Environmental Crimes Bulletin March 2024 Week 2

In this issue:

• United States v. Michael Hart, No. 24-CR-00383 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Steve DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson
• United States v. Kevin Olbrych, No. 8:22-CR-00439 (M.D. Fla.), AUSA Erin Claire Favorit
• United States v. Jose Parra-Villalobos, et al., Nos. 7:20-CR-00010, 5:23-CR-00036 (E.D. Ky.), AUSA James Chapman
• United States v. Aghorn Operating, Inc., et al., No. 7:22-CR-00049 (W.D. Tex.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Christopher Costantini, ECS Trial Attorney Mark Romley, and ECS Paralegals John Jones and Maria Wallace, with assistance from ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan
• United States v. Roosevelt Curry, et al., No. 2:22-CR-00522 (D. S.C.), AUSAs Nick Bianchi and Christopher Lietzow
• United States v. Sai Keung Tin, No. 2:24-mj-01026 (C.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors, ECS Trial Attorney Lauren Steele, AUSA Dominique Caamano, and ECS Paralegals Maria Wallace and Tonia Sibblies

United States v. Michael Hart, No. 24-CR-00383 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Steve DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson

On March 4, 2024, authorities arrested Michael Hart on an indictment charging him with smuggling prohibited refrigerant gases into the United States from Mexico (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 545).

This is the first prosecution in the U.S. that includes charges related to the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act). The AIM Act prohibits the importation of hydrofluorocarbons, commonly used as refrigerants, without allowances issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Between June and December 2022, Hart purchased refrigerants in Mexico and smuggled them into the United States in his vehicle, concealed under a tarp and tools. Hart posted the refrigerants for sale on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and other sites, and sold them for a profit.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.

United States v. Kevin Olbrych, No. 8:22-CR-00439 (M.D. Fla.), AUSA Erin Claire Favorit

On March 5, 2024, a court sentenced Kevin Olbrych to serve 15 months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release, and to pay a$7,500 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund. Olbrych violated the Lacey Act by trafficking in Florida box turtles, loggerhead musk turtles, and ornate diamondback terrapins (16 U.S.C. §§ 3372 (a)(2)(A), 3373(d)(1)(B)).

Between 2018 and 2021, Olbrych sold the turtles to a co-conspirator in Oregon, who then sold them to buyers in China. While executing a search warrant at Olbrych’s residence in 2018, law enforcement discovered several 300-gallon pools filled with turtles. In total, Olbrych possessed 120 turtles, which were turned over to a rehabilitation facility.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Tampa Police Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

United States v. Jose Parra-Villalobos, et al., Nos. 7:20-CR-00010, 5:23-CR-00036 (E.D. Ky.), AUSA James Chapman

On March 5, 2024, a court sentenced Jose Parra-Villalobos to time served (151 days), followed by three years’ supervised release. Parra-Villalobos pleaded guilty to violating the Animal Welfare Act for selling gaffs intended for use in an animal fighting venture. The defendant also pleaded guilty to distributing misbranded prescription animal drugs (7 U.S.C. § 2156(d); 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1)).

Parra-Villalobos resides in California. Investigators with the Food and Drug Administration received a tip that Parra-Villalobos sold Wormal tablets and Zeromite packets (unregistered pesticides used in connection with cockfighting events) via online sales. Further investigation revealed Facebook pages where he advertised and sold a wide variety of unapproved animal drugs, including Schedule III anabolic steroids. Parra-Villalobos also advertised various kinds of cockfighting instruments (e.g., knives or “gaffs”) for sale on Facebook. Between April 2018 and February 2019, agents initiated several undercover online buys from the defendant of adulterated and/or misbranded drugs and Schedule III controlled substances. Parra-Villalobos shipped these items from California to the Eastern District of Kentucky.

This case arose out of a prior investigation, in which investigators identified Parra-Villalobos as a supplier for two defendants prosecuted in 2019 and 2020. In October 2020, a court sentenced Kevin and Marsha Johnson. Kevin Johnson received 15 months’ incarceration, followed by 36 months’ supervised release; Marsha Johnson received three months’ incarceration and three months’ home detention, followed by 36 months’ supervised release.

