Counterfeiting, Fraud, and Drugs Earn Colorado Man 51 Months in Federal Prison

BOISE—Jeffrey Eugene Barfield, 50, of Thornton, Colorado, was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for mail fraud, dealing in counterfeit United States currency, and distributing oxycodone, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour also ordered Barfield to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term, pay $13,565 in restitution, and forfeit $4,000 of criminal proceeds and all property used to facilitate the crimes. Barfield pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2012.
According to the plea agreement, while serving a prison sentence in Colorado in January 2011, Barfield began planning a counterfeiting operation involving the trade of counterfeit United States currency for true currency, illegal drugs, and firearms. As part of the scheme, Barfield planned to manufacture the fake money and sell it to another person. Upon his release from prison and over the course of nearly six months, Barfield manufactured and sold $10,200 in counterfeit money. He delivered the fake money and 50 oxycodone pills across state lines to Idaho via the United States Postal Service. The person receiving the contraband reported it to law enforcement.
Barfield was arrested by state law enforcement officers in June 2012 for passing counterfeit bills at garage sales in Northglenn, Colorado. After being advised of his rights, Barfield told a United States Secret Service agent, “It was good for a long time but it’s over; I did it, I made it, and [an accomplice] and I spent them.” Barfield admitted to manufacturing the counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes he passed at the garage sales, as well as the counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes he mailed across state lines. Barfield further described how he and an accomplice passed multiple counterfeit bills throughout the Denver area by purchasing items at local Home Depot and Lowe’s stores, which they would then return for genuine cash. Barfield admitted that he and an accomplice would “hit” one to two stores per day approximately one to two times per week.
The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and United States Postal Inspection Service.

Nampa Man Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Sawed-Off Shotgun

BOISE—U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that Kenneth Lee Morgan, 51, of Nampa, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court to 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possessing an unregistered firearm. Morgan appeared before the Hon. John C. Coughenour, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington at the federal courthouse in Boise.
Morgan pleaded guilty to the charge on February 7, 2013. At the time he pleaded guilty, Morgan admitted that on April 18, 2011, he was in possession of a sawed-off shotgun. According to other information presented in court, the Winchester 12 gauge sawed-off shotgun was recovered by law enforcement agents after Morgan sold the shotgun to another individual.
The case was investigated by the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crimes Task Force, a task force composed of local and federal law enforcement agencies in the Treasure Valley. The case is being prosecuted by the Special Assistant U.S. Attorney hired by the Treasure Valley Partnership and the state of Idaho to address gang crimes. The Treasure Valley Partnership is composed of a group of elected officials in southwest Idaho dedicated to regional coordination, cooperation, and collaboration on creating coherent regional growth. For more information, visit treasurevalleypartners.org.

Two Idaho Men Sentenced to Federal Prison in Connection with Aryan Knights Cases

BOISE—U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced today that Christopher John Solders, 26, of Twin Falls, and Joseph Anthony Goulart, 42, of Caldwell, were sentenced to federal prison for distributing methamphetamine. A federal grand jury in Boise charged the men in separate indictments last fall.
Solders was sentenced yesterday to 84 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for distribution of methamphetamine. Solders pleaded guilty to the charge on February 14, 2013. According to the plea agreement, Solders admitted that he sold methamphetamine on two occasions to a confidential informant working with law enforcement. The first transaction occurred in February 2012 and the second transaction in May 2012.
Goulart was sentenced today to 180 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. On February 7, 2013, Goulart pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. According to information presented in court, law enforcement agents found approximately one and one-half pounds of methamphetamine during a search of Goulart’s residence in September 2012.
Solders and Goulart were sentenced by the Honorable John C. Coughenour, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Washington, at the federal courthouse in Boise.
The Solders and Goulart cases are part of the Aryan Knights investigation in which 23 people were charged as a result of a long term investigation by the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime Task Force. The investigation began when the task force focused on illegal drug distribution by the Aryan Knights, a gang active both in prison and on the streets throughout Idaho. Through the investigation, law enforcement agents identified Aryan Knights gang members who were trafficking methamphetamine, as well as associates of the gang who were the source of that methamphetamine.
The Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime Task Force is composed of federal, state, and local agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Boise Police Department; Ada County Sheriff’s Office; Caldwell Police Department; Nampa Police Department; Meridian Police Department; Canyon County Sheriff’s Office; and Idaho Department of Probation and Parole. The joint investigation also included the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a cooperative law enforcement effort of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and U.S. Marshals Service.
The cases are being prosecuted by the Special Assistant U.S. Attorney hired by the Treasure Valley Partnership and the State of Idaho to address gang crimes. The Treasure Valley Partnership is composed of a group of elected officials in southwest Idaho dedicated to regional coordination, cooperation, and collaboration on creating coherent regional growth. For more information, visit treasurevalleypartners.org.

