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Robby Vicson Codreanu, Isabela Ignat Codreanu, Armando Ion Codreanu, Nicolas Longin Codreanu Convicted, Others Awaiting Trial in Multi-state ATM, Retail Skimming Conspiracy

By
Shulammite Bello
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Four foreign nationals illegally present in the United States have admitted to a federal judge in Rhode Island that they participated in a scheme that compromised more than 15,000 credit, debit, and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and that they made hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized bank withdrawals and retail purchases, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

The defendants admitted to using credit card “skimming” devices to steal personal financial account information from debit and credit card users, which they then used for their benefit. Skimming devices were placed on retail outlet point-of-sale terminals and ATMs at various financial institutions

An investigation revealed that from May 2023 through February 2024, the defendants compromised more than 15,000 bank cards and gained users’ personal financial account information by placing card skimming devices on point-of-sale terminals at various locations of major retailers and on ATMs of various financial institutions in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

In Rhode Island, more than 200 debit cards were compromised at two Rhode Island financial institutions, resulting in over $280,000 of unauthorised ATM withdrawals from 67 customer accounts.

Robby Vicson Codreanu, 21, a citizen of the United Kingdom; Isabela Ignat Codreanu, 24, a citizen of Romania; and Armando Ion Codreanu, 24, and Nicolas Longin Codreanu, 23, citizens of Ireland, each pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit access device fraud; producing, using and trafficking in counterfeit access devices; accessing fifteen or more counterfeit and unauthorized access devices; and access device making equipment.

Nicolas and Armando Codreanu also pleaded guilty to a charge of accessing devices issued to another person.

Nicolas Codreanu will be sentenced on October 14, 2025. Isabella, Armando, and Robby Codreanu are scheduled to be sentenced on October 21, 2025. The sentences imposed will be determined by a federal district judge, who will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Two other defendants, Ionut Zamfir, 38, and Mila Ciuciu, 21, both Romanian citizens, are awaiting trial.

Guatemalan National Jose Alejandro Morales Cordon Indicted for Illegal Reentry

By
Fejiro Anokwuru
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0

A Guatemalan national previously deported from the United States in 2018  has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Rhode Island on a charge of illegal reentry, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Jose Alejandro Morales Cordon, 37, came to the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through an automated biometric fingerprint match of fingerprints entered into the National Crime Enforcement Centre in June 2025 following his arrest on state assault and cyberstalking charges.

He is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on July 28, 2025.

Assistant U.S Attorney Julie M. White is prosecuting the case. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the matter.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America.

This nationwide initiative 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 organisations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighbourhood (PSN).

A federal indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Iowa Man Marlin Santana Thomas Sr Indicted for Sex Trafficking Multiple Victims

By
Deborah Ojuade
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0

An eight-count indictment in the Northern District of Iowa has been unsealed, charging a Des Moines man with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and four counts of interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution through coercion and enticement.

According to the indictment, Marlin Santana Thomas Sr., 49, used force, fraud and coercion to cause four adult women to engage in commercial sex acts in the Northern District of Iowa and elsewhere between 2009 and 2015.

The indictment also alleges that Thomas transported women from Iowa to Illinois and North Dakota to engage in prostitution.

The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. It also carries a minimum term of supervised release of five years, up to a lifetime of supervised release, along with a fine of up to $250,000.

Finally, restitution is mandatory upon any conviction for sex trafficking. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence upon any conviction after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Poem: Being Human

By
Fejiro Anokwuru
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0

Why this bag of skin and bones?
This puppet acting out a part unrehearsed?
On a tightrope of hope, stretched above a yawning pit of despair.
Striving, yearning, trying not to fall in.
Saddled with the burden of being human.

Sometimes, it is one thing after another, after another.
Sometimes, we want to curl up into a ball,
To shrink ourselves and our problems with us.
Sometimes, the sky is gay and friendly.
But sometimes, the days are grey and dreary…

But special we are not!
Generations have borne, legions more will bear,
The toil, the strife, the pain,
The absurdity, the unpredictability, the wahala,
In this short play that is being human.

If then, we must needs perform in this tragicomedy,
let’s dance, laugh, sing, sing badly.
Revel in moments of pleasure,
Sneak in joy between times of distress.
Milk! This existence that is being human

And when, if, dark days come,
If the sad, the gray, the aches, weigh heavy,
If your heart is drifting in the nothingness,
Remember, you are one of us.
Remember, it is being human.

U.S. Justice Department Dismisses Failed Biden-era Lawsuit Challenging Tennessee’s Law Protecting Minors from Experimental Sex-change Medical Procedures

By
Bola Akinloye
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0

On Monday, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division dismissed with prejudice the ill-fated Biden-era challenge to Tennessee’s law protecting minors from horrific and experimental sex-change medical procedures.

The Department dismissed its complaint in intervention because it does not believe challenging Tennessee’s law serves the public interest.

Last month, the Biden Administration’s challenge was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States when the 6-3 majority held that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. The court held that Tennessee had a rational basis for enforcing the law as it “responds directly” to the “uncertainty” and “ongoing debate” about the “risks and benefits” associated with these medical practices.

