Massachusetts Man Sentenced to Over Seven Years in Prison for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property

U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II of the District of Maine announced today that Lawrence Estrella, 65, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge George Z. Singal of the District of Maine to 92 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for interstate transportation of stolen property.  Estrella pleaded guilty on Feb. 20, 2015.

According to court records and information from the sentencing hearing, in May 2013, six N.C. Wyeth paintings were stolen from a residence in Portland, Maine.  In November 2014, Estrella transported four of the six stolen paintings to California in an effort to sell them.  Law enforcement officers in California located his vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel in North Hollywood, California.  Estrella’s room at the hotel was searched and a firearm was located, but no paintings were found.

On Dec. 19, 2014, law enforcement officers recovered the four stolen paintings from a pawn shop in Beverly Hills, California.  The four recovered paintings are titled, “At a touch from Michael’s knife,” “The Unwrit Dogma,” “The Duel” and “John Brimblecombe.”  The four recovered paintings are worth more than $1 million.  Oscar Roberts, the man who used the stolen paintings to secure a loan from the Beverly Hills pawn shop, was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California and was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

The remaining two stolen paintings, “The Encounter on Freshwater Cliff” and “Go, Dutton, and that right speedily,” have not yet been recovered.

This case results from a joint investigation conducted by the FBI’s Portland and Los Angeles offices, the Portland Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department.

Associate of Hacking Group LulzSec Indicted for Conspiracy to Conduct Cyber Attacks

LOS ANGELES—A federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned an indictment Tuesday charging an associate of the hacking group LulzSec, an offshoot of the larger group Anonymous, with multiple computer attacks targeting a news organization and private companies, announced André Birotte, Jr., the United States Attorney in Los Angeles; and Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Ryan Cleary, 20, a resident and citizen of the United Kingdom, is currently incarcerated while facing foreign prosecution in England related to his hacking activities. The indictment, filed on June 12, 2012, in United States District Court in Los Angeles, charges Cleary with one count of conspiracy and two counts of the unauthorized impairment of protected computers.

Count one of the indictment alleges that from approximately April 2011 through June 2011, Cleary conspired with LulzSec members to intentionally cause damage to the computer systems of a news organization and several businesses, including by hacking into systems to steal data and by launching distributed denial of service attacks, or DDoS attacks, using Cleary’s “botnet.” A botnet is a collection of compromised computers, known as “bots,” that are infected with malicious software and then listen for, respond to, and execute commands issued remotely by the owner of the botnet. A botnet can be used to conduct DDoS attacks by directing the numerous bots in the botnet to flood a victim’s computer system with so many commands that the system is rendered unable to handle legitimate requests, thus denying legitimate users the services of the computer resource.

The indictment alleges that Cleary controlled a large botnet of tens of thousands, and potentially hundreds of thousands of bots, and that he used his botnet to conduct DDoS attacks against various entities. The indictment further alleges that Cleary would rent out his botnet for certain time periods in exchange for money from individuals interested in conducting DDoS attacks targeting specific victims.

The conspiracy count alleges that Cleary assisted LulzSec in its hacking activities by identifying and exploiting security vulnerabilities on victim computers, conducting DDoS attacks, and providing access to servers and other computer resources for LulzSec members to use, including to communicate amongst each other and to store and publish confidential information stolen from victim computers. When an associate of Cleary’s was questioned by law enforcement regarding LulzSec’s activities, Cleary allegedly instructed the associate to falsely accuse an innocent party.

LulzSec is known for its affiliation with the international group of hackers known as Anonymous. Anonymous, according to the indictment, is a collective of computer hackers and other individuals located throughout the world who conduct cyber attacks against individuals and entities they perceive to be hostile to its interests.

LulzSec has been linked to the hacking, or attempted hacking, of numerous targets, including the computer systems of government and business entities.

If convicted of the charges in the United States, Cleary faces a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

This investigation was conducted by the Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) in Los Angeles. The ECTF is comprised of agents and officers from the FBI, United States Secret Service, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, United States Attorney’s Office, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol.

This case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

An indictment merely contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at trial.

North Hollywood Man Arrested After Being Indicted Under New Legislation Making it a Crime to Point a Laser at an Aircraft

LOS ANGELES—A North Hollywood man was taken into custody this morning after being charged in a federal indictment that alleges he pointed the beam of a laser at multiple aircraft, announced Steven Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; and André Birotte, Jr., the United States Attorney in Los Angeles.

