Man Indicted on Drug Charges

Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that Wesley White, also known as “Westside,” age 38, of Valdosta, Georgia, was indicted on August 14, 2013, by the federal grand jury for the offenses of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack cocaine), possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
If convicted, Mr. White faces 10 years to life in prison on the charge of possession with intent to distribute crack with a possible fine of $8,000,000; up to 30 years in prison and a $2,000,000 fine for the offense of possession with Intent to distribute cocaine; and up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for the offense of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
An indictment is only an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Southwest Georgia Gang Task Force, made up of officers and agents of the FBI, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Valdosta Police Department, Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office, Moultrie Police Department, and Thomasville Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. McCullers.
Inquiries regarding the case should be directed to Sue McKinney, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office at (478) 621-2602.

Marietta Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Filing False Claims with the IRS

ATLANTA—Arnold Tobias Gervais, has been sentenced for defrauding the IRS of more than $3.4 million in federal income tax refunds while he was in state custody.
“Those who cheat the IRS take money away from everyone who pays his or her fair share of taxes,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The United States Attorney’s Office and the IRS are on the lookout for tax cheats and will aggressively pursue those individuals who try to beat the system.”
“Today’s sentence hopefully reassures the public that individuals who attempt to enrich themselves at the expense of the United States Treasury will be held accountable,” stated Special Agent in Charge, Veronica Hyman-Pillot. “IRSCriminal Investigation will continue to aggressively pursue those individuals who utilize fraudulent methods to steal from the American taxpayer.”
Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “It is hoped that today’s sentencing of Mr. Gervais, the second conviction for him on false tax filing related charges, will have a sufficient deterrent impact on him. The FBI will continue to work with its various law enforcement partners in investigating such matters involving income tax refund fraud.”
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: Gervais was convicted in May 2008 and sentenced to five years in prison by the Superior Court of Cobb County, Georgia, for theft by taking after he submitted a fraudulent tax return in an attempt to obtain a tax refund of more than $600,000 from the state of Georgia. Gervais was incarcerated on that charge from July 13, 2007 through February 26, 2010.
On March 16, 2009, while in state custody, Gervais caused his then wife to file a phony 2008 Form 1040 with the IRS. The tax return contained a claim for payment of an income tax refund in the amount of $811,073, which Gervais knew to be false, fictitious, and fraudulent.
In addition, Gervais filed or caused to be filed six more false claims for federal income tax refunds—five in his own name for tax years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009 and one in the name of an acquaintance for tax year 2009. All seven of the returns claimed false wages and federal tax withholding, and all seven of the returns falsely claimed that the taxpayer had earned a significant amount of wages from a fictitious company called “Safety Shoes & More Inc.,” which was allegedly located in Rome, Georgia. The returns also falsely claimed that the corporation had withheld from those wages a significant amount of federal income tax. The total amount of fraudulent tax refunds that Gervais sought from the IRS was $3,488,135. Of that amount, the IRS paid $2,832,26.
The United States Attorney’s Office filed two civil forfeiture actions, which resulted in the seizure of $2,232,012 from accounts controlled by Gervais, thereby reducing the out-of-pocket loss to the IRS.
Gervais, 34, of Marietta, Georgia, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. to serve the statutory maximum of five years in prison. He was also ordered to serve three years on supervised release following his prison term and ordered to pay $2,832,268 in restitution to the IRS. On January 16, 2013, Gervais pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with filing false claims for income tax refunds.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys Russell Phillips and Michael J. Brown prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.Presse-mails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.

