PRESS RELEASE: Murrieta Superior Court Judge Denies Football Coach’s Petition for Restraining Order Against Parent of a Former Player
Murrieta Superior Court Judge Denies Football Coach’s Petition for Restraining Order Against Parent of a Former Player
Murrieta Superior Court Judge Denies Football Coach’s Petition for Restraining Order Against Parent of a Former Player
Vista Murrieta High School Defensive Backs Coach, who is also Head Coach and Commissioner of the Murrieta Broncos Junior All-American Football Team and the Frat Boyz Club 7 on 7 Football Team, claims to have feared for his life and sought protection.
Temecula, California Jun 5, 2023 – On May 10, 2023, Christopher Lee Mercadal filed California Judicial Form CH-109 – a Notice of Court Hearing (Civil Harassment Prevention), accompanied by Judicial Form CH-110 – Temporary Restraining Order (see photos), in a Murrieta Superior Court, seeking to have Tommy Sevilla, a former friend, former Murrieta Junior All-American Football Associate Chapter AD and Deputy Commissioner of the Murrieta Broncos, banned from all “Southern California Junior All-American Football” fields and schools in the Murrieta area where the Defendant’s children participate in youth sports (Mercadal v Sevilla Case #: CVSW2302721 ).
Later in the week, Petitioner Mercadal had the Riverside County Sheriff serve Defendant Sevilla at his home. The Sheriff’s Deputy was obligated by law to have Sevilla surrender any and all firearms that he had in his possession in lieu of the May 11th Superior Court Hearing. Sevilla had no weapons to surrender, and Sevilla would later testify to the Court that he has never owned a firearm, nor has he been in possession of one, and that Mercadal was making false statements about gun possession to deceive the Court into granting his baseless Petition, especially as firearms have never been mentioned in any of their conversations.
Mercadal’s Petition to the Court also claimed that Sevilla was a Central American “gang member” (Sevilla is Mexican and Puerto Rican) who owned, had possession of, or had access to guns and fellow gang members that Mercadal feared could harm him. Mercadal further testified to the Court that Sevilla labeled him as a “child abuser” and was upset that Sevilla made these allegations against him to Kyle Jackson – President of the Murrieta Broncos Junior All-American Football team, the principles within the Southern California Junior All-American Football organization, as well as Vista Murrieta High School administrators and to Head Coach – Coley Candaele; former Head Coach Pederson and their athletic director – Carl Galloway.
The feud between the former friends and colleagues within the Murrieta Junior All-American Youth Football Organization and Frat Boyz team organization started when Sevilla wrote an email to Coach Mercadal as a parent and friend, touching on matters of concern that directly affected his family and his son; namely that Sevilla’s son was loyal to Merc, had chosen to skip a TrialNet Study for Type 1 Diabetes at Standford University in order to accommodate Mercadal’s request for Sevilla’s son to play up in age group with the 12u Frat Boyz team in a tournament whereby they would play the elite OG Ducks team on Sevilla’s son’s birthday no less. When Sevilla’s son, a very skilled athlete, would receive zero playing time in that game, Sevilla’s son was dejected and both were obviously miffed at the fact that all of the coach’s son’s, many of whom are not at the skill level of Sevilla, played in the game. Sevilla, in his email to Merc, pointed out these things and told Merc that the rivalries were not between the players, but rather between the coaches who get the huge trophy afterward and whose sons get the MVP trophies while the rest of the players don’t so much as get a bottle of water, according to Sevilla’s email to Merc (see attached), written in a non-threatening and even pleasant manner, ending it with an invitation to smoke cigars and drink whiskey. Mercadal’s violent and disrespectful response to Sevilla about his son would set the tone for the future marked by retaliation. First, based upon information and belief, Mercadal would immediately lobby to have Sevilla removed from the MJAAF Board, which he was, but Sevilla, also the League’s Webmaster, would never learn of such a move until it was time to log in to the website from which he was now suddenly blocked from accessing. Following these events, Sevilla and his family would be harassed and threatened by a colleague of Mercadal’s – youth football coach, Reginald Kemp, known as “Coach Kemp”, who would threaten in text messages to harm Sevilla’s kids and his wife, repeatedly telling Sevilla that he knew where his kids slept and where he lived. When Sevilla reached out to MJAAF President – Kyle Jackson and Mercadal about their colleague and to intervene – they took no action and effectively refused to protect their player. What would follow would be the incident where his son, after Sevilla pulled him from the Murrieta organizations and placed him with Menifee Wildcats and Relentless Premier Athletes, the violent hits to his son and grandson in touch 7 on 7 football and tackle scrimmages; hence the paper trail of complaints that Mercadal would be upset by and take legal action against, claiming that he now feared for his life after the allegations of harming Sevilla’s son and grandson. Sevilla never responded to Mercadal’s response, which also degraded Sevilla’s son and told Sevilla to “kiss [his] ass” and to take his son to one of the many other organizations in the area. Sevilla’s son was a key player and defensive and special team starter on Mercadal’s 2021/2022 Micro Division Super Bowl Championship team and was starting quarterback for Mercadal’s Frat Boyz 10u team.
During the Court Hearing, Mercadal claimed that Sevilla never sought an investigation into the allegations but in Sevilla’s response to the Court, Sevilla produced letters to the Court in evidence; letters to Mercadal’s superiors and testified at length to the contrary stating that he wrote in complaint, adhering to the chain of command, by first requesting investigation by Kyle Jackson of the Murrieta Broncos (MJAAF), then Southern California Junior All American Football (SCJAAF), and only Vista Murrieta High School and District Officials after those organizations failed to respond to his written complaints and requests for investigation, informing Murrieta Valley School District Officials of a “rogue” coach whose coaching style and violent culture will expose them to liability issues and potential lawsuit from him as they, in effect, sanction and endorse his behavior by allowing him and his organizations to identify with the high school “Broncos” and utilize their facilities, warning them that other kids can fall victim in the future. According to Sevilla’s correspondence with Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Valley officials, he admonished them for choosing to remain deliberately indifferent and negligent. Sevilla has yet to receive the results of any investigation into the alleged intentional targeting of his son and grandson from Vista Murrieta High School, MJAAF, SCJAAF, or the Frat Boyz.
At the Hearing, Mercadal, after seeing the voluminous response filed by Sevilla, would return to Court, after the recess, with defaming written statements from Sevilla’s ex-assistant baseball coaches of several seasons (Sevilla was Head Coach): Destrian Vallejo and George Uhila, both of whom were brought into the aforementioned Murrieta youth football organizations by Sevilla but the Judge would cut Mercadal’s introduction of his alleged new exhibits short and admonish him about the burden he carries to prove his allegations, rather than defame the Defendant, as well as proper discovery to the Defendant, who was previously unaware of such written letters and was not previously served with them. The Murrieta Judge further informed Mercadal that Sevilla had a right to make such complaints to his “employers”, as Mercadal referred to them as being, and that Sevilla’s response to Mercadal’s alleged actions was understandable in light of the context of physical injury to his child and grandchild and that he saw no evidence of Sevilla ever having engaged in gang activity or having any recent criminal legal troubles. The Judge would however, ask Sevilla point blank if he challenged Mercadal to a fight and Sevilla admitted to the Court that his statement to Mercadal, which Mercadal produced in Court relative to challenging Mercadal to settle the matters like grown men, were true, but promised to the Court that he would not beat Mercadal up for allegedly harming his son and grandson and that the aforementioned organizations should’ve been responsible in sanctioning Mercadal.
Petitioner Mercadal’s Petition was DENIED in its fullness and the previous Temporary Restraining Order Pending Hearing was VACATED.
Sevilla adds that he was approached after the Hearing by others present in the hallway, including his young son, who overheard an adult couple ask Mercadal if he had “won” his Hearing after he exited the Courtroom and to which Mercadal reply confidently, “I’ll get him next time,” while doing the Crip Walk.
Statement from Defendant Sevilla:
“Chris Mercadal or Coach Merc as he is known is a legend in his own mind and can now also be known as one who has made many false and unprovable allegations to the Superior Court of California to cause further injury to my child, grandchild, and family. Here he is, a grown-ass man who is known within the youth football community for his lack of class, inciteful behavior, and starting shit while hiding behind his coaches and parents – teaching his players to yell out ‘SQUUUUAAAADDD’, (i.e. hit squad) along with him, his coaches and parents after scores, violent hits and simply to incite and taunt the opposing teams. He is like a little Chihuahua who is all bark and no bite. He says things like ‘come catch a fade’; squats down and throws up signs like a gang member during his photo ops but runs to the authorities and his superiors when somebody real and who doesn’t play around calls his bluff. Apparently, he thought that he could hurt me by – based upon information and belief – causing serious physical injury to my then 11-year-old son and 13-year-old grandson, most recently.
What kind of man does that?
There are many labels to describe such a man, especially when it only happened when I wasn’t present as he knows better than to do that shit when I’m there! I had to hear about it from multiple parents, coaches, and team officials who – based upon information and belief – all believed that it was intentional and at the very least, unwarranted, classless, and illegal. To this very day and even in open Court, Merc has yet to deny the allegations and apologize to all affected but would rather double down and cause further damage with his many false allegations that he failed to prove in Court.
The dude is all about himself as a Coach and should fear every parent whose child is seriously injured by his team’s classless culture and disrespectful style of play. The best thing we ever did was take my son to the Menifee Wildcats and Relentless; those coaches and organizations have shown themselves to be the real deal and have valued my son’s play and leadership, with Coach Darris and Coach D being exceptionally involved and protective against Murrieta Broncos and Frat Boyz bullshit and gossip. Those dudes don’t play either.
For God’s sake, my grandson was clotheslined in a touch football game by Merc’s Frat Boyz team and he and his coaches, parents, and players celebrated the hit and a near riot ensued while he hid behind his coaches and parents as usual.
My son? Merc’s players – my son’s former teammates – called him a ‘traitor’ at JAAF Weight Certification, and he and his coaches were heard by our Menifee coaches and parents all telling their players to ‘get violent’ – according to their statements – before they took my quarterback son out at his knees well after the whistle.
