U.S. Attorney's Office

Crush Video Case: Feds Drop Remaining Charges

Federal prosecutors have dropped the two remaining obscenity charges against alleged animal crush video producers Ashley Richards and Brent Justice and filed a notice of appeal on five counts previously tossed out by a federal judge.

Pichollo The Cocaine King Gets 20 Years In Prison

Benito Aguilar-Ozuna, whose known as Pichollo and has ties to the Zetas gang, is going to federal prison for almost 20 years, the United States Attorney's Office announced. Aguilar-Ozuna had earlier entered a guilty plea for conspiracy to traffic cocaine in what the feds say was a "large-scale oper ... More >>

Fake Vuitton, Prada and Versace: Yintang Cao & Hong Zhang Had 14,000 Counterfeit Luxury Items

When you get a really good price on luxury goods, it's best to check those goods closely. And if you bought them from Yintang Cao or Hong Zhang, well, welcome to the world of Rotex watches. Cao, 48, and Zhang, 46, entered guilty pleas this morning in connection with their having more than 14,000 it ... More >>

Dereon Kelley: Convicted, Faces 10 Years For Calling In Bomb Threat To Texas State University

A 22-year-old Bryan man has been found guilty of calling in bomb threats to Texas State University last year, around the same time he was suspected of calling in a bomb threat that evacuated Texas A&M. A Houston federal jury took about an hour to convict Dereon Tayronne Kelley after a two-day trial ... More >>

Jose Rodriguez-Treto: Baby Seat Tipped Off Cops That He Wasn't A Cop

There's no bigger thrill, if you're one of these people who like to imitate cops, than to blast on the party lights and blow by some dweebs who have to pull over. (Well, we suppose a bigger thrill for these idiots would be pulling over a drunk, credulous woman with big cleavage, but we digress.) On ... More >>

Bank Robbery Breakdown: Fresh, CT, Mikey Poo, Little Kevin, Crybaby & Nine Others Headed To Prison

How many people does it take to rob a series of Houston-area banks? More than 14, apparently, because 14 couldn't get the job in 2010 without getting caught. Yesterday the last two defendants of that ring, who had rejected plea-bargain offers in order to go to trial, got their sentences, the U.S. ... More >>

Juan Villareal: HISD Teacher Pleads Guilty To Distributing Child Porn

A third-grade teacher in the Houston school district entered a guilty plea Tuesday to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. Juan A. Villarreal, 52, a third-grade teacher at Anderson Elementary in Westbury, has taught in the district for 11 years, but he was out of a job once he ... More >>

Juan Villarreal: HISD Teacher Arrested On Child-Porn Charges (UPDATED)

Federal officials have arrested a Houston ISD elementary school teacher and charged him with possession and distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. Juan A. Villarreal, 52, a third-grade teacher at Anderson Elementary in Westbury, was taken into custody pending ... More >>

Matthew Eyerly: Produced Child Porn, Says His Girlfriend Also Sent Him Nude Pics of Her Kid

Matthew David Eyerly pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Eyerly, 35, "admitted to digital and oral contact with the genitals of the child and having taken pictures of these acts," the USAO said. "He sa ... More >>

James Dinkins: Justice of the Peace Charged With Hurricane Ike Fraud

A former longtime Justice of the Peace in Montgomery County has been charged with fraud in connection to receiving Hurrican ike relief funds, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. James W. Dinkins, 64, got $120,000 in relief funds by falsely claiming his primary residence was in Galveston County, p ... More >>

Enrique Alvaraez-Soria: Had 14 Gallons Of Liquid Meth In Truck's Fuel Tank

Those Ford truck ads with Denis Leary schticking his way through the vehicle's high points so far have not included one enticement: "Great for carrying LIQUID METH." (We see the "LIQUID METH" as the words emblazoned on screen as he growls them.) Enrique Alvaraez-Soria, an undocumented immigrant fro ... More >>

