Rochester Woman Pleads Guilty For Role In Greece Liquor Store Robbery

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Kayla Dade, 20, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford to Hobbs Act robbery. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean C. Eldridge, who is handling the case, stated that on January 23, 2019, the defendant drove co-defendants Lavon Wims and Malik Lott to the vicinity of Jordy’s Spirits at 3725 Dewey Avenue in Greece, NY. Dade waited in the car while Wims and Lott entered Jordy’s Spirits. Once inside, Wims pointed what appeared to be a handgun at a store employee and demanded money. Lott assisted Wims in removing cash from the register, and they left with approximately $350. Wims and Lott then returned to Dade’s car, and she drove them away from the area of the robbery. The defendant knew that Wims had committed robberies prior to January 23, 2019, and previously possessed a firearm. 

Co-defendants Lott and Wims were previously convicted for their roles in the robbery at Jordy’s Spirits, as well other robberies in the Rochester area, and are awaiting sentencing.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rochester Area Major Crimes Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 29, 2020, at 2:30 p.m. before Judge Wolford.

Dentist Charged with Child Exploitation Offenses

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Brian C. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that SCOTT DAVID COHEN, 39, of Stratford, was arrested today and charged by federal criminal complaint with multiple child sexual exploitation offenses.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, earlier this month, Cohen, using the username “drpinstripe13,” began communicating on Instagram with an individual whom he believed was a 15-year-old girl.  In numerous chat conversations, Cohen expressed in graphic detail his desire to engage in sexual activity with the “minor.”  Cohen described a variety of sexual activities he wanted to have with the minor and sent her sexually explicit images of himself.

The complaint further alleges that the minor told Cohen that she lived out of state and had plans to travel to New York to visit a relative.  Cohen, who is a dentist with a practice in Trumbull, expressed a willingness to reschedule patients at his dental practice in order to meet the girl.

Cohen was arrested this afternoon after he traveled to the Stratford train station to meet the “girl.”

Following his arrest, Cohen appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing that is not yet scheduled,

The complaint charges Cohen with enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to minors, and sexual exploitation of children.

U.S. Attorney Durham stressed that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria del Pilar Gonzalez.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Jury convicts South Carolina man of kidnapping woman after he sexually assaulted her in Ohio

A federal jury in Akron convicted a South Carolina man of kidnapping after he sexually assaulted a woman and held her against her will.

Anthony Ingram, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced February 27, 2019.

According to court documents and trial testimony:

Ingram drove a semi-trailer. In Michigan, Ingram lured the woman into his commercial semi-truck by offering her a ride to Indiana. Ingram instead began driving the woman in the opposite direction toward Maryland.

When the woman discovered that Ingram was not taking her to Indiana, Ingram promised the woman he would take her to Indiana after delivering a shipment of goods to Maryland. Ingram then pulled his semi-truck off to the side of the turnpike in Hudson, Ohio, and sexually assaulted her while threatening her with a weapon. 

The woman convinced Ingram to stop at a truck stop in Lima, Ohio where she escaped from Ingram and called 911 from a restaurant.  Beaver Township police officers responded to the scene and Ingram fled in his semi truck.

GPS records showed that Ingram stopped 15 miles down the road. FBI and Ohio State Highway investigators eventually found the woman’s clothing and cell phone discarded next to the turnpike at the location Ingram stopped.

“This case is an example of law enforcement working together to hold accountable a defendant who lured a woman with lies and then assaulted her and held her against her will,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “This man is looking at decades in prison, which is exactly where he belongs.”

The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pennsylvania State Highway Patrol and Beaver Township Police Department investigated the case, with assistance from the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Daly and Aaron Howell.