Shame on Celeste Scallion, Vista Murrieta Principal and Coach Pederson, and Candaele and his staff, along with Kyle Jackson of MJAAF, for not taking the matter seriously and not even investigating and responding to me with the results of the investigation. To this very day, I have yet to receive a response from his superiors on my request for investigation, but rather, they have chosen to coddle the one alleged to have acted inappropriately and illegally. They share in Merc’s responsibility, and in Court, I will hold them accountable for their liability in these matters.
Any coach who coaches with or for him and any parent who allows their kid to play for such a guy needs a character check.
The awesome part about all of this and evidential of my son’s character is that he never once complained or raised these issues, however, it greatly affected him emotionally as we as parents could readily see. It was the principals within the organizations, video evidence, and other parents who confirmed Merc’s alleged behavior and that of his players when I wasn’t present and out on business or with my son for the California State Wrestling Championships. he’s a fiercely loyal kid who never complains and can sure as hell handle himself. My follow-up to all of this shameful behavior – as a coach myself for more than 41 years – is to protect other kids and to warn those in the authority of one who doesn’t belong in the coaching ranks or among kids. Hell, Merc has failed to acknowledge my son personally at the subsequent football games and especially in Court where he acted pridefully and arrogantly. At least my son sees now what that dude is all about.”
Sevilla’s son would suffer total pancreatic failure – Type 1 Diabetes – during this timeline of events and season. However, he continues to excel in sports (wrestling, boxing, basketball, baseball, and football) and set an example for others while Insulin-dependent.
The Court transcripts and case information may be accessed here: Media Information (ca.gov)
Media Contact
So Cal Local Sports Media
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Categories : Family , Legal , Lifestyle , Society , Sports
Tags : chris mercadal , vista murrieta football , coley candaele , kyle jackson , murrieta broncos , frat boyz , southern california junior all american football , murrieta junior all american football , coach merc , mercadal defensive backs coach
The Return of Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve: Phillips & King now exclusively distributing the much-sought-after cigar in Corojo and Maduro
Phillips & King Contact:
Rachel McKnett
rachelmcknett@phillipsandking.com
The Return of Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve
Phillips & King now exclusively distributing the much-sought-after cigar in Corojo and Maduro.
(October 2022) Phillips & King is giving a hero’s welcome to Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve. This highly
desired cigar is returning to the premium cigar category 10 years after its initial release, and is now
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The smokes are beautifully nuanced, and truly
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One of Rocky Patel’s best-selling cigars to date, the Olde World Reserve offers a medium-to-full-bodied
profile, with Nicaraguan binders and fillers, and two wrappers that bring their distinct regional flavors to
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hand-rolled at Rocky Patel’s TaviCusa Factory in
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and black pepper with a salted caramel finish. It
is available in the following sizes: Robusto, Sixty,
Toro
The Corojo. Hand-rolled at the Paraiso Factory
in Danli, Honduras, this smooth cigar offers
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With an extensive network of distribution and tax compliance capabilities, Phillips & King will be
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Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve, please visit phillipsandking.com or call 800-532-4427.
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About Phillips & King
Phillips & King, a subsidiary of Kretek International, Inc., is a leading distributor of specialty tobacco,
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United States Department of Justice – ADA Complaint – Filed Against Menifee Girls Softball – USA Softball – ASA Softball
United States Department of Justice – ADA Complaint – Filed Against Menifee Girls Softball – USA Softball – ASA Softball
Menifee Girls Softball President – Jennifer Martinez and the MSG Board – Censor a MSG 8u Manager – Selectively Punish Him in Violation of Their Own Rules While Protecting Fellow Board Members Who Violated Code of Conduct – Appeal Met with Corruption
A United States Department of Justice ADA Complaint was filed against Menifee Girls Softball, ASA Softball and USA Softball, alleging willful discrimination and retaliation against 8 year old Type 1 Diabetic Menifee Girls Softball Player – Gracie Sevilla and her parents.
Gracie Sevilla, age 8, is a Type 1 Diabetic Athlete who suffered total pancreatic failure at age 4 and is Insulin dependent, requiring multiple daily injections of Insulin to metabolize the carbohydrates she eats in her meals and snacks throughout the day; in a healthy individual, this is the job of the functioning Pancreas. Gracie also wears a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring System; a small device with a filament that inserts below the skin and continuously tests the interstitial fluid for accurate Glucose levels, then brings the reading back to her parents’ mobile device every 5 minutes. The Dexcom alerts both high and low Glucose levels for immediate treatment decisions.
Gracie has endured Blood Glucose Levels as high as 600 + and as low as 24. Both exceedingly high or low levels, such as these, can result in Diabetic Coma or Ketoacidosis, both of which can be fatal in a short matter of time.
Gracie’s father, Tommy Sevilla, was Manager of Menifee Girls Softball (MSG https://www.menifeegirlssoftball.com) 8u 3-0 Florida Gators team and was one of 5 different Managers that were ejected by overzealous umpires on one day and weekend; Sevilla pointed out an illegal Coach Pitching motion that allowed for the opposing player to easily hit the ball and score runs, in violation of MSG Rules but was rebuffed by the Umpire – who arrived to the game in a foul mood 25 minutes after it had started. According to MSG rules, a Manager who is ejected during a game, must also serve an additional game suspension and must immediately leave the premises – not owned by MSG – and cannot be physically present for the next game. However, in retaliation for his free speech and non-threatening comments about overzealous umpires on the MSG Coaches Social Media Thread, Coach Sevilla was censored, as Board Member at Large, Alysa Mugica, her husband and others; including MSG Board Vice-President, David Miller – openly disparaged him on the thread, both before and after he was censored, and while Board President, Jennifer Martinez did nothing but allow the open disparagement; thus violating MSG’s Social Media Policy and Code of Conduct; they were not punished in any form but within minutes of censoring Sevilla on the thread, a vote was taken by the MSG Board to remove him as Manager of the team and thus also nullifying the requirement for him to have to serve the additional game suspension as Manager.
Coach Sevilla appealed their game loss officially, on the grounds that the opposing team won the game due to runs scored with an illegal soft toss underhand pitching motion by the opposing coach that was recorded on video, as well as the game not being a “regulation game” since the game started almost 20 minutes late on account of the Umpire showing up late and the game having to be started by a Board Member acting as an Umpire. However, the MSG Board would attempt to delay and suppress the Appeal by first demanding a $35 fee to hear the Appeal then fail to provide a method or mode of payment for the Appeal when Coach Sevilla was diligent in trying to pay the fee then, not showing up to the designated meeting place (practice field) to pick up Coach Sevilla’s payment. Official witnesses and evidence provided by Sevilla for his Appeal was not considered, in violation of League Appeals Policy and without notice and unbeknownst to Coach Sevilla, the Appeal was heard illegitimately, falsely and corruptly; claiming video evidence not supplied by Coach Sevilla – with no witness testimony and Sevilla not present or being invited to attend; the Board would lie and falsely claim that the opposing Coach pitched in a League approved pitching motion and essentially that the game started on time, despite abundant evidence to the contrary.
Gracie Sevilla subsequently, was not allowed to play in the next game because despite being warned of a potential ADA violation (Americans with Disabilities Act Title II Regulations; Part 35 – non-Discrimination on the Basis of Disabilities, et. al….), because her mother, Melodie Sevilla couldn’t attend the game and her father, who is trained to be able to manage her Diabetes, was banned from the game now as her parent, due to the unprofessionalism, spite and retaliation from MSG Board President, Jennifer Martinez and fellow Board Members: David Miller, Vice-President, Steven Cordova, Coaches Agent, Rachelle Wade, Player Agent, Lindsey Duffy, Treasurer, Ashley Vidal, Secretary, Kyle Titterness, UIC and others. Ultimately, Board President, Jennifer Martinez refused to make a reasonable accommodation for Gracie to play in the game and scoffed at the requirement of law and remained deliberately indifferent to Gracie’s qualifying disability, bent on punishing her father as a parent. Jennifer Martinez would threaten to call law enforcement if Gracie’s father, the censored Coach were to show up but backed off that threat when she was appraised of the fact that she had no authority to do so on private property not owned by but only used buy the league; Marion Ashley Park is a public facility. However, Martinez would then threaten to punish the entire Gators’ team of 8 year old girls with a “forfeit” if their Coach – Sevilla – were to be at the game to watch the team and his daughter play and also be there to treat her Diabetes so that she could play in the game.
Gracie’s mother, Melodie Sevilla, would reach out to Martinez then the USA Softball Board of Directors; including but not limited to: State Commissioner, Christina Drumm, President, Mike Schuck, who never responded to calls and emails and when she reached out to Rhonda Shirey, the Eastern District Commissioner, she was again met with deliberate indifference as Shirey promised to intervene and get back to Mrs. Sevilla by days end, she never did and ignored all follow up urgent phone calls and voicemails left and emails sent to her by Mrs. Sevilla.
Menifee Girls Softball Board President, would openly scoff at the issue, make no effort to provide a reasonable accommodation in accordance with Federal Law, focus on Coach Sevilla now being punished as a Parent, while no longer a Manager of a Team, and ultimately causing tremendous undue stress and trauma upon Gracie and her family, as well as the team itself, who now lost their Manager, faced forfeit scenarios and a season ruined by Menifee Girls Softball Board of Directors politics.
Gracie Sevilla was deprived of the opportunity to play in the game in question and subsequently, several additional games due to this controversy and the deliberate indifference and attitude toward her disability by the MSG board of Directors, ASA Softball and USA Softball, who refuse to intervene and honor the American with Disabilities Act.
On June 8, 2021, a Complaint was filed with the Department of Justice alleging that Jennifer Martinez, et al, the MSG Board, USA softball and ASA Softball, have willfully discriminated and retaliated against 8u girls softball player – Gracie Sevilla and her family.
