Middletown Man Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Illegal Gun Sales

CINCINNATI — Joshua A. Huiet, 27, of Middletown was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 24 months imprisonment, followed by three years of court–supervised release for illegally selling six firearms in Cincinnati on three separate occasions to individuals he knew were not allowed to possess firearms because of their criminal history.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Robert J. Browning, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Cincinnati Police Chief James Craig announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Barrett.

The case against Huiet began in March 2011 when officers received information that Huiet was willing to sell firearms to individuals he knew were not allowed to possess the weapons due to being a prohibited person. On March 31, 2011, April 2, 2011, and April 4, 2011, the defendant sold firearms to an undercover task force officer. All six firearms were handguns.

“The unlicensed dealing in firearms facilitates criminal access to guns and can increase violent crime,” Cincinnati Branch Chief Anthony Springer wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. “The seriousness, the danger, the devastation to people and their families that can be caused by firearms untraceable to the possessor under these circumstances, hardly need be emphasized.”

Huiet pleaded guilty on January 13, 2012 to one count of dealing firearms without a license.

This case is the result of an ongoing investigation by the Cincinnati Violent Crime Enforcement Team (VCET), a task force of ATF agents, Cincinnati police officers, and a parole officer from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, Adult Parole Authority (APA). The VCET Task Force’s primary mission is to investigate gun violence in Cincinnati and to target the illegal firearms traffickers as well as the “worst of the worst” of offenders illegally possessing firearms.

Huiet was also ordered to forfeit the firearms involved in the sale. The guns will either be destroyed or used for law enforcement training or other purposes.

Carter commended the cooperative investigation by VCET members, along with Cincinnati Branch Chief Anthony Springer, who prosecuted the case.

Working Together to Solve Problems and Keep Communities Safe

This week Deputy Attorney General James Cole traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio where he met with city officials, including Mayor Mallory and Police Chief Craig and addressed a group of Cincinnati police officers who were attending a training presented by the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service.

The training was designed to provide tools to enhance the officers’ ability to build partnerships with community members and to work with their fellow citizens who share a commitment to public safety. 

Deputy Attorney General Cole praised the work of the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) and their decision to participate in this training:

The CPD sought this training because it recognized that in order to maintain its deep commitment to community policing, it must keep seeking new opportunities to build community partnerships.   As you know, the Attorney General came to Cincinnati last year to recognize this commitment and to announce that the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services had awarded the CPD over 6.8 million dollars to put more cops on the beat.   With Chief Craig’s leadership, the CPD has embraced community problem oriented policing to allow officers and the community to work together to solve problems. 

The Community Relations Service (CRS) has a unique mission within the Department of Justice that allows the agency to work with community members and law enforcement leaders to work proactively to address tension associated with allegations of discrimination and to help prevent and respond more effectively to alleged hate crimes.

CRS does not investigate or prosecute and operates under a strict confidentiality mandate that enables the agency to serve police leaders and community leaders in a manner that recognizes the complexity of the challenges that communities face daily.  CRS regularly responds to requests from law enforcement officials and from other community leaders across the country who share a sense of responsibility to improve public safety. 

CRS provided Cultural Professionalism training, which engaged officers in a discussion regarding how to identify the perspectives of various cultures and communities, the impact of police culture on communities, and how communication can bridge cultural divides.   Another training session, focused on Arab/Muslim/Sikh Cultural Awareness was designed to foster mutual understanding and enhance law enforcement outreach capabilities to Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities by addressing cultural behaviors and sensitivities, stereotypes, and expectations.

Community members from the greater Cincinnati area volunteered to help facilitate these trainings, demonstrating through an investment of time and skills their commitment to work together with law enforcement to realize the shared goal of improving public safety.

Along with the Cincinnati Police Department, other local and neighboring law enforcement agencies and City of Cincinnati employees participated in the CRS trainings with a total of over 1000 officers trained.  The officers and the community members who participated in these trainings demonstrated an inspiring belief in the people of Cincinnati and their ability to work together as partners to realize shared goals and further improve public safety. 

Cincinnati Man Found with 13,000 Child Pornography Images, 6,000 Videos on His Computer

CINCINNATI—Michael Lewis Bohannon, 52, of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography after task force investigators found more than 13,000 images and 6,000 videos of child pornography on his computer.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Division (FBI); Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis; and Cincinnati Interim Police Chief Michael Cureton, announced the pleas entered today before Senior U.S. District Judge Sandra S. Beckwith.

According to a statement of facts filed with the guilty pleas, an investigator with the Sheriff’s Regional Electronics Computer Investigations (RECI) task force was patrolling the Internet in December 2010 and connected with Bohannon through a peer-to-peer file-sharing service, locating 41 files of likely child pornography and comparing them with a list of known child pornography files maintained in a database by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Bohannon’s home in January 2011 and seized a computer. Forensic examination of the computer uncovered more than 13,000 images and 6,000 videos of child pornography. Agents arrested Bohannon. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Bohannon was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2005 and served 40 months in prison. Because of his prior conviction, he faces at least 15 years in prison. The plea agreement contains a recommended sentence of 210 months in prison. Judge Beckwith will review the plea agreement and decide whether or not to accept the agreed-to sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by RECI investigators and FBI agents, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy, who is prosecuting the case.

Cincinnati Final Report on 2001 Race Riots

On December 17, 2002, Susan B. Dlott United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Ohio appointed Saul A. Green and a team of eight policing experts (the Monitor Team) to monitor compliance with, and implementation of: the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), between the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the City of Cincinnati (City) and the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD); and the Collaborative Agreement1 (CA), between the Plaintiffs,2 the Fraternal Order of police (FOP), the City and the CPD. During six years of monitoring, the Monitor Team published 21 quarterly reports that chronicle the state of compliance by the parties with the terms of the MOA and CA. The MOA and CA were born out of a unique Alternative
Dispute Resolution (ADR) process developed by Judge Dlott that came to be known as the Cincinnati police-Community Collaborative.

This is the final Monitor’s Report. The report briefly discusses: police community relations in America in an effort to put the MOA and CA in a historical context, the events leading to and the development of the MOA and CA, and some of the critical events and accomplishments during the five years of implementation and the sixth transition year. The Collaborative has been successful in laying a strong foundation for police reform. Many communities, over many decades, have tried to ameliorate the persistent problem of friction between minority communities, particularly African American communities, and the police, with little success. This report documents what went right, what went wrong and what is still to be accomplished in the Collaborative. We hope it will serve as a resource for other communities that face the complex challenge of producing healthy and productive police-community relationships and effective public safety.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
http://www.gabsnet.com/cincinnatimonitor/Final%20Report%2012-29-08.pdf