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United States v. Louie Sanft

• No. 23-2266, 2024 WL 3963840 (9th Circuit/Western District of Washington)
• AUSA Seth Wilkinson
• SAUSA Karla Perrin
• SAUSA Gwendolyn Russell

In December 2021, a jury convicted Louie Sanft and his company, Seattle Barrel, of conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act, 29 violations of the Clean Water Act, and one count of making false statements to the United States. Seattle Barrel recycles industrial drums using a highly caustic solution. Louie Sanft directed an employee to secretly dump the solution to the sewer through a hidden drain over a 10-year period. Sanft was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment.

Following the conviction, the government discovered that it had inadvertently failed to produce a portion of a cooperating witness’s immigration file that could have been used to impeach the cooperator. Sanft appealed, arguing that the government violated Brady v. Maryland. Sanft also argued that the court erred in failing to give an instruction for the lesser included offense of negligent violation of the Clean Water Act.

On August 28, 2024, the Ninth Circuit issued a memorandum opinion rejecting all of Sanft’s arguments and affirming the convictions. The Ninth Circuit held that, in light of the trial record, the unproduced impeachment evidence did not undermine confidence in the jury’s verdict. With respect to the lesser included offense, the Ninth Circuit rejected Sanft’s argument that the jury could have found that Sanft acted negligently by failing to properly supervise the employee. The court reasoned that where, as here, the defendant is charged under an aiding and abetting theory, the intent of the principal (in this case the, dumping employee), not the intent of the defendant, controls. Since there was no evidence that the principal/employee acted negligently, there was no basis for a negligence instruction.

Indictments

United States v. Wan Yee Ng

• No. 2:24-CR-00084 (District of Vermont)
• AUSA Thomas Aliberti
• ECS Senior Counsel Elinor Colbourn

On August 1, 2024, prosecutors charged Chinese national Wan Yee Ng for attempting to smuggle eastern box turtles, a protected wildlife species, from the United States to Canada for the illegal global pet trade (18 U.S.C. § 554).

In the spring of 2024, U.S. Border Patrol agents began surveilling Ng after she rented a lodging facility that is known for illegally smuggling activities and is located near the Canadian border on Lake Wallace. 

On June 26, 2024, agents observed Ng prepare an inflatable kayak near the water’s edge and carry a duffle bag from the rented residence to the kayak. During this time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police notified agents that two individuals, one of which was believed to be Ng’s spouse, had launched an inflatable watercraft on the Canadian side of Lake Wallace and began to paddle south toward the United States. Before she could leave the shore, agents intercepted Ng and detained her for suspected smuggling activity. Agents then observed, through a partially opened zipper on the duffle bag, what appeared to be socks that were moving. Further inspection revealed the bag contained 29 turtles individually wrapped in socks. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent preliminarily identified them as eastern box turtles.

Turtles with colorful markings are especially prized in the domestic and foreign pet trade market, particularly in China and Hong Kong. These animals are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation with assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 

United States v. Philip Colt Moss

• No. 1:24-CR-00066 (Southern District of Ohio)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Adam Cullman
• AUSA Tim Oakley
• ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman

On August 23, 2024, a court unsealed an indictment charging Nicholas Dryden, Philip Colt Moss, and Giancarlo Morelli with various crimes related to the creation and distribution of videos depicting the torture of monkeys (known as animal “crush” videos) (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 48(a)(3)).

The indictment states that Dryden commissioned videos from a 17-year-old in Indonesia who was willing to commit specified acts of torture on video in exchange for payment. Dryden utilized Telegram, a cross-platform messaging app that includes encrypted group messaging and private chats to advertise the animal crush videos and solicit funding for additional videos. Within these private groups, Dryden shared snippets of videos that he commissioned and advertised that the full content was for sale. Moss and Morelli each sent money to Dryden more than a dozen times in exchange for monkey torture videos. Thereafter, they frequently gave feedback on the videos and Morelli sometimes suggested torturous acts he’d like to see in future videos.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation.

Guilty Pleas

United States v. Don Rasmus Church

• No. 1:24-CR-00146 (Western District of Texas)
• ECS Trial Attorney Sarah Brown
• ECS Law Clerk Jonah Fruchtman

On August 1, 2024, Don Rasmus Church pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act for importing protected Australian reptiles into the United States on behalf of a fake zoo that he represented as legitimate (16 U.S.C §§ 1538(c), 1540).

