Beclabito Man Charged with Causing the Death of a Minor by Serving Her Liquor

ALBUQUERQUE—Stanford Benally, 41, a member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Beclabito, New Mexico, made his initial appearance in Albuquerque federal court on a two-count indictment charging him with (1) second-degree murder, and (2) involuntary manslaughter. Benally, who was arrested yesterday by the FBI, remains in custody pending a detention hearing and arraignment on September 13, 2012.

Count one of the indictment, the second-degree murder charge, alleges that on May 19, 2012, Benally caused the death of a minor female by serving her liquor and failing to provide care and seek medical attention for the minor in a manner that evinced a callous and wanton disregard for human life. Count two, the involuntary manslaughter charge, alleges that, on that same date, Benally deposited the unconscious and intoxicated minor on her bedroom floor without providing care and seeking medical assistance in a manner that was grossly negligent and with a wanton and reckless disregard for human life. According to the indictment, the offenses occurred in Indian Country in San Juan County, New Mexico.

If convicted of the murder charge, Benally faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. If convicted of the involuntary manslaughter charge, he faces a maximum penalty of eight years of imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI, with assistance from the Shiprock Division of the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack E. Burkhead.

FBI Agents Arrest Udeil Delton Yates in Queens

Wanted for Murder and Robbery in Virginia

This morning at approximately 10:30 a.m., FBI agents arrested Udeil Delton Yates without incident outside a residence at 41-03 108th Street, Queens, New York. Yates was arrested on a warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

The arrest was made with the assistance of the New York City Police Department’s Manhattan Warrant Squad. Yates was charged on July 20, 2012 by the commonwealth of Virginia with first-degree murder, malicious wounding, two counts of robbery, four counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.

“This arrest is another fine example of the outstanding cooperation the FBI shares with local police departments around the nation, in furtherance of our common goal of getting violent criminals off our streets,” said Special Agent in Charge April Brooks.

Former Mexican Government Official Sentenced to Eight Years in Federal Prison After Pleading Guilty to Racketeering Charge

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that today United States District Court Judge William Q. Hayes sentenced Jesus Quinonez-Marquez, the former Director of International Liaison for the Baja California Attorney General’s Office, to serve 97 months in custody following a guilty plea to participating in a federal racketeering (RICO) conspiracy. After completing his custodial sentence, Quinonez-Marquez will be deported to Mexico and placed on a three-year term of supervised release. In his plea agreement, Quinonez-Marquez admitted that he corruptly used his official position within the Baja California Attorney General’s Office to further the criminal activities of the criminal enterprise controlled by Fernando Sanchez-Arellano (the FSO). Specifically, Quinonez-Marquez admitted to using his position as a lawyer at the Attorney General’s Office to provide information to FSO members to avoid apprehension and prosecution for a double homicide which occurred in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 25, 2010, and to conspiring to launder $13 million dollars on behalf of the FSO.

To date, 39 defendants have been convicted in this case, which resulted from a long-term investigation conducted by the multi-agency San Diego Cross Border Violence Task Force (CBVTF). The CBVTF was formulated to target those individuals involved in organized crime-related violent activities affecting both the United States and Mexico. Law enforcement personnel assigned to the CBVTF made extensive use of court-authorized wiretaps and other sophisticated investigative techniques to develop the significant evidence which led to the charges in this case. The trial of the single remaining defendant, Armando Villareal Heredia, will likely be scheduled in 2013. The public is reminded that an indictment itself is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

United States Attorney Duffy praised the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) for the coordinated team effort in the culmination of this investigation, Operation Luz Verde. Agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; San Diego Police Department; Drug Enforcement Administration; San Diego Sheriff’s Office; Chula Vista Police Department; U.S. Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; San Diego District Attorney’s Office; and California Department of Justice participated in this OCDETF investigation. The OCDETF program was created to consolidate and utilize all law enforcement resources in this country’s battle against organized crime and major drug trafficking organizations.

Case Number 10CR3044-WQH

Defendant

Jesus Quinones Marquez, aka Rinon

Summary of Charges

Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(d)-conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity

Investigating Agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation

San Diego Police Department

Drug Enforcement Administration

San Diego Sheriff’s Office

Chula Vista Police Department

U.S. Marshals Service

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

California Department of Justice-San Diego District Attorney’s Office

Adrien John Matuck Found Guilty in U.S. Federal Court

The United States Attorney’s Office announced that on September 7, 2012, in Great Falls, after a federal district court trial before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, Adrien John Matuck, a 26-year-old resident of Poplar and an enrolled member of the Hualapai Tribe in Arizona, was found guilty of first-degree murder. Sentencing is set for January 7, 2013. He is currently detained.

At trial, the following evidence and testimony was presented to the jury.

During the evening of August 6, 2011, and into the early morning hours of August 7, 2011, in Poplar, Matuck met up with a few other people, including R.B., the victim.