Gracie Sevilla is a Folkstyle Youth Wrestling Champion for Team So. Cal of Temecula, winning her first two tournaments in Bakersfield, California and Phoenix, Arizona, even being awarded the “Most Outstanding Wrestler Award” as an athlete new to the sport of competitive wrestling. Gracie also excels in Gymnastics, Basketball, Soccer; she was the quarterback on her fathers Friday Night Lights Football team; and is a Pitcher on her Menifee 8u Girls Softball team, recording 8 strikeouts against 9 batters faced in her first ever game as Pitcher.
For Immediate Release Howard Books To Publish Sara Evans Memoir “Born To Fly”
For Immediate Release
Howard Books To Publish Sara Evans Memoir “Born To Fly”
Get a sneak peek at the book tonight on talkshoplive®
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(NASHVILLE / NEW YORK) — March 31, 2020 — Howard Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will publish Born To Fly, a memoir by award-winning, multi-platinum country music star Sara Evans. For the first time, Evans will open up and share stories not only about her career and what it is like living in the spotlight, but about what inspires her and how her faith keeps her strong. Drawing on stories from her own life, she shares wisdom on topics ranging from motherhood and marriage to finding your purpose. The book is slated for a September 8, 2020 release and available for pre-order now at https://bit.ly/2Us893O. Fans will get a sneak peek at the book tonight, Tuesday, March 31st, at 6pm CT when Sara joins talkshoplive®. Visit talkshop.live/channels/saraevans to join in the conversation and pre-order Born To Fly as well as her upcoming album, Copy That.
“I am so excited to release my memoir this year,” says Evans. “With 2020 being the twentieth anniversary of my Born To Fly album release, which was such a pivotal project for me and my career on so many levels, this book really brings everything full circle. I am so proud of how it all came together and can’t wait to share it with everyone.”
Multi-platinum entertainer Sara Evans is at the top of her game. As the fifth most-played female artist at country radio in nearly the last two decades — her five No. 1 singles include “No Place That Far,” “Suds In The Bucket, “A Real Fine Place To Start,” “Born to Fly,” and “A Little Bit Stronger,” which spent 2 weeks in the top spot and was certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. Sara’s “stunning, country voice” (Rolling Stone) has earned her the prestigious Academy of Country Music Top Female vocalist accolade as well as numerous American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Country Music Association, CMT and Grammy Awards nominations. In addition, the CMA awarded Video of the Year honors for her hit chart-topping single, “Born to Fly” from her landmark double-platinum album of the same name, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2020. Evans’ discography also includes the platinum-selling studio albums Real Fine Place and Restless as well as the gold-certified projects Stronger and No Place That Far.
Sara continues to forge a bold, creative path with Copy That, her first solo record in nearly three years, which will be released on her own Born To Fly Records on May 15, 2020. The 13-song collection, spanning six decades, finds Evans putting her distinctive creative stamp on some of the most iconic songs in country and pop music, songs that have inspired her life and career, as well as shining a spotlight on some little-known gems. Copy That follows her critically acclaimed Words, which debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums Chart in 2017. Last year brought album and touring collaborations with her children, Avery and Olivia Barker, for The Barker Family Band.
For more information on Sara Evans, visit SaraEvans.com and engage with her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Howard Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a part of Viacom CBS Corporation. Simon & Schuster is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Online, and international companies in Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. For more information about Atria, visit our website at https://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/atria.
# # #
Contact:
Emi Battaglia 212-698-7566; emi.battaglia@simonandschuster.com
For rights Information:
Nicole Bond, VP, Director Subsidiary Rights
Atria Books Group
212-698-7397 Nicole.Bond@simonandschuster.com
For Sara Evans:
Cindy Hunt 615-429-2203; cindy.hunt@monarchpublicity.com
Billy Bob’s Texas Hosts Live Watch Party To Celebrate Its 39th Anniversary Live at Billy Bob’s Texas Now Airing on Circle
Billy Bob’s Texas Hosts Live Watch Party To Celebrate Its 39th Anniversary
Live at Billy Bob’s Texas Now Airing on Circle
Received 18th nomination for ACM
Club Of The Year
FORT WORTH, Texas – The legendary Billy Bob’s Texas, located in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District, first opened in 1981. While concerts for April have been postponed due to social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 virus, the colossal Billy Bob’s Texas will continue their concerts as soon as possible.
While events may have been halted temporarily, Billy Bob’s Texas is doing their part to help the community and give back wherever possible. As part of a local effort, Billy Bob’s Texas recently partnered with Carter Bloodcare for a special community blood drive. A total of 339 units of blood were collected as a result and will be used to aid those in need.
As a way to celebrate the 39th anniversary of Billy Bob’s Texas on April 1, there will be a special watch party featuring some of the area’s most well known local talent. Artists performances will include Abraham Alexander, Austin Allsup, Bonnie Bishop, Chad Prather, Brad Thompson, Grady Spencer, Jack Barksdale, Jerrod Flusche, Johnny Cooper, Josh Weathers, Kris Luv, Matthew McNeal, Michael Lee, Rob Redwine, Smooth Vega, Summer Dean and more!
“Though we are moving through unprecedented times in the entertainment industry and the world with the COVID-19 pandemic, we still wanted to find a way to honor this milestone,” says Keitha Spears, Director of Marketing at Billy Bob’s Texas. “Parties at Billy Bob’s Texas typically take place on our dancefloor and in the showroom with several thousand of our closest friends, but that just isn’t an option this year. This watch party is a way for us to celebrate 39 incredible years in the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards while staying safe and doing our part to flatten the curve. We are thrilled to partner with Visit Fort Worth and Tarrant to showcase local musicians and raise money for our creative community.”
There will be a virtual tip jar in association with the watch party where viewers can make donations that will that will go directly to the United Way of Tarrant County, Hear Fort Worth, Film Fort Worth Creative Industry Relief Fund which was developed to help support musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers who have lost work due to COVID-19. The initiative spearheaded by Hear Fort Worth is an extension of Fort Worth musician Rachel Gollay’s Artist & Service Worker Relief Fund.
The watch party can be seen on Billy Bob’s Texas Facebook page or by visiting here.
Billy Bob’s Texas has earned an impressive 10 ACM Nightclub of the Year Awards with 18 nominations. In 2020, the Academy of Country Music once again nominated Billy Bob’s for Club of the Year!
There are a handful of concerts that were postponed that have been rescheduled such as Easton Corbin (6/19), Justin Moore (9/26), Colter Wall (11/19) and more dates coming soon.
For more information on all rescheduling and future announcements, visit www.billybob’stexas.com.
Circle now airing Live At Billy Bob’s Texas!
Live at Billy Bob’s Texas gives the listener a front row seat to concerts at the World’s Largest Honky Tonk. The music series has compiled powerful performances featuring hits from legendary country music artists like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Eddy Raven, Gary Stewart, Asleep at the Wheel, Janie Fricke and more.
Now, Circle network is carrying Live At Billy Bob’s Texas! Launched in January, Circle Media celebrates the country lifestyle and puts fans inside the circle of everything country. Circle offers entertainment news, documentaries, movies, archival, new and licensed programming, Grand Ole Opry performances, and more. Based in Nashville, Circle includes a linear network as well as a companion over-the-top (OTT) premium entertainment service which is expected to launch in spring 2020. Circle is a joint venture between Opry Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Properties, and Gray TV.
Live at Billy Bob’s Texas will air:
Wednesday, April 01 4:00pm EST – Billy Joe Shaver
Wednesday, April 08 4:00pm EST – Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers
Wednesday, April 15 4:00pm EST – The Charlie Daniels Band
Wednesday, April 22 4:00pm EST – Collin Raye
Wednesday, April 29 4:00pm EST – Tracy Byrd
Go to CirclePlus.com for shows, schedules and a simple guide to getting the channel.
Visit BillyBobsTexas.com/live-at-billy-bobs for more information.
Location:
Billy Bob’s Texas
Historic Fort Worth Stockyards
2520 Rodeo Plaza
Fort Worth, Texas 76164
(817) 624-7117
DIRECTIONS
About Billy Bob’s Texas:
Located in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District, the 100,000 square foot cattle barn became Billy Bob’s Texas in 1981. Since then more than 17 million visitors have enjoyed live entertainment and real bull riding at “The World’s Largest Honky Tonk”.
The facility can hold 6,000 rowdy patrons on a given night and has been host to hundreds of musical acts, from Alan Jackson to ZZ Top. On Fridays and Saturdays, the venue also features live bull riding – a step up from the mechanical variety. It seems like an unlikely source for a series that has sold millions of albums.
Billy Bob’s has been named the Country Music Club of the Year 10 times by the Academy of Country Music.
To buy Billy Bob’s Texas merch, or any of the Live at Billy Bob’s Texas CDs and DVDs, click here to visit the online store, or to buy tickets for special events and concerts, go to billybobstexas.com.
About United Way of Tarrant County:
United Way of Tarrant County has worked to improve the lives of those in our communities since 1922. As a nonprofit leader, we bring together individuals, groups, donors and service providers to help solve some of the toughest social issues affecting Tarrant County. Each year, United Way of Tarrant County helps more than 300,000 people through its resources. United Way of Tarrant County has no fees on donor designations, with 100 percent of the donations going to the selected agency or cause.
For important updates and more information visit Billy Bob’s Texas social channels linked below.
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
# # #
Suggested Tweet:
.@CircleAllAccess now airing @LiveatBBT! Watch party celebrating 39th anniversary on April 1st will raise funds for #HearFortWorth & @UnitedWay. @BillyBobsTexas receives @ACMAwards nomination for #ClubOfTheYear!
Midland’s video for “Burn Out” was filmed at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Texas.
Midland’s video for “Burn Out” was filmed in one continuous take, in the center of the dance floor at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Billy Bob’s Texas Media Contacts:
Jeremy Westby, jpw@2911.us, 833-537-2911 x800
Scott Sexton, scott@2911.us, 833-537-2911 x802
The House of Representatives passed a historic stimulus package known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or “CARES” act
CARES Act Passes House & Heads to the President
March 27, 2020 —Today, the House of Representatives passed a historic stimulus package known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or “CARES” act, which contains an unprecedented $2.2 trillion in total financial relief for businesses, public institutions and individuals hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate passed the bill earlier this week and President Trump is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.
