Pierre Residents Indicted on Fentanyl Charges

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that three Pierre, South Dakota, individuals have been indicted by a federal grand jury for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance.

Jacob Seibel, age 25, Christa Seibel, age 22, and Darrell Hamann, age 25, were indicted on March 12, 2019.  Jacob Seibel and Christa Seibel appeared on March 18, 2019, and Hamann appeared on March 22, 2019, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno.  All three pled not guilty to the Indictments.

The maximum penalty upon conviction is 20 years in prison and/or a $1,000,000 fine, at least 3 years, up to life, of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund for each Count.   

The Indictments allege that between September 1, 2018, and September 5, 2018, Jacob Seibel, Christa Seibel and Hamann knowingly and intentionally conspired with others to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, in South Dakota.

The charges are merely accusations and Jacob Seibel, Christa Seibel and Hamann are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Northern Plains Safe Trails Drug Enforcement Task Force, Pierre Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges is prosecuting the case.  

All three defendants were released on bond pending trial.  A trial date has not been set.

Lancaster County Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Court to Illegally Possessing a Gun

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Deangelo Raheem Roseboro, age 25, of Lancaster, South Carolina, entered a guilty plea in federal court to possession of a firearm by a person who had been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a year.  United States District Judge J. Michelle Childs of Columbia accepted the guilty plea and will impose sentence after she has received and reviewed a presentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office.

Evidence presented to the court established that on December 6, 2017, a Lancaster County deputy made a routine traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Roseboro.   As the deputy approached the vehicle, he saw Roseboro reaching in the floor board of the passenger side of the vehicle.  The deputy asked Roseboro for his driver’s license, insurance, and registration.  Roseboro stated the car belonged to his uncle and that he only had a driver’s permit, which he did not have with him.  The deputy told Roseboro that he smelled marijuana and asked why he was reaching into the floorboard of the vehicle. Roseboro told the deputy that there was no marijuana in the car but that there was a gun in the car that belonged to his uncle.  As the deputy tried to get Roseboro out of the car to detain him, Roseboro ran away.  After a brief search, Roseboro was found hiding in a friend’s apartment.  Deputies searched the vehicle and found a fully loaded SCCY, model CPX-1, 9mm pistol.   Federal law prohibits Roseboro from possessing firearms and ammunition based on a previous conviction for his involvement in the murder of a Chester City councilman.

Roseboro faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and/or a fine of $250,000.

The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office and was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Project CeaseFire is South Carolina’s implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Assistant United States Attorney William K. Witherspoon of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.

Two Men Convicted Of 1997 Double Murder In The Bronx

Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ROBERT ACOSTA and JOSE DIAZ were convicted of the December 22, 1997, murders of Alex Ventura, 25, and Aneudis Almonte, 20.  The convictions follow a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge Kevin P. Castel.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “More than two decades ago, two young men were brutally murdered in a Bronx stairwell.  Although the case went cold, members of the NYPD and the FBI worked tirelessly to solve it.  A unanimous jury has now held Acosta and Diaz responsible for this terrible crime.”

According to the evidence presented during the trial:

In the 1990s, ACOSTA was the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization that distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine out of several buildings in northern Manhattan.  In the summer of 1997, the murder victims stole more than $200,000 in drug money from a stash apartment that belonged to ACOSTA.  To retaliate, ACOSTA hired DIAZ to kill both men.

On December 22, 1997, DIAZ and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”) lured the victims to an apartment building in the Bronx, ambushed them in a stairwell, and murdered them both.  CC-1 stabbed 20-year-old Almonte six times, including once in the chest.  DIAZ shot Ventura, 25, in the head from point-blank range.  In exchange for these murders, ACOSTA paid DIAZ $12,000.     

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ACOSTA, 47, of Yonkers, New York was convicted of murder while engaged in a conspiracy to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine (Counts One and Two), conspiracy to commit murder for hire (Count Three), and murder for hire (Counts Four and Five).  DIAZ, 53, of the Bronx, New York was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for hire (Count Three), murder for hire (Counts Four and Five), and the use of a firearm to commit murder in furtherance of a crime of violence (Count Six).  ACOSTA and DIAZ each face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD and FBI.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Laurie A. Korenbaum, Michael K. Krouse, and Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo are in charge of the prosecution.