Leroy Township Man Sentenced to Nearly Six Years in Prison for Fraud

A Leroy Township man was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for fraud that occurred during his employment as a manager with the Fowler Company, which cost the company nearly $1 million, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Jeffrey A. Boring, 49, previously pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud. U.S. Judge Sara Lioi sentenced him to 71 months in prison and ordered him to pay $978,810 in restitution.
Boring, while employed as a project manager with the Fowler Company, created and approved fraudulent invoices from a company he created called Fairport Industrial Group. Additionally, Boring instructed vendors, who provided materials and services for Boring’s personal purposes, to invoice the cost to Fowler, according to court documents.
The conduct took place between on or about June 27, 2006, through on or about January 18, 2011.
This case was being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Henry F. DeBaggis following an investigation by the Cleveland Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bay Village Man Sentenced to Nearly Four Years in Prison, Ordered to Pay $620,000

A Bay Village man was sentenced to nearly four years in prison and ordered to pay more than $620,0000 for fraud and tax crimes, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Frederick C. Bryant, age 45, admitted to embezzling $505,832 from a victim that he guaranteed a five percent rate of return. Bryant converted the money for his own personal use. Bryant also failed to report the funds to the IRS, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to crimes of mail fraud and tax evasion.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster sentence Bryant to 46 months in prison. He also ordered Bryant to pay $505,832 in restitution to the victim and more than $115,000 in interest and penalties to the Internal Revenue Service.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vasile C. Katsaros, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service.

Ashland Man Pleads Guilty to His Role in Labor Trafficking Conspiracy

An Ashland man pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for his role in a holding woman with cognitive disabilities and her child against their will and forcing the woman to perform manual labor, law enforcement officials said today.
Daniel J. Brown, 33, admitted that from between August 2010 through October 2012, he conspired with Jordie L. Callahan, Jessica L. Hunt, and Dezerah L. Silsby to establish and continue a pattern of domination and control over their victims, identified only as S.E. and B.E.
The plea agreement includes a provision that Brown will cooperate with investigators, including testifying truthfully at all court proceedings if necessary.
Callahan, 26; Hunt, 31; and Silsby, 21, all of Ashland, were indicted earlier this month on multiple charges. They are accused of using a combination of violence, threats, sexual assaults, humiliation, deprivation, and monitoring to establish and continue a pattern of domination and control over S.E. and B.E., according to the indictment.
Their tactics included beating S.E., threats of beatings to S.E. and B.E., taunting and threatening the victims with pit bulls and snakes, causing the victims to sleep in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, restricting B.E. and S.E.’s access to the bathroom, preventing them from eating regular and suitable meals, and forcing S.E. to eat dog food and crawl on the floor while wearing a dog collar, according to the indictment.
Callahan pointed a firearm at S.E.’s head and threatened to kill her if she did not perform the labor and services he and other conspirators commanded. Callahan also forced S.E. on multiple occasions to engage in sex acts with him and threatened that he and Hunt would kill S.E. if she told anyone about the forced sexual acts, according to the indictment.
Callahan, Hunt, and Silsby face one count each of the following: conspiracy to violate laws; forced labor; theft of government benefits; and acquiring a controlled substance by deception. Callahan and Hunt face an additional charge of tampering with a witness.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chelsea Rice and Thomas E. Getz, with assistance from Trial Attorney Victor Boutros of the Justice Department’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, following an investigation by the FBI and Ashland Police Department, with assistance from the Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including each defendant’s prior criminal record (if any), his or her role in the offenses, and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases they will be less than the maximum.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Aurora Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for $300,000 Construction Scheme

An Aurora man was sentenced to more than six years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for crimes related to a scheme of more than $300,000 involving construction projects, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cleveland Field Office.
Robert J. Berryhill, 51, previously pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count each of aggravated identity theft and false personation of an officer or employee of the United States.
U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi sentenced Berryhill to 75 months in prison. She ordered him taken into custody and remanded at the conclusion of the hearing.
Berryhill created a fictitious company as a way to divert money on construction projects for his own personal use, including the restoration of a vintage Corvette sports car he had purchased, according to court documents.
“This defendant abused the trust of his employer, his colleagues, and his customers in an effort to enrich himself,” said Dettelbach. “He used public contracts as a way to get his Corvette restored and his pockets lined with hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“Robert Berryhill created false businesses and false invoices and ultimately pretended to be an FBI employee, all in a desperate attempt to defraud others out of $304,000,” Anthony said. “The FBI remains committed to detecting and stopping those defrauding others.”
Berryhill previously served as the senior vice president of Carnegie Management and Development Corp. (CMDC) in Westlake, Ohio.
Knoxbi Company LLC, which was managed by CMDC, won the bid to build an FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, in August 2007. The company used Blaine Construction Company to serve as the on-site general contractor, according to court documents.
In March 2009, Indy-Fedreau LLC, which was also managed by CMDC, won the bid to construct an FBI building in Indianapolis. The company used Welty Building Company as the general contractor, according to court documents.
At the same time, Berryhill also created a fictitious contractor known as American Excavators Company (AEC) for the purpose of submitting false invoices to divert CMDC money to his personal use, according to court documents.
From August 2008 through September 2009, Berryhill defrauded CMDC, Knoxbi, Indy-Fedreau, Blaine, and Welty to obtain money. He did this by creating false invoices in the name of Ore Enterprises—the Pennsylvania company Berryhill hired to restore his vintage Corvette—and then submitted them to Blaine and Welty. Those companies paid the invoices then passed the cost on to Knoxbi and Indy-Fedreau for final payment, according to court documents.
Berryhill also created false invoices in the name of AEC that he submitted to Blaine and Welty. Those companies paid AEC and then passed the cost of the invoice to Knoxbi and Indy-Fedreau for final payment, according to court documents.
Overall, Berryhill caused an actual loss of at least $304,669. Judge Lioi ordered him to pay that amount in restitution.
Berryhill also falsely pretended to be an FBI employee identified as “W.C.M.” on July 28, 2008, and demanded that Blaine pay an invoice from Ore regarding the construction of an FBI building in Knoxville, according to court documents.
The case resulted from an investigation conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Patton.

