department of justice

Glenn Litton, 47, of Carson City, Nevada, pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft arising from false statements he made in an application for a United States Passport, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

California took the first step June 5 to regulate its nearly 20-year-old medical marijuana industry, one that lawmakers said currently resembles something out of the “wild, wild West.”

AB266 merges what were two competing bills and attempts to set up state regulations that will pass muster with the federal Department of Justice. It was one of dozens of pieces of legislation advancing through the Legislature Thursday as lawmakers faced a Friday deadline to move bills out of their house of origin.

Up until the 1970s and 80s, people with severe mental illness were housed in institutions by the hundreds of thousands. Replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services became the norm, and it created a whole new set of issues.

The remains of a homicide victim, killed more than nine years ago and unearthed last week in rural El Dorado County, have been identified.

The El Dorado County Cold Case Homicide Task Force announced Thursday that it located and identified the human remains of Tobias Kaiser who was last seen at his home in Somerset, CA on November 30, 2006.

A Sacramento man pled guilty today to conspiring to induce aliens to illegally enter the Unites States for private financial gain.

Sippy Lal, 61 was arrested in 2012 along with co-defendants Mamta Sharma and Rani Singh-Lal on charges they ran an elaborate immigration-fraud scheme involving foreign nationals from India who paid money to have a sham marriage in order to get into the country. The trio recruited U.S. citizens in the Sacramento area in an effort to legalize their immigration status.

A South Lake Tahoe man who spent at least 40 days a year skiing while claiming he was totally disabled from employment was sentenced today to one year in prison and ordered to pay $160,000 in restitution.

A coalition of all counties present at the lake along with residents, environmental groups, legislators and business groups were behind the Tahoe Regional Plan and urged its adoption in 2012. Since that time, the Sierra Club and "Friends of the West Shore" have sued (in February 2013) to oppose the plan, lost their motion (April 2014) and now, as of May 7, have filed an appeal to the court's decision to uphold the 2012 Lake Tahoe Regional Plan.

In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, three El Dorado County women — Teresa Marie Marty, of Pollock Pines, Rebecca Bandera-Marty of Shingle Springs, and Pamela Harris of Placerville — were charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service announced.

In addition to the conspiracy count, Marty is charged with 33 counts of false claims against the United States, and Bandera-Marty is also charged in 16 of these counts.

A Fresno man was sentenced Monday to prison on marijuana trafficking and conspiracy charges, in which he had grow operations in El Dorado, Placer and Tehama counties and then he and partners distributed the marijuana throughout the country.
Uriel Ochoa-Espindola, 44, received a sentence of 17.5 years, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.
Below is a U.S. Justice Department news release:

U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Erika Michele Carlton, 38, of Roseville, to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for theft from an Indian tribal government, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Judge England also ordered her to pay $236,050 in restitution.

This case was the product of an investigation by the United States Secret Service and the Placer County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Reardon prosecuted the case.

Gennaro "Gino" DiMatteo, 43, of South Lake Tahoe, pled guilty Wednesday to count two of the indictment, possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. DiMatteo is scheduled to be sentenced in April.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Jason Hitt is prosecuting the case.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned an 11-count indictment today against Mark E. Leung, 58, of South Lake Tahoe, charging him with wire fraud, mail fraud, and making a false statement to obtain federal workers’ compensation, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Editor's Note: The story below is about my friend and colleague Taylor Flynn's search for his missing mother Deanna Brooks. Taylor wrote about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and the long and painful searches for her in the September issue of the Tahoe Mountain News. Go here for his column. The Flynn family wishes to express their gratitude to the South Lake Tahoe community for the outpouring of prayers, thoughts and support. A Facebook page has been established as part of the search, www.facebook.com/find.deanna
On a personal level, it has been painful to see my friend Taylor going through this very difficult time with his family. It serves as a reminder about the importance for family members and friends to check in with one another often as they travel and to provide travel plans including departure and expected arrival times as well as the highways and roadways to be taken. A brief phone call or text message while filling up the gas tank or stopping for a break is always a safe practice when driving long distances. The same can be applied to those going on backcountry trips where an itinerary to family and friends — including departure and expected arrival — should be considered mandatory for hikers and campers. — Jeff Munson

SANTA CRUZ - After three weeks of searches on the sides of Highway 101 and surrounding roads in five counties, Taylor Flynn has not given up hope of finding his mother.
Flynn, the 49-year-old publisher of the Tahoe Mountain News in South Lake Tahoe, was one of the last people to see 70-year-old Deanna Brooks before her disappearance Aug. 24.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Attorneys representing kidnapping survivor Jaycee Dugard are demanding a judge sanction U.S. Department of Justice lawyers for alleged witness tampering.In court papers filed M...

Authorities have arrested a Carmichael, Calif., man suspected in the 1980 South Lake Tahoe gas station robbery and murder of 16-year-old Richard Swanson.
After nearly 32 years, On March 28, Andrew Sanford, 50, was arrested and booked in the Sacramento County Jail for the alleged murder of Swanson. The robbery and homicide happened on Aug. 14, 1980 in South Lake Tahoe at what was then the Shell Gas Station located at the “Y” on the corner of Lake Tahoe Blvd and Emerald Bay Road. Details of the case have been kept tightly under wraps.

By Karoun Demirjian, Las Vegas Sun. WASHINGTON — A Department of Justice opinion released last week declares that Internet gaming transactions are legal ...www.laketahoenews.net/.../doj-opinion-import...