U.S. Department of Justice

Robert Ramos Jr.: Ex-School Band Director Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

How do these freaks keep winding up at schools? A former middle school band director has pleaded guilty in Austin to producing and distributing child porn. Robert Ramos Jr., who's been in custody since his January 2012 arrest, is facing a maximum penalty of 50 years. The 33-year-old former assistan ... More >>

Joe B. Phillips Goes For "Despicable Lawyer Of The Year" Award: Rips Off Mentally Incompetent Vets

Just before his trial was set to start in federal court yesterday, Houstonian Joe B. Phillips, 73, faced up to the truth: He's a pretty despicable guy. How despicable? He entered a guilty plea to ripping off mentally incompetent veterans to the tune of more than $2 million. That's right: Phillips ... More >>

Sarah Combs, 2 Others: Ran $27 Million "Black Market Peso" Money-Laundering Scheme, Feds Say

A Dickinson woman and two other people have been charge with running a $27 million "Black Market Peso Exchange" money-laundering scheme, federal prosecutors announced today. Sarah Combs, 48, appeared in court here today; Willie Whitehurst, 44, of Houston will be arraigned next week and Enrique Mor ... More >>

Special Best Of Edition

David and Bridget Montgomery: Funneling Construction Profits To Church Doesn't Mean You Don't Pay Income Tax

A federal jury has convicted a husband-wife team of tax fraud in connection with a construction business they ran which funneled profits to their church. David and Bridget Montgomery argued that if the money went to the church, it shouldn't be taxed as income, but prosecutors for the Department of ... More >>

Hate-Crime-Guilty White Supremacists -- One Who "Only Hates the Dallas Cowboys" -- Sentenced For Attacking a Black Male at a Bus Stop

The three dudes who united over their white-power tattoos and then beat down a random black male at a downtown Houston bus stop are bound for federal prison. On Monday at the downtown Houston federal courthouse, Charles Cannon, Michael McLaughlin and Brian Kerstetter were sentenced to 2-1/2 to 6-1/ ... More >>

Charles Cannon, Two Others Guilty in Hate-Crime Beating of Black Man at Bus Stop

A Houston federal jury has convicted three men on hate-crime charges for beating up a random black man at a downtown bus stop. Charles Cannon, 26, Michael McLaughlin, 40, and Brian Kerstetter, 32 were convicted under the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act; a fourth man saw his case dismissed ... More >>

They Were Kings for a Moment

The feds attack online poker, killing livelihoods and a $2.5 billion industry.

Feds Indict Charles Cannon, Three Others on Hate-Crime Charge for Bus-Stop Beating

A federal grand jury has indicted four men in the beating of a black man at a Houston bus stop in August. Charles Cannon, 26; Michael McLaughlin, 40; Brian Kerstetter, 32; and Joseph Staggs, 49, were indicted on one charge each of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevent ... 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 >>

Obama's War on Weed

In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees.

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 >>

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 >>

Redrawing Fiefdoms in Ye Olde HISD

Margaret DowningGene Locke walked HISD trustees through redistricting, Chapter 1​The Hispanic population continues to boom, the Anglo drip-drip-drip away to suburbia continues, there's a small decline among African Americans in Houston ISD and the district's biggest gain percentage wise is in ... More >>

American Grocers: Houston Company Sold $36 Million Worth Of Outdated Food To U.S. Troops

A Houston company gets nailed for $15 million for sending expired food to U.S. troops in the Middle East. ​The Department of Justice announced today that Houston's American Grocers, Inc., has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit that charged the company with shipping expired food to U.S. ... More >>

Valley Sheriffs Want To Search Southbound Cars, Too

Be careful headin' south​Be careful if you're driving south with your guns and life savings. If some sheriffs have their way, county cops could take it all away.Late last week, sheriffs from Cameron County and El Paso County announced that they would love it if deputies started inspecting every ca ... More >>

Get Out!

Arizona and America join Joe Arpaio in rushing to inquire: Are your papers in order?

Sergio Guereca: Watch Out, America -- Parents Of Kid Shot On Mexican Side Of Border Have Hired A Houston Personal-Injury Attorney

What? A lawsuit coming from a controversial, well-publicized event?​The June 7 shooting of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca near El Paso became an internet sensation and has provoked demonstations against the U.S. Border Patrol.But the feds have no idea what's hit them yet: The parents ... More >>

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reign of terror becomes Arizona policy, thanks to state Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer.

