Source: US State Government of Utah
Collin L. Welch, 40, of Arlington, Virginia, a Major in the D.C. National Guard, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to unlawfully inducing aliens to enter and remain in the United States and to theft of about $54,000 in government money, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: US State Government of Utah
Guillermo Cruz Velazquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, faces federal charges after a handgun he allegedly carried onto a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) bus in Sandy Springs, Georgia last week fired a bullet that passed through his arm and into another passenger.
Source: US State Government of Utah
Yaroslav Shilkloper, 50, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was sentenced today to four years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy that utilized a sophisticated phony brokerage-business to scam U.S. citizens out of millions of dollars. Shilkloper was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and $1.43 million in restitution to his victims.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Shilkloper and his co-conspirators defrauded victims in the United States of more than $3 million dollars by promising high rates of return on investments made through their “K6 Investing,” “Neotron Holding LTD.,” and “Goldex Technology” companies. As part of the scheme, the defendant provided access to a digital platform that allowed victims to see what they believed were real-time investment performance data. The victims’ money, however, was never invested, but instead diverted and laundered through a series of bank accounts in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Czech Republic, and elsewhere, all controlled by Shilkloper and his co-conspirators. When victims attempted to withdraw their money, they were prevented from doing so, threatened with legal action, or manipulated into sending more money to the fraud ring.
Shilkloper is the first of three defendants charged in the case to be sentenced. He was extradited from Poland after being arrested there in 2023. Today’s U.S. forfeiture order adds to the $2.8 million already previously returned to the victims as a result of forfeiture proceedings against Shilkloper and co-conspirators in the Republic of Georgia.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Wright of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Orleans Field Office made the announcement.
The HSI New Orleans Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Ben Tonkin and Justin G. Bish of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter McCreight for the Southern District of Mississippi prosecuted this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Polish authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Shilkloper.
Source: US State Government of Utah
The ex-wife and current partner of a leader of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as Los Cuinis pleaded guilty today to willfully violating counternarcotic sanctions. Los Cuinis is closely aligned with the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative.
According to court documents, Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo, 45, of Mexico, committed criminal violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Act (Kingpin Act) by engaging in transactions and dealings in property with IMG Academy, a preparatory school and athletic training facility headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, that Amaral’s child attended. On Aug. 19, 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Amaral Arevalo for assisting the international narcotics trafficking activities of Los Cuinis, a sanctioned drug cartel. Despite Amaral Arevalo’s OFAC designation, which prohibited her from engaging in transactions or dealings within the U.S. financial system, Amaral Arevalo entered into contracts with IMG Academy for her child to attend the school and arranged for $504,497.48 in tuition payments.
On July 21, 2023, Amaral Arevalo’s ex-husband and current partner, Gerardo Gonzalez Valencia, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to distribute tonnage quantities of cocaine for importation into the United States. On Feb. 12, 2026, OFAC announced a $1.72 million settlement with IMG Academy for entering into yearly tuition agreements with Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) sanctioned for their ties to a sanctioned Mexico-based drug cartel and receiving and processing payments pursuant to those agreements.
“Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo willfully violated U.S. counternarcotic sanctions by funneling over half a million dollars in illicit drug proceeds as tuition payments through IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, despite being prohibited from engaging in transactions within the U.S. financial system,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Kingpin Act exists to cut off foreign narcotics traffickers, their businesses, and their operatives from engaging in transactions within the U.S. financial system, and prevents them from using American institutions to receive or move drug money. The Criminal Division will use every tool available to dismantle drug cartels, protect the American people, and ensure financial transactions in the United States are free of sanctioned drug proceeds.”
“Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo exploited a school and training facility — a place families trust to invest in their children’s futures — as a vehicle to funnel millions in illicit drug proceeds for CJNG, one of the Western Hemisphere’s most violent and destabilizing drug cartels,’’ said Administrator Terrance C. Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Her guilty plea exposes the calculated audacity and sophisticated reach of cartel financial networks operating inside the United States. DEA, alongside our law enforcement partners, remains committed to pursuing the leaders, financiers, and enablers who sustain these terrorist enterprises.”
Amaral Arevalo faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10 million. Sentencing has been set for Dec. 2.
