Press Releases Archive

A Chicago man was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor victim and distributing child sexual abuse material. His co-defendant, a Chicago woman, was sentenced previously to 19 years in prison for conspiracy to sex traffic the minor.

Consistent with longstanding Justice Department practices and procedures, the department today is providing information about its efforts, through the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Division, National Security Division (NSD), and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country, to ensure that all qualified voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots and have their votes counted free of discrimination, intimidation, or criminal activity in the election process, and to ensure that our elections are secure and free from foreign malign influence and interference.

An indictment was unsealed today in the District of Idaho charging a former Caldwell Police Department sergeant with civil rights violations involving the sexual abuse of women and exchanging favorable police treatment for sexual acts.

After two months of trial, a federal jury in Pittsburgh unanimously recommended today that a Pennsylvania man be sentenced to death for killing 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, critically wounding two others, and injuring five responding police officers in October 2018. 

A Texas woman pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

A federal grand jury in the District of Delaware returned an indictment charging a Delaware man and woman with sex trafficking, labor trafficking and related charges. The defendants are charged with aiding and abetting one another in committing sex trafficking and forced labor trafficking against 13 victims.

From Aug. 23 to 25, a delegation of U.S. Attorneys, their criminal division chiefs, and Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force chiefs (OCDETF) from eight border districts traveled to Mexico City to participate in a series of briefings and meetings on security cooperation matters including efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations and efforts to counter the illegal trafficking and smuggling of firearms, narcotics and people. The last meeting of Southwest Border U.S. Attorneys in Mexico took place in March 2020.

A federal judge in the Southern District of California partially unsealed an indictment today in which four individuals are charged with conspiracy, interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering (ITAR), money laundering, making a false statement to a mortgage lender, and wire fraud for conduct associated with owning and operating five illicit massage businesses that sell commercial sex under the guise of offering therapeutic massage services, in California and Arizona.

On Nov 3, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division convened a meeting on efforts to combat human smuggling and trafficking networks as part of the department’s work on Joint Task Force Alpha (JTF Alpha). Participants included Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco, the U.S. Attorneys in districts along the Southern border of the United States, Acting Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller of U.S. Customs and Border

A former Judge of Elections has been convicted for his role in accepting bribes to cast fraudulent ballots and certifying false voting results during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 primary elections in Philadelphia.

From February 24 to 28, a delegation of U.S. Attorneys led by U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna of the Central District of California, U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer of the Southern District of California, U.S. Attorney Mike Bailey of the District of Arizona, U.S. Attorney John Anderson of the District of New Mexico, U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown of the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick of the Southern District of Texas, and U.S. Attorney John Bash of the Western District of Texas along with their and the Northern District of Texas criminal chiefs and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task

Five defendants were convicted yesterday by a federal jury for their roles in operating a massive international sex trafficking organization that was responsible for coercing hundreds of Thai women to engage in commercial sex acts across the United States.