Caught on Gun Shop Surveillance Footage A San Diego was arraigned on March 1 on federal charges of theft of firearms and being a felon in possession of firearms. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, the defendant allegedly broke into a federally licens...
Faces Federal Charges for Cyberstalking A married, active-duty Marine Corps lance corporal stationed at Camp Pendleton was arrested on February 8 for an alleged "sextortion." He is accused of cyberstalking attractive young women, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District o...
In a case stretching back more than a decade, the IRS reported on February 24 that a federal jury in Virginia convicted two men of a nationwide fraud scheme that bilked elderly investors of more than $20 million. Of the two, a 78-year-old man from Scottsdale, Arizona, is facing the tougher sente...
Leap for Freedom in Rhode Island Fails A Modesto, California, man has been arrested in Rhode Island on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of Rhode Island. On February 16, the Special Investigations Unit (...
A Lancaster, California man was arrested by the FBI in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 18 for allegedly interfering with the flight crew. The defendant was a passenger on Southwest Airlines Flight 474 from Dallas to Burbank, California. The FBI "probable cause" criminal complaint states the...
A South Los Angeles Man pleaded guilty on August 30 last summer in U.S. District Court to one count of transportation of explosives without a license, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years, but WPMT Fox 43 reported o...
Declared Incompetent to Stand Trial After a years-long series of court hearings, a Northern California man has been sent to Napa State Hospital to undergo involuntary antipsychotic medication treatment for the next two years or until it is determined he is competent to stand trial for alleged ki...
A federal grand jury indicted three young men on February 3 for allegedly committing six smash-and-grab, daylight robberies of cell phone stores in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Two of the men, allegedly wielding hammers, are accused of barging into open stores, intimidating customers, and b...
Even after he'd been caught stealing United States Postal Service mail in 2019, a 38-year-old man continued his identity-theft crime spree for two years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of California. Already in custody since his arrest in February 2021, he plead...
A former Los Angeles tobacco entrepreneur, who conspired to evade millions of dollars in California state and federal taxes, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution and asset forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Souther...
Escondido Man Guilty of Art Forgery Like its better-known 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List, the FBI maintains a similar Top 10 Art Crimes List and pursues criminals all over the world. Topping the list are the thousands of art and archeological treasures looted from the Iraq National Museum in Bag...
Kidnapping, Murder of Chinese National July 16, 2018, a wealthy Chinese car dealer was kidnapped in San Gabriel, near Los Angeles. He died after being tied up, repeatedly shocked with a Taser, and severely beaten. The FBI found his body buried in the Mojave Desert in July 2019. In July 2020, th...
Smash-and-Grab Gangs Loot Stores “This is not shoplifting. This is not petty theft,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told NPR Dec. 20. “This is organized criminal activity where multiple individuals, up to 80 at times, are acting in concert to steal the goods.” In the last two months of 2...
California's unemployment benefits can be a lifeline for many workers who find themselves unemployed, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increases in unemployment claims naturally result in increased unemployment fraud cases. According to the Department of Labor, an estimated three p...
Zero Bail, Ghost Guns, Pandemic Blamed “Preliminary numbers from California's biggest cities suggest that 2020's stunning 30-percent increase in the statewide murder rate—the largest since 1960—has continued to rise this year [2021],” according to Capitol Weekly, Dec. 12, 2021. “It's a very, ve...
The state of California is taking bold steps to crack down on unemployment insurance fraud. The Employment Development Department (EDD) and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Fraud Task Force recently announced that former United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott wil...
Federal criminal investigations often take years before a grand jury is convened to hear evidence. Unlike a jury trial, a grand jury only hears evidence from prosecuting attorneys. That's because unless and until the grand jury determines the prosecutors have a case, there are no defendants to de...
Facing federal prison for COVID-19 loan fraud, a Southern California couple abandoned their children and fled justice, according to a November 16 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Richard Ayvazyan, 43, and Marietta Terabelian, 37, had been conv...
While California's most widely reported crimes in 2021 were probably the “smash and grab” robberies in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas, the audacious robberies weren't the only big crimes to hit our state this year. The 2021 headlines also featured high-profile murder and rape cases, ...
With life slowly getting back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, crime is also back in business. For 2021, California is showing a stunning increase in murder rates, with nearly a 30% rise this year. But perhaps some of the most publicized cases of the year involved robberies throughout the s...
If you or someone you love faces a possible prison sentence for a federal crime, you're undoubtedly concerned about what will happen if a court convicts you of the crime. Where will you serve your time, and will it be close enough for your friends and loved ones to see you? Fortunately, the Feder...
If you're facing federal charges, it can be frightening. You're undoubtedly worried about what will happen if you're convicted and what you might encounter in federal prison. Fortunately, the Federal Bureau of Prisons gives potential inmates and their loved ones some guidance on what to expect wh...
If someone you love is facing federal criminal charges, it can be scary. Navigating the criminal justice system, wondering whether you can trust what prosecutors and investigators tell you, and worrying about the future can all be overwhelming. You may also want to understand what can happen if y...
Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns sentenced El Cajon businessman David Daughtrey to 18 months in prison for tax evasion and bank fraud. Judge Burns also ordered Daughtrey to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution. The sentence was the culmination of an investigation of frau...
Healthcare fraud is a serious crime in the U.S. The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates that healthcare fraud represents anywhere from three to ten percent of the $3.6 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures in the U.S. That means healthcare fraud can equal more than $300 bil...