The court also entered a money judgment of $20,023 against the defendants, reflecting the amount of proceeds they obtained as a result of their eBay sales of illegal material, and the court ordered forfeiture of an additional $15,750 in cash seized from the defendants’ home.

The Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation.

United States v. Aghorn Operating, Inc., et al., No. 7:22-CR-00049 (W.D. Tex.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Christopher Costantini, ECS Trial Attorney Mark Romley, and ECS Paralegals John Jones and Maria Wallace, with assistance from ECS Trial Attorney Ron Sarachan

On March 6, 2024, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment adding a new conspiracy charge against oilfield companies and a company executive. Aghorn Operating, Inc. (Aghorn), Trent Day, and Kodiak Roustabout, Inc. (Kodiak) are now charged as follows: Aghorn and Day with violating 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(1), the general duty clause of the Clean Air Act (CAA); 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(5)(A), CAA knowing endangerment; 18 U.S.C. § 1505, obstruction of an Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) proceeding; Aghorn with violating 29 U.S.C. § 666(e), OSHA willful violation causing death to employee; and all three with violating 42 U.S.C. § 300h-2, Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA), 18 U.S.C. § 1001, false statements, and 18 U.S.C. § 371, conspiracy to violate the CAA and SWDA.

Aghorn owns and operates oil wells and leases in Texas. Kodiak performed oilfield support and maintenance services for Aghorn. Day was a vice president for both Aghorn and Kodiak. The CAA and OSHA charges stem from the defendants releasing hydrogen sulfide that caused the deaths of an Aghorn employee, Jacob Dean, and his wife, Natalee Dean. Both were overcome by hydrogen sulfide at the facility in Odessa. The defendants later obstructed the investigation into the Deans’ deaths.

All three defendants are charged with violating the Safe Drinking Water Act and making false statements regarding the mechanical integrity of Aghorn injection wells in forms and pressure charts filed with the State of Texas Railroad Commission. All three defendants are also now charged with a multi-object conspiracy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Roosevelt Curry, et al., No. 2:22-CR-00522 (D. S.C.), AUSAs Nick Bianchi and Christopher Lietzow

On March 6, 2024, a court sentenced Roosevelt Curry to complete a five-year term of probation, with 16 months (480 days) in home confinement. A jury convicted Curry in October 2023 of participating in an animal fighting venture, specifically, cockfighting (7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 49(a)).

On March 12, 2022, Curry and several others gathered at a home in Ridgeville, South Carolina, for a cockfighting tournament. Deputies received an anonymous tip about the gathering and when they arrived, they saw 30 individuals standing around a cockfighting pit, a blue barrel full of dead chickens with fighting wounds, and razor-sharp instruments that participants attach to the chickens’ legs to make them more lethal during the fights. Deputies searched the property and located Curry on scene. They also found Curry’s truck, which contained cockfighting equipment and chickens, some of which sustained obvious wounds during fighting. Prosecutors charged seven other individuals for their participation in this activity. Curry also has a prior 2009 misdemeanor state cockfighting conviction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.

United States v. Sai Keung Tin, No. 2:24-mj-01026 (C.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors, ECS Trial Attorney Lauren Steele, AUSA Dominique Caamano, and ECS Paralegals Maria Wallace and Tonia Sibblies

On March 8, 2024, a grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging Sai Keung Tin with smuggling goods from the United States (18 U.S.C. §§ 554, 2). Between approximately 2018 and 2023, Tin, a Chinese citizen from Hong Kong, regularly received packages containing protected turtles that were illegally exported from the United States. The indictment charges Tin with aiding and abetting the shipments of four packages containing 40 eastern box turtles in June 2023 from the Los Angeles area.

Shippers operating in the United States falsely labeled the packages containing the protected turtles as containing almonds and chocolate cookies. Three of the packages each contained between eight and 12 live eastern box turtles bound in socks. The fourth package contained seven live eastern box turtles and one deceased eastern box turtle.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and United States Customs and Border Protection.