Included in the CARES act are critical provisions from Senator Marco Rubio’s bipartisan Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act, a small business emergency economic relief plan that provides more than $377 billion for small businesses to meet their payroll and expenses, and receive education and assistance throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Provisions like the Paycheck Protection Program in this act will assist small businesses in retaining employees through these difficult times. The program has $350 billion dollars to support employers with 500 employees or less to maintain their payroll. This program is retroactive to February 15, 2020 to help bring workers who may have already been laid off back onto payrolls as well. Many PCA members will be eligible for provisions of the CARES act when it is signed into law.
Resources:
CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU ANNOUNCES ACTION AGAINST CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 30, 2020
MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Tel: (202) 435-7170
CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU ANNOUNCES ACTION AGAINST CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) filed suit against Citizens Bank, N.A. (Citizens), a national banking association headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bureau’s complaint alleges violations of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and TILA’s implementing Regulation Z, including violations of amendments to TILA contained in the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act).
As described in the complaint, the Bureau alleges that for several years Citizens violated TILA, as amended by the FCBA, and Regulation Z by failing to properly manage and respond to credit card disputes. The complaint alleges that Citizens automatically denied consumers’ billing error notices and claims of unauthorized use in certain circumstances. The complaint further alleges that Citizens failed to fully refund finance charges and fees when consumers asserted meritorious disputes or fraud claims, and failed to send consumers required acknowledgement letters and denial notices in response to billing error notices.
The Bureau further alleges that for several years Citizens violated TILA by violating provisions passed under the CARD Act. The Bureau alleges that Citizens violated TILA and Regulation Z by failing to provide credit counseling referrals to consumers who called Citizens’ toll-free number designated for that purpose. These alleged violations of TILA—including those under the FCBA and the CARD Act—and Regulation Z also constitute violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act.
The Bureau filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on January 30, 2020. The Bureau’s complaint seeks, among other remedies, an injunction against defendants and the imposition of civil money penalties.
The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendant has violated the law.
The complaint is available at: https://files.consumerfinance.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.
GAITHER MUSIC GROUP ANNOUNCES RELEASE DATE FOR RANDY TRAVIS’ “WORSHIP & FAITH” DVD ALONG WITH PRECIOUS MEMORIES ALBUM
Travis is no stranger to Gospel music having released the smash hit “Three Wooden Crosses” in 2002. The song became his sixteenth number one single winning Song of the Year at the 2003 CMA Awards and Country Song of the Year at the 2004 Dove Awards. It was his first entry in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. He has released four Gospel albums which all charted on the Billboard Country charts; with three of them also charting on the All-Genre and Christian Album Charts.
The recordings will be featured as a TV special on networks including PBS, TBN, RFD-TV, DirecTV, DISH TV, GaitherTV, FamilyNet, The Heartland Network, CTN, GMC, GMTN, Guardian, Liberty, TCT and TLN. It will air in Canada on Vision TV, CTS, The Miracle Channel and Hope TV. The “Worship & Faith” DVD and Precious Memories CD are exclusively distributed by Capitol Christian Distribution and Universal Music and will be available throughout general market stores and the Christian marketplace in addition to Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®. The products will be available with prime positioning at online retailers including iTunes, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and Gaither.com.
A new feature in the February/March issue of Cowboys & Indians, titled The Quieter Years of Randy Travis, sums up his journey since his 2013 stroke that stole his award-winning and universally-known voice. Along with author Ken Abraham, he released a memoir Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith and Braving the Storms of Life in 2019 to critical acclaim and widespread success. The book can be purchased at ForeverandEverAmenBook.com. Last year the music icon also released two never-before-heard songs and joined James Dupre on the road for the Music of Randy Travis Tour.
Precious Memories Track Listing:
1. “Blessed Assurance”
2. “How Great Thou Art”
3. “In The Garden”
4. “Softly And Tenderly”
5. “I’ll Fly Away”
6. “Peace In The Valley”
7. “Precious Memories”
8. “Just A Closer Walk With Thee”
9. “The Unclouded Day”
10. “Sweet By And By”
11. “Are You Washed In The Blood?”
12. “Three Wooden Crosses”
“Worship & Faith” DVD Includes:
“Shall We Gather At The River?”
“You Are Worthy Of My Praise”
“Just A Closer Walk With Thee”
“We Fall Down”
“Will The Circle Be Unbroken?”
‘He’s My Rock, My Sword, My Shield”
“Peace In The Valley”
“Sweet By And By”
“Open The Eyes Of My Heart”
“Turn Your Radio On”
“Above All”
“Love Lifted Me”
“I’ll Fly Away”
“Pray For The Fish”
“Three Wooden Cross”
About Randy Travis
With lifetime sales in excess of 25 million, Randy Travis is one of the biggest multi-genre record sellers of all time and a recent inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2016. His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and five Country Music Association honors. In addition, three of his performances earned CMA Song of the Year honors: “On the Other Hand” (1986), “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) and “Three Wooden Crosses” (2002). To date, he has 22 No. 1 singles, 31 Top-10 smashes and more than 40 appearances in feature films and television shows to his credit. Four of his albums are Gold Records. Four are Platinum. One has gone Double Platinum. One is Triple Platinum and another is Quintuple Platinum. In 2004, Randy was honored with his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, TN. He has been a member of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986. In 2017, Randy was honored with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds™ Nashville. Since his near fatal stroke in 2013, with the help of his wife Mary and rigorous physical therapy, Randy continues to make improvements in his speaking, walking, and yes, singing. With the help of author Ken Abraham, he released his critically-acclaimed memoir in 2019, Forever and Ever, Amen. For more information please visit RandyTravis.com.
About Gaither Music Group
One of the largest independent Christian music companies in the world and a household name for millions of fans, Gaither Music Group, in partnership with Primary Wave Entertainment, is known worldwide for its award-winning and top-selling recordings, including the Gaither Gospel Series, of which 133 products have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum. These recordings, which encompass more than 177 video copyrights, showcase gospel music pioneers; many of the finest performers in the gospel genre; up-and-coming acts; and country artists including The Oak Ridge Boys, Jimmy Fortune, Joey+Rory, Alabama, Alan Jackson, The Statler Brothers, George Jones, Vince Gill and others. The brand has partnered with Sandi Patty, Gloria Gaynor, Steven Curtis Chapman and a host of acclaimed talents from various fields of music. Gaither Music Group has garnered sales of more than 40 million DVDs and CDs, including such PBS stalwarts as Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador, the only authorized video autobiography of Reverend Billy Graham; The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash; and three Elvis Presley projects, in conjunction with the Elvis Presley Estate. The company developed a partnership with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® in 2008, one of the most successful music launches in Cracker Barrel® history; and its alliances with Capitol Christian Music Group, Universal Music Group and Time Life Music remain bedrocks for the company.
Zach Farnum | zach@117group.com | 615-997-0100
Erin Fligel | erin@117group.com | 615-997-0100
Wes Vause | wes.vause@wmg.com
CHRIS BANDI PARTNERS WITH CMT FOR “MAN ENOUGH NOW” VIDEO PREMIERE
For Immediate Release
CHRIS BANDI PARTNERS WITH CMT FOR “MAN ENOUGH NOW”
VIDEO PREMIERE
Epic Clip Features Hollywood Film and TV Celebs
Kelli Berglund and Luke Pell
Nashville, TN – January 29, 2020 – Breakthrough singer/songwriter Chris Bandi partners with CMT for the official music video premiere of his megahit, “Man Enough Now.” The riveting clip, starring Hollywood celeb Kelli Berglund (Disney Channel, Starz’s “Now Apocalypse,” TNT’s “Animal Kingdom,” FX’s “Fosse / Verdon”) and “The Bachelorette’s” Luke Pell and directed by Dustin Haney, can be seen now on CMT Music and at CMT.com. The coming-of-age tempo track has racked up over 72 million streams and counting. The hit, written by Bandi along with Jason Massey and Jason Duke, is out via RECORDS, a joint venture label between Barry Weiss and Sony Music Entertainment. The song impacts country radio on February 18.
Listen to the song now at https://ChrisBandi.lnk.to/ManEnoughNowPR and catch Bandi on tour with Matt Stell this weekend in Des Moines, IA (1/30), Sioux City, IA (1/31) and Dubuque, IA (2/1).
Named an “Artist To Watch” by Entertainment Weekly, The Boot, Sounds Like Nashville, NY Country Swag, and Country Music Tattle Tale, Chris Bandi is poised for his breakthrough in country music. The St. Louis, Missouri native has been writing songs since high school. He began making the trek to Nashville during his college days at Ole Miss, honing his craft playing small clubs and making the big move to Music City after graduation. Nashville took notice of his passion for storytelling and multi-genre tinged vocals, evidenced by a publishing deal with BMG and a RECORDS label deal earlier this year. Bandi joined American Idol Season 17 winner Laine Hardy on tour in the fall and is currently on the road with country breakout Matt Stell for dates through March. A brand-new EP expected is to release in 2020.
Check chrisbandi.com for tickets and information and follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
About RECORDS
RECORDS is a joint venture between Barry Weiss and Sony Music Entertainment. RECORDS is home to Gold selling breakout Country artist Matt Stell, and Chris Bandi. The label also houses buzzing singer / songwriter and former star of the hit-series, Nashville, Lennon Stella, in addition to platinum-selling artists Noah Cyrus and Nelly and the collective of Labrinth, Sia and Diplo, known as LSD.