The Biden administration filed its complaint in intervention after individual plaintiffs and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law passed in 2023. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the individual plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their complaint.

Tennessee is one of 25 states with laws protecting minors from sex-change medical procedures.

“Last month, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee state law protecting vulnerable children from genital mutilation and other so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.  “That was the right decision, and this Department of Justice will no longer be in the business of attacking laws like Tennessee’s that protect children.”

“The United States today undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country by dismissing a lawsuit against a Tennessee law that protects minors from invasive and mutilating procedures,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to fight to protect the health and welfare of our children and defend states that seek to ban these barbaric practices.”

Navin Khanna, Leader of National Catalytic Converter Theft Ring, Convicted

By
Shulammite Bello
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0

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma to leading a multi-state operation that stole thousands of catalytic converters from private vehicles and sold them on the secondary market for millions of dollars, based on the value of the precious metals contained in the converters.

Navin Khanna, 41, of Holmdel, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive, possess, and dispose of stolen goods in interstate commerce and five counts of money laundering regarding his participation in the stolen goods scheme.

“The defendant made $600 million and financed his ostentatious lifestyle by buying and selling stolen goods,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

“Khanna’s theft ring took advantage of hard-working citizens in the Northern District of Oklahoma by stealing catalytic converters, rendering the vehicle unusable,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Khanna admitted to being the owner and operator of New Jersey-based D.G. Auto Parts, a criminal enterprise that purchased and sold auto parts nationwide.

From May 2020 through October 2022, Khanna conspired with others to purchase and transport large quantities of stolen catalytic converters from Oklahoma, Texas, and other states to New Jersey. Khanna admitted to receiving more than $600 million by reselling the stolen catalytic converters to a metal refinery that extracted the precious metals.

In response to a drastic increase in catalytic converter thefts throughout Tulsa in 2020, the Tulsa Police Department initiated an investigation that soon uncovered a national criminal enterprise. During the investigation, search warrants were executed in Oklahoma, Texas, California, New Jersey and New York.

Federal grand juries in the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Eastern District of California indicted Khanna. Over twenty individuals throughout the country have been charged for their role in the conspiracy. Khanna’s 13 co-defendants in the Northern District of Oklahoma have pleaded guilty for their participation in the criminal scheme and are awaiting sentencing.

As part of his plea agreement, Khanna agreed to forfeit almost $4 million in cash, 11 luxury vehicles — including a Lamborghini, two Mercedes AMGs, two Ferraris, a McLaren, a Porsche, a Ford F650 Truck, and a BMW M3 — real estate properties, high-end jewelry, gold bars, and over 200 pallets of catalytic converters, all seized by law enforcement during the execution of search warrants at Khanna’s properties.

Khanna’s co-defendants have agreed to forfeit more than $3.2 million, including over $250,000 from multiple bank accounts, as well as two lots of land located in Oklahoma, cars, and stolen catalytic converters seized during the investigation.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma has agreed that Khanna’s sentencing will be transferred to the Eastern District of California, where he awaits further prosecution for related crimes.

Khanna faces a maximum penalty of 168 to 210 months in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Utah Man Kevin Brent Buchanan Convicted for Threatening Palestinian Rights Organisation

By
Bola Akinloye
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0

A Utah man pleaded guilty to transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another.

Specifically, the defendant, Kevin Brent Buchanan, threatened violence against the employees of a D.C.-based Palestinian rights organisation. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 18.

According to publicly filed court documents, between October 31, 2023, and November 2, 2023, Buchanan used his cellular phone to call and leave five messages for members of the organisation.

In his November 2 voice message, Buchanan stated in part: “Your families are going to be followed and watched.” “You don’t even belong in America.” “I hope every Muslim in the United States [expletive] croaks.” “You are all going to [expletive] die, you pieces of [expletive] traitors.”

Buchanan admitted that he intentionally targeted the organisation because its staff and members are Palestinian, and because the organisation advocates on behalf of Palestinians.

Buchanan faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The Cosby Show: ‘Theo Huxtable’ Malcolm-Jamal Warner Drowns During Costa Rica Vacation

By
Deborah Ojuade
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0

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the beloved actor who famously portrayed Theo Huxtable, the son of Bill Cosby’s character on the iconic 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show, has died at the age of 54. Warner tragically drowned while swimming during a family vacation in Costa Rica on Sunday, July 20, 2025.

According to the Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Department, Warner was swimming off Playa Grande de Cocles in the Limon province when a strong current pulled him underwater.

Although he was initially rescued by bystanders on the beach, emergency responders from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him unresponsive. He was pronounced dead on the scene, with the official cause of death recorded as asphyxia due to drowning.

Born on August 18, 1970, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Warner began acting at a young age and rose to fame as the witty and charismatic Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992. His performance earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1986.

Beyond The Cosby Show, Warner starred in other television series such as Malcolm & Eddie (1996–2000) alongside Eddie Griffin, Reed Between the Lines (2011–2015), and more recently, The Resident (2018–2023). He was also a director, spoken-word artist, and Grammy Award winner.