Delmus Scott, Jr.: Army Postmaster Steals $565,000 Worth Of Postal Orders

A man who was the equivalent of a postmaster at an Army base stole 565 $1,000 money orders and manged to convert about $90,000 each to himself and his fiance before getting caught, federal prosecutors say. Delmus Eugene Scott, Jr., 34, of Humble, Texas, was sentenced to almost three years in a fede ... More >>

Jarod Barry: Former Marine Gets Nine Years For Gruesome Child Porn

A former Marine will get nine years in a federal prison for possession of a particularly gruesome genre of child porn. Jarod Barry, 30, who left the Marines in January with an "other than honorable" discharge, was sentenced after entering a guilty plea last June. He had been a sergeant. Investigat ... More >>

Edward Jorodge Gladney, 27, Who Began Raping Boys and Making Child Porn at 17, Pleads Guilty

A 27-year-old man who began at 17 seducing young boys and using them for the child pornography he sold on the Web pleaded guilty today, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. Edward Jorodge Gladney entered a guilty plea to the charge of producing and advertising child pornography, the USAO says. He crea ... More >>

Taqueria Arandas Owner Gets Year in Prison on Tax Charges

Jesus Huerta, the owner of two Taqueria Arandas restaurants in Houston, has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for filing false tax returns that underestimated income by $4.6 million over five years. Huerta was also ordered to pay $543,646 in restitution; he's already repaid $276 ... More >>

Mark William Woerner: Urged Kids to Take His Child-Porn Collection to School

Share it with your school pals.​Mark William Woerner, 55, is being sent to federal prison for a long, long time -- 80 years, in fact -- and with the evidence produced at his trial, not many people are going to question that. Among his highlights, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office: Posse ... More >>

Patrick Simmons: Most-Wanted Bank Robber Turns Himself In

Patrick Simmons gives up.​The suspected bank robber who was spotlighted by the FBI in a digital-billboard campaign turned himself in to authorities about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the feds say. Patrick Wayne Simmons, who was wanted in a string of eight Houston-area robberies of bank branches located ... More >>

Rigoberto Vargas-Munoz & Edgar Munoz-Munoz: Uncle-Nephew Big-Time Drug Dealers Busted

A traffic stop​Two Houston-area men have been arrested and charged with running a large drug ring dealing marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. Rigoberto Vargas-Munoz and his nephew, Edgar Munoz-Munoz, are both Mexican nationals living here illegally, t ... More >>

Nine Charged In Grocery-Store Bank-Robbery Ring; One Still On The Run

Photo via DOJPatrick Wayne Simmons is a wanted man​Federal prosecutors and the FBI announced the indictments of nine men who they say robbed eight Houston-area bank branches in grocery stores. One of the men, Patrick Wayne Simmons, 27, is still on the run; the others are in custody. Arrested ... More >>

Seven Arrested With 1,600 Pounds of Pot

No Mary-Louise Parker, just a lot of dudes​Seven men have been arrested and 1,600 pounds of weed taken on the northwest side of town, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. The men had transported the weed from the Rio Grande Valley to the 13200 block of Reeveston. They unloaded it there and re-loa ... More >>

Michael Giventer: Sudden-Stop-Accident Scammer Arrested For Bankruptcy Fraud

A simple accident -- or was it?​Michael Giventer owed State Farm Insurance $8.6 million after losing a civil suit where the company proved he had been scamming the company for years through false claims stemming from "sudden-stop" accidents. he also had been convicted of criminal fraud for st ... More >>

Peter Kingman Lindsley: Infant Porn, for When Child Porn Isn't Sick Enough

Prison time is coming for Montrose man.​A Montrose man has entered a guilty plea to possession of child pornography, and he's taken the "child" part of it to extremes. Peter Kingman Lindsley, 49, was found to have on his computer "3,805 digital images and 860 video files that depicted childre ... More >>

James Walter Porter Jr.'s Child-Porn Haul: 10,000 Images, Hundreds of Magazines And An MP3 Player For His Post-Office Job

James Porter was a dedicated collector​Former postal worker James Walter Porter Jr., 57, pleaded guilty today to one count of child-porn possession, the U.S. Attorney's Office says, but what a count it was. The Pasadena man had moved out of the house he was renting; the owners then went there ... More >>

