U.S. Attorney's Office

Sean Walsh: Feds Send Him Child-Porn Catalog, He Orders, Is Busted

Modern marketing involves aggressively targeting a potential customer and then quickly and efficiently fulfilling his needs. And when you think of the words "efficiently" and "fulfilling his needs" you think of nothing else but the federal government right? Right? Okay, okay -- maybe the feds don' ... More >>

Yevette Walton & Lakisha Rogers: They Interview Tax Preparers Until They Find One Willing To File 53 Fake Returns

We don't know who first came up with the phrase "you can't get good help nowadays," but whoever did likely realized the importance of having a staffer interview someone before hiring. It's a valuable personnel lesson ingrained in Yevette Lauren Walton and Lakisha Lashell Rogers, but for all their p ... More >>

Steve Correa-Franco Gets 20 Years For Talking 9-Year-Old Girl Into Sending Him Nude Photo With Her Nintendo

A Spring man has been sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for talking a nine-year-old girl into sending him a nude picture of herself. Steve Correa-Franco, 33, was sentenced yesterday after entering a guilty plea last December. "U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, took into consideration the seriousn ... More >>

Breaking Bad: Digital Drug Sales, Analog Drug Deaths

The feds and a prosecutor say a Houston company selling synthetic drugs on the Internet is responsible for the deaths of teenagers in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Debra Jean Eyerly: Gets 25 Years For Child Porn Starring Family Member, But At Least She Got To Marry Her Child-Porn-Producing Boyfriend

Debra Jean Eyerly is going away for 25 years on child-porn charges, but the last few months haven't been totally bleak for the 54-year-old sicko: At least she got to marry her boyfriend, who's as much into producing child porn as she is. Because people like her deserve happiness, you know? Eyerly ... More >>

HPD Officers Arrested for Shady Coke Dealings, Face Life Imprisonment

The coke game was kind to Houston Police Department officers until Sunday when the two 26-year-olds were arrested when they reported for duty. Emerson Canizales of Kingwood and Michael Miceli of Humble have been accused of accepting $1,000 bribes and smuggling five kilos of cocaine with an intent ... More >>

Ninh Nguyen Faces 10 Years For His Collection of Stolen Credit Cards

Back on March 30, Ninh Nguyen, 58, was arrested at the Walmart on Tomball Parkway for shoplifting 32 Walmart gift cards, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. But as it turned out, investigators said, that wasn't all he had. Today the Houston man was convicted of "access device fraud," ... More >>

Jesus Martinez: Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Arrested For Dealing X

A five-year vet of the Harris County Sheriff's Office patrol division has been arrested and charged with possession and delivery of ecstasy. Humble resident Jesus Martinez, 30, surrendered to authorities today, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. This July "deputy Martinez allegedly aided others in th ... More >>

Jeremy Jacobi Scott, aka "J Moe" Indicted for Sex Trafficking of a Minor: Breaking Down The Bizarre Story

A lot of strange press releases come sailing through your inbox when you are working for a news paper or news blog in the big city. Some are mildly amusing, some hilarious. Some are disturbing, some disgusting. Then, some are all of the above and more. The U.S. Attorney's Office sent a release out ... More >>

Laura Pendergest-Holt: Stanford Financial CIO Pleads Guilty To Obstruction Charges

The chief investment officer of Allen Stanford's disgraced Ponzi-scheme firm has pleaded guilty to obstructing investigations of it, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. Laura Pendergest-Holt, 38, said she had hoped to stall an SEC investigation into Stanford International Bank (SIB), the Antiguan offs ... More >>

Cesar Avila: Immigrant Smuggler Convicted Of Holding Them For Ransom

A jury has convicted an immigrant smuggler of imprisoning his customers until their families coughed up $5,000 each. Cesar Avila, 35, was found guilty on one count of hostage-taking conspiracy, four counts of hostage taking, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence and four counts of ... More >>

Robert Hedrick: Airline Owner's Child-Porn Defense Rejected By Jury, Ridiculed By Feds

