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SANTA ANA, California – A man previously convicted and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for transporting minors to work as prostitutes today received what is effectively another 14-year sentence for engaging in the same conduct involving a 19-year-old victim almost immediately after he was released from custody in the first case.

William Earl Flavors, aka “Andre,” 40, who most recently resided in Long Beach, was sentenced this morning to 10 years in federal prison. United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton ordered that this sentence run consecutive to a four-year prison term he received last year based on related conduct for violating his supervised release on his prior federal conviction, meaning that Flavors has been ordered to serve 14 years in prison for acting as a pimp for girls in 2012.

At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Staton discussed a letter that Flavors wrote to the Court in which he blamed the judicial system and the probation department for his current “predicament” and that he “not given a fair chance.” Judge Staton noted “beating women and forcing them into prostitution is not a ‘predicament,’ but a choice – a choice that defendant made.”

Flavors pleaded guilty in December to transportation in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution. Flavors specifically admitted that he transported his victims between Long Beach to Las Vegas, forced or coerced them to work as prostitutes in Las Vegas, and used physical abuse and threats of additional physical abuse to make one of his victims work for him as a prostitute.                            (more…)

A commercial real estate developer pleaded guilty for his role in a $50 million securities fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy of the Southern District of California.

Bradley Holcom, 55, entered his plea before United States District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo in San Diego, admitting that he committed wire fraud in connection with the sale of approximately $50 million worth of promissory notes which he sold to investors located throughout the United States.

According to court documents, Holcom solicited investors to provide funds for commercial and residential development through an investment program he operated called the Trust Deed Investment Program.   Holcom falsely told investors who purchased notes through the Trust Deed Investment Program that they would receive a lien on a specific piece of property he was developing and that the lien would enable them to take priority over any other potential liens or interests in the property.

However, Holcom admitted that he never provided investors with a lien in the property he was purportedly developing and instead conveyed to investors a lesser interest that did not allow them to foreclose on the property to protect their investment.   In addition, while he promised investors that their purported lien would be in first position, he subsequently solicited investments for properties that he knew were already encumbered by first position liens.   Holcom also sold properties that were supposedly serving as security for investors without informing investors that the property they had financed for development was sold.   In 2008 and 2009, he continued to solicit investors for new funds by making misrepresentations about his true financial condition and the manner in which he was using investor money.                (more…)

LOS ANGELES – A San Gabriel Valley businessman who coordinated the importation of 11 containers of counterfeit apparel – including Nike, Gucci and Coach products worth more than $2.3 million – was sentenced today to 31 months in federal prison.

Today’s sentencing is the second in the past two weeks in which a smuggling operation resulted in a federal prison term. Last week, a Glendale man who brought bogus AMG wheels into the country received a one-year prison sentence.

Both defendants previously pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods.

In today’s sentencing, Kevin “Peter” Wang, 54, of Rosemead, was sentenced to 31 months by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt. In addition to the prison term, Judge Kronstadt ordered Wang to serve an additional six months of home detention and to pay a $10,000 fine and $50,000 in restitution.                        (more…)

SANTA ANA, California – The owner of a San Gabriel immigration consulting business and one of his employees have been sentenced to federal prison for participating in a long-running scheme to prepare and file fraudulent asylum applications that made phony claims of religious persecution on behalf of hundreds of Chinese nationals.

Haoren Ma, 50, of San Gabriel, the owner of New Arrival Immigration Service, was sentenced April 28 to 4½ years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy, immigration document fraud and aggravated identity theft. Ma’s employee, Minghan Dong, 49, of San Gabriel, was sentenced on Monday, May 5 to one year and one day in prison for conspiracy to commit immigration document fraud. Both men were sentenced by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney.

According to court documents, Ma and Dong charged as much as $6,500 to prepare and file fraudulent asylum applications on behalf of Chinese nationals. Ma and Dong falsely claimed that their clients fled China after being persecuted for their Christian beliefs, even in situations where the clients said they were Buddhists.

