Stephen E. Vogt Named Special Agent in Charge of Baltimore Division

Director Robert S. Mueller, III has named Stephen E. Vogt special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore Division. Mr. Vogt most recently served as the legal attaché in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Mr. Vogt began his career as a special agent with the FBI in August 1989. He first reported to the Cleveland Division, where he investigated white-collar crime, public corruption, organized crime, and drug cases and was also a member of the SWAT team. While there, he received the FBI Director’s Award and the Attorney General’s Award for his work on a law enforcement corruption investigation. In 1999, Mr. Vogt was promoted to supervisory special agent of a drug task force/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Group (HIDTA) and was named the 2004 HIDTA Task Force Commander of the Year by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In 2005, Mr. Vogt was promoted to team leader in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he managed teams of supervisors over a 12-month period as they conducted on-site inspections of field offices throughout the United States.

Mr. Vogt reported to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006, where he served as an assistant legal attaché and investigated kidnappings, hostage matters, and general criminal activity.

In 2007, Mr. Vogt was promoted to an assistant special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office. He oversaw the cyber, gang/criminal enterprise, organized crime, and violent crime programs. During this time, he also worked with the Baltimore Division to establish a Cross Border Task Force in Prince George’s County, Maryland, aimed at combating violent gangs in the county.

Mr. Vogt reported to Kabul, Afghanistan as legal attaché in 2010. In this capacity, he was responsible for all FBI personnel and operations throughout the country.

Mr. Vogt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Washington & Lee University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore. He is married and has three children.

Title Company Owner Pleads Guilty in $1.5 Million Fraud Scheme

BALTIMORE—Harriet M. Taylor, age 56, of Ellicott City, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to use over $1.5 million in mortgage closing funds for her personal use or to operate her title companies.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Inspector General Steve A. Linick of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

According to her plea agreement, Taylor co-owned and managed two title insurance companies, Regal Title Company, LLC and Loyalty Title Company, LLC, located in Columbia, Maryland. Taylor entered into an agreement with a national title insurance underwriter to establish escrow accounts for Regal and Loyalty, separate from company operating accounts, for the purpose of holding and disbursing funds received from lenders for real estate closings.

Beginning in 2009, however, Taylor caused mortgage lenders to wire their funds entrusted for real estate settlements to Regal’s operating account, rather than to the escrow accounts. Taylor also caused funds in Regal’s and Loyalty’s escrow accounts to be transferred back and forth between their respective operating accounts. By using commingled funds throughout 2009, Taylor kept her two businesses afloat while enriching herself with both company and escrow funds. From January through December 2009, Taylor paid herself $477,877.50 from three company operating accounts.

As shortfalls in the escrow accounts increased, Taylor failed to remit insurance premiums to the title insurance underwriter, Old Republic National Title Insurance Company (Old Republic), pay recording fees for deeds and pay off prior liens, including four of which belonged to the government sponsored entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Old Republic learned of the misuse of settlement funds from a 2009 audit of Regal and an early January 2010 audit of Loyalty. Old Republic terminated its agency relationship with the two companies, but was obligated to satisfy the prior liens against the properties affected by the misuse of settlement funds and to complete other transactions Regal and Loyalty failed to perform. Accordingly, in January 2010, Old Republic incurred a total loss of $1,518,532 which resulted from paying off prior liens, paying recording fees, and for insurance premiums collected by Regal and Loyalty but not forwarded to Old Republic.

Taylor faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. scheduled her sentencing for January 17, 2012, at 9:30 a.m.

The Maryland Mortgage Fraud Task Force was established to unify the agencies that regulate and investigate mortgage fraud and promote the early detection, identification, prevention, and prosecution of mortgage fraud schemes. This case, as well as other cases brought by members of the task force, demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from fraud and promote the integrity of the credit markets. Information about mortgage fraud prosecutions is available www.justice.gov/usao/md/Mortgage-Fraud/index.html.

Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed more than 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,700 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Federal Housing Finance Agency-Office of Inspector General for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jefferson M. Gray and Special Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Learned, assigned from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General, who are prosecuting the case.

Majestic Auto Repair Shop Owners Sentenced for Paying Police Officers Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Bribes

Auto Towing and Repair Shop Paid Police Officers to Steer Car Owners to Their Business Instead of Less-Expensive, City-Authorized Companies; in Some Cases, Repair Shop Vandalized Cars and Officers Falsified Police Reports to Increase Insurance Claims

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Hernan Alexis Moreno, age 32, of Rosedale, Maryland, today to 33 months in prison; and his brother, Edwin Javier Mejia, age 29, of Middle River, Maryland, to two years in prison for conspiring to commit extortion in connection with a scheme in which they paid over 50 police officers to arrange for their car repair company, Majestic, rather than a city-authorized company, to tow vehicles from accident scenes and make repairs. Judge Blake also ordered the brothers to pay restitution of $129,249.70 to the victim insurance companies.

The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “We hope this case sent a clear message that police officers cannot take payments from private citizens in connection with their official duties.”

According to their plea agreements, beginning in 2008, the brothers agreed to pay Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers Jhonn Corona and Rodney Cintron to contact them from accident and hit-and-run scenes for towing and repair services instead of contacting a city-authorized tow company. In exchange, Mejia or Moreno would pay the officers $150 to $300 for each vehicle that arrived at Majestic. These two officers began to recruit other BPD officers to participate in the scheme.

Moreno and Mejia knew that the BPD requires that police only use towing companies that are under contract with the city of Baltimore to provide towing services for the BPD and that BPD officers could not accept payments for using their authority to steer vehicle owners to Majestic for tow and repair services.

According to their plea agreements, by February 23, 2011, more than 50 BPD officers had joined in the scheme. Specifically, while responding to the scene of an accident, BPD officers would call Moreno on his cell phone and provide him with the details of the accident. BPD officers would persuade accident victims to allow their cars to be towed or otherwise delivered to Majestic by telling the victims that Majestic could tow the car, provide repair services, help with the insurance claim, assist in getting a rental car and waive the owner’s deductible. In some cases the accident victims’ cars were towed even if the vehicle was not actually disabled. Later, the BPD officer arranged to meet Moreno or Mejia to receive cash for steering the car owner to Majestic.

Additionally, Moreno and Mejia arranged with some of the officers to add damage to the vehicles in order to increase Majestic’s profit from the insurance payment in order to cover the cost of paying the BPD officers and the vehicle owner’s deductible payments to the insurance company. The BPD officer would then falsify the accident report to make it appear that the damage had been caused by the accident so that the insurance adjusters would not question the repairs performed by Majestic and paid for by the insurance companies.

Over the course of the scheme, the amount of loss resulting from payments made by Majestic to BPD officers and for insurance claims paid by the insurance companies for damage inflicted on vehicles was between $200,000 and $400,00.

Jhonn Corona and Rodney Cintron, both age 34, and 12 other police officers have pleaded guilty to the extortion conspiracy in federal court and one officer pleaded guilty in state court. One officer was convicted by a federal jury after a six-day trial. All 15 officers have been sentenced, receiving between eight and 42 months in prison. Corona received 30 months in prison, and Cintron received 42 months.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Tonya N. Kelly and Kathleen O. Gavin, who prosecuted the case.

Fort Washington Man Pleads Guilty in $163,000 Credit Card Fraud Scheme

GREENBELT, MD—Reginald Harold Jefferies, age 36, of Fort Washington, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to fraud in connection with access devices.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Postal Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Washington Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

“Today’s plea sends a clear message to individuals who commit credit card schemes that postal inspectors will vigorously pursue and bring to justice anyone who uses the U.S. mail to conduct criminal activities,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Peter R. Rendina, U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Washington Division. “We are grateful to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Prince George’s County Police Department for their support with this case.”