Robert Hedrick was the guy who convinced some Brownsville residents he would make the city an international destination through his Pan Am Airlines: flights from Brownsville to Johannesburg! All that came crumbling down when he was arrested for child porn. A jury convicted him yesterday in less tha ... More >>

James Roland Dial: When You Name Your Fake Company "Grifco," You're Not Even Trying

Houston businessman James Roland Dial was sentenced to five years in prison this morning for defrauding investors who put money in his oilfield business named "Grifco." Grifco? Hasn't anyone heard the term grifter? Or seen the movie? Dial, 56, admitted that he and a partner had issued press releas ... More >>

Sharif John Reid Loved His iPods & iPhones: Used ID Fraud To Buy $200,000 Of Them

When you love Apple, you just plain love Apple. And Sharif John Reid is definitely an Apple-loving guy. Prosecutors say he used dozens of fake credit cards, all with the same name, to purchase iPods, iPhones and other Apple products in Louisiana and Texas. The Memorial City Apple store proved to b ... More >>

Demi Mishel Muniz: Immigrant Smuggler Left Diabetic to Die in Ditch

The U.S. Attorney's Office has charged two people with conspiring to transport and harbor illegal aliens, but their case is more serious than that. Prosecutors say Demi Mishel Muniz, 33, and Luis Aceituno, 26, were tranporting illegal immigrants in a van from Houston to Los Angeles when one of the ... More >>

Voncil Felder & Netfa Lowe: Their Debit-Card Fraud Scheme Was All in the Timing

The modus operandi of Voncil Felder, 23, and Netfa Lowe, 34, in their scheme to use debit cards to defraud Chase banks was simple enough, but it required some good timing. The two -- along with other defendants -- would recruit and pay people to apply for debit cards. They then, prosecutors say: i ... More >>

Rafa & Cuco: Smuggling 17 Illegals in a Toyota Tundra

Two men received stiff sentences for running an illegal-immigrant smuggling business that was exposed when a Toyota Tundra carrying 17 of their clients crashed, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston announced today. Rafael Valles, "a.k.a. El Viejo or Rafa," and Refugio Reyna-Huerta, "a.k.a. Cuco," ... More >>

Kevin Corley's Murder-For-Hire/Drug Complaint Reads Like Quentin Tarantino Movie

Kevin Corley was one of a group of men whose arrests were announced today by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, and let's just say the man makes for a good criminal complaint. It reads like a Quentin Tarantino rip-off and has guns, drugs and a murder for hire in which the killer promised to car ... More >>

The Oddly Named Patrick Adolf Prendergast Jr. Ripped off FEMA, Jury Rules

Desecrating the name of Adolf, a man named Patrick Adolf Prendergast Jr. has been convicted of ripping off FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the U.S. Attorney's Office has announced. And his parents had such high hopes for him when they gave him his middle name. Prendergast, 54, was convicted of ... More >>

Douglas Demmon: Former National Park Ranger Convicted of Child Porn

National Park Rangers are an American icon, with their Smokey-Bear hats, green uniforms and eagerness to help everyone enjoy the great outdoors. And then there are the Park Rangers like Galveston's Douglas Demmon, who has entered a guilty plea on charges of distributing child porn. Demmon, 65, is ... More >>

Ike Odelugo: Concert Promoter Gets Six Years for Medicare Fraud

Aghaegbuna "Ike" Odelugo of Sugar Land is a concert promoter, we're told, but that can be a rough business to make a buck in these days. Ripping off Medicare, however, can be a breeze -- until you get caught. Odelugo, 39, was sentenced to six years in federal prison today on health care fraud and ... More >>

Carrie Kelly: Woman Gets Five Years for Child Porn

Carrie Kelly going away for five years.​It's unusual for a woman to be arrested in a child-porn investigation, and when Brazoria County's Carrie Kelly was picked up last April, some commenters predicted the charges would soon be dropped. But Kelly entered a guilty plea for child-porn distribu ... More >>

