New Jersey
Man sentenced for threats to Black Maryland woman, family
BALTIMORE (AP) — A New Jersey man has received three years of probation, 30 days of confinement and intensive in-patient drug treatment for making threatening telephone calls to a Black Maryland woman and her family, a federal prosecutor said.
Michael Marotta, 26, of Sewell, New Jersey admitted that he used a text message app that hid his identity to threaten physical harm, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron said in a news release.
According to Marotta’s plea agreement, he used a mobile phone application to send the threatening message. In the message, Marotta used racial epithets to describe the Maryland woman and her family, and he threatened to come to their home and do physical harm, a news release said.
As detailed in his plea agreement, Marotta claims he does not know the target of the threats, and the recipient-victim didn’t know Marotta.
Wisconsin
No charges in market shooting that left 2 dead
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday no charges will be filed in a shooting outside a Milwaukee grocery store that left two dead after prosecutors determined the shooter fired in self-defense.
The shooting on July 9 happened outside the El Rey market on the city’s southside after security guard Anthony Nolden confronted Luis Lorenzo who attempted to carry a shoulder bag into the store, which was against the establishment’s policies, according to the district attorney.
The two men argued and Nolden called his supervisor, Enoch Wilson, and asked for additional security. Authorities said when Lorenzo squared up for a fight, it’s believed Nolden used pepper spray on him and then followed Lorenzo out of the store into the parking lot.
Wilson arrived, saw Nolden following Lorenzo and ran after Lorenzo, bringing him the ground.
Prosecutors said Lorenzo produced a handgun and blindly fired a shot, which struck and killed Nolden who was nearby. Lorenzo then fired the gun at Wilson, who was not hit, officials said. Wilson then fired his gun at Lorenzo, killing him.
“Wilson could only use deadly force against Lorenzo if he reasonably believed that such force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or others,” District Attorney John Chisholm said in a statement.
“Under these circumstances, Wilson’s conduct fell within the scope of the law of self-defense and defense of others. Therefore the State will take no further action in this matter,” Chisholm said.
Massachusetts
Food truck owner charged with pandemic relief fraud
BOSTON (AP) — The owner of a Massachusetts food truck business who authorities say misused most of the $1.5 million in federal pandemic relief funding he obtained by investing it in the stock market has been arrested, federal authorities said.
Loc Vo, 55, faces a charge of wire fraud, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
Vo owned Smart Gourmet LLC, a food truck business in Massachusetts, as well as a dormant Maryland company.
Vo submitted loan applications between April 2020 and July 2021 on behalf of the businesses under three Small Business Administration pandemic relief programs, requesting about $1.5 million that was supposed to be used for rent, mortgage interest, payroll, and utilities, among other eligible expenses, prosecutors said.
Instead, he transferred most of the money to brokerage accounts in his name to invest in the stock market, purchasing shares in an electric car manufacturer and a biotechnology company, among others, authorities said.
He will be arraigned at a date to be determined. No defense attorney was listed in court records. A message was left at a phone listing for Vo’s company.
Vo faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Utah
Man pleads guilty to killing mother, 3 siblings
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah man pleaded guilty Tuesday to fatally shooting his mother and three siblings when he was a teenager in 2020.
Colin “CJ” Haynie, who is now 19 and goes by his middle name of Jeffery, killed his mother and one of his sisters as they returned from her school pickup, then waited for two more siblings to arrive home and killed them, prosecutors said.
His father came back to the home later that evening and was shot in the leg but survived after wrestling the gun away from his son.
After the father subdued him, the then-16-year-old said that he had planned to kill everyone in his family at their home in the small town of Grantsville, near Salt Lake City, authorities said.
Authorities have said they don’t know his motive.
Jeffery Haynie pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder on Tuesday. Several other weapons charges were dismissed in the plea agreement, court documents show.
He had been charged as an adult by prosecutors because of the seriousness of the Jan. 17, 2020, crime.
His attorney, Richard Van Wagoner, said in a statement that prosecutors agreed to let his client stay in the juvenile justice system until he is 25 under a new law that went into effect this year in Utah. That will enable Jeffery Haynie to get access to education and mental health programs designed for younger people.
