Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

The Department of Justice announced that North Carolina Department of Correction’s Division of Community Corrections Probation Officer Willie James Steele, Jr., 47, was indicted yesterday on civil rights charges for violating the constitutional rights of a female probationer that he was supervising by coercing her into sexual acts on two separate occasions. Steele was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

A long-time Seattle financial advisor was indicted today by a federal grand jury with 23 criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and investment advisor fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Mark F. Spangler, 57, of Seattle is accused of diverting investor money from accounts he managed to risky start-up ventures in which he or his investment firm had an ownership interest. Spangler allegedly diverted more than $46 million to two companies, one of which is now shut down after failing to generate any positive revenue. Those who invested in the funds managed by Spangler, as part of The Spangler Group Inc.(TSG), were not told that their money was being invested in risky start-up companies. Spangler and several of his companies went into receivership last year. Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Spangler as well. Spangler is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Seattle on May 18, 2012 at 2:30.

James E. Singleton, age 45, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was charged in a bill of information with theft, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

An owner of a Houston health care company was convicted yesterday by a jury in the Southern District of Texas in connection with a $750,000 Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

Robert Mattei, Leo McGlynn, Brian Welsh, Joseph Donnelly, and Elena Ruiz—the owners and managers of the Nifty Fifty’s restaurant chain—were charged today by information in a tax evasion conspiracy that cheated the Internal Revenue Service by failing to properly account for more than $15 million in gross receipts.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that Michael Brady, 37, of Newington, formerly of Bolton, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 36 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for stealing more than $233,000 from clients of his investment business.

David Edwards, the former deputy chief information officer for Wayne County pleaded guilty today to taking illegal gratuities from a private contractor because of his official acts, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today.

This morning in Albuquerque federal court, Gilbert Christopher Aragon, Jr., 48, pled guilty to a five-count criminal information charging him with violating the federal narcotics laws by unlawfully trafficking in prescription drugs and related offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales.

A federal jury in New York City today convicted three former financial services executives for their participation in conspiracies related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced.

Carmelita Hines, 48, of Waldorf, Maryland, was sentenced today to a 20-month prison term on a charge of wire fraud in an embezzlement scheme that cost her former employer more than $200,000, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.