Between May 2019 and June 2021, Church imported 165 native Australian reptiles by providing false information to Australian and U.S. authorities. The imported reptiles included three rusty monitor lizards, a species internationally protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

To further this scheme, Church claimed he imported reptiles on behalf of the “Austin Reptile Center,” an entirely fictitious entity. He submitted documents to Australian authorities containing misrepresentations about the facility, including photographs of reptile exhibits, employee names and positions, floor plans, and financial information.

To gain purported legal authority to import the reptiles, Church submitted documentation containing misleading and erroneous information about the fictious Austin Reptile Center to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He then imported the reptiles on behalf of this “Center,” knowing his actions were unlawful.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Saul Enrique José De La Cruz et al.,

• No. 3:24-CR-00074 (District of Puerto Rico)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
• AUSA Seth Erbe

On August 12, 2024, Saul Enrique José De La Cruz pleaded guilty to smuggling and Lacey Act trafficking. Simon De La Cruz Paredes previously entered a similar plea (18 U.S.C. § 554; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), (a)(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)).

On February 21, 2024, while on patrol, a Customs and Border Protection aircraft detected a suspicious vessel approximately 39 nautical miles north of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to interdict the vessel, which was flagless and outfitted for smuggling. Upon approach, Dominican nationals Saul Enrique José De La Cruz and Simon De La Cruz Paredes failed to stop the vessel, forcing authorities to shoot out the engines. Following the vessel boarding, officials found 22 plastic bags (each holding approximately 5,000 live juvenile American eels), bottles of oxygen, a handgun, and a backpack full of ammunition.

The men stated that they had caught the eels in Puerto Rico and planned to sell them in the Dominican Republic.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau Joint Forces of Rapid Action, and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.

United States v. John Waldrop, et al.,

• No. 23-CR-00378 (Eastern District of New York)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors
• AUSA Anna Karamigios
• ECS Paralegal Samantha Goins

On August 12, 2024, Dr. John Waldrop pleaded guilty to conspiracy and violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Toney Jones pleaded guilty to violating the ESA. The defendants illegally imported thousands of taxidermied birds and preserved eggs into the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371; 16 U.S.C. §§ 1538(e), 1540(b)(1)). Sentencing is scheduled for November 14, 2024.

Between 2015 and 2020, Dr. Waldrop sought to create a collection of museum-quality bird mounts, including protected species. Dr. Waldrop recruited Jones and others to help him purchase more than $1,200,000 worth of birds from around the world. They coordinated with middlemen and poachers to kill specific species of protected birds for the collection.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the investigation as part of Operation Final Flight.

 United States v. Matthew Thurman, et al.,

• No. 3:24-CR-00014 (District of Nevada)
• ECS Trial Attorney AUSA Matt Evans

On August 15, 2024, Matthew Thurman and Environmental Resources, Inc., dba Easy Rooter Plumbing (ERP), pleaded guilty to a Clean Water Act (CWA) knowing violation of a pretreatment standard for illegally discharging grease waste and wastewater into the local publicly owned treatment works (POTW) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1317(d) and 1319(c)(2)(A), and 18 U.S.C. § 2(b)).  Sentencing is scheduled for November 20, 2024.

ERP provided restaurant waste removal services, including grease interceptor servicing in and around Reno, Nevada. Between approximately March 2019 and August 2021, the company and its general manager (Thurman) collected grease wastes from food-service businesses and pumped them down manholes or into the grease traps of other customers.

During this period, the defendants repeatedly and illegally discharged grease and wastewater into POTWs on at least 68 days, usually several times each day.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Domermuth Environmental Services, LLC, et al.,

• No. 3:24-CR-00075 (Eastern District of Tennessee)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matthew Morris
• AUSA Jeremy Dykes
• ECS Paralegal Jillian Grubb

On August 20, 2024, Domermuth Environmental Services, LLC (DES) and Christopher Domermuth pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act for knowingly discharging pollutants into a water of the United States without a permit (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311, 1319(c)(2)(A)). Sentencing is scheduled for December 12, 2024.

