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Jerry Seper

jseper@washingtontimes.com

Jerry Seper was a writer for The Washington Times.

Articles by Jerry Seper

**FILE** John Morton (right), director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (Associated Press)

Federal agents net 47 on sex-trafficking charges

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Thursday arrested 47 suspects in a sex-trafficking operation, including a dozen purported ringleaders, that used young women and girls in an active prostitution ring in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Eleven of the victims were rescued.

January 17, 2013
Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

No references required for federal law enforcement hires

No governmentwide requirements exist for the checking of references for job applicants as a part of the federal government’s hiring process, including those who apply for law enforcement positions in the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a report released Thursday says.

January 17, 2013
Timothy W. Cannon faces a maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to negotiating employment with a company that had a multimillion-dollar contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Courtesy of Federal Emergency Management Agency)

Former FEMA official guilty in conflict case

The former director of human resources at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Washington to a charge of conflict of interest for negotiating employment with a polling and consulting services company that had a multimillion-dollar contract with FEMA that he supervised.

January 15, 2013
Viktor Bout in 2010 is led off a flight from Bangkok to New York during his extradition to face trial on charges of transporting weapons. (Associated Press)

Associate of jailed arms dealer arrested

An associate of convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout has been arrested in Australia in connection with a conspiracy with Bout and others to illegally purchase two aircraft from companies located in the United States, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration boss Michele Leonhart said Thursday.

January 10, 2013
**FILE** Lanny Breuer (center), Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, addresses a news conference in New York's Brooklyn borough on Dec. 11, 2012, to announce that British bank HSBC agreed to pay $1.9 billion to settle a New York based-probe in connection with the laundering of money from narcotics traffickers in Mexico. (Associated Press)

Former Mass. schoolteacher gets 45 years for role in child porn network

A former Massachusetts elementary school teacher was sentenced Tuesday to 45 years in prison for his role in an international criminal network, known as Dreamboard, dedicated to the sexual abuse of children and the creation and global dissemination of graphic images and videos of child sexual abuse.

January 8, 2013
**FILE** John Morton (right), director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (Associated Press)

Chinese man pleads guilty to copyright infringement

One of the most significant cases of copyright infringement ever uncovered was dismantled Tuesday with a guilty plea by a Chinese national to charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and wire fraud in the distribution of more than $100 million of pirated software around the world.

January 8, 2013
** FILE ** The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010. (Associated Press)

Transocean agrees to pay $1.4B for Gulf spill

Transocean Deepwater Inc. agreed Thursday in federal court to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for its conduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil-spill disaster, which killed 11 workers and released nearly 5 billion barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

January 3, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Special provisions allow Fast and Furious gunrunning lawsuit to continue

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, praised on Friday the inclusion of special provisions in the proposed 113th Congress rules package that will keep in place legal obligations on Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and others at the Justice Department as a result of Fast and Furious subpoenas issued in the 112th Congress.

December 28, 2012
**FILE** Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer speaks Oct. 4, 2010, during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington. (Associated Press)

Caddell Construction to pay $2M to resolve fraud violations

A major commercial and industrial construction contractor has agreed to pay the government a $2 million penalty to resolve criminal fraud violations arising from the firm's intentional overstating of developmental assistance provided to a disadvantaged small business as part of a Defense Department program.

December 27, 2012
Stuart F. Delery (Justice.gov)

Victory Pharma to pay $11.4 million in kickback probe

Victory Pharma Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, agreed Thursday to pay $11.4 million to resolve federal civil and criminal liability arising from its marketing of the pharmaceutical products Naprelan, Xodol, Fexmid and Dolgic, the Justice Department said.

December 27, 2012
Former Marine Jon Hammar is shackled to his bunk in a prison in Matamoros, Mexico. The Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran (official 2003 portrait at top) was arrested at the border while trying to declare a prized heirloom gun (below) he was carrying on a surfing trip. He reportedly is no longer in chains. (Associated Press)

Mexico to free veteran nabbed on questionable gun charge

A former U.S. Marine who saw combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan was scheduled Friday for release from a prison in Mexico where he has been held without action since August on a questionable gun charge, according to an aide with the Mexican embassy.

December 21, 2012
Former Marine Jon Hammar is shackled to his bunk in a prison in Matamoros, Mexico. The Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran (official 2003 portrait at top) was arrested at the border while trying to declare a prized heirloom gun (below) he was carrying on a surfing trip. He reportedly is no longer in chains. (Associated Press)

Mexico threatened with travel boycott until veteran freed

A Republican congressman Thursday threatened Mexico with a travel boycott until a former Marine who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan is released from prison after his arrest by Mexican authorities for being in possession of an antique shotgun.

December 20, 2012
Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Justice IG: Marshals Service oversight of more than $521M lacking

An audit by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General on Wednesday challenged oversight by the U.S. Marshals Service of more than $521 million in purchases during a two-year period, saying there was insufficient training for contracting personnel, ineffective management and review of procurement activities, and decentralized management of buying within the agency.

December 19, 2012
The logo of the Swiss bank UBS is seen in Zurich in 2001. (AP Photo/Keystone, Steffen Schmidt)

UBS to plead guilty to fraud for interest-rate rigging

UBS Securities Japan, a subsidiary of the multinational financial institution UBS AG, agreed on Wednesday to plead guilty to charges of felony wire fraud in a scheme to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate, a key benchmark for financial products and transactions around the world.

December 19, 2012
Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Report: Justice’s pardon attorney misadvised White House on clemency bid

The Justice Department's pardon attorney inaccurately advised the White House regarding the clemency bid of a first-time drug offender sentenced in 1993 to three life terms in a drug case in which he was not the buyer, seller or supplier and received the stiffest sentence of all those convicted in the case, a report said Tuesday.

December 18, 2012
** FILE ** Fire-boat response crews spray water on the burning remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)

Federal judge to consider BP plea agreement in Gulf oil spill

A federal judge on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for Jan. 29 in New Orleans to consider a plea agreement by BP Exploration and Production Inc. in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, in which the company will plead guilty to 14 counts of felony manslaughter and felony obstruction of Congress and will pay criminal fines and penalties totaling $4 billion.

December 18, 2012
** FILE ** A Customs and Border Protection agent patrols by car along the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Ariz., in April 2010. (Associated Press)

Border Patrol stops translating Spanish for other police

The U.S. Border Patrol's required proficiency in Spanish historically has made the agency a vital link to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in need of language translation assistance, but that service no longer will be available.

December 17, 2012