Eastern District of California Blog

Arson Fraud Nets Sacramento Man A Prison Sentence

A Sacramento man was sentenced to almost five years in prison Thursday in connection with mail and arson fraud.  Saber A. Shehadeh, 76, was found guilty June 14, 2018 of three counts of mail fraud after buildings he owned were destroyed in two fires, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Sac Bee, 5/2/19

 

Former Attorney Sentenced to Six Years In Prison in Arson Fraud Scheme

A disbarred attorney has been sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $250,000 in restitution for more than a dozen counts of fraud related to a Sacramento-area arson scheme, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Brian J. Stone, 60, of Sacramento was convicted in April of 13 counts of wire and mail fraud, which involved fire insurance claims made in the Sacramento area between 2009 and 2013, according to a Justice Department news release.

Sac Bee, 9/28/18

 

Fugitive Arrested in EDCA Case Alleging 2001 Firebombing of Horse Corral

More than 13 years after being indicted for allegedly firebombing a horse corral at a federal facility near Susanville, a long-sought fugitive in a three-state ecoterrorism case has been arrested and returned to the United States, officials announced Friday.

Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, 50, fled the country more than 12 years ago but was apprehended as he traveled through Central America and Cuba on his way to a planned trip to Russia, authorities said.

Sac Bee, 8/10/18

 

Sacramento Jury Convicts Man of Making False Statements in Connection with Arson Fraud

In United States v. Shehadeh, No. 2:16-CR-0038-MCE, a Sacramento federal jury on Monday found the defendant guilty of three counts of mail fraud related to an arson fraud scheme. 

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

EDCA Court Sentences Arson Defendant To Thirty Years Imprisonment After Guilty Plea

What?  A Saturday night federal court hearing?  Never heard of that in my 25 years of EDCA practice.  Here's the Sac Bee's coverage:

A suspect accused in a massive arson for profit scheme that also entangled the father of French train hero Spencer Stone has pleaded guilty in a move that will net him 30 years in prison.

Jamal Mustafa Shehadeh, 58, agreed to the plea in an unusual Saturday night court hearing before U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr., who then sentenced him, court filings show.

“He decided to plead guilty instead of going to trial,” Shehadeh’s assistant federal defender, Matthew Bockman, said Monday.

Shehadeh, who has been in custody at the Sacramento County Jail since being charged in a 60-count indictment in February 2016, pleaded guilty to two counts of arson in a case that allegedly included numerous fires that destroyed Sacramento buildings, $1.5 million in insurance payouts, classified government evidence and even suggestions of murder.

5-Year Prison Sentence For Former Firefighter Convicted Of Setting Fires On Federal Lands

A U.S. Attorney's press release today reports that Judge Mendez sentenced a former firefighter to the mandatory minimum 5-years imprisonment after he pled guilty to arson and admitted setting wild land fires on federal lands.  The government's Sentencing Memo asked for a 90-month sentence, consistent with the (c)(1)(C) plea agreement of the parties.  I don't have any more info, but it appears that Judge Mendez rejected the (c)(1)(C) sentencing recommendation and instead followed the presentence report's recommendation for a five year sentence.

Feds Drop Charges Against Man Accused Of Setting Yosemite Rim Fire

Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a Tuolumne County man accused of starting a massive 2013 wildfire that burned for more than two months and eventually charred more than 257,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.

Keith Matthew Emerald, 33, was facing a four-count indictment that included starting the Rim fire, a blaze that eventually grew into the third-largest wildfire in California history. He was also charged with leaving a fire unattended, lying to investigators and setting a fire in an area with fire restrictions. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 11 years and more than $500,000 in fines.

In court papers filed Thursday, prosecutors said they were dropping charges because two key witnesses had died unexpectedly since the indictment was brought last August. U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on Friday  officially dismissed the charges.

“The statements of those witnesses are now inadmissible hearsay which cannot be used as evidence in trial,” according to court documents.

Fresno Bee, 5/1/15

Happy Fourth Of July, George Souliotes

More than 16 years after authorities arrested him and later sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in prison, George Souliotes walked out a free man from a Stanislaus County jail Wednesday afternoon.

The former Modesto landlord was grateful his supporters never gave up their fight to overturn his conviction on murder and arson charges. For a 72-year-old man in custody more than a decade, he was just happy to walk out of jail.

"I see the sun. It's beautiful," Souliotes said, trying to answer questions about how he felt.

Aleka Pantazis, Souliotes' sister, was overwhelmed with emotion seeing her brother for the first time out of custody. She hugged him tightly, sharing tears of joy.

"There are no words to express how I truly feel," Pantazis said.

A federal judge this spring overturned Souliotes' 2000 conviction and ordered prosecutors to begin a new trial by next Wednesday or set him free. The ruling was based on evidence used to convict Souliotes that has been invalidated by modern scientific tests.

* * *

 

A Stanislaus County judge ordered Souliotes released from custody after attorneys announced the plea deal Tuesday morning. The defendant agreed to plead no contest to three counts of involuntary manslaughter for failing to maintain smoke detectors in his rental home that burned in a deadly 1997 fire. His sentence was six years in prison.

Modesto Bee, 7/3/13

 here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/07/03/2792284/ex-modesto-landlord-finally-set.html#storylink=cpy

Feds Charge Couple With 2010 Arson Of Antelope Home

A couple were arraigned Thursday in federal court in Sacramento on charges related to the arson of their former home in Antelope.

Alexander Sakhanskiy, 39, and Larisa Sakhanskiy, 43, of Sacramento pleaded not guilty and each was released on a $50,000 bond, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. A status conference is scheduled for June 6 before Chief U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr.

On May 2, a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment charging the Sakhanskiys with arson to commit another felony, mail fraud, wire fraud and arson affecting interstate commerce.

Sac Bee Blog, 5/17/13

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2013/05/couple-charged-in-2010-arson-of-antelope-home.html#storylink=cpy