Georgia
Mayor pleads guilty to federal fraud charges
ATLANTA (AP) — A former suburban Atlanta mayor was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Wednesday for masterminding a scheme to steal nearly $925,000 of the $6.2 million in COVID-19 relief funds that his city was tasked with handing out.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash sentenced Stonecrest ex-mayor Jason Lary to 57 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay nearly $120,000 in restitution.
Lary, 60, pleaded guilty in January to wire fraud, federal program theft and conspiracy to commit federal program theft. He was the first mayor in Stonecrest, a 59,000-resident city in southeastern DeKalb County that incorporated in 2017.
“What he did was deplorable. Absolutely deplorable,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thrash as remarking. “At the time of the greatest medical and economic catastrophe in generations, Mr. Lary, instead of being the honest and respectable mayor that he was elected to be ... used that as an opportunity to steal.”
Defense lawyers had argued Lary should spend no time in prison, citing his cancer treatments, cooperation with prosecutors, early payment of some restitution and prior community service.
Defense attorney Dwight Thomas argued in court papers that Lary had been “humbled, humiliated, isolated and treated like a leper” since his crimes became public.
Arguing against leniency, Assistant U.S. Attorney Trevor Wilmot characterized Lary as “not forthcoming” in his conversations with investigators.
Wilmot said the residents of Stonecrest had deserved an honest and dependable mayor.
“What they got instead, unfortunately, was a crook,” he said.
Lary asked businesses and churches that got some of Stonecrest’s funding to give portions of the money to three companies the mayor had created — Visit Us, Battleground Media and Real Estate Management Consultants.
Lary said the companies would use the money for tourism promotion, advertising and rent assistance. But prosecutors say he funneled $650,000 of the funds to himself, using some to pay back taxes and the mortgage on his lake house.
An internal city investigation preceded Lary’s federal charges, with some officials trying to force him out or curtail his powers. Lary took medical leave in April 2020.
Lary won’t be required to report to prison until after Dec. 15, giving him time for more cancer treatments.
Wednesday, Lary apologized to his family, his friends and the residents of Stonecrest.
“I let us down,” he said.
Lania Boone, the wife of a former city official, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in February. She’s scheduled to be sentenced on August 15.
North Carolina
Pharmacy ordered to take steps to prevent drug abuse
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court has issued an order prohibiting a North Carolina pharmacy and its two pharmacists from dispensing controlled substances without taking steps to help ensure the drugs will not be abused, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.
The consent decree resolves a complaint filed by the U.S. on July 7, alleging that Asheboro Drug Company and its pharmacists filled prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, a department news release said. The pharmacy was also ordered to pay $300,000 in civil penalties, which it agreed to do.
According to the complaint, the defendants dispensed prescription opioids while disregarding numerous signs of drug abuse, drug diversion and drug-seeking behavior. As an example, the complaint said the defendants filled prescriptions for dangerous combinations of drugs sought by drug abusers and significantly increased the risk of overdose.
The complaint also alleged that the defendants would at times dispense the same or similar prescriptions for multiple members of the same family, refill prescriptions early without justification, and ignored prescriptions from doctors who repeatedly wrote suspect prescriptions.
Florida
Gaetz friend faces December sentencing as he helps in probes
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Sentencing for a former Florida tax collector whose arrest led to a probe of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has been set for December, as his lawyer indicated that his client continues to cooperate with federal investigators in multiple jurisdictions.
After several postponements, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg will be sentenced on Dec. 1 in federal court in Orlando for six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official, according to an order filed this week. He pleaded guilty to the charges last May.
Greenberg faces a minimum 12 years in prison, although court papers indicate his attorney plans to ask for less because of his continuing cooperation with federal prosecutors.
Greenberg has been cooperating in active investigations in Orlando and the District of Columbia, as well as in other jurisdictions, the former tax collector’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, said in court papers asking to seal a motion about Greenberg’s sentencing date.
“The unopposed motion to set the date of the sentencing hearing provides confidential information concerning these investigations, as well as information regarding the nature and extent of Mr. Greenberg’s ongoing cooperation,” Scheller said.
The judge in the case granted the request to seal the motion.
