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...
In the U.S., millions of people are victims of identity theft each year. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the agency received more than 1.4 million fraud reports in 2020, nearly double the number of identity theft reports in 2019. The government estimates that identity theft and cr...
In late September, the Riverside County Police seized 21 kilos of carfentanil from a home in Perris. Carfentanil, a tranquilizer used for large animals like elephants and horses, is 100 times stronger than fentanyl and 10,000 times stronger than morphine. The police also found 20 kilos of cocaine...
Even though California decriminalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2018, the amount of illegal marijuana growing operations are on the rise – from 150 marijuana cultivations in 2020 to 500 in 2021. Earlier this year, Southern California authorities seized over 16 tons of marijuana in the ...
In one of the latest and most elaborate examples of pandemic-related fraud schemes, a California man faces multiple federal charges over allegations that he defrauded the PPP and EIDL loan programs to the tune of about $3.6 million. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, a ...
In one of the latest and most elaborate examples of pandemic-related fraud schemes, a California man faces multiple federal charges over allegations that he defrauded the PPP and EIDL loan programs to the tune of about $3.6 million. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, a ...
Both the federal and state governments have laws that make it a crime to manufacture, possess, or distribute illicit drugs. Generally speaking, you could be charged with most drug violations at either the state or federal level. However, facing federal drug charges can be a much different experie...
The federal government is currently prosecuting 11 criminal cases against alleged drug traffickers who sold or provided illegal narcotics to people who subsequently died from fentanyl or fentanyl-laced products. According to a press release by the Department of Justice, the 11 cases name 12 defe...
While claims of fraud against the California Employment Development Department (EDD) have run rampant in the past couple of years with the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most noteworthy schemes involves two inmates who allegedly ran their scam from behind bars. In July 2021, a grand jury handed do...
While the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has helped millions of small business owners to keep paying their employees during the economic crisis sparked by COVID-19, many others quickly found ways to exploit the system and obtain PPP loans fraudulently. This has eventually led to a surge in arr...
At the onset of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most significant and popular government programs was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a forgivable loan offered through the SBA to help businesses stay afloat during quarantines and lockdowns. While PPP loans di...