Rob $1K from a Bank, Get Four Years; Defraud It of $100K, Get One Year

The hammer comes down, sometimes.​Yes, as through this world I've wandered I've seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen. -- Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd" Our advice: Do your bank robbing with the fountain pen. Or its modern equivalent. One ... More >>

Om Prakash Budha: Faces Prison over Refusals to Fill Out Visa Forms

Man, Om Prakash Budha, 28, does not want to go back to Nepal. He was nabbed in October 2010 crossing the U.S. border at Brownsville without proper documentation. Fine, you got caught, go home and try again, right? Wrong. "On four separate occasions during a four-month period, Budha steadfastly ref ... More >>

Khanh Vu: Fish-Farm Owner Says Ignore the Shotgun Shells, Those Protected Birds Died Because of Transmission Lines

Time for revenge.​The owner of a Palacios fish farm was found guilty of killing 90 protected brown pelicans and a slew of other birds, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. Khanh Vu, the owner of Seaside Aquaculture Inc., faces a fine of up to $15,000 and six months in prison for his conviction. ... More >>

Seven MS-13 Gang Members Indicted Here

Three murders, the feds say.​The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the unsealing of indictments for racketeering and murder against seven members of the notorious MS-13 gang, who have been arrested. The USAO says MS-13 is: a criminal organization in Houston that functioned as a unit engaged i ... More >>

Pedro Rosales: Allegedly Tried to Convince Kid to Take The Rap for His Child Porn

Pedro Rosales: That must have been some other body.​A Houston man caught with a computer full of child porn tried to convince "a juvenile family member" to take the rap for it, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. Pedro Rosales, 32, thought "that if the juvenile claimed the images/videos, the fam ... More >>

Kenneth Randle, Unluckiest Get-Away Driver Ever, Gets 11 Years Because His Pals Were A-Holes

Kenneth Randle: See ya in 2022​A 23-year-old man who sat unarmed as the driver of a bank-robbery car has been sentenced to 11 years without parole mostly, it seems, because his colleagues were violent a-holes. During the $40,000 robbery last October, the three dudes he was working with physic ... More >>

Leslie Aikens: HPD Cop Indicted for Drug-Running, Taking Bribe

Leslie Aikens: Allegedly dealing coke​The feds unsealed an indictment today against a 19-year veteran of the Houston police force accused of drug trafficking and taking a $2,000 bribe. Leslie Aikens, 46, was arrested at the end of his shift today. He is charged with aiding and abetting the p ... More >>

Jeremy Dobbins & Bobby Dean Roberts: Ripped Off Schlumberger Via $3 Million In Fake Invoices, Feds Say

A very efficient Accounts Payable department, we're sure​If you can clear $3 million in a little more than two years, you've got a pretty good scam going. Until, of course, you get caught. Jeremy Gene Dobbins, 35, and Bobby Dean Roberts, 51, who sound like a country-music duo ("Put your hands ... More >>

Ronald & Anita Witt: Union Officials Lived High Life on Members' Money, Feds Say

Signs point to fraud, feds say.​A husband-wife team of union officials lived the high life on members' money, federal prosecutors charged in indictments announced today. Ronald Witt, 64, and his wife Anita, 56, were respectively the business manager and treasurer of local 450 of the Internati ... More >>

Veteran Cop Harry Leroy Kelley Sentenced For Selling Hollow-Point Bullets and Other Police Gun Gear

Cop Harry Kelley was the man to see for illegal arms and ammunition, feds say.​A Kingwood man who was a veteran Liberty County police officer was sentenced to a year in federal prison for illegally buying and selling police guns and ammunition, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Beaumont announced. ... More >>

Trio Made $400K Lifting PINs from ATMs, Feds Say

Do you know where your PIN's going?​Three men have been indicted for going to local ATMs and putting in overlay pads to intercept and store customers' financial info, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. Houstonians Jason Michael Lall, 38, John Pierre Griffin, 32, and John DaSilva Paz, 27, hid th ... More >>