On July 26, 2018, a pole camera installed on property adjacent to the DES facility filmed workers rolling over a previously exhumed underground storage tank, which spilled a mixture of petroleum and water onto a concrete pad at the facility. The workers, including Christopher Domermuth, threw absorbent pads into the spilled mixture and then used a portable pump to pump the oily mixture over a retaining wall at DES. The oily mixture flowed over a neighboring property and into a culvert leading to the Holston River, a tributary of the Tennessee River.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, the EPA Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Inspector General, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation conducted the investigation.

United States v. Frankluis Carela De Jesús, et al.,

• No. 3:24-CR-00174 (District of Puerto Rico)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan
• AUSA Seth Erbe

On August 20, 2024, Juan Graviel Ramírez Cedano pleaded guilty to smuggling wildlife from the United States and Lacey Act trafficking (18 U.S.C. § 554; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1) & (a)(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)). Co-defendants Frankluis Carela De Jesús, Waner Balbuena, and Domingo Heureau Altagracia are scheduled for change of plea hearings on September 13, 2024.

On May 3, 2024, the four Dominican nationals traveled in a flagless vessel departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the Dominican Republic. They intended to smuggle various species of tropical birds to the Dominican Republic for financial gain. When the vessel was approximately 30 nautical miles north of Puerto Rico, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) approached the vessel and witnessed the crew throwing objects overboard.

After boarding the vessel, USCG authorities recovered several wooden cages the defendants jettisoned. Their actions caused approximately 113 tropical birds to drown.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, and Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.

United States v. Justin Taylor

• No. 6:24-CR-00013 (Southern District of Georgia)
• AUSA Darron J. Hubbard

On August 22, 2024, Justin Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with a monitoring device and filing a fraudulent tax return (18 U.S.C. § 371; 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1)).

Between January 2018 and January 2021, Taylor worked as a mechanic. Using a high-powered computer that supported diagnostic tools for heavy-duty logging equipment, Taylor performed emission-control “deletes” for more than 200 owners of diesel engines.

The changes Taylor made to the emission controls on those machines disabled the electronic monitoring devices and methods required under the Clean Air Act. Taylor routinely charged $2,000 for this service, earning more than $1.2 million during this period while reporting only $166,853 in income.

As a result of falsifying the information on his tax filings for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020, Taylor could be ordered to pay approximately $279,642 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service at sentencing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and the IRS Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation.

United States v. Thomas J. Nash

• No. 1:24-CR-00107 (Eastern District of Missouri)
• AUSA Colin Rubich

On August 22, 2024, Thomas J. Nash pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act for developing and selling software devices and kits to circumvent emissions monitoring systems for at least 845 diesel trucks (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)).

Between 2019 and 2021, Nash, through his businesses, DRK and Flash Performance, tampered with Clean Air Act monitoring devices by developing, marketing, and selling software known as “tunes” that, when downloaded onto a vehicle’s computer, would override and disable the on-board diagnostic system (OBDS) to prevent it from detecting malfunctions in the emissions control system. Nash loaded his tunes onto a device known as a “tuner” that plugged into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostic port, establishing a connection to download the tune.

Nash also packaged the tuners with devices, such as “straight pipes,” which are used to disable the emissions control hardware. Nash sold these packages as DRK “delete kits” over the internet on eBay. Nash specifically marketed these “delete kits” as a way to circumvent the emissions control system in diesel trucks, and customers purchased them with that intention. After installation, the hardware and tunes rendered the OBDS ineffective, causing the vehicle to release more pollution. Nash also provided ongoing technical assistance to customers who purchased the kits.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Antonio Beltran-Chaidez, et al.,

• No. 1:22-CR-00131 (Eastern District of California)
• AUSA Karen Escobar

On August 26, 2024, a court sentenced Antonio Beltran-Chaidez to 46 months’ incarceration, followed by 24 months supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin with the intent to distribute (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)). This defendant is one of seven people involved in this drug and/or animal fighting venture investigation.

In July 2024, Jorge Calderon-Campos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and unlawfully possessing animals for an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)); 7 U.S.C. § 2156(b); 18 U.S.C. § 49(a)). Jose Angel Beltran-Chaidez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin (21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), (b)(1)(A)). Calderon-Campos is scheduled for sentencing on October 21, 2024, and Jose Beltran-Chaidez is set for December 2, 2024.

