Georgia Man Admits Taking Bribes to Allow $1 Million Theft of Government Equipment from Marine Base

A retired employee of the Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany (MCLB-Albany) pleaded guilty today to receiving bribes in exchange for allowing heavy equipment to be stolen from the base for resale, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.

Shelby C. Janes, 67, of Albany, Ga., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands in the Middle District of Georgia to one count of bribery of a public official.

During his guilty plea, Janes, the former civilian inventory control manager of the distribution management center at MCLB-Albany, admitted to participating in a scheme in which he assisted an individual, referred to in court documents as “Person A,” in stealing heavy equipment – such as cranes, bulldozers and front-end loaders – from the base.  Person A, the owner of a commercial trucking business that was routinely contracted by the MCLB’s Defense Logistics Agency, then arranged to sell the equipment to private purchasers.

According to court documents, while working at the distribution management center, Janes was responsible for supervising a number of employees in the inventorying of obsolete equipment returning from the Fleet Marine Corps.  This equipment was sent to MCLB-Albany for one of two purposes: to be demilitarized and disposed of through eventual sale or destruction, or to be rehabilitated, repaired and redistributed to the Fleet Marine Corps.  To accomplish the theft scheme, Janes and one of his employees, referred to in court documents as “Public Official A,” facilitated the theft of the equipment, including by letting the equipment be driven off the base.  Janes admitted that to facilitate the unlawful removal of the equipment, he typically prepared a false DD Form 1348 authorizing the Defense Logistics Agency to release the equipment to Person A, and that the equipment was then sold to private purchasers for tens of thousands of dollars.
Janes also admitted that he received payments from Person A after the sale of the stolen equipment, often delivered to him by Public Official A on behalf of Person A in the form of a check or cash, totaling approximately $98,500 during the approximately 15-month scheme.  Janes admitted that the total loss to the Department of Defense from the theft of government equipment was approximately $1,075,000.

At sentencing, Janes faces a maximum potential penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of twice the gain or loss from the offense.  As part of his plea agreement with the United States, Janes agreed to forfeit the bribe proceeds he received from the scheme, as well as to pay full restitution to the Department of Defense.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Richard B. Evans and J.P. Cooney of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia.  The case is being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from the Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office Economic Crime Unit and the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Community Policing: To Serve, Protect, and Solve Problems, Part II

In the early 1990’s when I was a rookie officer in the now-defunct New York City Housing Police Department, I was often called to apartments for seemingly ordinary events such as water leaks. While this may not be considered a police matter, upon investigation, it is often discovered that the circumstances surrounding the water leak may require emergency personnel to respond. On numerous occasions, I discovered a person who had fallen in the bathtub and was unable to shut down the water and call for help. Other times, a person preparing dinner or washing dishes would succumb to an in-home mishap, or suffer a heart attack, and the faucet would overflow the sink. Only when the residents below noticed water dripping through their ceiling would the police be called, and the tragic discovery made in the apartment above. Or, overflowing water from an apartment where the residents were not at home would flood the apartment below. The police would be the responding agency to assure that there were no victims associated with the flooding other than property.

Because housing police patrol residential complexes, it is the duty of the officers to become familiar with the residents in the developments they are assigned to. As a rookie, I recall a senior officer making the observation that over the course of time, an active officer will notice that he is arresting the same ten to fifteen individuals over and over again in each neighborhood. The officer further stated that it behooves a cop new to an area to work all three tours of duty over a period of weeks and observe the comings and goings of the citizens on their beat. Beginning around 5:00 a.m. during the midnight tour, you will see people going to work on public transportation. A bit later, parents will escort their children to school bus stops. In the afternoons, starting at 3:00 p.m. or so, those same folks will begin to come home. By 9:00 p.m. on a warm, summer night, the working folks will start to go inside for the evening; the younger kids will go in later. His point to me was that in between the typical schedules of working adults and school aged children, the ten to fifteen repeat offenders will be on the street corners, in the playgrounds, or other common areas while everyone else is at work or school. In addition, there are unwanted visitors in public housing developments who buy drugs, commit robberies, burglaries, or worse. Officers who familiarize themselves with the routines of the residents they serve will spot those who do not live there and investigate their presence accordingly.