Adam Gardenhire,18, was arrested this morning at his North Hollywood residence without incident. Gardenhire was named in a two-count indictment filed yesterday in United States District Court in Los Angeles that alleges he pointed the beam of a laser at a private plane and a police helicopter.

The federal statute used to charge Gardenhire is part of new legislation recently signed into law by President Obama that makes it a federal crime to deliberately point a laser at an aircraft. The indictment marks the second time a violation of the new statute has been charged in the United States, and the first time one has been charged on the West Coast.

According to the indictment, Gardenhire deliberately aimed a commercial-grade green laser at multiple aircraft on the evening of March 29, 2012. The laser attack was initially reported by a pilot operating a privately owned Cessna Citation. The indictment further alleges that the beam of Gardenhire’s laser was pointed at a helicopter operated by a pilot with the Pasadena Police Department who was responding to the report of the laser attack on the Cessna. Air and ground investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Pasadena Police Department identified Gardenhire as a suspect later that evening, and Gardenhire was taken into custody on state charges of pointing a laser at an aircraft. Gardenhire subsequently posted bail and was released from local custody while the joint investigation continued.

Reports of laser attacks have increased dramatically in recent years as laser devices have become more affordable and widely available to the public. In addition, technology has advanced the effectiveness of laser devices, with a resulting increase in the potential safety hazards for pilots operating aircraft and their passengers and crew. Such safety hazards include temporary distraction and impaired vision, which is particularly dangerous during the critical takeoff or landing phase of flight. In addition, pilots have reported the need to abort landings or relinquish control of the aircraft to another pilot as a result of laser attacks. California consistently leads the nation in reports of laser attacks. Over 3,500 laser attacks were reported in 2011.

Gardenhire is scheduled to make an initial appearance before a federal magistrate judge this afternoon in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.

If convicted of both charges in the indictment, Gardenhire faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Gardenhire is also subject to civil penalties by the Federal Aviation Administration.

This investigation was conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department, the Pasadena Police Department, the Burbank Police Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FBI.

Gardenhire is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Phony Document Rings Broken Up

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Alleged California Ringleader Arrested

It just got a little harder to get a phony driver’s license or Social Security card in the U.S.

On November 3, more than 300 law enforcement officers from a variety of federal and local agencies executed dozens of search warrants and arrests involving fraudulent document rings operating in California, Illinois, and Texas that reached into a number of other states and Mexico.

One of the main targets of the investigation was Alejandro Morales Serrano, who is believed to be a key player in this criminal conspiracy. Serrano and a number of his associates allegedly manufactured and sold the raw materials used to create the phony documents—like sheets of plastic laminates, monochrome card printer ribbons, hard plastic cards, and magnetic card reader/writer machines. Serrano was also one of those arrested during the law enforcement sweep.

The indictment alleges that the false documents were created on a large scale in California, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, and Michigan. In addition to U.S. driver’s licenses and Social Security cards, these documents also included U.S. Permanent Residency cards (a.k.a., “green cards”), Mexican consular ID cards, and Mexican driver’s licenses.

According to the indictment, the illegal document-making operation supported the manufacturing of fake driver’s licenses for approximately 40 U.S. states and a number of Mexican states.

Searches conducted during the takedown resulted in significant seizures from various residences, other locations, and vehicles and included plastic laminates used to produce the documents, computers, and stacks of phony documents that would have undoubtedly ended up on the black market had it not been for law enforcement’s intervention.

The indictment doesn’t specify when Serrano began his alleged “manufacturing” career, but it does state that he was heard on a law enforcement wiretap telling someone he’d been engaged in the business for more than a decade.

What were the phony identification documents used for? The investigation revealed that they were used by used by illegal aliens to get jobs as well as to apply for citizenship and residency-related benefits. We also believe that the operation supported other crimes—and criminals—like credit and bank fraud, tax fraud, identity theft, and pharmaceutical diversion.

Of course, one of law enforcement’s concerns about fraudulent document activity is that a fake identity document could potentially end up in the hands of someone with a more nefarious plan in mind—like a spy or a terrorist trying to enter the U.S. to steal information or harm Americans.

Explained Steven Gomez, Special Agent in Charge of the Counterterrorism Branch in our Los Angeles office, “False documents are utilized by a wide variety of criminals to facilitate their illegal activity as well as to conceal their identities from law enforcement. This multi-agency operation disrupted criminal activity, but also identified a national security vulnerability.”

In a related case worked by the FBI and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, several individuals were identified in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute false identification documents with the materials supplied by Serrano.