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For Chris Bandi interview, review copy, and information contact:
Cindy Hunt / Heather Conley
Monarch Publicity
615-429-2203 / 615-202-5070
cindy.hunt@monarchpublicity.com / heather.conley@monarchpublicity.com
PRESS RELEASE: Discrimination Alleged Against Under Armour and Riverside Under the Lights Flag Football League Franchise, Specific to a 6-Year Old Type 1 Diabetic Flag Football Player Girl – Gracie Sevilla; Department of Justice Complaint Filed
January 15, 2020
For Immediate Release:
Contact: Tommy Sevilla (951) 289-1710
Sevilla Local Media
tommy@sevillalocalmedia.com
Discrimination Alleged Against Under Armour and Riverside Under the Lights Flag Football Franchise, Specific to a 6-Year Old Type 1 Diabetic Flag Football Player Girl – Gracie Sevilla; Department of Justice Complaint Filed
A Federal complaint was filed against the multi-national sports apparel and equipment company – Under Armour, and the Under the Lights Flag Football Franchise, alleging that the local league – Riverside Under the Lights, headed by Cory Wells and the parent league; a Florida based company headed by ex-Arena Football League Quarterback, John Kaleo, willfully discriminated against a person with a qualifying disability – Gracie Sevilla, age 6.
The Complaint, a precursor to a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit, alleges that a willful and malicious discrimination against a person with a qualifying disability under The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, occurred and is currently under review by the Department of Justice.
In May 2019, Gracie Sevilla, a 6 year old standout flag football player on her father, Tommy Sevilla’s K-2 Under Armour Friday Night Lights – Riverside Steelers – 7 on 7 Flag Football Team, was blatantly refused “reasonable accommodation” to play in the Steelers playoff game(s) by League Commissioner, Cory Wells, after such was requested by her coach and father and her mother, Melodie Sevilla, in writing.
Gracie, as a Type 1 Diabetic, wears a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring device (“CGM”) affixed to her thigh, while playing sports and otherwise. The device has a small filament that penetrates the skin’s fluid just below the epidermis and reads her blood glucose level every 5 seconds, rendering a cumulative reading every 5 minutes, that if high or low, signals alarms. The alarms then allow the parent or caregiver ample time to treat the life-threatening high or low.
For a Type 1 Diabetic, a blood sugar level reading that is too high or low causes a multitude of ill symptoms and leads to a diabetic coma then death when not treated in a timely manner.
The receiving medical device must be within 10 yards of Gracie at all times or a signal loss will occur and no potentially life-saving reading will be given. Gracie’s River Springs Charter School nurse, teacher and school campus proctor are others who have the app downloaded on their personal cell phones for monitoring, alerts, treatment and emergency care.
Type 1 Diabetes is an incurable autoimmune disorder of the Pancreas whereby the Pancreas stops producing life-saving Insulin necessary to survive and metabolize carbohydrates. Type 1 Diabetics like Gracie, must receive Insulin via needle injections into the skin; on average, Gracie receives 10-15 Insulin injections per day.
Commissioner and League Owner, Cory Wells, after barring Gracie’s father from coaching in the Playoffs, due to a personal dispute with him over Wells’ failure to address the misconduct of a rival coach that lead to a near riot on the football field with parents and coaches, and ensure the safety of his players and others for the upcoming playoffs, Gracie’s coach and Father, in an email, advised Wells that he was obligated under Federal law to have either Gracie’s mother or trained medical personnel on the field with the receiving device (within 10 yards of Gracie) to allow Gracie to play, to which Wells’ scoffed at the request.
Commissioner/Owner Wells, in an email, arrogantly refused the request by Gracie’s parents; dismissed the ADA provision and mandate for a “reasonable accommodation” and brashly welcomed threatened complaints and impending lawsuit(s).
In further retaliation toward Gracie and her parents an unprecedented league-wide email. Cory Wells, stated that no unauthorized persons would be admitted on to the field and that the gate would be locked and security tight; a specific reference to Gracie coach and father, Tommy Sevilla, as well as her mother, who could have taken her coach and father’s spot on the field with the receiving device and thus allowing her to play.
Cory Wells, the league commissioner, was well aware of Gracie being a Type 1 Diabetic. Gracie Sevilla was the youngest player in his league for the second season in a row, the only girl, and the only Type 1 Diabetic; one who had brought great positive publicity to his league, receiving local, regional, national and International media coverage associated with her being a unique young female athlete playing Football with Type 1 Diabetes.
Statement from Under Armour Friday Night Lights Coach, Tommy Sevilla, father to Luke and Gracie Sevilla:
“It is mind-boggling that a person in such a position that Corey Wells is in, purporting to operate a youth sports franchise for kids with a pure motive, acted in such a manner, proving clearly that it’s all about money and he has no regard for the safety and welfare of the kids in his league both from a security and health standpoint.
As a father himself he should no better and to scoff at Gracie’s condition and legitimate request for a reasonable accommodation, he must have a dark, arrogant soul.
Yet, how shameful is it of Under Armour and Under the Lights also, to have responded as they have!
John Kaleo, is an arrogant, cocky jerk and Eric Ogbogu, totally turned his back on the issue after handing it over to Kaleo, showing that Under Armour simply passed the buck and has no regard for Gracie or other Type 1 Diabetics.
We, as a family, rock Under Armour gear and have supported the Brand for years. It is unbelievable for John Kaleo to state that their (Under Armour) “team of lawyers” assured him that this was not discriminatory, nor a civil rights violation and much less an ADA issue. It is utterly shameful and insensitive; an example of corporate greed and human disconnect.
Gracie was supposed to just play without medical supervision, signal loss from her medical device whereby we have no idea what her blood glucose level was?!
How hard was it to allow Melodie, Gracie’s mom on the field, in my place, with the receiver, to monitor her blood sugar level and treat her accordingly?!
The actions of Under the Lights, Under Armour and Cory Wells has been arrogant, proud and an absolute affront to children with disabilities; a complete and utter contradiction to what they claim their brands’ stand for and they owe, at minimum, a contrite and sincere apology to Gracie, and to all like her who without proper medical supervision and treatment, can die suddenly.
Unbelievable how it has come to this, how they have robbed this little girl and her loyal brother, who refused to play without his sister, Dad and coach on the field, of a playoff and National Championship Tournament experience, all on account of Cory Wells’ deliberate indifference, sickening arrogance and blatant disregard for a young girl with a life threatening illness.
Pathetic.”
The Federal Complaint against Cory Wells, alleges that Wells retaliated against Gracie and her parents with foresight of malice, because he was angry with her father (the team’s Head Coach for the second year in a row) for him having complained about Wells’ unfair treatment to Under Armour seeking their intervention.
When Under Armour was contacted about the situation, Eric Ogbogu, a former Dallas Cowboy, passed the issue along to John Kaleo, the Friday Night Lights Franchise Founder and Owner, who mocked and dismissed Gracie’s situation and its relevance to the American with Disabilities Act, both showning a deliberate indifference toward accommodating a person with a qualifying disability; Gracie Sevilla, a 6-year old Type 1 Diabetic girl football player.
In attempt to appease Gracie’s father and coach, John Kaleo, extended an invitation to Tommy Sevilla, the Steelers coach, for them to compete in Under Armour’s National Championship Tournament, since Gracie, nor her brother, Luke Sevilla, the teams star quarterback and player, couldn’t compete in the league’s playoffs to qualify fairly for the tournament; the Steelers would would fail to advance without Luke, Gracie and Coach Tommy on the field and barely have enough players to field a team. However, this was an insincere invitation as it would be impossible for Sevilla to field a team due to the negative fallout surrounding the original near riot incident and Commissioner Wells’ steadfast refusal to share the leagues other coaches’ contact information, so as to allow Coach Sevilla to invite the league’s other players to join his National Championship team, thus making the invitation to compete of no value.
Kaleo refused to intervene in Wells’ retaliation and assist Sevilla in adding players to his team, and it was learned that Wells, in fact, helped the opposing coach (the one who committed the original misconduct) form a team by adding the league’s best players from other teams to his team; the very thing requested by Sevilla.
Previous to this ADA violation, the previous Fall Season of the Riverside Under Armour League, Wells, and the Hillcrest High School Football Coach and Athletic Director, scoffed at and refused to remedy a situation whereby, spectators to the Under Games were forced to park in the lower student parking lot and walk up a steep grade, several hundred yards to steep steps that lead to the football field. This unreasonable trek prevented elderly persons and persons with physical disabilities from accessing the field. Wells failed to address the issue of the gate, which lead to the upper parking lot and access ramps/stairs, being locked, which forced all spectators, including the disabled, to make the long, challenging trek up the steep grade.
The Hillcrest High School Football Coach and Athletic Director, believing he had called Wells to complain about the “woman” who complained about the situation, actually called her, and began the phone call by disparaging the complaining party.
A long email thread substantiating the allegations against Under the Lights and Under Armour exist and upon exhaustion of administrative remedy, a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit will be filed against Under Armour, the Under the Lights Football Franchise (John Kaleo) and Cory Wells’ corporation that is associated the league, as well as specific persons in their individual capacities, for a deliberate indifference toward Gracie Sevilla, a person/athlete with a Federally recognized physical disability.
Gracie Sevilla has continued to play sports without such retaliation and discrimination since the incident, excelling as an infielder and pitcher with Jurupa Valley Little League, thriving as a Quarterback with the Corona Friday Night Lights Flag Football League with her father Tommy as Head Coach, and most recently in Gymnastics.
Brother Luke Sevilla, would subsequently, lead his Ohio State Buckeyes Team to the Corona Friday Night Lights – Sophomore Silver Division League Championship, with his father as Coach.
Gracie will be joining the 3G Wrestling Team out of La Verne, California, a team her brother, Luke, currently competes with, and will also begin her training as a Boxer with the Jurupa Valley Boxing Club, where her father sits on the Board of Directors.
It is believed that she would become the only and youngest female wrestler and boxer with USA Boxing and USA Wrestling.
Gracie has been featured as a Type 1 Diabetic Athlete in International, National and Local news sources, both in print and on television.
Gracie has a website and You Tube channel in development; website currently points to her GoFundMe page created for Type 1 Diabetes Awareness and fundraising for a specially trained Diabetic Alert Dog: https://GraceForTheCure.org and https://GracieSevilla.com
TPE 2020: New Products Releases, Streamlined Scheduling, Smart Panels, and 1 Big Party The first big show of the year aims to position all attendees on a path to success.