DJ Christopher Lowe: Recruited Neighborhood Boys for Child Porn

DJ Christopher Lowe will be going away for a long time.​A "stay-at-home dad" who often watched over neighborhood kids used them to produce child porn, federal prosecutors say. DJ Christopher Lowe, 37, pleaded guilty today to eight child-porn counts. Police discovered him through an investigat ... More >>

Christopher Clark Pollett: Guilty Child-Porn Plea from Kids' Nonprofit Worker

Christopher Clark Pollett, a former employee of well-respected kids-and-family nonprofit agency Neighborhood Centers, Inc., has entered a guilty plea to charges of owning a massive cache of child pornography. Pollett was arrested in January, while still an NCI employee, and charged with possession ... More >>

Leslie Aikens: Veteran HPD Cop Convicted of Drug Work

Escorting drugs, but not free of charge.​Leslie Aikens, a 19-year Houston Police Department vet, has been quickly convicted of drug-related corruption after a federal trial. The U.S. Attorney's Office says a jury took less than two hours to return the guilty verdict after a two-day trial in w ... More >>

Heights Burglary Ring Busted

Don't brag on Facebook, kids

Bennie E. Richardson IV: Says His Massive Child-Porn Stash "Relaxed Him"

Bennie E. Richardson IV liked to relax​Bennie E. Richardson IV, a 40-year-old Pasadena man, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for possessing and distributing child pornography. Looking at the porn was a form of relaxation, he told cops when he was arrested. Richardson was arre ... More >>

Agustin Figueroa Jr.'s Fetish Foursome: Bestiality, Child Porn, Incest and Bondage

The perv won't be around for a while.​Agustin G. Figueroa Jr. of Angleton is going to a federal prison for ten years, and that is most definitely a good thing. Figueroa was convicted in 1996 for raping a child, and more recently he was found guilty of child-porn possession. He had "20,825 ima ... More >>

Jodi Leonore Latson: Quite the Alleged Medicare Defrauder

Houston makes the fraud lineup.​If you're going to defraud the U.S. government, go big. It's not like they're going to miss a stray $62 million or so. Thus was the thinking of Houstonian Jodi Leonore Latson, 45, who -- unfortunately for her -- ended up as one of the bigger fish caught in a na ... More >>

Robert L. Hedrick: Pan Am's Big Comeback Likely Stalled With Its President's Child-Porn Indictment

A child-porn indictment qualifies as a wrench in the plans​Robert L. Hedrick made a big splash last October, inviting former Pan Am employees back to Brownsville's original pan Am building to announce the creation of an airline with a similar name that had plans to fly routes from that city to ... More >>

Lorenzo Garcia: El Paso ISD Chief With Local Ties Indicted Over Houston Contract

Lorenzo Garcia: Contract with Houston company leads to indictment.​The head of the El Paso school district has been indicted over charges he steered a lucrative no-bid contract to a Houston company owned by a woman with whom he had a personal relationship. Lorenzo Garcia, a former assistant s ... More >>

Rene Huerta Jr.: Guesses Border Cops Will Forget the Secret Ammo-Holding Compartment In His Dashboard, Guesses Wrong

Hey, it's worth a shot.​It's difficult to say whether Rene Huerta Jr. was ballsy, dumb or maybe forced to do something against his will. But he dodged a huge bullet (ha HA!) in November 2010 when Customs and Border Protection inspected his car as it crossed over from Mexico to Brownsville. Th ... More >>

Raul Leal: Immigrant Detention Center Officer Kicked Detainee in the Face, Breaking Skull, Feds Say

The Port Isabel Detention Center has long been the subject of complaints.​A former officer at the Port Isabel Detention Center kicked a detainee in the face, breaking a bone in his skull, and then lied to investigators, federal prosecutors alleged today. Raul Leal, 31, was arrested without in ... More >>

Alpha One Investing: Great At Pretending To Be Wildly Profitable

Robert Watson likely headed to prison​A Spring man plead guilty today to running a bogus investment scheme that produced a lot of account statements to customers showing great profits as he pocketed their money. Robert David Watson, 50, told investors his "Alpha One" method of investing in fo ... More >>