Greenberg’s cooperation could play a role in the ongoing probe into Gaetz, who is being investigated over whether he paid a 17-year-old for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. Gaetz, a Republican, represents a large part of the Florida Panhandle.
No charges have been brought against the congressman.
The Greenberg plea agreement said the former tax collector admitted being “involved in what are sometimes referred to as ‘sugar daddy’ relationships where he paid women for sex, but attempted to disguise the payments as ‘school-related’ expenses or other living expenses.”
Greenberg has been linked to a number of other Florida politicians and their associates. So far, none of them has been implicated by name in the sex trafficking probe.
Washington
Man arrested in Olympic National Park pleads guilty
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man accused of assaulting a woman at Olympic National Park and ranting about an impending revolution pleaded guilty Wednesday to interfering with a government communication system.
Caleb Chapman, of Port Angeles, Washington, disabled the Olympic National Park radio communications site at the Blue Mountain summit on Aug. 29, 2021, The Seattle Times reported.
A few hours before, Chapman, 42, went to a stranger’s home with a handgun and an AR-15 style rifle while high on methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Washington. He handed the stranger a letter outlining political concerns and his belief that a revolution would ensue on the Olympic Peninsula and other places, the office said.
Chapman drove with his girlfriend to Olympic National Park, where he cut down a tree to block a road to a campground. Chapman told the woman she was going to die in the revolution and she called 911. He threw a can of soup at her, cutting her leg, according to the office.
He was accused of repeatedly slamming the woman’s head against a car seat and then storming into the woods with nine firearms and over 3,500 rounds of ammunition.
Officials evacuated and closed part of Olympic National Park. A drone located Chapman two days later and he fired a shotgun before surrendering.
As part of his plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Chapman agreed to make restitution. Prosecutors will recommend no more than 10 months in prison under the agreement.
New York
Court tosses conviction in death of anti-gang activist
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A New York appeals court on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a woman found guilty of causing the death of an anti-gang activist in a dispute over a memorial honoring the activist’s slain daughter.
Citing prosecutorial misconduct, the court ordered a new trial for Annmarie Drago, saying the prosecutor mischaracterized evidence during his summation and confused the jury.
In September 2018, activist Evelyn Rodriguez had set up the memorial in front of Drago’s mother’s house, ahead of a vigil to mark the two-year anniversary of the discovery of Rodriguez’s daughter’s body at the property.
However, Drago was in the process of selling the suburban Long Island home, and dismantled the memorial because she didn’t want to scare off potential buyers. That led to a confrontation between the two women.
Jurors found that Drago caused Evelyn Rodriguez’s death when she drove over her with her SUV. Drago was sentenced last year to nine months in jail following her 2020 criminally negligent homicide conviction.
Rodriguez had become a symbol in the fight against gang violence after her 16-year-old daughter, Kayla Cuevas, was hacked and beaten to death along with a friend. Authorities believe the girls were victims of the MS-13 gang.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney, in a statement Wednesday, said Drago’s trial predated his arrival and that the prosecutor in the case is no longer with the district attorney’s office.
“We respect the appellate court’s decision and will, of course, abide by the ruling as we evaluate how best to proceed in light of this decision,” Tierney said.
Louisiana
50-year sentence in robbery that left armored car guard dead
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to federal charges in a 2013 armored car robbery that left a guard dead was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison.
Curtis Johnson Jr., 30, of New Orleans, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk for his role in the December 2013 robbery at a Chase Bank branch in New Orleans’ Carrollton neighborhood, according to court records and a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Loomis armored car guard Hector Trochez died in an exchange of gunfire with the robbers.
Johnson pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy and firearm charges in March. He’s the last of six people sentenced in connection with the case.
Prosecutors said Johnson, Lilbear George, Chukwudi Ofomata and Jeremy Esteves, robbed a Loomis armored vehicle as it was making a delivery of approximately $265,000. A witness saw them drive away in one vehicle, then enter another driven by Robert Brumfield III.
Esteves and Brumfield were convicted and sentenced to 50 years, according to the release from U.S. Attorney Duane Evans. George and Ofomata pleaded guilty and received 40-year sentences. A former girlfriend of George received probation for obstructing justice in the case.