For immediate release:
CONTACT
TPE Show Contact: Dawn Conger
dawnconger@tobaccoplusexpo.com
TPE Press Contact: Rachel McKnett
rachelmcknett@kretek.com
TPE 2020: New Products Releases, Streamlined Scheduling, Smart Panels, and 1 Big Party
The first big show of the year aims to position all attendees on a path to success.
January 2020 – With thousands of products and buyers, exclusive show deals and experiences, and the latest industry information, attending the Tobacco Plus Expo 2020 (TPE 2020) is the ideal way to start the year for all facets of the tobacco business. Happening Wednesday, January 29, 2020 through Friday, January 31, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the show offers 3 days of business, learning, networking, and fun, paving the way for a successful and profitable year for the industry.
It Starts Here: Business
With TPE 2020 projecting increased numbers over 2019 attendance and exhibiting brands, selective exhibitors are taking notice, and TPE 2020 may be your only chance to meet with some of them. And many companies are releasing new products at TPE 2020, giving this year’s attendees an extra advantage in keeping inventory fresh for their customers. To easily find these new launches amidst the thousands at the show, TPE 2020 will feature a Product Spotlight, where attendees can expect to see new products from brands like:
- Agnorsa Leaf
- Alec Bradley Cigars
- Drew Estate
- Espinosa
- Fratello
- Illusione
- Jas Sum Kral
- JRE Tobacco
- Maya Selva Cigars
- Nova Cigars
- Republic Tobacco
- Room 101
- Santa Clara
- Vicarias
- Villiger
- Committed to hosting a fun, educational, and successful show, the Tobacco Media Group (TMG) is pleased to offer the TPE Connect Program, an online platform that matches buyers and exhibitors, and allows them to schedule meetings during show hours. To optimize your TPE time and participate in TPE Connect, just log in to your attendee or exhibitor portal prior to the show and update your product preferences so you can be matched to meet with colleagues relevant to your business.
- Learning: The Best Way to Get Ahead
- Moderated by tobacco industry leaders, TPE is proud to offer IGNITE- a series of educational sessions aimed at keeping attendees and exhibitors on the cutting edge of our industry. From regulations and retail growth to merchandising and market trends, TPE 2020 offers relevant information with your growth in mind. For a complete list of session topics and times, please visit: https://tobaccoplusexpo.com/education/. And did we mention that 14-time NBA All-Star Karl Malone is the TPE 2020 Keynote Speaker? You won’t want to miss this.
- Networking and Fun
- What’s a TPE Show without entertainment? This year, we have a 4-in-1 all-industry party on Wednesday, Jan 29 at the Sahara Hotel & Casino (formerly the SLS Hotel) from 6pm to 9pm. Held at 4 venues in close proximity, party-goers can relax at Club 101 with dueling pianos and a cigar-lounge, cavort over carving stations at Bazaar Meat, enjoy a club scene with DJ Eli from Drew Estate at the Theater, and revel in classic Vegas at the Gaming Casino. Whether you hit all the parties or settle in at one, it’s a night of food, drinks, and networking that should not be missed.
- “We’ve invested in TPE and our industry,” says Ellie Hansen, Trade Show Director for Tobacco Media Group. “We’ve put together a show that offers what people are looking for- solid brands and products, quality buyers actively looking to stock their shelves, education panels to keep people informed and ahead of industry happenings, and networking opportunities that are actually fun. We’re feeling good, and are planning to see you at TPE 2020.”
- The Path to Success for 2020
- Tickets are still available for TPE 2020, so do not miss your chance to set yourself up for growth and profit in the new year. Please visit www.tobaccoplusexpo to register.
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- About TPE:
- Under the banner of Tobacco Media Group (TMG) owned by Kretek International, Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) is the largest B2B tobacco trade show highlighting the full-spectrum of tobacco, vapor, alternatives and general merchandise products available on the ever-evolving market. TPE 2020 is planning to deliver the industry’s most compelling content, products, and information, and will be held January 29, 2020 through January 31, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To learn more about the show, please visit the website: www.tobaccoplusexpo.com.
Donate to a Charity: EaseT1D 2019 Highlights – Type 1 Diabetes
Raising Awareness on Type 1 Diabetes!
2019 has been an exceptional year for raising public awareness on Type 1 Diabetes. In March of 2019, we collaborated with Rock Star, Bret Michaels, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 6 years old, to support Senate Bill 138 that California State Senator, Richard Roth, authored. This bill would bring educational materials on T1D through our California school districts to their respective schools, to parents/guardians of K-12 grade students. The bill made it through four committees but did not pass in Appropriations due to costs associated with implementation. We plan to meet with both Senator Roth and Bret Michaels next year to see how we move forward.
In May, we hired Coldea Productions to produce a series of Public Service Announcements to help educate the public on both the symptoms to the onset of T1D, and to what exactly T1D is and isn’t. It seems much of the public is unaware that T1D is an autoimmune disease, not caused by diet or lifestyle, and that any one at any age can be diagnosed. We feel our PSA’s do a good job at explaining the definition. We had a good response to these PSA’s and are grateful for everyone who shared them. All six PSA’s can be found on our website at https://www.easet1d.org/
Getting ready for National Diabetes Awareness Month takes months of preparation. We worked with our City of Corona, Corona Fire Department, and Corona Police Department in an effort to help raise public awareness. We were honored to once again receive a Proclamation from our City of Corona Mayor, Jason Scott, declaring November as National Diabetes Awareness Month. We were thrilled to partner for a second year with our Corona Fire Department, and this year also with our Corona Police Department. A big thank you to both Fire Chief, Brian Young, and Police Chief, George Johnstone, for their support of our cause.
Many of our Corona-Norco Unified School District (CNUSD) schools supported National Diabetes Awareness Month (NDAM) by hanging banners and wearing blue on World Diabetes Day, November 14th. We’d like to thank all schools who participated and thank our parents who helped make this happen!
This year we wanted to turn social media blue by asking our diabetes community to share their NDAM pictures with the hashtag #GoBigGoBoldGoBlue! Although some did participate, we want this to grow bigger for next year. Our hope is to get the NFL to GO BLUE for a televised game during the month of November! Maybe JDRF can make this happen since they are collaborating with so many players to help raise awareness.
We ended NDAM with a T1D family get together to help give support and connect our families with others who may be new to the world of diabetes. There is nothing like having support from others who know exactly what you go through on a day-to-day basis. We feel honored to be a part of this community who shows kindness to one another, support for one another, and give of their time for one another. You are all amazing, and we thank you for your continued support of our mission.
If you would like to make a year-end, tax-deductible donation to support our cause, please go to www.easet1d.org/donate. We appreciate your support of our mission.
We look forward to what 2020 has in store!
Warm Regards,
Debbie George
Founder,
EASE T1D
HERS Raters in San Diego County, California – California Comfort Testing
HERS Raters San Diego
A HERS Rater is a specialized inspector who is certified by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Before a Rater can become certified, they must go through an education process where an approved HERS provider verifies training and testing. HERS Raters must pass both a written and field exam before they can become certified by that provider. Currently, Calcerts and Cheers are the only two HERS providers approved by the CEC. Also, a HERS rater is required to stay up-to-date on the current code and will be required to take an update course for each code cycle. This is to ensure the Rater has an adequate understanding of the energy code and will be able to answer any questions a client may have.
Furthermore, a Rater scheduled for any project must be an independent third party and must not be an employee of the builder or installing contractors. The HERS Rater is required to be certified in the scope of work they are hired for. Residential alterations is the most common certification. However, there is also one for residential new construction and commercial building projects, as well.
Moreover, the Rater is required to have an Environmental Protection Agency, or (EPA) certification that allows him to work with refrigerant containing components. Please see HERS Verifications for further details. Also, it’s not uncommon to find a HERS Rater who holds certifications outside of the scope of standard HERS testing. For example, the National Comfort Institute, or (NCI) has certification programs which include residential air balancing, light commercial air balancing, and duct optimization. Building Performance Institute or (BPI) is another organization that provides certification programs, which include optimizing home performance, increasing energy savings, and reducing health hazards. Though these organizations have different applications, they hold the same value when it comes to reducing energy cost and maximizing building comfort. Here at CA Comfort Testing, our HERS Raters collectively use each one of these certifications on every job looking for ways to make your home perform better.
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PRESS RELEASE: TANYA TUCKER THRILLS SOLD OUT RYMAN AUDITORIUM AUDIENCE
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HERS: Home Energy Rating Systems – HERS Raters in San Diego County, California
HERS: Home Energy Rating Systems – HERS Raters in San Diego County, California
California Comfort Testing
HERS Testing San Diego
Home Energy Rating System (HERS) testing is a set of verifications that are used to evaluate the energy efficiency of a home according to California’s Energy Code. Taking part in HERS testing for any building allows the technician to determine where deficiencies can be improved. Studies have shown that the average home may lose up to 30% of its conditioned air due to poorly installed Heating, Ventilation, and Cooling (HVAC) equipment. HERS testing is typically required by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to verify the project is meeting its Energy Standards. This requirement is triggered by installing new equipment and applying for a permit at your local Enforcement Agency. HERS testing must be completed before the permit can be closed. Also, these tests can be used as a preliminary tool a building owner can utilize to see how their building is performing. This option may be more in-depth because it does not mandate HERS testing, and typically would be done before, during, and after a building renovation. Applying HERS testing during this process allows the general contractor to work with the technician performing the tests. It ensures that the necessary steps are being taken to increase building comfort, energy savings, and decrease air loss to unconditioned space. California code may require HERS testing if there is a mechanical change-out during this process. Most commonly, HERS testing is needed on a project having HVAC equipment replaced. However, you can expect to see testing done on additions and newly constructed buildings that include commercial, multifamily, and single-family homes. Understanding building classification is essential regarding how HERS testing is applied. For example, residential buildings that are between one and three stories classify as low rise buildings, whereas, residential buildings with three or more stories have the same classification as commercial. This classification does apply to both newly constructed or altered buildings. Moreover, building classification, rather it be new construction or alteration will be a factor in how hers testing is applied.