On March 30, 2021, Calderon-Campos (who calls himself “Americano”) supplied 26 pounds of methamphetamine to co-defendants Mark Garcia and Alberto Gomez-Santiago. Between January and April 2022, Calderon-Campos also possessed roosters he used to participate in an animal fighting venture. During a search of his residence on April 26, 2022, law enforcement officers found numerous hens and roosters, various cockfighting implements (including razors and spurs) and six cockfighting trophies, including several with plates inscribed with “Team Amkno” (shorthand for “Team Americano”). At Calderon-Campos’s “stash house”, law enforcement officers found 14 hens and 77 roosters, cockfighting leashes, a cockfighting trophy, and a variety of syringes and pill bottles containing substances related to cockfighting supplements.

On January 27, 2022, Jose Beltran-Chaidez, at the direction of his brother Antonio Beltran-Chaidez, delivered more than two pounds of heroin to Calderon-Campos to sell. However, when Calderon-Campos was unable to sell the drug, Beltran-Chaidez took it back. A California Highway Patrol officer subsequently stopped Beltran-Chaidez for a traffic violation and found the heroin.

Gomez-Santiago pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. The two remaining co-defendants, Byron Adilio Alfaro-Sandoval and Mark Garcia are scheduled for trial to begin on January 28, 2025.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Kern County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the Kern County Probation Department, and the Bakersfield Police Department.

United States v. Jerome A. Stringfield, et al.,

• Nos. 3:22-CR-00003, 00005, 00029-31,00036-00040 (District of Alaska)
• AUSA Morgan Walker
• AUSAs Steven Skrocki
• Charise Arce

On August 27, 2024, Jerome A. Stringfield pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. § 371). Sentencing is scheduled for December 3, 2024. Stringfield is the last of ten defendants to plead guilty in this case involving smuggling protected marine corals from the Philippines into the United States: Albert B. Correira, Allen W. Ockey, Derek M. Kelley, Wayne R. King, James Knight, Valeriy V. Gorbounov, Nathan C. Meisner, Ricky A. Spires, and Michael J. Lecam have all been sentenced.

Between July 2017 and August 2018, the defendants paid a Philippine national to dive for and collect protected marine corals. The Philippine national falsely labelled and shipped the coral through common carriers. All shipments landed and traveled through Anchorage, Alaska. Following receipt, the defendants sold the coral online to coral collectors and hobbyists. Some of the coral is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Additionally, Philippine law prohibits any person from gathering, possessing, commercially transporting, selling or exporting corals commercially regardless of CITES status. In total, the defendants illegally purchased and sold more than 3,000 separate pieces of coral in violation of Philippines and United States law.

The Republic of the Philippines is one of six countries straddling the Coral Triangle, a 5.4 million-square-kilometer stretch of ocean that contains 75 percent of the world’s coral species, one-third of the Earth’s coral reefs, and more than 3,000 species of fish. Poaching for corals and other detrimental forces have left only five percent of coral reefs in the Philippines in “excellent” condition, and just one percent in a “pristine” state.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Quality Poultry and Seafood, et al.,

• Nos. 24-CR-00045, 00046, 00088 (Southern District of Mississippi)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy Korzenik
• AUSA Andrea Jones
• ECS Paralegal Chloe Harris

On August 27, 2024, Quality Poultry and Seafood (QPS), sales manager Todd Anthoney Rosetti, and business manager James William Gunkel pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the sale of mislabeled seafood. Sentencing is scheduled for December 11, 2024.

QPS sells poultry and seafood to a few hundred Mississippi-area restaurants, casinos, and grocery stores, and operates its own retail market and cafe. It is the largest seafood distributor on the Mississippi Gulf coast. From 2002 through 2019, QPS sold mislabeled seafodd to its retail customers. QPS also sold its wholesale customers fish that QPS either fraudulently mislabeled or offered to restaurants as convincing substitutes for the preferred local species, which the restaurants advertised, identified in their menus, and charged their customers for serving. For more than a year following the execution of a search warrant, QPS continued to sell frozen fish imported from Africa, South America, and India for use as substitutes for local premium species.