Federal authorities founds that many of the asylum applications prepared by the defendants contained nearly identical accounts of purported persecution, including descriptions of underground church meetings that led to arrests and torture by Chinese authorities. As part of the scheme, Ma and Dong provided their clients with detailed written materials and audio tapes on Christianity to help them prepare for their asylum interviews.                                 (more…)

RIVERSIDE, California – Two Inland Empire residents have pleaded guilty to federal sex trafficking charging, admitting that they forced a 14-year-old girl to work as a prostitute in 2012.

Kawaum Marquez Scott, 24, of Quail Valley, and Nekeyia Necole Weatherspoon, who also used the name “Keey Bee,” 22, of Perris, pleaded guilty yesterday in United States District Court.

Scott pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of a child, and Weatherspoon pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in child sex trafficking

According to court documents, Scott and Weatherspoon forced the 14-year-old victim into prostitution. The defendants, who took photos of the victims and used the pictures to advertise services on the Internet, drove the victim to destinations in Hemet to engage in prostitution, made her use an alias, and advised her to tell male customers that she was 18 years old. Scott and Weatherspoon took all the money paid to the girl for the sex acts.                                 (more…)

LOS ANGELES – The “shotcaller” of a South Los Angeles street gang pleaded guilty today to federal racketeering and drug trafficking charges for his role in orchestrating the day-to-day activities of the gang that is controlled by an incarcerated member of the Mexican Mafia.

Today’s guilty pleas by Manuel Valencia come one week after the daughter of the Mexican Mafia member admitted to acting as her father’s voice to convey orders to the Harpys street gang.

The Harpys gang, which claims territory southwest of downtown Los Angeles and north of the University of Southern California, is one of more than a dozen Latino gangs across a wide swath of South Los Angeles controlled by Mexican Mafia member Danny Roman, who is serving a life-without-parole sentence at Pelican Bay State Prison and was not charged in the federal RICO case.

Roman’s daughter, Vianna Roman, 37, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty on May 1 to racketeering, narcotics and weapons offenses pursuant to a plea agreement that contemplates a sentence of approximately 20 years in federal prison but could lead to a life prison term if the sentencing judge determines this is appropriate. When she pleaded guilty, Vianna Roman admitted that she acted as a conduit for her father’s orders as he exercised control over the Harpys gang.                                 (more…)

SANTA ANA, California – The owner of a Huntington Beach-based military contractor has pleaded guilty to federal tax charges for failing to report to the Internal Revenue Service millions of dollars his company received for providing services to the military at Baghdad International Airport.

Nadim “Nick” Saifan Jr., 48, who resides in Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty late yesterday to two counts of attempted tax evasion. Saifan pleaded guilty to two of the five counts contained in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in 2011.

Saifan specifically pleaded guilty to substantially underreporting income on his company’s 2005 corporate tax return and his personal tax return for 2006.

Saifan was the owner and operator of Defense Logistical Support & Services Corporation (DLSS), which provided services to the military and some civilian companies in Iraq. From August 2004 through October 2007, DLSS received nearly $16 million from the United States military alone for services in Iraq, according to court documents that state Saifan reported only a small fraction of this income on DLSS’s corporate tax returns filed with the IRS                                               (more…)

A second superseding indictment was unsealed today adding 19 counts including racketeering conspiracy and attempted murder against three defendants for their alleged participation in the violent Nuestra Familia gang, Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Gary Anthony Romero, 48, of Stockton, Calif., and Joe Anthony Felix, 34, of Modesto, Calif., were first charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine by a federal grand jury in Fresno, Calif.  The superseding indictment, returned under seal on April 30, 2014, includes all of the charges alleged in the original indictment, as well as new charges against them.   A new defendant, Jesus Gomez Felix, 30, of Modesto, was also charged.

Jesus Felix was arrested today.  Romero and Joe Felix have been in federal custody since March 2013.  Jesus Felix will make his initial appearance in federal court in Fresno today, and Romero and Joe Felix were arraigned on the charges today in Fresno.

According to the superseding indictment, Nuestra Familia is a prison gang that originally formed in the California state prison system in the 1960s.  Nuestra Familia leaders control and direct the gang’s criminal activities both inside and outside of the prison system.              (more…)