An observant and active officer will begin his tour by visiting all of the facilities located on his beat. Most of the public housing developments have health facilities, maintenance shops, community centers, pre-schools, and other social centers on the grounds. By speaking to those who operate the programs and the residents who patronize the facilities, and officer builds trust and keeps lines of communication open with them. Officers perform vertical patrols of the buildings and search the stairwells, roof landings, and roof tops for trespassers and others who may be engaged in law-breaking. Many buildings have active tenant patrols. These are residents who maintain a post in the lobby of their building, working in conjunction with the Housing Authority and in cooperation with the police, and screen visitors entering the building by signing them in and asking for identification. Patrol officers visit tenant patrols and sign their attendance records and inquire about any nuisances or occurrences. It is also important to attend regular community meetings to listen to and respond to the complaints of the residents and provide information on how various issues will be addressed by the police.

A Housing police officer will utilize field reports to alert maintenance about damaged locks on doors, shattered windows, broken lights, or poorly lit areas, downed fences and gates, and any other condition which leads to a lack of security. In addition, excessive graffiti, illegally dumped trash, uncollected garbage, and shattered windows lead outsiders to believe that there is a lack of oversight or weak law enforcement in the area and the building and grounds then become an attractive location for drug use or sales, robberies, burglaries, or large groups loitering in lobbies or obstructing pedestrian traffic. By maintaining close relationships with maintenance crews or other city agencies, community police officers can concentrate resources on these problematic concerns and improve the overall quality of life for the residents and reduce criminal activity.

End of Part II 

About the Author: Michael J. Kannengieser is the author of the police thriller, The Daddy Rock. He is a retired New York City police officer who lives on Long Island with his wife and two children. Michael worked as the Managing Editor for Fiction at The View from Here magazine, a U.K. based literary publication. Currently, he is employed at a performing arts college as an Instructional Technology Administrator. He has been published at The View from Here, and in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper. Michael is a contributor to Criminal Justice News. Click Here to buy a copy of Michael J. Kannengieser's new novel "The Daddy Rock."

Community Policing: To Serve, Protect, and Solve Problems, Part III

Working with the community also means utilizing discretion and taking reasonable actions when dealing with the public. Officers who are familiar with the residents of the development where they work may be more inclined to return juveniles to their parents if they are engaged in minor, nuisance activity, such as breaking housing authority rules against riding bicycles on the grass, staying in the park after the posted closing hours, or other minor infractions. Parents appreciate the discretion the officer exercises, and the rewards of appealing to the resident’s sense of empowerment in maintaining order and control in their living environment becomes tangible. A parent’s reprimand may do the child offender more justice than a juvenile report filed at the precinct. Residents who return home from work on a hot, summer evening and sit outside with an open container of beer may be better served with a request to conceal the container or to drink indoors rather than face a fine. An officer knows that any action he takes can escalate to an arrest in spite of his best intentions, but an experienced community police officer applies his discretion based on his knowledge and experience with the people her serves.

Officers operating under the community police model will investigate criminal activity to a wider extent than officers on routine patrol. If there is a suspected gambling location on his beat, drug sales, or other persistent illegal enterprises, the officer may call upon other specialized units at the precinct level or within the department after performing observations and preparing reports. In addition, the officer may be the source of intelligence for outside agencies who wish to execute a warrant or arrest a suspect. On different occasions, my partners and I reported our findings to the Organized Crime Control Bureau, detective units, and other narcotics units. Also, I provided detailed information to Postal Inspectors given to me by a member of the community who trusted me because of my history of fairness and effective policing in his community. Special Agents of the Secret Service visited out Police Service Area satellite to consult with us concerning a suspect who threatened former President Bill Clinton’s life. Because the officers I worked with and I knew the suspect and where he lived, he was arrested without incident by the Secret Service, and with Housing Police present at the scene. On numerous occasions, when responding to nine-one-one initiated calls for police assistance, we would knock on a resident’s door, and when the occupant asked who is was, we’d answer “It’s the police.” The follow-up question was almost always, “Are you Housing?” Then, we would respond with a reassuring, “Yes.”