At one party during the night, Matuck, who is a former Marine, grabbed a man around the neck with his hands. Matuck yelled he had killed a bunch of people while in the Marines while he lunged at this man.

Sometime around 4 a.m. on August 7, 2011, Matuck, M.V., L.S., and J.W. went to J.W.’s car. The victim was passed out in the backseat of the car. M.V. told the victim to get up, and, in response, the victim slapped M.V. Matuck became angry and punched the victim.

Due to the commotion, J.W. stopped the car ,and Matuck got out of the passenger seat. L.S., M.V., and the victim also got out of the car. The victim punched Matuck a few times in the face. M.V. walked away from the car and would not come back. Matuck’s nose bled from the punches he received from the victim, and he pulled off his shirt to wipe his face. He pointed his finger at the victim and said, “I’m going to get you.” He further added, “I’m a Marine; I know how to kill.”

J.W., L.S., Matuck, and the victim got back into the car and drove to J.W.’s trailer. L.S. and J.W. fell asleep soon thereafter. The victim sat in a recliner chair and also fell asleep, which left Matuck as the only person awake in the trailer.

Y.H. and her son G.G. live down the alley from J.W.’s trailer house. They heard their dog barking around 7 a.m. Y.H. looked out the window and saw Matuck walking west and cut across their yard. Y.H. told G.G. what she observed. G.G. looked out the window and observed Matuck go to the house next door and pull a piece of a gray shirt from his right pocket. He placed this piece of shirt under a stone rain gutter. Matuck then asked the next-door neighbor for Kool-Aid when she looked outside. Matuck continued to walk through the neighborhood and stopped by another house until he got into a fight and was told to leave sometime around 9 a.m.

Meanwhile, L.S. and J.W. began to wake up in J.W.’s trailer. Matuck was not in the trailer when they both woke up. The victim was still in the recliner and looked like he was passed out. L.S. yelled at the victim to get up. The back door opened and Matuck came inside. J.W. asked Matuck where he had been and Matuck replied, “I don’t know; I was upstairs.” L.S. and J.W. did not know what Matuck meant by that statement because the trailer was only one story. Matuck then lay down on a mattress positioned on the living room floor in front of the recliner where the victim sat. L.S. went over to the victim and grabbed his face. The victim felt cold to L.S.’s touch, and she observed his tongue was sticking slightly out with saliva dripping from his mouth. J.W. checked for a pulse and did not feel anything, and he called 911.

Medical personnel pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Y.H. called the police when she learned Matuck was a suspect in the victim’s death. G.G. recovered the piece of shirt from beneath the rain gutter, and Y.H. placed the evidence in a plastic bag. Investigators observed the piece of gray shirt was actually rolled into the shape of a ligature.

An autopsy revealed the victim died of a ligature strangulation. An instrument was used on the victim’s neck, which was at least a half-inch wide and soft and flexible. It appeared the ligature was tightened from behind and pulled up and to the left of the victim’s head. Petechial hemorrhages about the victim’s eyes and lips indicated pressure was applied to the victim’s neck for a period of at least 30 seconds.

The FBI laboratory analyzed a piece of fabric from the top rear of the recliner where the victim was found. Matuck could not be excluded as a potential minor contributor of DNA to the fabric. The piece of shirt turned over by Y.H. was analyzed, as well. Matuck and the victim could also not be excluded as potential contributors to of DNA to the fabric.

A carpet sample was taken from the floor behind the recliner. Yellow nylon carpet-type fibers that exhibited the same microscopic characteristics and optical properties as the fibers from this sample were found on Matuck’s shirt and shorts collected from him at the jail, as well as on fabric from the top of the recliner. These same fibers were also found on the shirt and plastic bag provided by Y.H.

The crime took place within the exterior boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica A. Betley and Kris A. McLean prosecuted the case for the United States.

Matuck faces possible penalties of mandatory life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Peck Tribes Criminal Investigation Division.

18TH STREET GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO OVER 24 YEARS IN PRISON FOR A RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY RELATED TO GANG ACTIVITIES

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Silvia Martinez, a/k/a "Crazy," age 23, of Washington, D.C., to 293 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise in connection with her activities as a member of the 18th Street gang.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Marino F. Vidoli of the ATF - Baltimore Field Division; Chief Mark P. Sroka of the Gaithersburg Police Department; Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George's County Police Department; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; Chief Cathy Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department; Chief Larry Brownlee of the Maryland National Capital Park Police - Prince George's County Division; Montgomery County Sheriff Darren Popkin; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy; and Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks.

According to her plea agreement, from 2007 through March 2010, Martinez, a native of El Salvador, was a member of the 18th Street gang. The gang originated in the Los Angeles, California area and operates in Central America and across the United States, including Maryland. The gang is divided into subsets called cliques, and operates according to rules which the gang enforces by punishment for their violation, including beating the violating gang member. For serious transgressions, the gang will "green light" or order the murder of a gang member.