Christina Clardy: West U Doctor, Two Others Convicted in $30 Million Medicaid Fraud

Christina Clardy among those convicted.​Christina Clardy, a 61-year-old West U doctor, was convicted with two other people of running a massive Medicaid-and-money-laundering scam that somehow involved Nigerian tankers, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. Kenneth Anokam, 56, and Niger ... More >>

William Gammon, Prominent Homeowners Association Attorney, Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

William Gammon pleads guilty to child porn possession​William Gammon, a leading figure in the move to make highly annoying homeowners associations even more powerful and annoying, has entered a guilty plea to charges of possessing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. ... More >>

Thor Morris, 20: Came from Asgard Crossed Half the Country to Hack Houston ATMs

Thor Morris: "Great Odin's raven!!!"​As much of America learned this past weekend, Thor the God of Thunder (?) (Hammers? We weren't paying that much attention) came to Earth from Asgard to not have sex with Natalie Portman. What we learned today: Thor, the God of Computer Hacking, came to Hou ... More >>

Frankie Sanders: Union Boss Put in Travel Vouchers for Hotels Closed by Katrina

Make sure your fake receipts are not for closed hotels.​If you're going to rip your union off for $10,000 by putting in fake travel vouchers, don't put in one showing you stayed at a New Orleans hotel while it was closed because of huge Hurricane Katrina damage. It's just common sense. Con Ar ... More >>

Jaime Zamora: That's No City Park Worker, That's (Allegedly) A Murdering Drug-Cartel Kingpin

Breeding ground for drug kingpins​Jaime Zamora had a good, steady job in Houston's Parks Department.What could be more exciting than that?Importing millions of dollars' worth of cocaine and murdering rivals, apparently.Zamora, 40, was sentenced today to more than 27 years in federal prison for dis ... More >>

Rodney Ray, Rodeo's "Texas Kid," Gets Busted On Child-Sex Charges

The Texas Kid gets arrested​If you're a fan of professional rodeo, then this week has been a dark one: Trick rider Rodney Ray Hayes, aka "The Texas Kid," has been indicted on four felony counts of "transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity."Filed in a Marshall ... More >>

Mark DeArza: DPS Trooper Charged With Selling Driver's Licenses To Illegal Aliens

Miss "Sample," if that is your real name....​A state trooper, a fellow Department of Public Safety employee and a middleman were charged today with a scheme to sell driver's licenses to illegal aliens for $3,000.Troooer Mark DeArza, 39, DPS clerk Lidia Gutierrez, 37 and a gas-station manager named ... More >>

TDCJ Guard Gets Two Years For Lying About Kicking Inmate In The Head

​A TDCJ guard who had been found guilty of filing a false "use of force" report was sentenced today to what no doubt will be two very uncomfortable years in a federal prison. (Or maybe guards take care of their own? We don't wanna know.)Eugene Morris, 41, had kicked an inmate in the head repeatedl ... More >>

La Migra Arrests A Whole Bunch Of Gang Members

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency -- ICE to illegals and legals alike -- has announced the results of a big round-up of gang members in Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi who are undocumented aliens."Operation Community Shield" resulted in the arrests of 116 gang members and associate ... More >>

Customs Agent Offers Wide Variety Of Services: Will Smuggle Cocaine, Aliens

You can't specialize in a market like this; you've got to be a jack-of-all-trades to keep your head above water.There are some Customs & Border Protection inspectors out there who focus strictly on taking bribes to bring illegal aliens into the country. There are others who concentrate strictly ... More >>

The Man Who Filled Montrose With Foreclosure Signs Is Convicted

What's it coming to these days when you can't even go in and buy an Aston-Martin without getting busted for fraud?Especially after you've done so much to ensure that Montrose is full of foreclosed-upon townhomes?These are the questions Craig Curtis, 36, is no doubt asking himself after his convictio ... More >>

He's Guilty -- Of Generating Good Quotes

Fed-up Feds

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

The Insider