QPS pleaded guilty to conspiring to misbrand food with the intent to defraud and for the use of interstate wire transmissions to facilitate the sale of misbranded fish (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1343; 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(k), 333(a)(2)). QPS Sales Manager Todd Anthony Rosetti, and Business Manager James William Gunkel pleaded guilty to seafood misbranding (21 U.S.C. §§ 331(k), 343(a), (b), 333(a)(1)).

Co-defendants Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant (Mahoney’s) and co-owner Charles Cvitanovich previously pleaded guilty for their involvement in the scheme. Mahoney’s pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud. Cvitanovich pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1343; 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(k), 333(a)(2)). Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich are scheduled for sentencing on November 18, 2024.

Between December 2013 and November 2019, Mahoney and co-conspirators fraudulently sold approximately 58,750 pounds (more than 29 tons) of fish that was frozen and imported from Africa, India, and South America as local premium species. Between 2018 and 2019, Cvitanovich mislabeled approximately 17,190 pounds of fish sold at the restaurant. QPS supplied seafood to Mahoney’s and many other restaurants and retailers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation

United States v. Jose Miguel Carrillo

• No. 8:23-CR-00222 (Middle District of Florida)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Matthew T. Morris
• AUSA Erin C. Favorit
• ECS Paralegal Jonah Fruchtman

On August 28, 2024, Jose Miguel Carrillo pleaded guilty to an information charging him with (1) conspiring to sponsor and exhibit an animal in an animal fighting venture, and (2) possessing, training, transporting, delivering, and receiving an animal for purposes of having the animal participate in an animal fighting venture in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 7 U.S.C. § 2156(b)). Carillo also pleaded guilty to being a felon-in-possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)).

Between June 2021 and June 2023, Carrillo conspired with others to breed, raise, and train pit bull-type dogs to engage in animal fighting contests, including staging dog fights at his own home in Spring Hill, Florida. On June 7, 2021, federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel executed several search warrants at residences in Massachusetts, Maine, and Florida, including the defendant’s residence. Law enforcement personnel seized firearms, ammunition, pit bull-type dogs with scarring consistent with dogfighting, and items consistent with participation in dogfighting, including break sticks, veterinary medicine and supplies, and samples of blood-stained carpeting from a dog fighting “pit” on Carrillo’s property.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.

Sentencings

United States v. Moody Motor Company, Inc.,

• No. 8:24-CR-00043 (District of Nebraska)
• AUSA Sean Lynch

On July 31, 2024, a court sentenced Moody Motor Company, Inc., to pay a $39,742 fine and complete a one-year term of probation.

In January 2022, authorities received information uncovered during an investigation in Dallas, Texas, involving Phillip Waddell. Waddell owned and operated Diesel Performance of Texas (DPTX). Waddell sold tuners and delete kits used to modify exhaust systems. DPTX sold these products to Moody Motors on several occasions between April 2019 and January 2022. The company pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact for buying the delete kits used to violate the Clean Air Act (18 U.S.C § 3).

Waddell and multiple co-defendants are scheduled for trial in August 2025.

This U.S Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Northridge Construction Corp., et al.,

• Nos. 2:23-CR-00486, 00491 (Eastern District of New York)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Dan Dooher
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney RJ Powers
• ECS Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On August 6, 2024, a court sentenced Northridge Construction Corporation to pay a $100,000 fine and complete a five-year term of probation. The company pleaded guilty to violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act , causing the death of a company employee (29 U.S.C. § 666(e)). Supervisor Richard Zagger pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of official proceedings (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1505). Zagger is scheduled for sentencing on October 16, 2024.

In 2018, a Northridge employee died after falling from an improperly secured roof during the construction of a shed. Zagger oversaw the project as Northridge employees built a metal shed on the Northridge property. During the construction, one of the employees fell from the roof and died from his injuries.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations require companies and employers to maintain the stability of a metal structure during construction. Northridge pleaded guilty to violating this worker safety standard and to making two false statements that obstructed OSHA’s investigation into the employee’s death.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted the investigation.