Unsealed Indictment Charges Former U.S. Federal Employee with Conspiracy to Commit Espionage for Cuba

WASHINGTON—A one-count indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charging Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, with conspiracy to commit espionage, announced John Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machen, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
The charges against Velazquez stem from, among other things, her alleged role in introducing Ana Belen Montes, now 55, to the Cuban Intelligence Service (CuIS) in 1984; in facilitating Montes’s recruitment by the CuIS; and in helping Montes later gain employment at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Montes served as an intelligence analyst at DIA from September 1985 until she was arrested for espionage by FBI agents on September 21, 2001. On March 19, 2002, Montes pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of Cuba. Montes is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.
The indictment against Velazquez, who is also known as “Marta Rita Kviele” and as “Barbara,” was originally returned by a grand jury in the District of Columbia on February 5, 2004. It has remained under court seal until today. Velazquez has continuously remained outside the United States since 2002. She is currently living in Stockholm, Sweden. If convicted of the charges against her, Velazquez faces a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
According to the indictment, Velazquez was born in Puerto Rico in 1957. She graduated from Princeton University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and Latin American studies. Velazquez later obtained a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982 and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., in 1984.
Velazquez later served as an attorney advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and, in 1989, she joined the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as a legal officer with responsibilities encompassing Central America. During her tenure at USAID, Velazquez held a top secret security clearance and was posted to the U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua and Guatemala. In June 2002, Velazquez resigned from USAID following press reports that Montes had pleaded guilty to espionage and was cooperating with the U.S. government. Velazquez has remained outside the United States since 2002.
The indictment alleges that, beginning in or about 1983, Velazquez conspired with others to transmit to the Cuban government and its agents documents and information relating to the U.S. national defense, with the intent that they would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of the Cuban government.
As part of the conspiracy, Velazquez allegedly helped the CuIS spot, assess, and recruit U.S. citizens who occupied sensitive national security positions or had the potential of occupying such positions in the future to serve as Cuban agents. For example, the indictment alleges that, while Velazquez was a student with Montes at SAIS in Washington, D.C., in the early 1980s, Velazquez fostered a strong, personal friendship with Montes, with both sharing similar views of U.S. policies in Nicaragua at the time.
In December 1984, the indictment alleges, Velazquez introduced Montes in New York City to a Cuban intelligence officer who identified himself as an official of the Cuban Mission to the United States. The intelligence officer then recruited Montes. In 1985, after Montes’ recruitment, Velazquez personally accompanied Montes on a clandestine trip to Cuba for Montes to receive spy craft training from CuIS.
Later in 1985, Velazquez allegedly helped Montes obtain employment as an intelligence analyst at the DIA, where Montes had access to classified national defense information and served as an agent of the CuIS until her arrest in 2001. During her tenure at the DIA, Montes disclosed the identities of U.S. intelligence officers and provided other classified national defense information to the CuIS.
During this timeframe, Velazquez allegedly continued to serve the CuIS, receiving instructions from the CuIS through encrypted, high-frequency broadcasts from her handlers and through meetings with handlers outside the United States.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the DIA. It is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Clifford Rones of the Counterespionage Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Michael Harvey of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
The charges contained in an indictment are merely allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

District Man Convicted of Assault with Intent to Kill While Armed in Northeast Washington Shooting

