Tag Archives: DOJ

Mother And Daughter Pair Plead Guilty In Capitol Riot

Law & Crime reports: Carla Krzywicki, 20, and her mother Jean Lavin, 56, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside a capitol building. The misdemeanor charge carries a potential jail sentence of six months. Lavin and Krzywicki got into the capitol from one of the building’s terraces, which they reached by climbing a bike …

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DOJ Launches New Unit On Domestic Terrorism

The Washington Post reports: The Justice Department is forming a new domestic terrorism unit to help combat a threat that has intensified dramatically in recent years, a top national security official said Tuesday. Matthew G. Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, announced the unit in his opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that the …

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KS Pair Gets Two Years Probation Each On Riot Charges

Law & Crime reports: A pair of Kansas retirees who admitted to unlawfully entering the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been sentenced to two years of probation and 60 hours of community service. Esther Schwemmer, 56, and her friend Jennifer Parks, 61, entered the building after the barricades had been overturned and the windows and doors had been broken. Prosecutors …

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Woman Charged In Fatal Wrong-Way DUI Crash Pleads Guilty To Riot Charge, Faces Up To One Year, $100K Fine

Law & Crime reports: The Missouri woman accused in a fatal drunk driving crash has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Emily Hernandez, 22, was seen in pictures and on video grinning widely while holding a fragment of a sign appearing to identify the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) on Jan. …

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Woman Who Brought Son To Riot Gets Three Months

The Associated Press reports: A North Carolina woman who brought her 14-year-old son into the U.S. Capitol during last year’s riot was sentenced Friday to three months imprisonment. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she finds it “very hard to comprehend” why Virginia Marie Spencer and her husband took their child into the building during a violent insurrection. Spencer’s husband, …

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Anti-Vax Army Veteran Latest Collared In Capitol Riot

Law & Crime reports: Federal authorities on Thursday unsealed a criminal case against a defendant accused of playing a role in the Jan. 6, 2021 siege on the U.S. Capitol Complex — exactly one year to the day after the fateful event. James Wayne Brooks of Knoxville, Tenn., is accused of four counts. A warrant indicates that Brooks was arrested …

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PPP Fraudster Who Won Big On Tesla Stock Gets 4 Years

The Oregonian reports: An Oregon man who created several hundred employees out of thin air and then fraudulently obtained $3.4 million in COVID-19 relief funds has been sentenced to four years in prison. Andrew Aaron Lloyd invested his ill-gotten gains and won big — eventually purchasing more than 15,000 shares of Tesla stock and 25 rental properties in Oregon and …

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Father And Son Capitol Rioters Plead Guilty To Felonies

From the Justice Department: A father and son each pleaded guilty today to a felony charge related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election. Daryl Johnson, 51, of St. Ansgar, Iowa, …

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GA Woman Gets 41 Months In $8M COVID/PPP Fraud

From the Justice Department: A Georgia woman was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for her scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $7.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to court documents, Hunter VanPelt, aka Ellen Corkrum, 49, of Roswell, …

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Teenage Capitol Rioter Sentenced To 14 Days In Prison

Law & Crime reports: The youngest person so far to plead guilty to charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to two weeks in federal prison. Leonard Pearso “Pearce” Ridge IV, of Feasterville, Pennsylvania, was 19 years old when he joined the mob of Donald Trump supporters who overran police and breached the …

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Wednesday: Garland To Deliver Speech On Riot Probe

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General Merrick Garland will give a speech Wednesday about the Justice Department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, stressing the department’s “unwavering commitment to defend Americans and American democracy from violence and threats of violence,” a Justice Department official said. The remarks will be directed at …

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TN Woman Charged With Assaulting Flight Attendants

CNN reports: A Tennessee woman turned herself into the FBI on Tuesday after she was accused of assaulting two flight attendants during a Spirit Airlines flight last month, the Justice Department announced. Amanda Renee Henry was charged in a criminal complaint with interfering with a flight crew, after an incident on a November 27 flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to …

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DOJ Releases New Three-Hour Video Of Capitol Attack

CNN reports: The Justice Department this week released a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and the police at the US Capitol Building on January 6 where rioters brandished weapons, officers were viciously beaten, and a member of the mob died on Capitol steps. The video, taken from a Capitol security camera, does not have sound. It starts as …

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Rioter Gets Nearly Four Years For Assaulting DC Cops

From the Justice Department: A Washington State man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for assaulting law enforcement during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election. According to court documents, …

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Ex-Olympian Charged In Alleged $10M COVID Scheme

From the Justice Department: Allison Marie Baver, 41, of Taylorsville, has been charged with nine federal criminal counts related to making false statements on loan applications to obtain funds obtained through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In the indictment, Baver is charged with eight counts of making a false statement to a bank and one count of …

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Woman Gets 10 Years In COVID Unemployment Fraud

From the Justice Department: A Jonesville, Virginia woman, who admitted to heading a conspiracy that defrauded the government of more than $1.5 million in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, was sentenced today to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution. Farren Gaddis Ricketts, 31, and her co-conspirators concocted a scheme to gather personal identification information and then submit unemployment …

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Capitol Rioter Gets Longest Sentence Yet: 63 Months

NBC News reports: A Florida man was sentenced Friday to just over five years in prison for assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The sentence, of 63 months, was the longest one yet imposed among the more than 150 defendants who have pleaded guilty to taking part in the siege. Robert Palmer, 54, of Tampa, …

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Proud Boys Wannabe Gets 3 Years In Warnock Threat

From the Justice Department: In federal court in Brooklyn, Eduard Florea was sentenced by United States District Judge Eric R. Komitee to 33 months in prison for transmitting threats to injure others, including threats against now-United States Senator Raphael Warnock, and possessing ammunition after having been convicted of a felony. Florea pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2021. Breon …

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28 Months For Man Who Threatened To Shoot Pelosi

From the Justice Department: A North Carolina man was sentenced today to 28 months in prison after earlier pleading guilty to a felony charge involving a threat he made to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. According to court documents, Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr., 53, of Hayesville, N.C., traveled from Colorado to Washington D.C. and arrived late in the evening of …

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Judge Upholds Felony Obstruction Charges For Rioters

CNN reports: A federal judge on Friday upheld the Justice Department’s decision to use a felony obstruction law against US Capitol rioters, a major victory for prosecutors who have used the statute to charge hundreds of Donald Trump supporters who were involved in the January 6 insurrection. Several other defendants have challenged the law, and many of those challenges are …

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