Press Releases

An Ohio woman pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor charge under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits a person from intentionally damaging or destroying the property of a facility because that facility provides reproductive health services.

A California man pleaded guilty yesterday to securities fraud, wire fraud, and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with his scheme to defraud investors by making false and misleading statements about the purported development of a new, blood-based COVID-19 test, leading to millions of dollars in investor losses.

A Mexican woman who legally resided in Mission, Texas, and her son, who is a U.S. citizen, were sentenced today for sex trafficking a young girl.

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana returned an indictment yesterday charging a U.S. Postal Inspector with mail theft, obstruction of justice, and money laundering. 

This week, a federal court in Illinois entered a permanent injunction against the City of Springfield, Illinois, prohibiting it from enforcing a local spacing ordinance that bans people with disabilities from living in homes within 600 feet of one another if the home has five or fewer residents. The court’s order follows a July 2022 trial at which a jury awarded $293,000 in damages to the home’s residents, their families and Individual Advocacy Group (IAG), the state-licensed agency that provides services to the home’s residents. 

The Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Heritage-Crystal Clean LLC (HCC) to resolve pending claims of the United States on behalf of the EPA, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the State of Indiana for violations of requirements governing management of hazardous waste, as well as a violation of used oil management requirements, at current or former HCC facilities located in Indianapolis; Shreveport, Louisiana; Atlanta; Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania and Denver. 

A motel manager in Georgia was sentenced to 57 months in prison for trafficking a victim with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude or forced labor and ordered to pay $42,648 in restitution to seven individuals.

A federal jury in the Middle District of Florida last week convicted a Florida man of three counts of trafficking migratory birds. This is the most recent conviction in “Operation Ornery Birds II,” which has resulted in five other defendants being sentenced in the Middle District of Florida.

The Justice Department announced today that it secured a settlement agreement with OSI/Fleming’s LLC, which owns and operates the Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (Fleming’s) restaurant in Sandestin, Florida. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that Fleming’s violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against a lawful permanent resident when checking whether he had ongoing permission to work.

A federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned two separate indictments charging three individuals for violations of the Clean Water Act. The charges relate to the illegal construction and deposit of material into the wetlands and waters of the United States in the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Jobos Estuarine Reserve).

A federal jury convicted a New York woman today of filing and aiding in the filing of false tax returns, obstructing the IRS and willfully failing to file tax returns.

A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today to his role in a scheme to illegally smuggle Honduran nationals into the United States and distribute cocaine in the United States.