Investigative News Releases

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Sandra “Sandy” Cannon Throneburg, 74, of Morganton, N.C., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Carleton Metcalf today and pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

ATLANTA – Walter Alexander Argueta-Aguilar, an illegal alien from El Salvador, and Jorge Manuel Zamora Cano have been sentenced for their roles in shipping and distributing tens of thousands of fentanyl-laced pills disguised as prescription medication. “Argueta-Aguilar and Cano profited from the opioid epidemic and endangered thousands of lives by trafficking fentanyl-laced pills resembling actual medicine,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg

BOSTON – A former U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing packages containing prescription medications from postal customers on his route. Michael Vernon, 52, of Somerville, Mass. has been indicted on one count of theft of mail by an officer or employee. Vernon was arrested this morning and will appear in federal court in Boston at 2:45 PM today.

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TYRONE BROWN, 33, of Lithonia, Georgia, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to a methamphetamine trafficking offense. According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately January 2022 and March 2024, Brown mailed parcels containing methamphetamine pills from Georgia to addresses in New Haven associated with Gregory Grant and others.

HOUSTON – A 63-year-old Houston man has agreed to pay $2,053,515 to resolve allegations he submitted false claims to federally funded health care programs for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.