The methods of community policing employed by the former, New York City Police Department, briefly outlined here are still utilized by the NYPD’s Housing Bureau created in 1995 after the merger of the Housing Police into the NYPD. While relationships between the police and the community can often times be strained or contentious, community policing, as exemplified by the NYPD’s Housing Bureau and the other housing police departments in cities across the nation, remains an effective and enduring model of policing.  

End of Series

About the Author: Michael J. Kannengieser is the author of the police thriller, The Daddy Rock. He is a retired New York City police officer who lives on Long Island with his wife and two children. Michael worked as the Managing Editor for Fiction at The View from Here magazine, a U.K. based literary publication. Currently, he is employed at a performing arts college as an Instructional Technology Administrator. He has been published at The View from Here, and in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper. Michael is a contributor to Criminal Justice News. Click Here to buy a copy of Michael J. Kannengieser's new novel "The Daddy Rock."

Chicago Police Memorial Foundation Walk/Run

The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to honoring the lives of our fallen heroes. The Foundation provides support and assistance to the families of Chicago Police Officers who were killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty. The Walk/Run to Remember is the Foundation's largest fund raising event.


Please join me and walk or run in the Run/Walk to Remember on May 4th. To register go to:
www.cpdmemorial.org/run

If you can't make it, please make a donation by clicking this link:
http://www.crowdrise.com/chicagopolicememoria1/fundraiser/philcline

Dorner: Calculating Murderer or Fantasy Driven Killer

As the manhunt for accused killer Christopher Jordan Dorner unfolds, people have been perplexed by some of his actions.   Everyone is outraged and sickened by the assassinations of the young couple in Irvine and the Riverside police officer. His actions, however, in attempting to either flee or further his vengeful plans seem disjointed.  Why attempt to steal boat?  Burn the truck?  Shoot the Riverside officers?  Are these actions part of a calculated plan, or perhaps, evidence of fantasy script deviations.

A 1986 article in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence on the development of a motivational model for sexual homicide remarked, “The role of fantasy in the motive and behavior of suspects is an important factor in violent crimes.”  Dorner’s so called “manifesto” gives a glimpse into a world wherein he is cast as the hero; the lone person who knows right from wrong.  It is his personal fantasy that he overlays onto the real world around him.  Everything must fit this script.  When the real world pushes him off script, his actions likely fall back on some lesser script.

Dorner likely gets these small pieces of fantasy from his experiences and training and also from art – like books and movies.  Did he really need a boat to escape to Mexico?  Millions of people have found their way into the States by walking.  Was the boat scene taken from a movie?  Was it sexier to steal a boat than walk or drive across the border into Mexico?  When the boat becomes disabled (reportedly because a 13 year Naval officer improperly cast off the lines) there is no back up script for fixing the problem.   His back up script was to flee.  Indeed, it appears that his fantasy personal movie is so strong that his thinking is inflexible, causing him to flee rather than problem solve.

The first shooting involving the LAPD officers may be more evidence of his continuing a flight from justice script rather than targeted murder.  Stealing the boat indicated that he was fleeing.  All of his actions post-homicide seem to be flight - hiding out and discarding stuff in trash bins behind closed businesses.  In Southern California, if you are going from San Diego to Big Bear, you take the 15 freeway.  And, at that hour of the night, a stop an AM/PM mini-mart for gasoline or food makes sense.  Apparently, LAPD also had officers from a protection detail in that area.  Was Dorner on his way to commit another murder, or simply spotted?   Is the shooting in Corona because he had murdered, fled and decided to murder again?  Or, was this shooting an extension of his flight from justice? 

It seems more likely he has an end in mind and his flight from justice is the second act.  His shooting with the first group of LAPD officers was an extension of flight.  Shortly thereafter, he sees the Riverside Police Officers.  He is still riding the rush from the encounter will LAPD, he likely believes he is close to be cornered and very likely sees the Riverside officers as a threat to his freedom more than a target of opportunity and general rage against police officers.  This is no way excuses or apologizes for his cowardly murder of one police officer and the serious wounding of a second.  It may only help us understand where he is going and how we can catch him.  His script for this ACT of the fantasy is flight.

