FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending April 2, 2010

Washington, D.C. April 02, 2010

FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3691

Detroit: Nine Militia Members Charged with Seditious Conspiracy and Related Offenses
Six Michigan residents, along with two residents of Ohio and a resident of Indiana, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on charges of seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence. The five-count indictment charges that between August 2008 and the present, the defendants, acting as a Lenawee County Michigan militia group called the Hutaree, conspired to oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government. According to the indictment, Hutaree members view local, state, and federal law enforcement as the “brotherhood,” their enemy, and have been preparing to engage them in armed conflict. Full Story
New Orleans: Police Officer Charged in Danziger Bridge Case

New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Officer Michael Hunter was charged with misprision of a felony—for concealing a known felony—and with conspiring with fellow NOPD officers to obstruct justice by covering up a police-involved shooting in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The Sept. 4, 2005, shooting on the Danziger Bridge left two civilians dead and four others seriously injured. Full Story
Houston: Physician Charged in Multi-Million-Dollar Scheme to Defraud Medicare

The continuing investigation into allegations of health care fraud by persons associated with City Nursing Services of Texas Inc. has yielded a 55-count, second superseding indictment, charging Dr. Christina Clardy, a Houston physician, and one as yet unnamed individual with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and mail fraud. The second superseding indictment adds four additional structuring financial counts against defendant Kenneth Anokam a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who was named in the previous indictment and who has been in federal custody without bond since Oct. 26, 2009. Full Story
Memphis: Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Commit Murders of African-Americans

Daniel Cowart pleaded guilty to eight counts in a federal indictment charging him with crimes related to a racially motivated plot to murder dozens of people. Cowart, of Bells, Tenn., admitted to conspiring with Paul Schlesselman of West Helena, Ark., to engage in a killing spree specifically targeting African-Americans. He further acknowledged that he intended to culminate these attacks by assassinating President Obama, a U.S. Senator and a presidential candidate at the time of the planned attacks. Full Story
Philadelphia: Man Charged with Threatening to Kill U.S. Congressman and His Family

A two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill U.S. Congressman Eric Cantor and his family. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google via the Internet, in which he threatened to kill Congressman Cantor and his family. Full Story
New York: Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Former Continental Airlines Sales Agent in Fake Ticket Voucher Scheme

Victoria Scardigno, a former sales agent for Continental Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, was arrested on wire fraud charges stemming from a $1 million scheme involving the sale of hundreds of fake ticket vouchers. While employed at the airline, Scardigno misappropriated from its offices hundreds of vouchers that the airline uses to compensate customers who had already paid for travel on Continental Airlines for flight delays, cancellations or situations in which customers were denied boarding due to, for example, overbooking. Full Story
Dallas: Gang Member Sentenced to 210 Months in Prison for Role in Drug Conspiracy

Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) member John Guzman of Big Spring, Texas, was sentenced to 210 months in prison. Guzman pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana. Guzman has been in custody since his arrest in February 2009. Full Story
New York: Former IBM Senior Vice President Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading

Robert Moffat Jr., a former senior executive at International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy and securities fraud stemming from his involvement in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history. Full Story
St. Louis: Eight Area Men Sentenced on Federal Racketeering Charges Involving Conspiracy to Transfer Cash and Checks to the Palestinian Territories

According to plea agreements, the Hamed Organization was a criminal enterprise that operated primarily in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Members and associates of the enterprise, many who are related to each other, raise money through legal and illegal means for themselves and to transfer money to entities in the Palestinian territories. The convenience stores were utilized to receive and sell stolen goods such as infant formula, computers, Global Positioning System devices and cigarettes. The enterprise bought the stolen property at rates significantly below fair market retail value and sold the items through the convenience stores at a large profit. Full Story
Portland: Former Portland Loan Officer Sentenced for Aggravated Identity Theft

Kamau Herndon of Portland, Ore., was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of aggravated identity theft. Herndon, a former loan officer at Lighthouse Financial Group in Vancouver, Wash., was indicted in February 2009 on aggravated identity theft charges after he submitted three materially false loan applications totaling more than $1.5 million to purchase homes for his girlfriend. Full Story

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FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending April 2, 2010