All USAO Press Releases

Onill Vazquez Lozada of Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to two counts of possessing, sponsoring, and exhibiting birds in an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

A federal judge in Oregon sentenced the two companies responsible for the operation of the J.H. Baxter wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon, and their president, for hazardous waste and Clean Air Act violations. Collectively, they were ordered to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, the court ordered the companies to serve five years of probation and the companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, of Deschutes, Oregon, to serve 90 days in prison and one year of supervised release.

CHARLESTON, S.C. —Lauren H. DeLoach, 69, of Saint Helena Island, has pleaded guilty to Lacey Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) charges for importing and selling sperm whale teeth and bones.

A Massachusetts man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, with the final three months to be served in community confinement, after pleading guilty to nine counts of possessing animals for use in an animal fighting venture, in violation of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

CHARLESTON, S.C. —A federal jury has convicted Don Michael Rynn, 61, of Augustine, Florida, following a three-day trial. Rynn was found guilty of making false statements on trip reports about the amount and quality of the fish he caught, as well as lying to federal agents.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith for the Eastern District of Michigan accepted Hino Motors, Ltd.’s guilty plea to a one-count criminal information charging it with having engaged in a multi-year criminal conspiracy to defraud both the U.S. government and American consumers and illicitly smuggle goods into the country. Judge Goldsmith also sentenced Hino, a Toyota subsidiary, to pay a criminal fine of $521.76 million, serve a five-year term of probation — during which it is prohibited from importing any diesel engines it has manufactured into the United States — and implement a

The General Manager of a company that produces and sells renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuels credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.

The final two of four Dominican nationals were sentenced for Lacey Act trafficking and smuggling wildlife from the United States after they attempted to smuggle tropical birds from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the Dominican Republic.

Keidrick Damond Usifo and Deon Johnson, were sentenced to probation on Thursday, March 6, 2025, by United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr. for violation of the Big Cat Public Safety Act. 

All 14 defendants in a large-scale federal dog fighting case indicted last year in Albany, Georgia, have now been convicted.

A Florida man was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million to the United States as well as forfeit numerous real properties and cash, and to pay over $55 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of his employee. Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.