Alejandro Smith: TDCJ Prison Guard Was Also Heroin Dealer, Prosecutors Say

TDCJ: Who's guarding the guards?​A Texas Department of Criminal Justice guard has been arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Alejandro Smith, 21, worked in Huntsville's Eastham Unit; police got a tip that he was "providing contraband to prisoners," the U.S. ... More >>

Mambo's Seafood Chain Hit For Harboring Illegal Aliens

Not Mambo-nifico, feds say​Mambo's Seafood, the popular chain thatt's a big sponsor of the Houston Dynamo, has been hit with charges that it encouraged illegal aliens to come to the U.S. and then harbored and hid them. Two current and three former managers have been indicted, the U.S. Attorne ... More >>

Dealing with Child Porn

Prosecutors talk about the evidence,

Roxann Michelle Thomas: Actually (And Illegally) Got Something From Those "Are You Owed Money?" Lists

Yeah, that's my name, give me my check.​Newspapers and media Web sites regularly publish lists of people who are owed money by public institutions; if anyone bothers to read them, they check their name hoping to see they've forgotten all about that five-digit deposit in some bank they used to ... More >>

Five Questions With Child Porn Prosecutors: Dealing With Stomach-Turning Evidence

How do you handle the subject of child porn at a cocktail party?​Prosecuting those who produce or enjoy child pornography is a vitally important yet seemingly horrible job -- to do it, you must face looking at the evidence. In some cases it's "easy" -- some child-porn consumers are like baseb ... More >>

WHAT?!? Companies Pay BRIBES To Do Business In Russia And Angola?

Shocking, we know​Be prepared to lose all faith in -- well, if not humanity, per se, at least capitalism and government officials in Nigeria.It appears -- are you sitting down? -- that bribery is sometimes used when American companies try to do business in Russia, Nigeria, Angola and Kazakhstan. Y ... More >>

Geroge Wesley Ellington: Sheriff's Deputy Indicted For Moonlighting As Security For Ecstasy Dealer

Rave on, with the help of the Harris County Sheriff's Office​Harris County Sheriff's deputies moonlight all the time, providing security for local businesses.Including ecstasy dealers, apparently.A federal grand jury indicted a sheriff's deputy for selling criminal information to a ecstasy dealer ... More >>

Jeff Henry Williamson Learns Not To Send Bomb Threats To The FBI From The Houston Public Library

Mess with the FBI at your own risk​Jeff Henry Williamson, who thought it was a good idea to use the Houston Public Library downtown to send threats about blowing up the FBI building, learned otherwise today.U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Williamson to three and a half years in federal ... More >>

Perhaps The Internet-Cafe Trend In Nederland Was Overstated

​Just as we were trying to figure out why there were internet cafes in Nederland and Port Arthur, we find out that the places were actually fronts for illegal gambling, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The department announced yesterday that six people were charged with running the gam ... More >>

Saudi National Charged With Not Telling Feds He Intended To Make A Virtual Prisoner Of His Maid

A citizen of Saudi Arabia has been charged by the feds here for lying to obtain a visa for an employee.What's so bad about that? Well, the lie was that he told visa officials he was bringing the woman over here to be domestic help at $1,300 a month at eight hours a day six days a week, but instead, ... More >>

Guilty Of Medicaid Fraud? Depends

If you're going to try to defraud the government, please -- for your own self-esteem -- choose a more glamorous plan than one involving adult diapers.When the announcement came in from the US Attorney's Office headlined that a local company owner had been "INDICTED IN ADULT DIAPER FRAUD CASE," we co ... More >>

Friends Don't Let Friends Buy Guns For Friends

U.S. informants take part in murder and drug running in Mexico

Double Trouble

Juan Diaz just wanted his citizenship. The feds wanted a drug-running felon.

Bishop's Endgame

An early GOP force could be savoring party triumphs -- from prison

Fed-up Feds

Will the "temp" United States Attorney exile dissidents to the border?