According to his guilty plea, from February 20, 2008 to April 2, 2010, Jefferies obtained credit cards in his own name and added fictitious names as secondary users on the accounts. Jefferies then used the credit cards to order items from merchants on payment plans, frequently using the fictitious secondary names. Jefferies provided multiple different addresses to which the items should be shipped, including addresses for himself, his friends and relatives, and vacant addresses.

Pursuant to the payment plans, the merchants charged Jefferies’ credit cards in installments over a period of time. Merchants typically were able to charge Jefferies’ credit cards for the initial payments for the items Jefferies had purchased. Jefferies then reported to the credit card companies that his credit cards had been lost or stolen. The credit card companies closed those credit card accounts and issued Jefferies new credit card account numbers. When the merchants tried to charge Jefferies’ credit cards for the subsequent installment payments, they were unable to do so because those accounts had been closed. As a result, the merchants lost more than $163,376.18 on the balances due.

Jefferies maintained at least three eBay accounts, which he used to sell the items that he had fraudulently obtained from the merchants.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Jefferies’ residence on April 2, 2010, and seized more than 100 credit cards in Jefferies’ name or in the names of fictitious secondary users.

As part of his plea agreement, Jefferies agrees to the entry of an order of restitution and forfeiture of $163,376.18.

Jefferies faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow scheduled his sentencing for December 3, 2012, at 1 p.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Washington Division, FBI, and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Mara Zusman Greenberg, who is prosecuting the case.

Employee at Aberdeen Proving Ground Pleads Guilty in Theft of Government Property

Stole Tons of Copper Wire from APG Buildings and Locations, Including Live Wire from Electrical Boxes in a Building’s Walls and Ceilings

BALTIMORE—Timothy J. Bittner, age 52, of Bel Air, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to his role in the theft of copper wire from Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG).

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service-Mid-Atlantic Field Office; the Directorate of Emergency Services, U.S. Army Garrison, Aberdeen Proving Ground; and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to his plea agreement, Bittner worked as an electrician at APG’s Department of Public Works. From March through November 2011, Bittner and his conspirators used their expertise as electricians to steal copper wire from government buildings and locations in the Edgewood area of APG for resale to metal recyclers for their personal gain.

Bittner falsely reported his work time to disguise the fact that he was stealing copper wire while on duty. Bittner and his conspirators took the stolen copper wire to their government vehicles in the APG parking lot and transferred the wire to their personal cars. They moved the stolen wire to their residences, where they stripped the plastic coating off the wire by hand, which increased its market value. Bittner and his conspirators sold the copper to metal recyclers.

In June 2011, Bittner and his conspirators realized that a significant amount of copper wire was located in the ground under Eagle Point. For two days and while on duty, Bittner and his conspirators tied the exposed portion of the wire to their government vehicles, which they used to pull the wire out of the ground. Because the stolen wire weighed approximately five tons, Bittner and a coconspirator rented storage space in Edgewood to store the stolen wire, and bought a stripping machine to remove the insulation from the copper wire at a much faster pace than by hand. Bittner and his conspirators sold the copper to metal recyclers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware as scrap and divided the proceeds, which totaled over $48,000.

Finally, Bittner and a conspirator removed live copper wire from electrical junction boxes in the walls and ceiling of a government building. They also stole wire from another building as well as from three generators near Eagle Point. They sold this additional stolen wire for over $30,000. The cost to the U.S. Army to purchase new copper wire to re-fit the two government buildings is $33,711, including labor.

As part of his plea agreement, Bittner has agreed to forfeit $87,038, the amount of money he and his conspirators received from the sale of the stolen wire, and pay $33,711 in restitution.

Bittner faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy to steal government. U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. scheduled sentencing for October 30, 2012, at 1:00 p.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the DCIS, APG’s Directorate of Emergency Services, and FBI for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce K. McDonald; Special Assistant United States Attorney David I. Sharfstein, of the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division; and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Marlaire, who are prosecuting the case.

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.