Greenbelt, Maryland – Shanta Johnson, age 44, of Germantown, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding in the preparation of false tax returns.    

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Darrell J. Waldon of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General.

Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Abidemi Rufai has been in custody since his arrest at New York’s JFK airport in May 2021.  At the time of his arrest, Rufai was the Special Assistant to the Governor of Nigeria’s Ogun State. 

          LOS ANGELES – A former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was found guilty by a federal jury today of dozens of criminal charges for accepting cash payments and other benefits to help an organized crime-linked person, including taking official action designed to help two foreign nationals gain entry into the United States.

HAMMOND-Elizabeth Harris, 40, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge James T. Moody on her plea of guilty to mail fraud, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Harris was sentenced to 36 months’ probation with 12 months’ home detention and ordered to pay $192,659 in restitution to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Baltimore, Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Andrews Oduro Brown, a/k/a Andrews Oduro, age 39, and Charmaine Miesha Brown, age 43, both of Germantown, Maryland, for conspiracies to commit passport fraud and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, bankruptcy fraud, and making false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding.  The indictment was returned on April 28, 2022, and unsealed upon the arrest of the defendants.