HERS Raters San Diego
A HERS Rater is a special inspector who is certified by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Before a Rater can become certified, they must go through an education process where they are trained, tested, and verified by an approved HERS provider. HERS Raters must pass both a written and field exam before they can become certified by that provider. Currently, Calcerts and Cheers are the only two HERS providers approved by the CEC. Also, a HERS rater is required to stay up-to-date on the current code and will be required to take an update course for each code cycle. This is to ensure the Rater has an adequate understanding of the energy code and will be able to answer any questions a client may have. Furthermore, a Rater Scheduled for any project must be an independent third party, and must not be employed by the Builder or installing contractors. The HERS Rater is required be certified in the scope of work they are being hired for. Residential alterations is the most common certification, but there is also one for residential new construction, and commercial building projects as well. Moreover, the rater is required to have an Environmental Protection Agency, or (EPA) certification that allows him to work with refrigerant containing components. Also, it’s not uncommon to find a HERS Rater who holds certifications outside of the scope of standard HERS testing. For example, National Comfort Institute, or (NCI) has certification programs which include residential air balancing, light commercial air balancing, and duct optimization. Building Performance Institute, or (BPI) is another organization that provides certification programs which include optimizing home performance, increasing Energy savings, and reducing health hazards. Though these organizations have different applications, they really hold the same value when it comes to reducing energy cost, and maximizing building comfort. Here at CA
Comfort Testing, our HERS Raters collectively use each one of these certifications on every job looking for ways to make your home perform better.
HERS Verification San Diego
Hers verification is the
Is a variety of different tests that can be expected during this process. Duct testing is most common because it’s almost always required. However, there may be refrigerant charge verification, airflow verification, fan watt draw verification, and blower door verification. The required HERS verification will be determined by installation, climate zone, and/or a Title 24 report.
Duct Testing San Diego
Is a HERS test that is performed to ensure the HVAC duct system is meeting the minimum energy efficiency standards. Duct Testing also known as Duct Leakage Testing is used to measure the air tightness of your duct system. The technician performing the duct leakage testing will determine if additional duct sealing is needed to bring the system up to code.
Air balancing Services
Is a hers rating company that is known for its high-quality service.
For friendly, hassle-free, and great customer service please call California Comfort Testing for all your HERS testing needs.
scheduled for a project must be an independent third party. They cannot be employed by the builder or by installing contractors. The HERS rater must also be trained, tested, and certified in the scope of work they are being hired for. The HERS rater is the only person who can provide you with a signed HERS verification.
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Article: 4 Tips To Destress During A Hectic Christmas Simple Techniques to Fight Off Stress During the Holidays
Submitted Article: 4 Tips To Destress During A Hectic Christmas Simple Techniques to Fight Off Stress During the Holidays
Do you find yourself being short tempered throughout the month of December? There is nothing abnormal about it. Often times, men and women find themselves under great strain during the holidays. Maybe they are concerned over their jobs, getting their loved ones the right gifts, or merely putting up with their in-laws over the holiday. That doesn’t even include the crowded shopping malls and packed parking lots. There is no question that Christmas time can be overwhelmingly stressful. At least there are 4 simple strategies, from using a pure CBD tincture to watching what you drink, that can provide phenomenal assistance in reducing holiday stress.
1 – Take Advantage of CBD Products While colorful CBD gummies are always fun, the most effective trick to keeping your cool during the holidays may be to rely on an amazing CBD oil tincture for sale. After all, cannabidiol is a natural compound that has gained popularity for helping people improve their moods by stimulating the serotonin in their brain cells. With the best CBD tincture to combat stress, a user can experience a peace of mind in no time. That means it will be easy to stay calm and cool with the rowdy kids and annoying house guests during Christmas dinner won’t be a problem this year.
2 – Be Honest We all know somebody who is throwing a Christmas party this year. It makes no difference if you are talking to your employer, neighbor, or even your best buddy from childhood, always be truthful. If you truly don’t want to go to your office’s holiday dinner or neighbor’s Christmas Eve party, politely pass on the invitation. A person will get over a denied invitation. So it’s really not worth getting caught in a lie or showing up to a fiesta in a grumpy mood. In other words, say what you mean and mean what you say when it comes to Christmas get-togethers.
3 – Remember to Catch Your Breath Whenever you find yourself under physical or mental pressure, it is crucial that you pay attention to your breathing. If it is shallow, you should try to fix it right away. A smart trick is to take your time inhaling and exhaling deeply and slowly. Try to feel both actions in every part of your body, from your tippy toes to the end of your nose and the top of your head. Not only is this tension fighting technique nice and easy, it can be performed just about anywhere and in any situation. Whether you are in line at a department store or stuck in holiday traffic on the highway, deep belly breathing can help you stay calm and cool in just about any aggravating situation.
4 – Create an Ideal Environment With so many hours spent at work, boring holiday parties and getting ahold of unappreciated presents, you must dedicate some time to yourself. Maybe plan a few hours that you can treat yourself to a nice spa or a massage. Of course, you can always spend your “me time” resting in your bed, if not your favorite chair. Dim the lights and play The Dark Side of the Moon, or whatever music chills you out. Turn off your phone and unplug from cyberspace for a little while. Complete relaxation is just around the corner. 5 Techniques To Help You Relax The Best Tricks to Unwind, Like a CBD Tincture Iwoke up in a marvelous mood this morning. But when I tried entering the highway to get to work, I got stuck in a traffic jam. Then I got stressed out when some guy honked at me for trying to merge into the left lane. I got to work no more than 10 minutes late, but I still got a dirty look from my boss. To make matters worse, the office lost the internet for the entire morning. It’s not even lunchtime, and I feel completely overwhelmed. Thankfully, I am familiar with 5 highly effective tricks, like a pure CBD tincture and avoiding social media, to ease myself of physical and mental pressure.
1 – CBD Tincture Perhaps the best way to stay calm and cool in tense moments is to take advantage of a high potency CBD tincture for sale. Just like CBD gummies, the powerful tinctures are wonderful at helping people manage stress. At the same time, a user never has to worry about a euphoric “high” from hemp derived CBD, unlike the THC in marijuana. The top CBD oil tinctures on the market are also fast acting and last for several hours at a time.
2 – Ease Your Muscles While not much out there compares with the effectiveness of powerful CBD products, you can try progressive muscle relaxation to put your system at ease. For example, stretch out the muscles in your toes for 5 or 10 seconds at a time. Then relax them and breathe easy for 30 seconds. You can repeat the exercise three times before working your way through other muscle groups.
3 – Get Creative Another nifty tip to fight off pressure in a hectic situation is to be imaginative. Just think, how would William Shakespeare or John Lennon handle the same circumstances. While you may not want to write a sonnet or stage a weeklong bed-in, there are always artistic outlets to help keep your mind focused and get things off your chest. Have you ever tried painting the sky or knitting a sweater for your spouse? Find a way to develop something positive from the circumstances.
4 – Don’t Be Lazy Whether you are at work or home, acting sluggish can have negative circumstances. A prime example is taking a bath. In theory, the warm water is supposed to be soothing, along with some candlelight and classical music in the background. But in reality, the water gets cold too quickly. You may be hanging out with germs that lead to staph infections. Cell phones often fall underwater, and filth-muck builds up on the tile. Trying to take a bath can become more of a strain than a relief. 5 Finally, it is wise to avoid social media and news outlets, especially during controversial events. Unfortunate occurrences, like a friend’s recent divorce or the death of a loved one can easily bring down one’s spirits. You may also get reminded of broken relationships and other lousy stuff that happened to you in the past. There is no reason to look at a high school bully’s family photo or read his political rants. As long as you remain positive, relaxation can be a walk in the park.
Press Release: Tobacco Plus Expo: Supporting the Support Beams of the Tobacco Industry
For immediate release:
CONTACT
TPE Show Contact: Hilary Manning
hilarymanning@tobaccoplusexpo.com
TPE Press Contact: Rachel McKnett
rachelmcknett@kretek.com
NATO Contact: Thomas Briant
info@natocentral.org
Tobacco Plus Expo: Supporting the Support Beams of the Tobacco Industry
Tradeshow partners with NATO, offering contributions and a platform to help all facets of the tobacco business.
December 2019 – With the Tobacco Plus Expo 2020 (TPE) shaping up to be a must-attend event for the new year, the Tobacco Media Group, Inc. (TMG), is pleased to announce its continued support and partnership with the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO), which includes a significant presence at the TPE 2020 show, held Wednesday, January 29, 2020 through Friday, January 31, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With 60,000 members, NATO works endlessly to protect the rights and interests of tobacco retailers and consumers, while influencing significant business decisions and legislation. They are a resource to all, disseminating details on FDA regulations and local, state, and federal issues regarding tobacco, e-cigarettes & vapor, adult rights, and retailer freedoms. TMG has battled regulations right alongside NATO, using Tobacco Business, their popular magazine, as a means of distributing information and being a reputable resource for the latest industry news.
Like many in the industry, TMG and their parent company, Kretek International, Inc. also contribute monetarily to NATO, facilitating and fighting legislation that affects the entire tobacco business. In addition to this financial support, TMG is dedicated to elevating the organization by bringing NATO to TPE and bringing the industry to NATO.
NATO will be a strong presence at this year’s show, occupying a booth with team members offering information and insight to attendees and exhibitors. They will also be leading several of TPE 2020’s IGNITE educational sessions, speaking on market trends and current legislation.
“We see the TPE show as a huge opportunity to partner with organizations like NATO,” says Ben Stimpson, Managing Director of the Tobacco Media Group, Inc. “Tom Briant and his team are leading a comprehensive and imperative legislative charge to help educate and fight for all businesses in the tobacco industry. The information we share, and the money we donate helps their legislation efforts at local and state levels and strengthens our industry as a whole. NATO is the ace in all of our pockets.”