“Jeffery has wanted to accept responsibility,” Van Wagoner said. “Jeffery was a troubled teen and lacked certain abilities and resources.”
The victims were his mother, Consuelo Alejandra Haynie, 52; his sisters Milan and Alexis, ages 12 and 15; and his 14-year-old brother Matthew.
The family’s oldest child, Danny Haynie, was not home at the time of the shootings. At a funeral for the family members in 2020 at their local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ congregation, Danny Haynie said that CJ Haynes was still loved and part of the family.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 7. Aggravated murder in Utah typically carries the possibility of the death penalty, but state prosecutors cannot seek it for people convicted of crimes that happened when they were under 18 even if their cases are moved to adult court.
So Haynie faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life for each aggravated murder conviction under state law.
Connecticut
Multimillion-dollar theft ring member gets 7 years in prison
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A member of a theft ring that committed more than 180 burglaries and eluded police in dozens of car chases in Connecticut and New York was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison.
Josepher Cartagena, of the Bronx in New York City, appeared before a federal judge in Hartford, Connecticut, after having pleaded guilty in February to possession of stolen property.
Four other people, including Cartagena’s brother, were charged in the burglary spree, which targeted mostly car dealerships and cell phone stores from June 2020 to January 2021 and netted more $4 million in stolen property, federal prosecutors said. The group stole cars, cell phones, electronics and even ATM machines, prosecutors said.
Cartagena’s lawyer, Jon Silveri, declined to comment after the hearing. In court documents, he wrote Cartagena acknowledged taking part in the thefts and regretted his actions but denied being a leader of the ring like prosecutors alleged.
“He believes he has learned his lesson from this case,” Silveri wrote. “His being involved in this case was due to poor judgment, lack of education and desire to obtain money.”
Cartagena, 26, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Michael Shea that he was remorseful and is working to better himself.
Cartagena’s brother, Alexander Santiago, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the same prison term — 90 months. A third person was sent to prison for over four years, and two others were charged.
Prosecutors said the crew escaped police on numerous occasions by leading officers on high-speed chases that had to be terminated for safety reasons. Information on Santiago’s phone indicated he engaged police in 89 chases, prosecutors said.
Authorities arrested Cartagena in December 2020 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, after several high-speed chases and collisions with police vehicles that day. One officer was injured.
Prosecutors said many of the stolen items, including vehicle keys and cell phones, as well as cash, firearms and ammunition, were found in the homes of Cartagena and Santiago.
Virginia
Ex-school administrator gets 5 years for fraud
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Richmond woman was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in prison for directing a yearslong scheme to defraud state and federal officials of at least $230,000 in student financial aid funds, a prosecutor said.
Court documents showed that Kiesha Pope, 48, was the director of financial aid at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College starting in 2006. Pope was involved in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Education, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the college of educational funds from 2011 to 2017, U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber said. News outlets report that Pope pleaded guilty earlier this year to wire fraud.
Pope developed or increased financial aid eligibility for individuals, often her family members, who were not eligible for financial aid, Aber said. From there, Pope directed at least four co-conspirators to send her the majority of the funds, which she spent on personal expenses, including a vacation on Disney Cruise Line.
School leaders confronted Pope in October 2017 about her relationship with various academically ineligible students that the college had realized were receiving high amounts of financial aid, according to a news release. Pope claimed not to know the students, who were in fact her son, goddaughter and cousin. Pressed for supporting documentation to justify Pope’s financial aid structuring, Pope resigned, Aber said.
California
Man sentenced for $27M phony COVID-19 aid attempt
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man who tried to obtain $27 million in unemployment benefits by falsely claiming his business was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in federal prison.
Robert Benlevi, 53, of the Encino area of Los Angeles received a 135-month sentence following his March conviction for bank fraud, money laundering and making false statements to a financial institution, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
In 2020, Benlevi submitted 27 applications for forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said.
The applications to four banks were made on behalf of eight companies that Benlevi owned. Benlevi claimed that each company had 100 employees and an average monthly payroll of $400,000 “even though he knew that the companies did not have any employees or payroll expenses,” the DOJ said.
Benlevi sought $27 million in funding to meet expenses and received $3 million that he spent on personal expenses, authorities said.