Both investigations and subsequent takedowns were the result of the collaborative efforts of many agencies, including the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement, as well as agencies in Illinois, Texas, and elsewhere in California.

Defendant Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Narcotic Violations

LOS ANGELES – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today announced that Jose Adelmo Ayala was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison on Sept. 26 by United States District Judge Steven V. Wilson. Ayala was arrested as part of a 2010 ATF investigation dubbed “Operation Temple Street,” and pled guilty to distribution of methamphetamine.

Ayala, 28, North Hollywood, was one of 12 suspects investigated during the ATF led investigation into illegal firearm and narcotic crimes in the area. During the course of the investigation, ATF was notified by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), that Ayala was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of a 14 year old female in an unrelated investigation. The kidnapping investigation concluded with ATF and LAPD arresting Ayala in July 2010. Ayala was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and aggravated assault charges in California State court in April 2011.

“The law abiding citizens of this community are safer because of Ayala’s sentencing, which will ensure the incarceration of a dangerous criminal for the rest of his life,” said John A. Torres, Special Agent in Charge ATF Los Angeles Field Division. “ATF and LAPD will continue to combat violent crime together to ensure the public’s safety.”

Ayala is the first of the 12 defendants from Operation Temple Street to be sentenced in both federal and state court. Eleven of the remaining defendants are being criminally prosecuted in state court for various firearm and narcotic violations.

Florida Man Arrested on Charges of Selling Stolen Art and Selling Forged Paintings for Millions of Dollars

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LOS ANGELES—A Florida man was arrested this morning pursuant to a federal indictment that alleges he sold paintings stolen from a Los Angeles art gallery, and that he had sold forged artworks to a collector with false claims that they had been painted by esteemed artists.

Matthew Taylor, 43, of Vero Beach, Florida, was arrested without incident this morning by special agents with the FBI. Taylor, who formerly worked as an art dealer, is expected to make his initial court appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Fort Pierce, Florida.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Taylor last week on seven felony charges related to art theft and a long-running fraud that targeted a Los Angeles art collector.

The indictment charges Taylor with defrauding the art collector victim out of millions of dollars by selling him forged art works. Taylor allegedly sold the collector more than 100 paintings—including paintings that he falsely claimed were by artists such as Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko—for a total of more than $2 million. The indictment alleges that Taylor altered paintings from unknown artists to make them appear to be the products of famous artists, and then sold the bogus artwork to the victim at prices exponentially higher than their actual worth.

To conceal the true nature of the paintings, Taylor allegedly put forged on the paintings and painted over or otherwise concealed signatures from the actual artists. The indictment also alleges that Taylor created and put onto the paintings fake labels which falsely represented that the artworks were once part of prestigious art collections at famous museums, including those of the Museum of Modern Art in the New York and the Guggenheim Museum.

Regarding the alleged art heists, the indictment accuses Taylor of stealing a Granville Redmond painting called “Seascape at Twilight” from a gallery in Los Angeles. Taylor later sold that painting to a different gallery for $85,000, falsely claiming that his mother had owned it for several years. The indictment also alleges that Taylor stole a separate artwork—a painting by Lucien Frank titled “Park Scene, Paris”—from the same gallery in Los Angeles. Taylor was seen several years later in possession of the stolen Lucien Frank painting at a gallery in Vero Beach.

The indictment further alleges that Taylor laundered and transferred across state lines some of the proceeds from his fraud on the collector victim—specifically, $105,000 that Taylor had taken from the victim by selling him four forged paintings in September 2006.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.

The indictment charges Taylor with three counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, one count of interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of possession of stolen property. The mail fraud charges each carry a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, and the remaining counts each carry a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years. Therefore, if he is convicted of all seven counts in the indictment, Taylor faces a maximum possible sentence of 100 years in federal prison.

Based on evidence collected throughout this case, investigators believe there are additional victims of art fraud related to Taylor’s activities. Individuals who purchased art from Taylor and believe they may have been defrauded should contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Los Angeles at (310) 477-6565 or the Los Angeles Police Department’s Art Theft Detail at (213) 486-6940.

(A photo of Taylor is above for the purpose of potentially identifying additional victims.)

The ongoing investigation into Taylor is being conducted by the FBI’s Art Crime Team, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Art Theft Detail, and IRS - Criminal Investigation.

CONTACT:

Assistant United States Attorney James A. Bowman

Major Frauds Section

(213) 894-2213

Assistant United States Attorney Heather C. Gorman

General Crimes Section

(213) 894-0334