Warner had spoken publicly about the complex legacy of The Cosby Show, acknowledging the show’s profound cultural impact while recognising the controversy surrounding Bill Cosby’s legal issues later in life.

Former Bodega Stock Clerk Pedro Hernandez Convicted in 1979 Murder of Etan Patz Granted New Trial

By
Shulammite Bello
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0

A federal appeals court has ordered a new trial for Pedro Hernandez, the former bodega stock clerk convicted in one of the most infamous missing-child cases in U.S. history: the 1979 disappearance and murder of six-year-old Etan Patz in New York City.

Etan Patz vanished on May 25, 1979, while walking to his school bus stop in SoHo, Manhattan. His disappearance sent shockwaves across the country and was pivotal in launching the national missing children’s movement.

Patz became one of the first missing children whose photo appeared on milk cartons, and, in 1983, May 25 was established as National Missing Children’s Day in his honour.

Pedro Hernandez, who was 18 and working at a convenience store in the neighbourhood at the time, became a suspect decades later.

In 2012, Hernandez confessed to luring Etan into a basement and killing him after hours of police interrogation. He was arrested and, following his confession, indicted for murder and kidnapping.

Hernandez’s first trial in 2015 ended in a hung jury.

In 2017, after a retrial and nine days of jury deliberations, he was found guilty of murder and kidnapping and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Defence attorneys argued that Hernandez, who has a documented history of mental illness and a low IQ, gave a false confession under coercion.

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Hernandez must receive a new trial or be released from custody. The court found that improper instructions regarding Hernandez’s confessions had been given to the jury during his 2017 trial, a mistake that “was manifestly prejudicial” and violated established federal law.

The appeals panel highlighted that jury instructions failed to clarify whether confessions made before Hernandez was read his rights, if deemed involuntary, should invalidate subsequent statements. The trial judge’s handling of this question from the jury was found to be in error, and not a harmless one.

Hernandez, now 64, remains incarcerated but could be released if the state does not move quickly to retry him. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it is reviewing the court’s decision and has not announced whether it will pursue a new trial.

The order for a new trial opens a new chapter in a 46-year-old case that shaped the way America responds to missing children. If a new trial is not initiated within a reasonable period, Hernandez could be released.

Lebanon’s Brian ‘Brahim’ Assi Jailed 44 Months Over Illegal Export of U.S.-made Drill Rigs to Iran

By
Shulammite Bello
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0

Brian Assi, also known as Brahim Assi, 63, of Beirut, Lebanon, was sentenced to 44 months in prison for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), attempted unlawful export of goods from the United States to Iran without a licence, attempted smuggling goods from the United States, submitting false or misleading export information, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“The defendant conspired to export millions of dollars of U.S.-made heavy machinery to Iran, a leading state sponsor of terrorism,” said John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “The National Security Division will find and prosecute those who illegally sell American products to our adversaries.”

“The defendant threatened U.S. economic and national security by conspiring and concealing his efforts to circumvent our export controls to provide heavy machinery to Iran, a designated state sponsor of terrorism for the past 40 years,” said U.S. Attorney John P. Heckin for the Northern District of Florida. “My office will continue to aggressively pursue anyone who violates our laws and offers material support to America’s enemies.”

Assi was convicted of the charges in October 2024.

According to evidence presented at trial, Assi was a Middle East-based salesman of a multinational heavy machinery manufacturer with a U.S.-based subsidiary and production plant located in Alachua, Florida.

Assi conspired with individuals affiliated with Sakht Abzar Pars Co. (SAP-Iran), based in Tehran, Iran, to export U.S.-made heavy machinery indirectly to Iran without first obtaining the required licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Assi and his Iranian co-conspirators orchestrated the scheme by locating an Iraq-based distributor to serve as the forward-facing purchaser of two U.S.-origin blasthole drills from the U.S. subsidiary of Assi’s employer. The drills are a type of heavy machinery used to create holes in the ground that are then filled with controlled explosives for mining.

Assi facilitated the sale of the drills and attempted to export them to Iran, and used freight forwarding companies to ship the heavy equipment from the U.S. to Turkey.

In doing so, Assi concealed any Iranian involvement in the transaction from his employer, claiming the drills were ultimately destined for use in Iraq. But in truth, Assi intended for his Iranian co-conspirators to transship or re-export those items from Turkey to Iran, in circumvention of the U.S. export control and sanction laws.

In furtherance of the conspiracy, Assi concealed his activities with his Iranian co-conspirators by causing false information to be entered into the Automated Export System (AES), a U.S.-government database containing information about exports from the United States.

The U.S.-based plant hired a U.S. freight forwarder to arrange the export of the drill from the U.S. to Iraq. As part of the shipping process, the freight forwarder submitted information to AES about the shipment, including the ultimate consignee’s name and the ultimate delivery destination.

Assi misled his employer by claiming that the Iraqi distributor was the ultimate consignee and that the ultimate delivery destination was Iraq. In fact, Assi knew that his co-conspirators in Iran were the true intended recipients, and Iran was the ultimate intended delivery destination.

In furtherance of the illicit transaction, Assi and his co-conspirators facilitated the transfer of approximately $2.7 million from Turkey to the United States.

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