By SDCN Staff Sacramento, CA–With online marketplaces selling stolen merchandise, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to strengthen transparency rules for high-volume, third-party sellers and provide greater tools for law enforcement to identify stolen items, often taken from doorsteps or shoplifted at retail stores.  “We are tightening the spigot, reducing the sale of online illegal merchandise,” […]

By SDCN Staff Five current or former IRS employees have been charged with schemes to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, federal stimulus programs authorized as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, federal prosecutors said. According to court documents, the defendants allegedly obtained […]

By SDCN Staff San Diego, CA–U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the San Diego Field Office made major busts totaling over $4.1 million worth at its ports of entry on the week of September 18 to 24, federal authorities said. Officers at the ports of entry used K-9 teams and imaging systems to discover […]

By SDCN Staff Orange, CA–The Los Angeles, San Diego, San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency, which manages the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service, has temporarily suspended service south of Irvine until further notice for emergency track repairs due to coastal erosion in San Clemente, officials said.   Consultations with geologists, geotechnical engineers, and surveyors revealed that […]

By SDCN Staff Four people pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to defraud the Department of Education’s financial aid programs of millions of dollars in federal funds. According to court documents and statements made in connection with their guilty pleas, Sandra Anderson, 63, of Palmetto, Georgia; Yolanda Thomas, 51, of Columbus, Georgia; Leo Thomas, 56, of […]

By SDCN Staff Imperial, CA–El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a United States citizen and three Mexican nationals accused of smuggling narcotics, in three separate events, over the weekend.  The combined value of narcotics seized was over $2.05 million.   The first incident occurred on September 23 at approximately 2:50 p.m., when agents encountered two […]

By SDCN Staff The Justice Department announced the unsealing of an indictment charging a U.S. citizen and three citizens of the Russian Federation with violating new U.S. sanctions imposed earlier this year in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. According to court documents, Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, aka Oleg Mukhamedshin, 52; and Natalia Mikhaylovna […]

By SDCN Staff A federal grand jury in Oakland, California, returned an indictment Thursday charging a former California correctional officer with sexual abuse charges against two female inmates. John Russell Bellhouse, 39, formerly of Pleasanton, California, was originally charged by criminal complaint on Nov. 30, 2021, with one count of sexual abuse of a prison […]

By SDCN Staff Los Angeles, CA–A Los Angeles-based clothing wholesale company pleaded guilty on September 21 to federal criminal charges for undervaluing imported garments in a scheme to avoid paying almost $6.4 million in customs duties and for doing business with a woman in Mexico who has ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel, the Justice […]

By SDCN Staff Tucson, AZ–A former armed bandit was sentenced in federal court to 50 years in prison for the murder of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010, federal prosecutors said. Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga pleaded guilty to Agent Terry’s murder in April 2022. He is the seventh and final defendant […]