FBI Statement on Arrest of Columbus Police Detective

COLUMBUS—Kevin R. Cornelius, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Cincinnati Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), today announced that the FBI recently arrested Stevie Billups, 48, of Columbus, Ohio, a detective with the Columbus Division of Police on a criminal complaint for the attempted distribution of heroin and for the use or carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
The investigation into Billups was conducted jointly by the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the FBI’s Central Ohio Public Corruption Task Force which includes special agents from the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).
SAC Cornelius commended the Columbus Division of Police and Police Chief Kim Jacobs for the tremendous cooperation they provided during this investigation. SAC Cornelius also thanked the Homeland Security Investigations directorate (ICE) for assisting in the investigation.
The criminal complaint filed by the FBI in this investigation was recently unsealed by a U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge. The public is reminded that criminal complaints contain only allegations of criminal misconduct and that defendants are presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Hudson County Man Convicted of Sexually Abusing Sleeping Woman on Domestic Flight

NEWARK, NJ—A Hudson County, New Jersey man was convicted by a federal jury today of sexually abusing a sleeping woman aboard a flight from Phoenix to Newark Liberty International Airport last summer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Bawer Aksal, 49, of North Bergen, New Jersey, was convicted of one count of sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact following a five-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court. The jury deliberated seven hours before returning its guilty verdicts.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence presented at trial:
Aksal was a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Phoenix to Newark on August 20, 2012. He was sitting in the middle seat in a row of three seats. Neither Aksal, the victim, who was seated in the window seat, nor the passenger in the aisle seat knew each other. Before take-off, the victim texted a friend complaining about Aksal’s arm encroaching into her seating area.
About one hour before landing, the aisle passenger looked to his right and saw Aksal half into the victim’s seat, with his body against the victim’s, his right arm around the back of her, and his left hand beneath a sweater that was draped over her. The victim awoke to find Aksal’s hands inside her shirt and shorts and struggled out of his grasp. The aisle passenger observed her jolting awake. The aisle passenger and the victim both gathered their belongings and headed to the back of the plane to report what happened to the flight attendants.
Aksal was detained upon arrival in Newark and arrested by agents of the FBI. He now faces a maximum potential sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing before Judge Linares is scheduled for October 23, 2013.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, and the Port Authority Police Department, under the direction of Superintendent Michael Fedorko, with the investigation leading to today’s conviction.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danielle Alfonzo Walsman and Robert Frazer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over all sexual abuse cases that occur in American airplanes, as such events are outside the jurisdiction of any state.

California Truck Driver Pleads Guilty to Meat Theft Scam

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Artak Medjbarian of Sherman Oaks, California, pled guilty to conspiring with others to attempt to steal $163,000 worth of beef products from a Nebraska Beef facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Medjbarian, age 33, was charged in May 2012 by a federal grand jury in a scheme with others to steal loads of meat cargo by pretending to be the legitimate freight haulers to whom authority to transport the loads had been given. The indictment specifically charged a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to engage in the interstate transportation of stolen property.
The indictment alleged that Medjbarian used the identity of a legitimate trucking company in Arizona to bid on hauling a load of meat from Nebraska Beef to California. Due to discrepancies with respect to the documentation forwarded by unknown co-conspirators on Medjbarian’s behalf, the freight brokers contacted the owners of the true Lopez Trucking and determined that Lopez Trucking did not have trucks operating under their authority in the state of Nebraska on January 27, 2012, the day Medjbarian showed up at Nebraska Beef pretending to have the transport authority of Lopez Trucking. The Omaha Police were contacted, and Medjbarian was initially arrested on local charges.
The guilty plea was entered before the Honorable Laurie Smith Camp. Judge Smith Camp set the sentencing of this matter for October 7, 2013. Medjbarian is detained pending sentencing. Medjbarian faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction.
In addition to the Omaha Police Department, the case was also investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.