facility as part of a consent decree that resolves violations of the Clean Air Act.

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.

Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad.

Computer Assets Inc. and its principals, Abraham Salazar and Damon Salazar, have agreed to pay $350,000 over three years and surrender up to $35 million in pending E-Rate applications to settle allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program.

Aggregate Industries - Northeast Region Inc., will pay a $2.75 million civil penalty and implement a regional evaluation and compliance program to resolve numerous violations of the Clean Water Act at 23 facilities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) has agreed to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act in Nevada by restoring 122 acres of mountain-desert streams and wetlands, implementing storm water controls at its construction sites, and paying a civil penalty.

Robert Jeffery, 55, was convicted today by a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., for his role in a scheme to steal fuel worth approximately $39.6 million from the U.S. Army in Iraq.

A federal jury has found Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 23, of Roswell, Ga., guilty on all four counts of an indictment charging him with supporting terrorists and a foreign terrorist organization, after a trial that lasted seven days.