Eastern District of California Blog

Feds Charge Modesto Doctor With Illegally Prescribing Opiods

A yearlong undercover operation by drug enforcement agents led to the arrest of a Modesto physician Thursday morning on charges he illegally prescribed opioids to patients without a legitimate medical purpose.

On April 19, a federal grand jury delivered a 22-count indictment against Sawtantra Kumar Chopra, who has an office on Spanos Court and whose business card says he practices internal medicine and treats pulmonary diseases.

Between March 2017 and March 2018, the indictment alleges, Chopra on multiple occasions sold for cash prescriptions for large quantities of highly addictive opioids, including Norco (hydrocodone) and Xanax (alprazolam). The indictment and arrest were announced at a Sacramento news conference Thursday afternoon by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott.

ModBee, 4/26/18

Porn Producers File 12 Civil Lawsuits Against Video Pirates

I'm waiting to see if the EDCA U.S. Attorney Office will be filing criminal charges against these video pirates too:

Now that the courts and the nation have come to know Stormy Daniels, it may be time to become familiar with Strike 3 Holdings LLC, which bills itself as “the owner of award winning, critically acclaimed adult motion pictures” that draw 20 million visitors to its websites every month.

Strike 3 Holdings also is a victim of widespread copyright infringement, the company alleges, and on Monday filed a dozen lawsuits in federal court in Sacramento seeking damages against individuals in Citrus Heights, Carmichael and other areas in the region, part of a nationwide legal fight involving hundreds of lawsuits nationwide.

The lawsuits target “John Doe” internet subscribers identified only by their internet protocol addresses and seek penalties against individuals suspected of using a high-tech downloading system known as “BitTorrent” to connect to other computers and “simultaneously download and upload piece of the file from and to other users.”

Sac Bee, 4/24/18

 

Lodi to Pay $2.65 Million to Family of Veteran Killed by Police

The city of Lodi has agreed to pay $2.65 million to the family of a mentally ill Gulf War veteran who police shot and killed in 2014.

The agreement settles a federal civil rights lawsuit the family filed after officers fatally shot Parminder Singh Shergill as he walked through his neighborhood. Police said Shergill charged at them with a knife.

Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin represented the family in the lawsuit.

Sac Bee, 4/24/18

Former Fresno AUSA Kevin Rooney Joins Criminal Defense Law Firm

Former Fresno AUSA Kevin Rooney is joining the criminal defense firm, Hammerschmidt Law Corporation. Kevin was a former federal and state prosecutor and served as the Chief of the Violent Crimes and Narcotics Unit in the EDCA United States Attorney’s Office.  Good luck in your new endeavor, Kevin.  Press Release

French Train Hero's Father Found Guilty Of Fraud In Arson Case

The father of French train hero Spencer Stone was found guilty Tuesday of mail and wire fraud in connection with a huge arson case that has included sensational allegations of national security implications, murder and threats from federal prosecutors.

Brian Stone, a disbarred attorney from Elk Grove, was found guilty of 13 counts by a jury in federal court Tuesday after a four-day trial. Stone, who is not in custody, was ordered to appear for sentencing July 12 by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.

He was one of three defendants indicted in 2016 in the arson investigation, which prosecutors said involved $1.5 million in fraudulent insurance payments following a series of arsons.

Sac Bee, 4/17/18

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article209165164.html#storylink=cpy

Arson Defendant Seeks to Withdraw Guilty Plea for 30-Year Sentence

The case against Jamal Mustafa Shehadeh already was strange enough: he was accused of being a serial arsonist who conspired with the father of French train hero Spencer Stone, then took a guilty plea in federal court in a hastily arranged Saturday night hearing.

Now, Shehadeh, 59, is claiming prosecutors threatened him into accepting the guilty plea he entered and is asking U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to set aside his 30-year prison sentence.

 

“The district court should examined(sic) more carefully the voluntariness of the plea,” Shehadeh wrote in a document filed Wednesday in federal court in Sacramento. “The fact that the plea agreement was rushed in, and never been discussed in detail due to the fact Jamal had blacked out and was taken to medical for possibility of stroke.

Sac Bee, 4/5/18

Feds Seek To Forfeit 100 Homes For Pot Growing

In the largest operation of its kind, federal agents swept across the Sacramento region Tuesday and Wednesday targeting about 75 homes serving as suspected marijuana growing sites that authorities say are operated by a Chinese organized crime syndicate.

The raids, which involved more than 500 federal, state and local agents, hit homes from Elk Grove to Sacramento to rural areas and are aimed at forcing the forfeiture of about 100 homes to the federal government, an effort valued at hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate and marijuana.

“This represents one of the largest residential forfeiture efforts in the nation’s history,” the U.S. Justice Department said.

* * *

In an unusual twist, no arrests have yet been made as the investigation continues and focuses on the manner in which the homes were purchased and the identity of suspects federal authorities believe handled the transactions.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Sacramento-based Eastern District of California, emphasized that the raids, which used flash-bang grenades to gain access to some homes, are not aimed at restricting California's new state law allowing recreational marijuana use.

“It absolutely has nothing to do with that,” Scott said. “This is illegal under anybody’s law.”

Sac Bee, 4/4/18

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article207911324.html#storylink=cpy

 

Trump and DOJ Sue California Again in EDCA Court

Per today's San Francisco Chronicle:

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued California over a law that aims to give the state power to override the sale of federal lands, the latest battle between President Donald Trump and the nation's most populous state.

California vowed to fight for the state's first right to purchase federal lands or to arrange for a specific buyer — part of an aggressive effort in the heavily Democratic state to thwart the president's agenda in his first year. Lawmakers who passed the law last year cited concerns that the Trump administration would allow more logging, oil drilling or development on some of the 46 million acres owned by the federal government in California.

The Justice Department lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sacramento, argues that the state has no power to interfere with federal land sales, citing the Constitution and the 1850 act of Congress that admitted California to the union.

The civil complaint is available here.