Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

The Cornerstone Community Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma sits largely empty due to the embezzlement of nearly $1 million in funds meant for the project by the pastor who helped establish it.

PharMerica Corporation has agreed to pay the United States $31.5 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that they violated the Controlled Substances Act by dispensing Schedule II controlled drugs without a valid prescription and violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare for these improperly dispensed drugs, the Justice Department announced on May 14.

The former Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Legislature was sentenced to five years in prison on May 14, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe of the District of the Virgin Islands.

A 32-year-old Washington, D.C., man was sentenced Wednesday to serve more than three years in prison for various crimes he committed in a far-reaching identity theft and tax fraud scheme in which he and others filed fraudulent federal income tax returns seeking more than $1.1 million in refunds, the Justice Department announced.

A federal grand jury in Mobile, Alabama, has returned a seven-count indictment charging Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) and four employees with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), conspiracy, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown for the Southern District of Alabama.

A Phenix City, Alabama, resident was arrested after being indicted on April 28 by a federal grand jury sitting in the Middle District of Alabama on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States on May 12, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. of the Middle District of Alabama.

A Temple Hills, Maryland, resident who operated a company that provided security guards to private businesses and apartment complexes pleaded guilty Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to failing to file employment tax returns and pay over approximately $600,000 in employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Larry J. Wszalek of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Garfield M. Taylor, 56, of Rockville, Maryland, was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison and ordered to pay over $28.6 million in restitution for operating a Ponzi scheme that resulted in investors losing money they invested with Taylor and companies he controlled.

Scott T. Valente, 58, of Schenectady, New York, pleaded guilty in Albany before Chief U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe to one count of securities fraud on May 11, one count of mail fraud and one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, announced U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen for the New York Field Office’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, and Special Agent in Charge Andrew W. Vale for the Albany Division’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Valente was released pending his sentencing, scheduled for September 8, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. in Albany, New York.

A Raleigh, North Carolina, man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims and identity theft on May 11, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker of the Eastern District of North Carolina.