FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending May 28, 2010

Washington, D.C. May 28, 2010

FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3691

FBI Headquarters: Preliminary 2009 Crime Statistics Released

Preliminary 2009 statistics indicate that violent crime in the nation decreased 5.5 percent and property crime declined 4.9 percent when compared with data from 2008, according to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report. Data in the report came from 13,237 law enforcement agencies that submitted six to 12 months of data in both 2008 and 2009. Full Story
Dallas: Man Admits Attempting to Bomb Downtown Dallas Skyscraper Last September

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi pleaded guilty to a felony offense related to his attempted bombing of a downtown Dallas skyscraper in September 2009. Smadi, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the terms of the plea agreement, however, Smadi faces a sentence of 30 years in prison, if the court accepts the plea. Full Story
New York: Assistant to Top Disney Executive and Accomplice Charged with Insider Trading Scheme

Bonnie J. Hoxie, an assistant to a top executive at Walt Disney Company, and Yonni Sebbag, a friend of Hoxie, were charged with conspiracy and wire fraud. The charges stem from their participation in an insider trading scheme in which Hoxie, in her capacity as a Disney employee, obtained confidential inside information, including about Disney's quarterly earnings, and passed that information to Sebbag, who in turn attempted to sell the information to buyers seeking to trade on inside information. Full Story
Chicago: Ohio Man and Two Foreign Residents Indicted for Alleged Ukraine-Based “Scareware” Fraud Scheme

An international cybercrime scheme caused Internet users in more than 60 countries to purchase more than one million bogus software products, causing victims to lose more than $100 million, according to a federal indictment returned against a Cincinnati-area man and two other men believed to be living abroad. The charges allege that the defendants, through fake advertisements placed on various legitimate companies’ websites, deceived Internet users into falsely believing that their computers were infected with “malware” or had other critical errors to induce them to purchase “scareware” software products that had limited or no ability to remedy the purported, but nonexistent, defects. The alleged scheme is widely regarded as one of the fastest-growing and most prevalent types of Internet fraud. Full Story
Houston: Pakistani Citizen Convicted of Conspiring to Support the Taliban and Unlawful Possession of Firearms

A federal jury has convicted Adnan Mirza, 33, of all nine counts in an indictment arising from his efforts to provide support and funds to the Taliban. Mirza, a citizen of Pakistan, had entered the United States on a student visa and was attending a local community college in 2005 and 2006 when he committed the offenses for which he was convicted, including conspiracy to unlawfully possess firearms, conspiracy to provide funds to the Taliban, and all seven counts of unlawful possession by an alien of firearms and ammunition. Full Story
Kansas City: Former Mortgage Broker, California Woman Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud

Two more defendants pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to mortgage fraud schemes, including a $12.6 million conspiracy involving 25 upscale residential properties in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Raymore, Missouri, and a property-flipping scheme in Kansas City, Missouri. Full Story
Salt Lake City: D.C. Man Pleads Guilty in Montana to Impersonating FBI Agent

Malik Hannabal Shabazz, a 19-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to false impersonation of an officer of the United States. Shabazz attempted to board a United Airlines flight at Great Falls International Airport, claiming he could not check his bag because it contained a firearm. He further claimed that he was a law enforcement officer employed by the FBI. When later questioned by the FBI, Shabazz stated that his purpose for making the claim was to observe the response of airport personnel. Full Story
Jackson: Moss Point Couple Convicted of $18 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

LaTanicia McMillan Rogers and Wayne Rogers, both of Moss Point, Mississippi, were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to defraud the United States and theft of government funds. LaTanicia McMillan Rogers was also convicted of three counts of health care fraud and two counts of making a false statement relating to health care. Over the course of 18 months, the defendants billed Medicare for false claims of more than $18 million, and were paid more than $8 million. Full Story
New Haven: Man Sentenced for Role in 1983 Wells Fargo Robbery

Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for his involvement in a 1983 armored truck robbery of approximately $7 million in West Hartford, Connecticut. Gonzalez-Claudio acknowledged that he and other co-conspirators approved and authorized the robbery, and later transported stolen currency from the United States to Mexico. The government alleges that the robbery was perpetrated to fund the activities of Los Macheteros, a clandestine organization that seeks Puerto Rican independence. Full Story
Portland: Operation Gang Strike Results in 13-Year Federal Prison Sentence

James Ray Yoakum was sentenced to serve 13 years in federal prison for leading a conspiracy to distribute vast quantities of cocaine in the Portland metropolitan area. In December 2008, officers and agents with the Metro Gang Task Force started Operation Gang Strike, an investigation targeting criminal organizations and gang members responsible for dealing firearms and selling large amounts of both crack and powder cocaine. The investigation, which eventually resulted in the federal indictments of 24 individuals, revealed that Yoakum was the head of a large-scale cocaine trafficking organization. Full Story

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FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending May 28, 2010