Sorry, Houston Lawyers: The New U.S. Attorney Is From Laredo

Photo courtesy DOJ​The new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas has just been announced, and it's not a Houstonian.Jose Angel Moreno, a 53-year-old ex-Marine from Laredo, has been nominated to fill the important post."There can be no greater honor nor privilege for a career prosecutor ... More >>

Report: Justice Dept. Approves Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger (UPDATED)

[UPDATED to include AEG President and CEO Timothy J. Leiwecke's statement about the merger.] ​ Via CNBC, businessinsider.com reported Monday morning that the U.S. Justice Department has approved the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster into a multi-platform entertainment corporation that can do ... More >>

Guilty Pleas From The Sisters Who Dared To Defraud FEMA And Oprah

This summer we told you about two locals who had not only been accused of defrauding the federal government, but something far, far more powerful: Oprah Winfrey.​Sisters Darlene McGruder Poole and Lashone McGruder Victor were charged in August with filing false information to FEMA in order to get ... More >>

Houston Chronicle, Modestly Declining To Blow Its Own Horn. For Some Reason

Photo by alex-sThe Houston Chronicle bannered a headline Saturday over a story about federal inspectors criticizing the Harris County Jail: "County Jail Fails Feds' Probe."The story outlined the results of the inspection, saying "poor access to health care and life-threatening conditions" at the jai ... More >>

The Tomball Area Dominates Texas Monthly's Worst Legislators List

Texas Monthly's eagerly anticipated list of Best & Worst Legislators is out, and one thing is clear: Tomball and its environs are a sticking cesspit of ineptitude and hackery.Two of the top ten bad legislators on the list (a list which is generally accepted to be nonpartisan) are from the town n ... More >>

Oh, Those (Racist) Scamps At Pat Robertson's Law School

Photo courtesy Randall KallinenWe told you yesterday about Adam Key, a local guy who had been kicked out of Regent University, the law school created by televangelist Pat Robertson, because he had posted a picture on the Internet of Robertson idly scratching his face with his middle finger.We mentio ... More >>

Houston Company Fails To Bribe Its Way To Success In Iraq

Texas Woman Fights Abuse at the State's Schools for the Mentally Retarded

Her son was beaten up by an angry caregiver at Denton State School

Memories of Pauline and Mike Holovak

John W. Dean

Former Nixon White House counsel calls out Bush … yup, you heard that right

Spy Stories

Edwin Wilson said he was still in touch with his former employer, the CIA, when he shipped explosives out of Houston to the Middle East. The CIA denied it. The CIA lied

Welcome to Hooters

Jimmy Buffett inexplicably leads a kid movie to the big screen

Blood for Oil

The brilliant, confounding Syriana digs for a necessary truth

Capsule Reviews

Our critics weigh in on local theater

Black and White

Good ol’ boys prosper at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Many African-Americans don’t.

Do As I Do, Not As I Say

Fastow plea deal contradicts the feds' policy

Murder, She Testified

A federal grand jury aims at a fledgling author's notes in a long-running murder probe

Very Appealing

Nichols's Houston attorney turns upbeat about the FBI's newest foibles

Tresspassers Will Be Prosecuted

Ranch Rescue's Jack Foote swears he just wants to mend fences. Is pseudomilitary secrecy, right-wing rhetoric and an armed vigilante militia the best way?

News of the Weird

The Hotel Six Joker Turns Wild

A chance encounter and a federal feud endanger the sting

Take the Cash and Talk That Trash

The hotel six sting hits the little screen

The Insider

Larry in Limbo

Is little guy Larry Duncan being made to suffer for the big guys' sins?

The Insider

The Insider

Cameron Frye Has a Big Idea

And he's put his own money behind it. But who's Cameron Frye?

Post Mortem

Though not unexpected, the death of the Houston Post was still a surprise. Even more surprising was how little truth got out about how and why the paper perished.

Press Picks

Letters

The Gangs Among Us

Asian crime is growing. Asian immigrants are its main target. And the HPD hasn't a clue what to do.