WASHINGTON—Brian Woodings, 26, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury today of six counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and numerous other charges for his role in a shooting that targeted victims who were riding in two cars in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. announced.
The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The jury also convicted Woodings of one count of aggravated assault while armed, three counts of assault with significant bodily injury, and related weapons offenses. The Honorable Stuart G. Nash scheduled sentencing for July 12, 2013.
According to the government’s evidence, on March 9, 2012, the six victims decided to go to the Scene nightclub in Northeast Washington to celebrate some friends’ birthdays. Woodings and some of his friends also decided to go to the nightclub that night. While there, Woodings got into a fistfight with one of the victims, and everyone involved in the fight was ejected.
Woodings, unsatisfied with the resolution of the fight, decided to recruit a friend with a gun and follow the victims out the club. He and his accomplice got into a Honda Accord owned by a female friend of his and followed the victims’ two cars down Bladensburg Road and then onto Benning Road near the Langston Golf Course.
As the three cars crossed the bridge on Benning Road over Interstate 295 at about 3:55 a.m. on March 10, 2012, Woodings drove up next to each car, allowing his accomplice to fire multiple rounds into each vehicle. The victims were in the cars that were fired upon.
The gunfire struck one victim—the person involved in the fight with Woodings at the club—in the face. Another victim was shot in the neck, and a third was shot in the back.
After the shooting, Woodings fled the scene. The stunned victims collected themselves and drove home before calling the police and ambulances. Using license plate reader technology, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) identified the car the defendant was driving at the time of the assault, and they were ultimately able to use that information to identify the defendant. The shooter has yet to be identified and the case remains under investigation.
In announcing the verdicts, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the MPD, the FBI, and the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences, which were involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case. U.S. Attorney Machen also expressed appreciation to Paralegal Specialists Theresa Nelson and Kendra Johnson, Witness/Victim Advocate James Brennan, Litigation Technology Specialist Paul Howell, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Veronica M. Sanchez and Erik M. Kenerson, who investigated and tried the case.

Former CEO and Two Associates Sentenced to Prison Terms for Conspiracy to Impede the Lawful Functions of the Internal Revenue Service

WASHINGTON—Shelly S. Singhal, Dennis L. Pelino, and Loretta Fredy Bush, formerly of Xinhua Finance Limited (Xinhua Finance), a Chinese company trading publicly in Japan, were sentenced today to prison terms after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to impede the lawful functions of the Internal Revenue Service.
All three defendants pled guilty in February 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. They were sentenced by the Honorable Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth.
Singhal, 45, of Newport Beach, California, and Pelino, 65, of Miami Beach, Florida, were each sentenced to nine months of incarceration. Bush, 54, of San Francisco, was sentenced to one month of incarceration. Following their terms, each defendant will be placed on three years of supervised release. Bush will be required to serve the first 150 days of her release period in home confinement. Chief Judge Lamberth also ordered each defendant to pay $20,000 fines.
The sentences were announced by Mary B. McCord, Acting U.S. Attorney in this case; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
In connection with the guilty pleas and as set forth in detail in the executed statements of offense, the defendants acknowledged that Singhal was the owner and chairman of SBI Advisors LLC, a California limited liability company engaged in the business of providing investment advisory services as well as buying and selling securities. Bush and Pelino acknowledged that, from time to time, they participated in investment and borrowing opportunities developed and recommended by Singhal.
Beginning in or about April 2005, Entrée Capital, a limited liability company formed at Singhal’s direction, opened an account at the First Internet Bank of Indiana and transferred funds to Bush and Pelino. Bush and Pelino executed a series of promissory notes obligating them to repay the funds within a fixed term and to pay interest annually at a fixed rate, but the notes did not provide for the method of calculating interest (simple or compound).
The defendants acknowledged that, in or about August 2006, documentation was executed to transfer the ownership of Entrée Capital to a foreign national residing outside the United States. Employees of SBI Advisors continued to maintain Entrée Capital’s books and records. Between January 2006 and January 2009, Bush and Pelino made several interest payments at the rates prescribed in the promissory notes they had executed, but these payments were not made according to any fixed schedule.
Singhal, Bush, and Pelino acknowledged that, in or about October 2008, the Entrée Capital account at the First Internet Bank of Indiana was closed by the management of the bank. Each of the defendants acknowledged that, by in or around February 2009, he or she had learned that the Entrée Capital account was closed. In addition, the defendants acknowledged that in 2009 and continuing into early 2010, they became aware that the foreign national to whom ownership of Entrée Capital had been assigned had failed to respond to inquiries or otherwise acknowledge his ownership of Entrée Capital.
The defendants acknowledged that from April 15, 2010 through May 10, 2011, they conspired to impede the lawful functions of the Internal Revenue Service in the ascertainment, assessment, and determination of whether the principal balances owed to Entrée Capital by Bush and Pelino had become forgiven debt and represented income to Bush and Pelino.
As of April 15, 2010, the principal balances owed by Bush and Pelino to Entrée Capital were approximately $2,153,663 and $1,380,633, respectively. The defendants acknowledged failing to notify and otherwise concealing from the Internal Revenue Service that the nominal owner of Entrée Capital had effectively abandoned its assets, including the principal balances payable to Entrée Capital by Bush and Pelino, to delay the payment of any income tax due and owing on those unpaid amounts as forgiven debt. They acknowledged discussing among themselves and with others the fact that the owner of Entrée Capital was a foreign national and that any information in the foreign national’s possession was possibly beyond the authority of the Internal Revenue Service to obtain. Singhal did not direct his employees at SBI Advisors, who maintained Entrée Capital’s books and records, to issue Forms 1099-C (Cancellation of Debt) to Bush and Pelino, which forms would have notified the Internal Revenue Service that Entrée Capital was treating the principal balances payable to Entrée Capital by Bush and Pelino as forgiven debt. Bush and Pelino acknowledged filing Forms 1040 (U.S. Individual Tax Return) for the tax year 2009, which returns failed to declare any portion of the $2,153,663 and $1,380,633 owed to Entrée Capital as income to Bush and Pelino, respectively.
As part of the plea agreements, the government agreed to move at sentencing to dismiss with prejudice the indictments previously returned against the defendants.
Three others earlier pled guilty to charges in the investigation.
In announcing the sentences, Acting U.S. Attorney McCord, Assistant Director in Charge Parlave, and Special Agent in Charge Kelly praised the investigative efforts of the special agents of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. They also recognized the work of U.S. Attorney’s Office Forensic Accountant Crystal Boodoo, Paralegal Specialist Tasha Harris, and Legal Assistants Lenisse Edloe and Krishawn Graham. Finally, they commended the efforts of Trial Attorney Kenneth C. Vert, U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, Northern Criminal Enforcement Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Hooks and Michael K. Atkinson, who prosecuted the case.