 In the flight scenario, he continues on his way to Big Bear.  It is important to note that fugitives rarely go to places they have not gone before.  They must have a mind-map of the location.  We find out that his mother owns property somewhere on the mountain.  It is a good assumption that Dorner has been on the mountain before and had specific place in mind. As he drives on to the rugged dirt road he breaks an axel. 

If he were not driven by his own fantasy script, he would have many choices.  He could break into a house and hunker down.  He could steal a car and get off the mountain.  However, he is driven by his own fantasy script and must continue.  It would seem that burning his truck is counterproductive.  Some people think he did it as a “red herring;” to distract the manhunt.  Alternatively, he might have been trying to lure law enforcement into his trap and increase his kill count.  The most likely reason, given the flight script, is that in his mind he is behind “enemy lines.”  He burned his truck much like the Marines in the HBO docudrama Generation Kill.  He did so to deny his enemy material aid and intelligence.  It is a subscript he defaulted to; not clear thinking or problem solving.

Dorner, now without transportation has continued on his flight script.  At this point, however, the icy cold of the mountain will likely force him to attempt to walk off.  Yes, there are many roads and trails off the mountain.  That fire service road could be followed down to the Santa Ana River and back into civilization. 

With the winter storm and its high winds, deep snow drifts and wind cooled sub-zero temperatures, the mountain has become more deadly than law enforcement.  His script probably didn’t include him dying alone in the icy grips of the mountain cold.  That seems the tragedies likely final act.

Gang Member Added to New Mexico’s Most Wanted

Albuquerque, NM - The United States Marshal Service District of New Mexico added Nathan Rowland to their list of Most Wanted Gang Offenders. Rowland is a known gang member who frequents the areas of Silver City, and Bayard, NM. Rowland is a member with the “Los Carnales” gang, and has an extensive criminal history including. It is also believed that Rowland routinely carries a firearm and is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Rowland is wanted by the New Mexico Corrections Department and is listed as one of the New Mexico Corrections Departments Most Wanted Offenders. Rowland has outstanding charges of Absconding from Probation, Drug possession, Assault/Battery, Aggravated Assault against House Hold Member, Larceny of a Firearm, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Investigators believe Rowland is still in Silver City area.

If you receive any information regarding the above named individual, please contact the United States Marshals Service for the District of New Mexico at (505) 346-6400/Albuquerque or (575) 527-6850/Las Cruces.

Sixteen People Sentenced to Prison for Religiously Motivated Assaults on Practitioners of the Amish Religion

Sixteen people were sentenced to prison today for hate crimes arising out of a series of religiously-motivated assaults on practitioners of the Amish religion, announced Thomas E. Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Steven M. Dettelbach, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; and Stephen Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI – Cleveland Field Office.

           

The defendants all reside in Bergholz, Ohio, unless otherwise noted. Samuel Mullet, 67, received a 15 year sentence. Johnny S. Mullet, 39; Lester Mullet, 28, of Hammondsville, Ohio; Levi F. Miller, 54; and Eli M. Miller, 33, received seven year sentences. Daniel S. Mullet, 38; Lester Miller, 38; and Emanuel Schrock, 44, received five year sentences. Raymond Miller, 28, of Irondale, Ohio; and Linda Shrock, 45, both received two year sentences. Freeman Burkholder, 32, of Irondale; Anna Miller, 33; Elizabeth A. Miller, 38, of Irondale; Emma J. Miller, 38; Kathryn Miller, 23, of Irondale; and Lovina Miller, 33, all received a sentence of one year and one day.

 

A jury found the defendants guilty last September following a lengthy trial. The convictions stem from five separate assaults that occurred in four Ohio counties between September and November 2011.   In each assault, defendants forcibly removed beard and head hair from practitioners of the Amish faith with whom they had ongoing religious disputes.  

           

The manner in which Amish men wear their beards and Amish women wear their hair are symbols of their faith, according to trial testimony.   