On January 18, 2009, Martinez and other gang members, including Joel Ventura Quintanilla and Ysaud Flores, participated in the kidnapping and murder of 15 year old Dennys Alfredo Guzman-Saenz, who was thought to be a rival gang member. Ventura Quintanilla and another gang member forced Guzman-Saenz into a car in Langley Park, Maryland, then took him to Gaithersburg, Maryland, where Martinez and other gang members became involved. Martinez and other gang members took Guzman-Saenz to a park in Gaithersburg where he was stabbed and beaten by several gang members, including Martinez, causing his death. Guzman-Saenz's body was found in a creek in the park the next morning.

On February 8, 2009, Martinez and other gang members were at a residence in Gaithersburg discussing the killing of rival gang members. Martinez rode in a car with other gang members into the District of Columbia in search of rival gang members. Ventura Quintanilla and another gang member in the car were both armed with guns. After the car stopped near a restaurant, Ventura Quintanilla and the other gang member approached two men who were standing in front of the restaurant. Ventura Quintanilla shot two men, killing one of the victims, Manuel Garcia-Fuentes, age 24.

Judge Titus previously sentenced gang members Joel Ventura Quintanilla, aka "Clon," age 25, and Ysaud Flores, a/k/a "Snyder," age 33, both of Germantown, Maryland, to life in prison and 22 years in prison, respectively. Martinez, Ventura Quintanilla and Flores were also convicted on related state charges in Montgomery County Circuit Court, where Ventura Quintanilla was sentenced to life in prison, and Flores was sentenced to life in prison, with all but 75 years suspended. Martinez is awaiting sentencing in the state case.

A total of seven 18th Street gang members, including Martinez, Ventura Quintanilla and Flores, have been convicted in federal court on charges related to their gang activities and sentenced to between 94 months and life in prison.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the members of ATF-led RAGE Task Force, including the Gaithersburg Police Department, the Prince George's County Police Department, Montgomery County Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, and the Maryland National Capital Park Police - Prince George's County Division, as well as the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI and the Montgomery County and Prince George's County State's Attorneys' offices for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys William Moomau and Jonathan Lenzner, who prosecuted the case.

Help the FBI Catch a Killer

Unknown Offender Linked by DNA in Two Separate Cases

On a Saturday night in October 2009, college student Morgan Harrington left a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and disappeared. It would be several months before her body was discovered in a field about 10 miles away.

We need your help to find Harrington’s killer. The individual we are seeking has also been linked by DNA to a sexual assault in Fairfax City, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Today, the Virginia State Police, Fairfax City Police, and the FBI released two enhanced sketches of the suspect and are reminding the public there is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Harrington case.

The multimedia campaign being launched today to draw attention to the investigation will include information on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, a public service announcement by Metallica, and electronic billboards in Virginia and along the East Coast.

“Bringing renewed attention to the case will get people thinking about it again,” said Virginia State Police Special Agent Dino Cappuzzo. “Our hope is that someone will come forward and provide a crucial piece of information that will help us solve the murder.”

Harrington was a 20-year-old student at Virginia Tech when she went to the concert that Saturday, October 17, at the John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus. At about 8:30 p.m., she left the building and was unable to get back inside. She was last seen hitchhiking nearby.

Her remains were discovered the following January in a remote field on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. A camera she had that night and a distinctive Swarovski crystal necklace she was wearing have not been recovered.

FBI agents in our Charlottesville Resident Agency have been assisting state investigators, and profilers from our Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) have also provided consultation.

“A lot of BAU’s work focused on the location of the body and what that told us about the offender,” Cappuzzo said. “We believe he was intimately familiar with the farm and the surrounding area where the body was recovered. He may have been comfortable there and felt he was not at risk of getting caught.”

DNA recovered in the Harrington case was linked to an unknown offender in a September 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax City. A 26-year-old woman was attacked at night while walking home from a grocery store. The offender was scared away by a passerby—but the victim got a good look at him, enabling a Fairfax City Police artist to produce a sketch of the attacker.

“It was a remarkable break to get the DNA match,” said FBI Special Agent Jane Collins. The forensic evidence linked the two cases, so now we have a face to put with the suspect in the Harrington case. The suspect is described as an African-American male with black hair and facial hair (at the time of the 2005 attack). He is approximately 6 feet tall and was believed to be between the ages of 25 and 35 years old at the time of the Fairfax City assault.

Help us catch Morgan Harrington’s killer. If you have any information about the Harrington case or the Fairfax City assault, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Virginia State Police Tip line at 434-352-3467, or submit a tip online.

A Familiar Face?

We are asking the public to review the sketches and other information in the Morgan Harrington and Fairfax City cases and consider whether they know someone who fits this description or who lived or had ties to the areas around the times of the assaults.

People who know the suspect may not believe he is capable of committing such crimes. He may not have a violent criminal history. Because investigators have DNA evidence that can positively link the suspect to his crimes—or exclude innocent parties—the public should not hesitate to provide information.

The Jefferson Area Crime Stoppers is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Morgan’s murder. The band Metallica has added an additional $50,000 to that amount.