Eastern District of California Blog

7-Year Prison Sentence for Ex-Kings Executive Who Stole From Team Sponsors

Jeffrey R. David, the disgraced former Sacramento Kings executive accused of siphoning off $13.4 million from team sponsors to purchase lavish beachfront homes in Southern California, was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison.

In a sentencing hearing that lasted more than an hour and a half, David wiped away tears and held back sobs at times as he described the damage he had done to his wife and three young children, but he could never seem to answer the basic question: Why did he do it?

David, who made $30,000 a month as the Kings chief revenue officer and also received a yearly bonus, said during court that he believed he could purchase the homes, improve them and sell them at a profit later that would allow the Kings to be repaid in full.

Sac Bee, 6/24/19

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

 

Recent EDCA Court Sentences

According to U.S. Attorney's press releases, the following sentences were imposed in recent EDCA court cases:

--    a 6-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud in case no. 2:18-CR-0217-KJM;

--    a one year and one day sentence for assaulting a postal employee in case no. 1:18-CR-0176-DAD;

--    a 90-month sentence for possession of stolen mail and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in case no. 1:18-CR-0132;

--    a 90-month sentence for conspiring with police officers to sell methamphetamine and marijuana in case no. 1:17-Cr-0215-LJO;

--    a 30-month sentence for conspiracy to submit false claims to the IRS and aggravated identity theft in case no. 2:15-CR-204-TLN.

 

One-Year Prison Sentence for Man Digging at Native American Archelogical Sites Near Lake Tahoe

A South Lake Tahoe man was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay $113,000 in restitution after illegally digging at prehistoric Native American archeological sites on public lands near Lake Tahoe in Alpine and El Dorado counties.

Sacramento Bee, 2/27/19

Former IRS investigator sentenced to prison for tax fraud

"A Sacramento woman who worked as an IRS investigator was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison for tax fraud, stealing government money and obstructing justice after filing false tax returns for three years and interfering in her investigation."  Sacramento Bee, 10/23/18

Synthetic Drug Conspiracy Nets Man 3-Year Prison Sentence

According to a DOJ Press Release, Judge Drozd in Fresno sentenced a man on Monday to three years imprisonment after he pled guilty to conspiring to ship misbranded synthetic drugs (i.e., "spice") in interstate commerce with intent to defraud.  U.S. v. Ortiz, No. 1:14-CR-101-DAD.

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.

Twelve-Year Sentence in Loomis Wealth Solutions Ponzi Scheme Case

A Sacramento-area man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison Tuesday for running what prosecutors say was a massive Ponzi scheme that cost investors in six states millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge John Mendez sentenced Lawrence Leland "Lee" Loomis, 60, of Granite Bay, in the scheme that collapsed during the 2008 Great Recession.

He could have faced 18 years in prison under a plea deal that also calls for him to repay less than $500,000 for defrauding nearly 200 investors in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Nevada.

Loomis Wealth Solutions took in more than $10 million by promising 12 percent annual returns, prosecutors said. Instead he used the money for expenses and to pay other investors, authorities said.

Sac Bee, 2/6/18 

Sam Stanton's Bee coverage here.

Immigration Fraud Nets Defendant A 20-Year Sentence

Helaman Hansen, a charismatic Elk Grove businessman who defrauded 471 undocumented immigrants out of their savings by promising them they could be adopted into citizenship, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Thursday.

“He has hurt so many people, and even today he still believes he’s done what he could for these people,” said U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. “He really doesn’t get it. I believe the victims caught up in this scheme were very vulnerable and were trying their best to become citizens. As one victim said today, they were duped.”

England ordered Hansen to pay $576,264 in restitution to his victims. But after the sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorneys André M. Espinosa and Katherine T. Lydon told about half a dozen victims who had come to the sentencing that Hansen doesn’t have the money to pay the judgment.

Sac Bee, 12/14/17

 

Former Fresno Deputy Police Chief Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Drug Conviction

Keith Foster lacks remorse and has not accepted responsibility for conspiring to peddle heroin and marijuana while employed as deputy chief of the Fresno Police Department, a judge said Monday in U.S. District Court.

Foster, 53, also committed perjury on the witness stand during his trial in May, Judge Anthony Ishii said.

* * *

 

Yet, the judge sentenced Foster to 48 months in prison, when the prosecution sought a sentence of 78 months.

In announcing the punishment, Ishii said there’s a perception in society that “people with money or in high positions get a break.” But the judge said he had balance Foster’s positive contributions to the community, which include nearly 30 year of police work.

Ishii also noted Foster’s strong family ties and his lack of a criminal record before his conviction.

Fresno Bee, 11/13/17