Investigative News Releases

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas man was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro to three years and five months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection to the illegal possession of unemployment benefit debit cards issued by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) and Arizona’s Department of Economic Security (DES). Vincent Okoye (40) pleaded guilty in June 2022 to conspiracy to...

CLEVELAND - A federal grand jury has returned a two-count indictment charging Brandon Monteal Williams, 32, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, with theft of mail by a postal employee and misappropriation of postal funds. According to the indictment, from January to March 2022, Williams, a former mail processing clerk with the United States Postal Service and assigned to the Brooklyn, Ohio, branch, allegedly stole numerous parcels from the U.S. mail, including 10 cell phones and five pairs of high...

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – LEON TINSON, age 48, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was indicted on September 15, 2022 for Theft of Mail by a Postal Service Employee in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1709. According to the indictment, on or about April 14, 2022, TINSON stole, abstracted, and removed the contents of a letter entrusted to him and which came into his possession intended to be conveyed by mail, while performing his assigned duties as an employee of the United States Postal...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Smyth County, Virginia man, who ordered approximately 30,000 fentanyl pills from California and sold them in Southwest Virginia, was sentenced today to 42 months in federal prison. He will also pay the United States a $50,000 monetary judgement. Zachary Ryan Hutton, 21, of Marion, Virginia, pleaded guilty in March 2022 to knowingly possessing with the intent to distribute, as well as distributing, 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl. According to...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Yesterday, a jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina found defendants Chad Cline and BJ Trucking Company, Inc. liable for $1,679,086 worth of unauthorized fuel purchases under United States Postal Service contracts, in violation of the False Claims Act. The jury also found that while BJ Trucking was insolvent and owed a substantial debt to the United States, it transferred $439,015 to company insiders—including to Defendant Doug Cline—in violation of the Federal Debt...