Health Care Nurse Sentenced

Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced that Melody Milton, 38, of Albany, Georgia, was sentenced on August 22, 2013, following her guilty pleas on August 23, 2012, to embezzlement of government property and aggravated identity theft. She received a sentence of 70 months’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay $110,431 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Ms. Milton, formerly a home health care nurse employed by Phoebe Putney Home Health Care, admitted that she opened bank accounts in the name of “Quick Cash Check Cashing” at two Albany area banks for the purpose of facilitating the illegal scheme. Ms. Milton would fraudulently obtain Internal Revenue Service refund checks at a post office box she opened in order to receive these checks directly. The checks were in the names of other persons without their knowledge or consent, many of whom were her own patients, while she was employed at Phoebe Home Health Care. She would then negotiate the checks for her own use by depositing the third party checks into these bank accounts which were controlled by her. The total value of all the treasury checks is $282,428.00.
“While she should have been caring for her patients, Ms. Milton was stealing their identities and using them to steal from the U.S. Treasury. Identity theft is not a ‘victimless’ crime, and my office will continue to make the prosecution of these cases a priority. Ms. Milton will now have a new identity—she will be known as a federal inmate,” said United States Attorney Michael Moore.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jim Crane.
Inquiries regarding the case should be directed to Sue McKinney, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office at (478) 621-2602.

Defendant Sentenced for Providing Material Support to Terrorists

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and the members of the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), announce today that Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 77, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola, Jr. for providing material support to terrorists, including the Pakistani Taliban. According to public records, defendant Hafiz Khan was the Imam at the Miami Masjid in Miami, Florida. The indictment did not allege that the masjid participated in the defendant’s scheme.
Khan was convicted by a jury on March 4, 2013, after two months of trial, on charges of conspiring to provide, and providing, material support to a conspiracy to murder, maim, and kidnap persons overseas, 18 U.S.C. 2339A, and conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically, the Pakistani Taliban, 18 U.S.C. 2339B.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer stated, “The sentence today demonstrates that no matter who you are or what your motive may be, financing terrorism will not be tolerated by our criminal justice system and will be punished severely. Today’s sentence sends a powerful message to anyone who thinks they have a reason to support terrorism: you cannot use the freedoms of this country to support terrorism. It will not be tolerated. You will be brought to justice.”
"Terrorists in Pakistan have lost a reliable source of funding, and the man responsible for that funding, Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, is now paying the price for his actions," said Xanthie Mangum, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Miami. "Terrorism remains the FBI’s top priority."
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik‑e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik‑I‑Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban, and Tehreek‑e‑Taliban, is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in or around December 2007 by an alliance of radical Islamist militants. On September 1, 2010, the United States Department of State formally designated the Pakistani Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
According to the evidence at trial, Khan, with the help of persons in South Florida and Pakistan, sent money and other material support to Pakistani Taliban contacts and sympathizers overseas. The Pakistani Taliban's objectives include resistance against the lawful Pakistani government, enforcement of strict Islamic law known as Sharia, and opposition to the United States and coalition armed forces fighting in neighboring Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban has committed numerous acts of violence in Pakistan and elsewhere, including suicide bombings that resulted in the death of civilians, as well as Pakistani police, army, and government personnel, and also provided financing and training for the attempted bombing of New York City’s Times Square in May 2010.
According to the evidence at trial, Khan sought to aid the Pakistani Taliban?s fight against the Pakistani government and its perceived allies, including the United States, by supporting acts of murder, kidnapping, and maiming in Pakistan and elsewhere, in order to displace the lawful government of Pakistan and to establish Sharia. Khan transferred money from the United States to Pakistani Taliban supporters in Pakistan, primarily using bank accounts and wire transfer services in the United States and Pakistan. These funds were intended to purchase guns for the Pakistani Taliban, to sustain militants and their families and generally to promote the Pakistani Taliban's cause. Khan also solicited and collected money in the United States for that purpose, taking great care to conceal his activities. In one recorded conversation introduced as evidence at trial, Khan stated that money cannot be sent openly to the Pakistani Taliban but must instead be sent covertly through its supporters. Khan also used a madrassa he founded in Pakistan (where he was born) to provide shelter and other support to Pakistani Taliban militants. In another recorded conversation introduced as evidence at trial, Khan claimed that children from his madrassa have gone to train to kill Americans in neighboring Afghanistan.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of State, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Miami-Dade Police, City of Miami Police, City of Miramar Police, City of Margate Police, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the members of the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Shipley, Sivashree Sundaram, and Michael Patrick Sullivan from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Bridget Behling from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.