           

Samuel Mullet Sr., Johnny S. Mullet, Daniel S. Mullet, Lester S. Mullet, Levi F. Miller, Eli M. Miller, Emanuel Shrock, Lester Miller, Raymond Miller, Freeman Burkholder, Anna Miller and Linda Shrock were convicted of conspiracy to violate Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 249, also known as the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which prohibits any person from willfully causing bodily injury to any person, or attempting to do so by   use of a dangerous weapon, because of the actual or perceived religion of that person, and Title 18, United States Code, Section 1512, which prohibits obstruction of justice, including witness tampering and the destruction or concealment of evidence.  

           

The jury also convicted various groups of defendants with separate assaults, and Samuel Mullet Sr. and Lester Mullet with concealing or attempting to conceal various items of tangible evidence, including a camera and photographs of the attacks.  

           

Samuel Mullet Sr. is the Bishop of the Amish community in Bergholz, while the remaining defendants are all members of that community.   Mullet Sr. exerted control over the Bergholz community by taking the wives of other men into his home, and by overseeing various means of disciplining community members, including corporal punishment, according to trial testimony.  

 

As a result of religious disputes with other members of the Ohio Amish community, the defendants planned and carried out a series of assaults on their perceived religious enemies.   The assaults involved the use of hired drivers, either by the defendants or the alleged victims, because practitioners of the Amish religion do not operate motor vehicles.   The assaults all entailed using scissors and battery-powered clippers to forcibly cut or shave the beard hair of the male victims and the head hair of the female victims, according to trial testimony.

 

During each assault, the defendants restrained and held down the victims.   During some of the assaults, the defendants injured individuals who attempted to intervene to protect or rescue the victims.   Following the attacks, some of the defendants participated in discussions about concealing photographs and other evidence of the assaults, according to evidence presented at trial.

 

“From the time of its founding as a nation, the United States of America has always been a beacon for those who seek religious freedom,” said Assistant Attorney General Perez. “The Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division will vigorously defend every American’s right to worship in the manner of their choosing, including the members of the defendants’ community. However, violent assaults are not a form of religious expression. The actions of the defendants were designed to terrorize the victims, desecrate sacred symbols of their faith, and interfere with their right to worship. These prosecutions reflect the fact that the Department of Justice will not tolerate religiously motivated violence.”

 

 “From day one, this case has been about the rule of law and defending the right of people to worship in peace. This was never about ‘haircuts.’ These were violent, religiously motivated home invasions that left the victims bloody, bruised and beaten,” said U.S. Attorney Dettlebach. “Our nation was founded on the bedrock principle that everyone is free to worship how they see fit. Violent attempts to attack this most basic freedom have no place in our country.”

 

 “This case is an excellent example of cooperation between the many law enforcement agencies that investigated these crimes, along with the prosecution team from the United States Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Anthony. “The FBI is committed to investigating hate crimes, including those perpetrated against people motivated by bias toward religion as in this case, or other areas protected by our civil rights statutes.”

 

This case was investigated by the Cleveland Division of the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Getz and Bridget M. Brennan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio and Deputy Chief Kristy Parker of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section. The prosecutor’s and sheriff’s offices from Holmes, Carroll, Jefferson and Trumbull counties also provided significant assistance in the investigation and prosecution of this case.

Maryland Man Found Guilty After Trial and Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison in International Child Pornography Conspiracy Case

A Maryland man was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday and sentenced today to serve 30 years in prison for his participation in a global online child pornography conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett of the Southern District of Indiana.

Following a four-day trial, Roger Lee Loughry Sr., 57, of Baltimore, was found guilty yesterday by a federal jury in the Southern District of Indiana of one count of conspiracy to advertise child pornography, one count of conspiracy to distribute child pornography, 12 counts of advertising child pornography and two counts of distributing child pornography, in connection with his role as an administrator of an online child pornography bulletin board.

Loughry was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Baker in the Southern District of Indiana.  In addition to his prison term, Loughry was sentenced to serve lifetime supervised release.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that Loughry had been an active member of a child pornography bulletin board since November 2005 and had participated in numerous administrative functions on the online board during his membership, including adding new members to the board.  In addition, evidence introduced at trial established that Loughry’s home was searched in September 2008, at which time computers and computer media were seized.  Trial evidence showed that upon review of the seized materials, investigators discovered images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

 The charges against Loughry were a result of “Operation Nest Egg,” a joint investigation led by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  Operation Nest Egg, launched in February 2008, targeted 26 defendants charged in the Southern District of Indiana, as well as approximately 500 additional individuals located throughout the world for their involvement in an online group dedicated to trading images of child pornography.