United States v. Mark Shepherd

• No. 3:24-mj-08002 (Northern District of Ohio)
• AUSA Matthew Simko

On August 12, 2024, a court sentenced Mark Shepherd, co-owner of Cessna Transport LLC, to pay a $5,000 fine, complete a one-year term of probation, and perform 150 hours of community service for negligently discharging a pollutant under the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1319(c)(1)(A))). He was also ordered to pay $22,508 in restitution to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Shepherd owned and operated two trucking companies, Cessna Transport, Inc., and A.G. Bradley, Inc. On April 17, 2021, Shepherd negligently discharged approximately 7,000 gallons of a substance containing ammonia into the Scioto River without a permit, causing a fishkill. Environmental authorities determined that the discharge killed more than 43,000 fish, including black bass, flathead catfish, sunfish, and minnows, valued at approximately $23,000. The contaminants flowed approximately 18 miles downstream from where Shepherd illegally dumped them.

A local fisherman reported the fish kill, which occurred in an area routinely used for recreational fishing.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Environmental Enforcement Unit, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Gladis Isela Valdez

• No. 3:24-CR-00437 (Southern District of California)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Stephen DaPonte
• AUSA Melanie Pierson

On August 13, 2024, a court sentenced Gladis Isela Valdez to time served, followed by one year of supervised release and to pay $2,028 in restitution. Valdez previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy (18 U.S.C. §371).

Valdez attempted to enter the United States at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on January 31, 2024, with 24 one-liter bottles of Taktic concealed in her vehicle. Taktic contains Amitraz, a pesticide whose registration is canceled in the U.S.

Those involved in clandestine marijuana grows use illegal pesticides to cultivate unregulated marijuana on both public and private land in the United States.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

United States v. Hong Lee, et al.,

• No. 2:22-CR-00165 (District of New Jersey)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy
• Paralegal Amanda Backer

On August 14, 2024, a court sentenced Hong Lee to 86 days of incarceration (time served) and to pay a $30,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund.

Lee, one of nine defendants charged in the U.S. v. American Eel Depot case, and a resident and citizen of Hong Kong, travelled to the United States for the sole purpose of pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge (18 U.S.C. § 371).

Lee’s co-defendants are charged with conspiracy to smuggle and mislabel large volumes of illegally caught European eel, a protected species facing a steep population decline. Lee served as an intermediary who received large volumes of mislabeled live European eel elvers that had been smuggled out of Europe, through ports in Hong Kong and Thailand where Lee could ensure they would be cursorily inspected. The elvers were sent to American Eel Depot’s factory in China, to be reared to maturity, slaughtered, packaged as a lawful species, and then smuggled into the United States for wholesale distribution. The smuggled wildlife in this case is worth approximately $11.5 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation

United States v. Brek Pilling, et al.,

• Nos. 4:21-CR-00218, 4:22-CR-00282 (District of Idaho)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Cassie Barnum
• AUSA Francis Zebari
• ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On August 14, 2024, a court sentenced Brek Pilling to pay a $100,000 fine, and complete a five- year term of probation, to include three months of home confinement. He also will perform 100 hours of community service. Pilling pleaded guilty to a Clean Air Act negligent endangerment count (42 U.S.C. § 7413).

Co-defendant Brian Tibbets pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing a pending proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1505). Both failed to inspect a facility for the presence of asbestos prior to commencing a demolition project. Tibbets is scheduled for sentencing on October 16, 2024.

In late 2017, Pilling and Tibbets purchased two buildings in Burley, Idaho, planning to demolish them and build a parking lot. During a walkthrough with city officials, the building inspector pointed out likely asbestos-containing material (ACM). In further communications with the city (prior to negotiations breaking down), other city employees also warned the owners about the presence of ACM and the need for remediation. The owners took “samples” from the buildings that included wood, brick, and stone (but no building materials that could plausibly be composed of ACM) and submitted those to a forensic lab for analysis.

