Armen Hovanesian, a 32-year-old man from Glendale, plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and defrauding a government-sponsored loan program. This program was created to help businesses and individuals survive the economic impact that COVID-19 caused. Additionally, Hovanesian admitted that he us...
Dae Yong Lee, “David Lee,” a 58-year-old man from Bel Air, was sentenced to six years in federal prison after paying a $500,000 cash bribe to former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar and his special assistant. He was also ordered to pay a $750,000 fine. According to the Judge, it was import...
Amir Hossein Golshan, a 24-year-old man from Downtown Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to three felony charges: one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, one count of wire fraud, and one count of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value. He is facing a sta...
Christopher Blair Hernandez, a 37-year-old sheriff's deputy in the LASD's Compton Station, agreed to plead guilty in July 2023 to a felony conspiracy charge to violate another man's civil rights. According to the plea agreement, Hernandez and his former partner, Miguel Angel Vega, went by Wilson...
Sara Jacqueline King, a 39-year-old woman from Newport Beach, pleaded guilty to federal felony charges after using her investors' money to fund her luxurious lifestyle. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous According to her plea agreement, from January 2022 until January 2023, King, through her com...
Johnny Ray Gasca, a 53-year-old man from New York City, was found guilty in June 2023 after abducting a 68-year-old woman with dementia in West Los Angeles. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for this September. Gasca is facing a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison. Obstructing Justice...
Cruz Noel Quintero, a 43-year-old man from Long Beach, was sentenced in June of 2023 after being convicted of selling fentanyl to two of his coworkers, one of whom died of an overdose. Fentanyl, Firearms, and Ferocious Sentencing In February of 2018, Quintero, an EMT at a Long Beach hospital, b...
Tibet Ergul and Chance Brannon, two 20-something-year-old men from Orange County, were arrested in June of 2023 for allegedly launching an improvised explosive device into a local Planned Parenthood medical center. They could face a statutory maximum federal prison sentence of 20 years if convict...
Robert Quido Stella, a 50-year-old man and former Navy SEAL from Canyon Country, was found guilty in May 2023 of three counts of producing child pornography. The minimum sentence for such a crime is 15 years (per count), and a maximum of 30 years (per count), in federal prison. Prior to this deci...
Two senior members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) criminal street gang, José Balmore Romero and Erwin Alexander Melgar, were found guilty in May 2023 of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Additio...
Lijuan “Angela” Chen, a 50-year-old woman from Inland Empire, has been accused of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of possession and use of counterfeit postage. She faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted. Stealing from th...
Davyd George Brand Jimenez, a 52-year-old man from San Ysidro, was indicted in May 2023 for 10 counts of false impersonation of a federal officer or employee, two counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of misusing a United States pas...
Sheila Marie Ritze, a 42-year-old woman from San Juan Capistrano, was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for her part in the murder of a man in October 2019. After a 12-day trial in April of 2022, she was found guilty of second-degree murder within the U.S.'s special maritime and territori...
Toya Toshell Hunter, a 45-year-old woman from South Los Angeles, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for acting in a conspiracy to defraud banks by stealing debit cards containing unemployment insurance and other benefits. Co-schemers should be motivated to separate their cases. A lesser...
Tamara Dadyan, a 43-year-old woman from Encino, arrived in Los Angeles in late February 2023 after being extradited from Montenegro, where she had been living as a fugitive for about a year. According to court records, Dadyan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and ban...
Jason Amin Soheili, a 28-year-old man from Laguna Hills in Orange County, was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death in 2022. Often, defendants are convinced to plead guilty to protect themselves from potentiall...
Alex Scott Roberts, a 27-year-old man from the San Fernando Valley, was sentenced to 85 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of stalking. Evidently, in the summer of 2020, Roberts had stalked two California sisters, using text messages and internet communications to threat...
Namir Malik Ali Green, a 23-year-old man from Los Angeles, was arrested in April 2023 for allegedly committing armed robberies at convenience stores and gas stations around Southern California. He's been charged with interference with commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act. Green faces a maximu...
Babak Broumand, a 56-year-old man from Lafayette, California, and former FBI special agent was sentenced to six years in federal prison and fined $30,000 after being found guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of bribery of a public official, and one count of monetary transactions in prop...
Andrew Zepeda Hansack, a 39-year-old man from Riverside, pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. Hansack is facing a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison for each count. He also agreed to pay a criminal fine of $50,000 ...
Ze'Shawn Stanley Cambell, a 35-year-old man from San Bernadino County, was convicted after pleading guilty in October 2022 to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The judge, in this case, reported that Campbell showed a high level of disrespect for the law and inflicted not ...
A 54-year-old man named Robinson Rin Yang recently plead guilty to one count of failure to pay employment taxes for his employment staffing firm in San Gabriel Valley. The court sentenced him to 24 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $2,791,783 in restitution after determining that un...
A 41-year-old former United States military member and resident of Corona, Igor Panchernikov, recently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act after being extradited from Israel to the United States. He is facing a statutory maximum sentence of 20 year...
Daekun Cho, a 38-year-old resident of Woodland Hills, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigation agents and Los Angeles Police Department officers after a federal criminal complaint was filed against him a week prior. The complaint alleges that Cho interfered with commerce by threats or vi...
Cynthia Ann Hernandez, a 33-year-old woman from San Bernadino County, plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of access device fraud in excess of $1,000. She is facing a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for mail fraud and up to 15 years in federal prison fo...