 Loughry had previously been tried and convicted of the same charges in April 2010.  On Oct. 11, 2011, his convictions were reversed and the case was remanded for a new trial.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana and CEOS Trial Attorneys Keith Becker and Amy Larson.  The investigation was conducted jointly by CEOS’ High Technology Investigative Unit, USPIS and ICE, with assistance provided by the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, Indiana State Police, and numerous local and international law enforcement agencies across the United States and Europe.

Two Aryan Brotherhood of Texas Gang Members Plead Guilty to Federal Racketeering Charges

Two members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas gang (ABT) pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to their membership in the ABT’s criminal enterprise, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas.

Ben Christian Dillon, aka “Tuff,” 40, of Houston, and James Marshall Meldrum, aka “Dirty,” 40, of Dallas, each pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas to one count of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity.

According to court documents, Dillon, Meldrum and other ABT gang members and associates, agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang.  Dillon, Meldrum and numerous ABT gang members met on a regular basis at various locations throughout Texas to report on gang-related business, collect dues, commit disciplinary assaults against fellow gang members and discuss acts of violence against rival gang members, among other things. 

Dillon and Meldrum admitted to being ABT gang members and engaging in multiple acts in support of the criminal enterprise.  Dillon admitted to trafficking in methamphetamine, acting as an enforcer to collect drug debts owed to the ABT enterprise, committing acts of arson for the gang and attempting to kill a fellow ABT gang member who had been marked for death by senior ABT officials. Meldrum admitted to trafficking in methamphetamine and severely beating a subordinate gang member.

According to the superseding indictment, the ABT was established in the early 1980s within the Texas prison system.  The gang modeled itself after and adopted many of the precepts and writings of the Aryan Brotherhood, a California-based prison gang that was formed in the California prison system during the 1960s.  According to the superseding indictment, previously, the ABT was primarily concerned with the protection of white inmates and white supremacy/separatism.  Over time, the ABT has expanded its criminal enterprise to include illegal activities for profit.

Court documents allege that the ABT enforced its rules and promoted discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the enterprise.  Members, and oftentimes associates, were required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, often referred to as “direct orders.”

According to the superseding indictment, in order to be considered for ABT membership, a person must be sponsored by another gang member.  Once sponsored, a prospective member must serve an unspecified term, during which he is referred to as a prospect, while his conduct is observed by the members of the ABT.

At sentencing, Dillon and Meldrum each face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Dillon’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 24, 2013, and Meldrum’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26, 2013.
Dillon and Meldrum are two of 34 defendants charged in October 2012 with conducting racketeering activity through the ABT criminal enterprise, among other charges.

This case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations; Texas Rangers; Texas Department of Public Safety; Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice – Office of Inspector General; Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office; Atascosa County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Orange County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Waller County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office; Fort Worth, Texas, Police Department; Alvin, Texas, Police Department; Carrollton, Texas, Police Department; Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office; Atascosa County District Attorney’s Office; and the Kaufman County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman of the Southern District of Texas.

Winchester Woman Accused of Making False Statements while Purchasing Firearm

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Brita Lanette Jackson, 51, of Winchester, Va., was arrested today accused of making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and James Newman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after Jackson’s initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis.

Jackson was arrested based on a criminal complaint and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, if convicted.

According to court documents and court proceedings today, Jackson is alleged to have attempted to purchase a 7.62 x 39mm firearm from a licensed dealer in Manassas, Va., on May 24, 2012. To purchase the firearm, Jackson indicated on official paperwork that she was the actual buyer of the firearm; however, Jackson allegedly intended to transfer the firearm to a male with multiple felony convictions. Court records allege that Jackson previously purchased between 15 and 20 firearms since January 2012 on behalf of the convicted felon.

The investigation was conducted by ATF’s Washington Field Division. Assistant United States Attorney Adam B. Schwartz is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Criminal complaints are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.