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Archive for the ‘US Attorney’ Category

Press Release from the United States Attorney’s office Eastern District of California

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that NANCY R. SCIOLINO, 52, of Lodi, pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement this morning before United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr.

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez, who is prosecuting the case, from December 2007 through September 2008, SCIOLINO stole the cash reserve of the Farmington Post Office, located at 25320 East Highway 4. The cash reserve was entrusted to SCIOLINO in order for her to make authorized post office expenses and for her to provide change to counter postal clerks she supervised. SCIOLINO incrementally stole the cash reserve and then falsified documents to cover her theft and embezzlement. This morning SCIOLINO admitted that she used over $1,000 in U.S. currency in the cash reserve to make personal expenditures and to pay nongovernmental expenses. SCIOLINO had been employed by the U.S. Post Office since February 1985 and, at the time of her theft, SCIOLINO was the acting Post Master of the Farmington Post Office.

SCIOLINO was convicted of felony embezzlement of postal funds during the performance of her duties. SCIOLINO is scheduled to be sentenced for her theft offense on April 26, 2010. The maximum penalty SCIOLINO faces is 10 years in prison, a three-year term of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Press Release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota:

February 2, 2010
Rapid City, SD

United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Lemmon man charged with Theft of Mail Matter was sentenced on February 2, 2010, by Chief US District Judge Karen E. Schreier. Claude Haugen, age 44, was sentenced to 2 months home confinement, 3 years probation, a $100 special assessment, and $866 restitution. Haugen was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 22, 2009. In February 2009, Haugen, a contract carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, stole a package from an individual on his route. On November 2, 2009, he pled guilty to the charge. This case was investigated by the USPS-OIG. Assistant US Attorney Carolyn G. Olson prosecuted the case

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Press Release

WASHINGTON – Thomas Ali Fields, a 40-year-old District man and former U.S. Postal Service employee, has been sentenced to 144 months in prison for the distribution and possession with the intent to distribute 186 grams of crack cocaine, Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D.Phillips announced today. Fields was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman. On March 12, 2009, a jury convicted the defendant of one count of the Unlawful Distribution of 50 Grams or More of Cocaine Base, and one count of the Unlawful Possession with Intent to Distribute 50 Grams or More of Cocaine Base.

The government’s evidence at trial established that on August 13, 2008, Fields sold 115 grams of crack cocaine to a cooperating witness, working under the supervision of officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) and agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”). The transaction took place at the Shell gas station, located at 3400 Benning Road, NE, in Washington, D.C. On August 26, 2008, Fields was arrested as he was exiting the U.S. Postal River Terrace Annex on Benning Road where he worked. Recovered from a blue glove the defendant was carrying were an additional 73 grams of crack cocaine. Fields also had over $2,000 in U.S. currency on his person. Following his arrest, officers executed a search warrant at a house Fields shared with his wife. Recovered from the house was a loaded semiautomatic handgun as well as substantial drug paraphernalia.

In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips expressed his appreciation to officers of the Metropolitan Police Department and agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and particularly praised the work of MPD Detective Scott Brown. He also commended the excellent work of MPD Investigators Michael Iannacchione and Joseph Abdalla, Detectives Vincent Witkowski and King Watts, Officer Alvin Cardinal, and DEA Forensic Chemist Brian Makela. In addition, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips commended Paralegal Specialist Mia Beamon who assisted in the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys George P. Varghese and Opher Shweiki, who investigated and prosecuted the case.