Attorney General Applauds FBI’s Massive Sex Trafficking Crackdown

A seizure warrant and forfeiture complaint were unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that Oil Tanker “Grace 1,” all petroleum aboard it and $995,000.00 are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), bank fraud statute, and money laundering statute, as well as separately the terrorism forfeiture statute.

Azizjon Rakhmatov, 32, a citizen of Uzbekistan and resident of New Haven, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Today’s plea took place before U.S. District Court Judge William F. Kuntz II.

Two former correctional officers at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, were sentenced today for their roles in assaults on a handcuffed inmate in January 2017. Adrian Almodovar III and Charles Philson III previously pleaded guilty to depriving the inmate of his constitutional rights while acting under color of law.

A Florida man was arrested today following the return of an indictment by a federal grand jury charging him with two counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and two counts of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

William Patrick Syring, 61, of Arlington, Virginia, was today sentenced to 60 months in prison for threatening employees of the Arab American Institute (AAI) because of their race and national origin, threatening AAI employees because of their efforts to encourage Arab Americans to participate in political and civic life in the United States, and transmitting threats to AAI employees in interstate commerce.

Nathaniel Griffin, 29, today pleaded guilty to using unlawful force on an inmate while Griffin was serving as a correctional officer with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, announced Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee D. Michael Dunavant, and FBI-Memphis Special Agent in Charge M.A. Myers.

Robert Hammac, 45, a former officer of the Lake Charles Police Department, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge James D. Cain, Jr., for using excessive force against an arrestee, announced Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph for the Western District of Louisiana, and FBI’s New Orleans Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Andrew Anderson.

Good morning. It is my pleasure to join the Third International Forensic Science Symposium here in Mexico City and address such a distinguished and accomplished group of forensic scientists, lab directors, quality managers, and prosecutors from across Mexico and throughout the region.