The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit Los Angeles is investigating the case. The Department of Justice thanks OFAC for its support and contributions to the case.
Chief Kaitlin Sahni of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit (NDDU) and Trial Attorneys Lernik Begian, Douglas Meisel, and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) are prosecuting the case.
MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s NDDU investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.
This case is part of the HSTF initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
Source: US State Government of Utah
OAKLAND – Evan Edwards pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Her co-defendant, Oluwatobi Otukelu, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, and was sentenced on June 22, 2026, to 24 months in federal prison for his role in the conspiracies
Source: US State Government of Utah
Seattle – The owner of a restaurant in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay over more than $1.4 million in unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare taxes – some of which were withheld from employee paychecks, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Source: US State Government of Utah
Stephen Tyler Prock, 58, of Jamestown, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston to 20 years in prison, which is the maximum sentence allowed under the statute, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for receiving and distributing child sexual abuse material.
Source: US State Government of Utah
Federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, with the help of prosecutors, executed multiple federal search warrants, in Kansas City, Mo. as part of the Homeland Security Task Force, a multi-agency Department of Justice Initiative, that works to protect U.S. citizens from security threats and violent crime.
Source: US State Government of Utah
A Michigan woman pleaded guilty today to billing Medicare for psychotherapy services that were never provided to residents of her adult day care center.
According to court documents, Yolanda Matthews, 58, of Farmington Hills, admitted to continually billing and submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for psychotherapy services that were never provided. Matthews admitted to fraudulently billing for providing services at her adult day care center during periods in which the Medicare beneficiary was actually admitted to a hospital, forging claims in the names of social workers who were no longer employed at the adult day care center, and even billing Medicare for providing psychotherapy services to beneficiaries after they had died. All told, Matthews submitted over $539,000 in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Matthews was charged as part of the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. Matthews pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division; Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Reuben Coleman of the FBI Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ethridge of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI Detroit Field Office and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Jeffrey A. Crapko of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
Source: US State Government of Utah
A Texas businessman, a Kentucky doctor, and a Kentucky woman were sentenced to prison for their roles in fraudulently billing Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid over $4.8 million through a series of addiction treatment facilities.
Today, Michael Bregenzer, 53, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
In February 2026, José Alzadon, M.D., 62, of Paintsville, Kentucky, was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
In January 2026, Barbie Vanhoose, 63, of West Van Lear, Kentucky, was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
All three defendants were ordered to pay restitution of $812,881.09.
According to evidence presented at trial, Bregenzer, Alzadon, and Vanhoose orchestrated their health care fraud scheme through Kentucky Addiction Centers or KAC, which operated in Winchester, Paducah, Paintsville, and London, Kentucky. As part of his role as KAC’s medical director, Alzadon prescribed Suboxone, a controlled substance that is used to treat opioid addiction. Bregenzer served as KAC’s CEO and Vanhoose as KAC’s billing manager.
Together, Bregenzer, Alzadon, and Vanhoose ran a scheme that falsely billed taxpayer-funded health programs like Medicare and Medicaid for medical services that were not provided or were billed as more complex and expensive services than the services patients actually received. They also conspired to falsely bill for services in the name of Alzadon’s elderly father when the services either were not provided at all or were provided by Alzadon — who was unable to bill certain health plans as he was not credentialed as a provider with those plans. Bregenzer, Alzadon, and Vanhoose also conspired to use Alzadon’s father’s prescribing credentials, including his DEA registration number and electronic prescribing token, to prescribe Suboxone, even though Alzadon’s father had not seen the patients for whom he was supposedly issuing prescriptions.
In March 2025, Bregenzer, Alzadon, and Vanhoose were each convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, eight counts of health care fraud, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances using the registration number of another person. Alzadon and Vanhoose were also convicted of two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Scott of the DEA Louisville Division; Special Agent in Charge Olivia Olson of the FBI Louisville Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Kelly Blackmon of the Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Regional Director Joe Rivers of the Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL-EBSA); and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman made the announcement.
The DEA, FBI, HHS-OIG, DOL-EBSA, and the Kentucky Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case.
The Winchester Police Department provided substantial assistance during the investigation and trial.
Trial Attorneys Dermot Lynch, Sarah Edwards, and Samad Pardesi of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division (Fraud Division). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.