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Vernon Harrison, of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced to serve 111 months in prison and three years supervised release, along with an order to pay $82,791 restitution, for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme , announced Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama George L. Beck Jr. Harrison was convicted on July 3, 2013, following a jury trial in the Middle District of Alabama. He was found guilty of conspiracy to file false claims, as well as numerous counts of mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and embezzlement from the mail.

Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division Kathryn Keneally and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California announced that Noemi Rubio Baez, of Salinas, Calif., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims for tax refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to aggravated identity theft.

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Raymond W. Kelly, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the unsealing of charges against 13 members of a burglary ring (the “burglary ring”) alleged to be responsible for more than 125 burglaries and attempted burglaries of pharmacies in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn since 2010. Bryan Altagarcia, Edwin Araujo, Martin Avalo, Alvarado Dominguez, Alan Feliz, David Santiago, and Carlos Vallejo were arrested in Manhattan and the Bronx and are expected to be presented and arraigned in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael H. Dolinger later.

Two facilities of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which were spruced up in 2011, became part of an FBI sting investigation that resulted in federal charges against a former assistant engineer for allegedly taking $10,000 in kickbacks from two contracts he steered to a contractor who was cooperating with law enforcement. The defendant, Joseph Mollica, was indicted on two counts of federal bribery, law enforcement officials announced.

A former U.S. Army sergeant and a co-conspirator have been sentenced in the District of Colorado for their roles in stealing fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Fenty, Afghanistan, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced.

U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Weaver, 30, of Fort Carson, Colorado, was sentenced on October 28, 2013, to serve 37 months in prison. Weaver pleaded guilty October 20, 2012, and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger.

Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A. (Rabobank) has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $325 million penalty to resolve violations arising from Rabobank’s submissions for the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR), which are leading benchmark interest rates around the world, the Justice Department announced.

Former U.S. Congressman Rick Renzi was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison following his June conviction by a federal jury in Tucson, Arizona, for extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. Renzi’s co-defendant, James Sandlin, was also sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for his role in the extortion, bribery, and money laundering scheme.

Thomas S. Kantzos, 45, of Fort Worth, Texas, a former officer with the Arlington Police Department (APD) appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée Harris Toliver and pleaded guilty to an indictment charging exceeding access to a protected computer, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appeared in a hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, Commission) to demand that the United States immediately close the detention center at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Twelve members of an organized criminal group operating in southern California have been charged for their roles in an ATM skimming conspiracy that victimized U.S. banks and customers, causing losses in the hundreds of thousands.