California Woman Pleads Guilty to Feeding Whales in Marine Sanctuary

WASHINGTON—A California woman pleaded guilty to illegally feeding killer whales in the wild this Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California; the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced.
Nancy Black, of Monterey, California, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), specifically, the MMPA’s feeding prohibition. The MMPA regulations make it a crime to feed marine mammals in the wild. The prohibition applies to commercial and recreational boaters and applies to all species of marine mammals.
Killer whales (orcas) prey on gray whales in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. On the occasions when orcas manage to kill a gray whale, the pod of orcas does not always eat all the gray whale at once. Often, portions of the carcass, including strips and chunks of blubber (some over six feet in length and weighing over a hundred pounds), remain floating or semi-submerged after a kill. Orcas and sea birds feed on these chunks of blubber while they are still available in the area.
According to the factual basis of the plea agreement, on or about April 25, 2004, Black was on her boat in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary when she and her assistants encountered a place where orcas had killed a gray whale calf. She was observing the orcas as they fed on pieces of gray whale blubber that were floating in the water. In an effort to facilitate their viewing, she or her crew grabbed the blubber, cut a hole through the corner of the blubber chunk, and ran a rope through the piece of the blubber. Shortly thereafter, they returned the blubber to the water and monitored the feeding behavior of the orcas as they ate the blubber off the rope. Black and her crew repeated the process with the rope and other pieces of the blubber. In court papers, Black admitted that she did not have a permit that would have allowed her to engage in this conduct. She also admitted that on or about April 11, 2005, she was involved in a similar incident involving the collection of floating blubber and offering it to orcas utilizing the same rope method.
In a separate incident on or about October 24, 2005, Nancy Black met with a sanctuary officer and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) investigative agent at their offices in Monterey. The sanctuary officer was investigating a reported harassment of an endangered humpback whale earlier that month in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The interaction with the humpback whale was filmed by one of Black’s crewmembers. Before October 24, the sanctuary officer had previously asked Black to provide the videotape of the humpback whale encounter.
Black voluntarily agreed to provide the videotape, but prior to doing so, she edited the video footage to remove several minutes that included footage of the humpback whale between two vessels that belonged to Black’s whale watching business, among other footage, and sounds. Black did not tell the officer that she had edited the tape. In filed court papers, Black admitted that by not disclosing the editing of the video, she could have impeded or influenced NOAA’s investigation into the humpback whale incident.
Sentencing in the case is set for August 6, 2013.
The case was investigated by agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the FBI with support from enforcement personnel from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The case was prosecuted by Christopher L. Hale of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Jeffrey Schenk of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Jose, California.