Sweetwater Police Detective Arrested for Credit Card Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce the arrest of William Garcia, a detective with the Sweetwater Police Department, for alleged use of a counterfeit access device and aggravated identity theft.
The complaint charges Garcia with a single count of use of a counterfeit access device, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1029(a)(1), and a single count of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1). If convicted, Garcia faces a possible maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment as to the counterfeit access device violation, and a two-year mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment as to the aggravated identity theft violation.
According to the facts alleged in the complaint, Garcia participated in a counterfeit credit card scheme in late 2010 through 2011. Garcia’s criminal activities included providing his own credit card for use in manufacturing fraudulent credit cards, hiding evidence when he learned a co-conspirator had been arrested, and ultimately possessing and using counterfeit cards that Garcia claimed had been seized during the course of his duties.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI-led Miami Area Corruption Task Force. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony LaCosta.
A complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Former Wellington Resident Charged in Investment Fraud Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; Michael J. De Palma, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and Drew J. Breakspear, Commissioner, Florida’s Office of Financial Regulation, announced the return of a 27-count indictment charging Joseph Paul Zada, 55, of Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, with mail fraud, wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering in connection with an investment fraud scheme.
According to the indictment, in order to attract investors to his fraudulent scheme, Zada projected an image of great wealth, portraying himself as a successful businessman and investor with connections to Saudi Arabian oil ventures. In this regard, Zada hosted extravagant parties, drove expensive luxury vehicles, and maintained expensive homes in Wellington, Florida, and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The indictment alleges that Zada told investors that he would invest their money in oil-related ventures. Instead of being used to invest in oil ventures, the investor money were used to support Zada’s lavish lifestyle and to make purported returns on investments to prior investors. According to the indictment, Zada caused over 20 investors to invest over $20 million in his fraudulent scheme.
If convicted, Zada faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud and wire fraud and a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison for each count of interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, IRS-CI and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia.
An indictment is only an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.

Three Defendants Plead Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to Participating in Organized Crime Scheme to Control the Commercial Waste Disposal Industry

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Dominick Pietranico and Joseph Sarcinella pled guilty to loansharking in connection with their roles in a scheme to exert control over the commercial waste-hauling industry in the greater New York City metropolitan area and in parts of New Jersey. Additionally, William Cali pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit extortion as part of the same scheme. Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali, who were among 32 defendants charged in the case in January 2013, pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel. Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali are the third, fourth, and fifth defendants to plead guilty in this case.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “Three more defendants now stand convicted of federal crimes for their willingness to aid the mob in maintaining control over the waste disposal industry, but they will not be the last. We will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to sweep the remnants of organized crime from our streets, and today’s guilty pleas underscore that commitment.”
According to the Indictment against Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made at related court proceedings:
Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali were participants in a scheme, along with other members and associates of three different organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra (LCN)—the Genovese, Gambino, and Luchese Crime families—to control various waste disposal businesses in the New York City metropolitan area and multiple counties in New Jersey. Members of the scheme engaged in various crimes including extortion, loansharking, mail and wire fraud, and stolen property offenses.
Pietranico and Sarcinella, who are made members of the Genovese crime family, provided protection and “backing” to a witness cooperating with the government (the “CW”) who operated a waste disposal company and made an extortionate loan at a rate of interest exceeding one hundred percent annually. Cali, a Genovese crime family associate, provided protection and backing to the CW in exchange for regular payments made under the threat of harm.

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Pietranico, 82, of Mahopac, New York, and Sarcinella, 79, of Scarsdale, New York, each pled guilty to one count of making an extortionate extension of credit. Cali, 60, of Queens, New York, pled guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to commit extortion. Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Pietranico, Sarcinella, and Cali are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Castel on January 9, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.
Two other defendants, Kenneth Lopez and Vincent Dimino, have already pled guilty in connection with this case are. Lopez pled guilty on May 1, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. Dimino pled guilty on June 24, 2013, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck to participating in a conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Dimino’s sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
The charges against the remaining 27 defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Westchester County Police Department.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit.
Assistant United States Attorneys Brian R. Blais, Rebecca G. Mermelstein, and Natalie Lamarque are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Micah Smith of the Office’s Asset Forfeiture Unit is responsible for the forfeiture aspects of the case.