In January 2018, both buildings caught fire under suspicious circumstances. After seeing the fire on the news, a local contractor contacted the owners and offered to demolish what remained of the buildings using his own asbestos inspector and remediation company. The owners accepted the contractor’s bid but said they would hire their own remediation company. Two days later, the contractor saw the buildings under demolition. The owners chose to hire an individual to knock them down without conducting any asbestos abatement. During the demolition, individuals hauled several truckloads of debris to a nearby landfill. The owners lied to an inspector during a subsequent conversation about onsite testing. The National Enforcement Investigation Center analyzed samples taken from the sites and found multiple areas with ACM. Officials ultimately removed approximately 860 tons of asbestos-contaminated demolition debris from the site, at a cost of approximately $845,000.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Logsdon Valley Oil, Inc., a/k/a Hart Petroleum, et al.,

• No.  1:21-CR-00044 (Western District of Kentucky)
• AUSA Joshua Judd

On August 15, 2024, a court sentenced Logsdon Valley Oil, Inc., a/k/a Hart Petroleum (Logsdon) to pay a $100,000 fine, complete a three-year term of probation, and implement an environmental compliance plan.

Company vice president Charles L. Stinson passed away in December 2023. Both Stinson and Logsdon pleaded guilty to violating the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) (18 U.S.C. § 300h-2(b)(2)). 

Logsdon is a Kentucky corporation that owns and operates several oil production wells and tank batteries. On September 13, 2021, Stinson and Logsdon injected fluids into a sinkhole that was not permitted or authorized for underground injection.

The defendants previously violated the SDWA in 2013 by conducting similar activity in the same area. In the previous case, they admitted to injecting brine water from the tank battery to sinkholes over an approximately four-year period.

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Leslie A. Meyers II

• No. 1:18-CR-00058 (Middle District of Georgia)
• ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy

On August 15, 2024, a court resentenced Leslie A. Meyers, II, to 123 months’ incarceration. Meyers pleaded guilty in 2020 to four felony dog fighting counts (7 U.S.C. § 2156(a)(1), (b)) and one count of felon-in-possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)).

The court originally sentenced Meyers in 2021 to 123 months’ incarceration, but the Eleventh Circuit remanded for resentencing to allow the parties to present evidence regarding a disputed fact – namely, that the defendant hung his dog after the dog fight in question.

At the resentencing, the government put on five witnesses and introduced several exhibits. At the close of the hearing, the court found that the government had met its burden to establish the fact in dispute, and sentenced Meyers to the same term of imprisonment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.

United States v. Quin Global US, et al.,

• Nos. 8:24-CR-00002, 00003 (District of Nebraska)
• AUSA Sean Lynch

On August 30, 2024, a court sentenced Quin Global US (Quin), and its president Matthew Peterson for mail fraud and selling an unregistered pesticide. Quin will pay a $390,000 fine and complete a two-year term of probation. Peterson will pay a $2,500 fine and complete a one-year term of probation. Quin pleaded guilty to mail fraud and selling an unregistered pesticide, in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Peterson pleaded guilty to violating FIFRA (18 U.S.C. § 1341; 7 U.S.C. § 136j).

Quin manufactures adhesive and tool systems. In March 2020, the company expanded its business by manufacturing and selling pesticides. Quin initially contacted a company formerly known as Lonza, Inc., seeking to distribute Lonza’s product called “Formulation HWS-64.” Lonza told Quin it could take months to enter into a legally permissible agreement.

As a result, Quin purchased the product from a different Lonza distributor, Buckeye International. Quin then diluted the product and repackaged it into its own pressurized canister and application systems. Quin named this diluted product “Ramsol-RS1,” marketing it as effective against COVID and “EPA-approved.” Quin, however, never sought to register the product, therefore the EPA never approved its usage.

In April 2020, Quin consulted a regulatory consultant, Delta Analytical, regarding the feasibility of registering Ramsol-RS1 product, which Quin already sold on the market. After the consultant informed Quin of the registration requirements, the company decided not to pursue it.

Between April 2020 and July 2020, Quin sent Ramsol-RS1 to 73 of its distributors in the United States of America and Canada. These distributors then supplied the product to their own retail customers. Numerous customers inquired as to the product’s validity and efficacy. Quin repeatedly assured customers that its product would be effective against viruses and gave them the EPA registration for the Lonza/Buckeye product.

Investigators eventually purchased and tested Quin’s product, determining that the company diluted the product well beyond efficacy against viruses, including COVID. As a result of this fraud, the company sold approximately $1.4 million worth of Ramsol-RS1 and $185,000 in related equipment over a two-month period.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

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This crime news article "Environmental Crimes Bulletin - August 2024" was originally found on https://www.justice.gov/usao/pressreleases