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Tag: Northern District of Ohio

  • Ohio man learns punishment for robbing federal investigation informant

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    An Ohio man learned how long he will spend behind bars for robbing an informant, according to a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio.

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    Carl P. Lewis, 28, of Cleveland, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges in May.

    Those charges include robbing mail, money, or other property of the United States, using or carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and felon in possession of a firearm, according to the spokesperson.

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    Lewis will be on parole for five years after he is released.

    Court documents show that Lewis was texting a confidential informant with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) about a firearms sale in October 2024.

    The spokesperson said the two men agreed to meet at a pre-determined location for the transaction.

    Lewis met with the informant and demanded $2,500 cash for the guns, according to court documents.

    The informant asked to see the guns first, so Lewis went inside to get them.

    However, Lewis “became agitated” and threatened violence, the spokesperson said.

    The two men began to struggle for control of the guns.

    At this time, another man inside the house came outside and pointed a gun with an attached laser beam at the informant.

    Lewis took the $2,500 cash from the informant, according to court documents.

    Investigators said the entire incident was captured on video.

    Lewis was later arrested, charged, and found in possession of a rifle and two pistols, according to the spokesperson.

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  • 8 workers found in Canton indicted by federal grand jury on immigration charges

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    AKRON ‒ A federal grand jury has charged eight people who were found at a Canton manufacturing facility on Aug. 6 with immigration and identity theft-related violations.

    According to court documents, four of the defendants were previously removed from the U.S. but were found in Ohio without the consent of the U.S. attorney general or the secretary for homeland security for readmission.

    Seven of the defendants are from Guatemala and a one is from El Salvador, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. They range in age from 21 to 55.

    The manufacturing facility where they were found was not identified in the release. The local communities where they were living also were not included.

    The charges are illegal reentry of removed alien, false claim to U.S. citizenship to engage unlawfully in employment, misuse of Social Security number, aggravated identity theft and unlawful use of identification documents.

    Canton: Mayor William Sherer II says city will not support nor hinder ICE deportations

    The investigations leading to the indictments were conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    “These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release on Sept. 2.

    (This breaking news story will be updated as more infomation is available.)

    This article originally appeared on The Repository: Grand jury indicts 8 Canton workers on immigration violations

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  • Former Cuyahoga County Employee to Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud Charges

    Former Cuyahoga County Employee to Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud Charges

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    click to enlarge

    Tim Evanson

    The federal courthouse in Downtown Cleveland.

    Curtis McEwen, an IT professional facing federal wire fraud charges, is set to take a plea deal in court, filings this week show.

    In charges filed last month, the DOJ alleged the now former IT director for the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities manufactured false expense reports and employee invoices to redirect millions to his own pockets at Saber Healthcare, where he worked for nearly two decades before being fired in March 2023.

    He was hired months after by Cuyahoga County, which has previously said background checks and employer reference calls revealed no reasons to be concerned. He was asked to resign the day charges were filed and did so.

    Court documents released on Tuesday show that McEwen agreed to a plea deal to two counts and was released under an unsecured bond of $20,000. On release, he had to surrender his passport, get a mental health evaluation and is barred from obtaining any new lines of credit.

    According to the July indictment, from 2014 to 2023, McEwen allegedly “falsely represented” on expense reports that he had paid contracted companies for “IT-related products and services.” He then, the Feds say, created imitation invoices to “substantiate his payments.”

    McEwen allegedly siphoned $80,006 to $182,808 for each monthly invoice, and rerouted that money intended for third party companies into his own assets, which grew to include a mansion, a $11,000 2017 BMW R Nine T motorcycle,  a $15,000 2020 Ducati Diavel 1260 bike, a Rolex Submariner, a $44,000 Ressense Antwerp watch, a $10,000 Luminor Panerai Automatic Power Reserve watch and more.

    McEwen’s allegedly long stint of wire fraud at Saber didn’t apparently extend to his IT work at the county.

    “As a public entity,” a spokesperson told Scene in July, “we have many safeguards in place to ensure fiscal responsibility. We have reviewed all relevant records and are confident that our safeguards worked.”

    McEwen should be sentenced in federal court sometime this fall.

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    Mark Oprea

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