The first major tradeshow of the year for the tobacco and alternative industries, TPE 2020 brings together retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and industry media for three days of solid business, networking, learning, and fun. For information about exhibiting or attending, please visit www.tobaccoplusexpo.com.
# # #
About TPE:
Under the banner of Tobacco Media Group (TMG) owned by Kretek International, Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) is the largest B2B tobacco trade show highlighting the full-spectrum of tobacco, vapor, alternatives and general merchandise products available on the ever-evolving market. TPE 2020 is planning to deliver the industry’s most compelling content, products, and information, and will be held January 29, 2020 through January 31, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To learn more about the show, please visit the website: www.tobaccoplusexpo.com.
About NATO:
Started over 15 years ago, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc. (NATO) is a national trade association organized to strengthen the business interests of all tobacco retailers on a collaborative and individual basis. Headquartered in Minneapolis, it helps its over 60,000 members across the country navigate and stay on top of tobacco-related legislation on the local, state, and federal levels. To learn more about NATO, please visit the website www.natocentral.org.
Press Release: Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London
Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London
London, England (Dec 2, 2019) – Boisdale of Canary Wharf hosted the seventh annual star-studded Cigar Smoker of The Year Awards Dinner celebrating the world’s finest cigars, producers, writers, terraces and icons. Thirty-seven year cigar veteran Daniel Marshall received the “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The annual event, considered to be the “Academy Awards” of the Cigar World, is the world’s most prestigious Cigar Awards event outside of Havana.
Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include: Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons; Legendary Hollywood actor and director, Burt Reynolds; British Conservative member of the House of Lords and once a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, Baroness Trumpington; Edward Sahakian of Davidoff London, and celebrated British broadcaster and journalist, Andrew Neil. Historical winners of the Cigar Smoker of the Year Award, nominees and guests also include Simon Le Bön, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jonathan Ross, Kelsey Grammer, Tamar Hassan, Charlie Sheen, James Cosmo, and Chris Noth.
London holds a special place in Marshall’s heart as he reflected upon his beginnings during his acceptance speech. “Thirty-eight years ago, a 19-year-old California surfer landed in this amazing beautiful city of London with a dream and a challenge. The dream was to obtain Alfred Dunhill of London‘s approval of quality and trust for the humidors I was making in California.”
Marshall told two stories from his 37-year journey on the cigar trail. At age 12, He was in an oratorical contest and up against the most popular boy in school at the time – 14 year old actor Sean Penn. Marshall would go on to win the contest. “With Sean’s massive popularity and with me being an overweight, insecure, least popular kid at school, I was terrified to go onto the playground and possibly meet him or any of his friends for fear of being beat up. I very happy that this never occurred!” Marshall continued, “Two years ago I met Sean at President Macron’s environmental summit and told him this story. He remembered the contest and laughed. Hardly the reaction I was so scared of. I learned an important life lesson on this day that most of our fears never come to pass.”
His acceptance speech included an example of the “power of the cigar” and whom one can meet thru a cigar. “One of my most memorable moments was when Mr. Marlon Brando called me to build two large humidors for him. He told me when he visits his island off the coast of Tahiti, all his scripts get moldy and destroyed by the humidity and he wanted to use our humidors to keep the humidity out!”
He went on to acknowledge Ranald Macdonald of Boisdale, “Thank you and your incredible team for your vision and commitment for having cigar lounges in each one of your outstanding destinations, allowing us a place where we can create the ‘modern day campfire’.”
Marshall expressed his deepest admiration for all nominees and congratulations for the winners including “Cigar Smoker of the Year”. This top award recognizes a high-profile individual that possesses a passion for the pure enjoyment of the cigar. This year’s honor went to actor, filmmaker and martial artist Dolph Lundgren best known for his roles in Rocky IV, The Expendables, The Punisher, and Universal Soldier.
In concluding his speech, Marshall left the esteemed audience with a final thought, “I truly believe it’s all about dreams. Dreams cost nothing. The hard part is keeping them going and never giving up. As Sir Winston Churchill said so famously, ‘No matter the challenge, we must never, never, never give up.’”
View a film of the event: https://youtu.be/p7_o0aSjeXU
About Boisdale of Canary Wharf:
Boisdale of Canary Wharf is a lively restaurant and music venue serving modern
British food featuring a glowing amber whisky bar of liquid gold, stunning terrace and oyster bar & grill overlooking the city skyline of Canary Wharf. The Whisky bar holds over 1000 bottles of rare malt whiskies and is undoubtedly one of the most extensive and magnificent bars in the world. On the first floor the art deco inspired oyster bar is surrounded by palm trees and serves a definitive range of oysters and shellfish. Or you can settle down outside on the awning-covered heated terrace with tartan upholstered armchairs and sofas, equipped with tartan blankets. The main restaurant on the second floor overlooks the fountains of Cabot Square with a view to the City of London skyline. This restaurant is one of the most majestic premises to have opened in London in recent years. It bears the distinctive Boisdale design of lacquer red and dark green walls, rich mahogany paneling, with an eclectic collection of classical and modern original artwork including works by Picasso and Gauguin. www.boisdale.co.uk
About Daniel Marshall:
Daniel Marshall, a 37-year veteran of the cigar industry is one of the leading names in the cigar world. He is Cigar Aficionado’s No.1 rated Humidor designer and creator of the coveted 24kt Golden Cigar. DM Humidors & cigars are enjoyed in the homes and offices of countless Hollywood celebrities, US Presidents, dignitaries, titans of industry, fashion designers and the most discriminating cigar lovers worldwide. Marshall is also a cigar and humidor supplier of England’s Royal Family.
Since 1982, Daniel Marshall has created and designed for the prestigious luxury gift houses Dunhill, Tiffany & Co., S.T. Dupont, Cartier, Hermes, Fred Joaillier, Harrod’s, Bally of Switzerland, and Garrard’s of London. Daniel Marshall’s humidors are historic, with a collection on display at the Smithsonian Museum.
One of DM’s highly collectible Governor Schwarzenegger Humidor’s broke sales records in 2016 at Leonardo DiCaprio’s Foundation Gala Fundraiser in St. Tropez. This extremely rare humidor topped the charts for highest amount paid for a modern day humidor with new world DM Cigars.
In September 2017, a 1 of 1 humidor DM made for Prince Albert II of Monaco with Daniel Marshall Cigars was put on the block and raised 75,000 Euros to benefit our global oceans.
Since the opening of the Daniel Marshall Cigar Lounge in the Kitzbuhel Country Club, Austria in 2013, Daniel Marshall has been hosting elite and exclusive “Modern Day Campfire” Experiences with discriminating connoisseurs across the globe.
For upcoming DM Campfires and to join the “DMCC” The Daniel Marshall Campfire Club email: TheCampfire@DanielMarshall.com
Visit Daniel Marshall’s site at www.danielmarshall.com
You can also find Daniel Marshall on Facebook at www.facebook.com/danielmarshallhumidorsandcigars or follow Daniel Marshall on Twitter @DMCigarWorld or Instagram @DMCigars for real-time updates.
For Daniel Marshall:
Trang Trinh, 714-973-8660, info@danielmarshall.com
Press Release: Corona Friday Night Lights Flag Football Championship – Sophomore Division – Silver
For Immediate Release
Ohio State Buckeyes Win the Corona Friday Night Lights – Flag Football Sophomore Division (Silver) League Championship
(Norco, California – Silver Lakes Sports Complex) On Friday, November 15, 2019, the Ohio State Buckeyes (2nd & 3rd Grade) of the Corona Friday Night Lights Football League, which serves: Corona, Norco, Eastvale, Riverside, Mira Loma and Jurupa Valley, won 3 straight playoff games, as the #3 seed, to win the league title in dominating fashion – 24-0 against the Auburn Tigers.
The Buckeyes, led by 8 year old phenom Quarterback, Luke Sevilla, beat the #6 seed UCLA Bruins (18-0) and the #2 seed, Penn State Nittany Lions (12-8).
Luke Sevilla threw 4 touchdown passes, snagged 6 interceptions, ran for 2 touchdowns, and scored a touchdown at Receiver.
Also scoring throughout playoffs were Sevilla’s favorite targets, WR/QB/RB/DB – Louie Leon, WR/RB/DB – Reid Felkins and QB/WR/DB – Fiona Phalen, one of 2 girl players in the league; Fiona threw a touchdown pass and caught a 2 point conversion pass in the Semifinal game against Penn State.
The Buckeyes, a prolific scoring team, laid the foundation for the their title run with their lockdown defense, led by Luke Sevilla at Safety, Louie Leon at Cornerback, Reid Felkins at Cornerback, Fiona Phelan at Linebacker, Xavier Camarillo at Linebacker, Jayden Candia on the Defensive Line, Maximus Aguilar on the defensive Line, Guillermo Becerra at Nose Guard and Center, Jayden Eddington on the Defensive Line.
Jayden Candia and Reid Felkins also had interceptions in the playoffs; Felkins was a Pick Six.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are looking to defend their Title in the Spring with most players returning.
The team was coached by Tommy Sevilla
For Press Inquiries:
Sevilla Local Media
tommy@sevillalocalmedia.com
(951) 289-1710
Press Release: Karl Malone, Keynote Speaker of TPE 2020
For Immediate Release:
CONTACT
TPE Show Contact: Dawn Conger
dawnconger@tobaccoplusexpo.com
TPE Press Contact: Rachel McKnett
rachelmcknett@kretek.com
Karl Malone, Keynote Speaker of TPE 2020
Malone to kick off Tobacco Plus Expo with insight and inspiration for all facets of the Tobacco Industry.
November 2019 – The Tobacco Media Group (TMG) is excited to announce 14-time NBA All-Star Karl Malone as the Keynote Speaker for the Tobacco Plus Expo 2020 (TPE 2020). Well-respected for his performance, talent, and many achievements on the court, including being the NBA’s 2nd all-time leading scorer, a 2-time Olympic Champion, and a 2-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Malone has brought his leadership and vision off the court and into the tobacco industry, developing a premium cigar using tobacco aged in rum barrels in collaboration with Guillermo Leon Herbert, the owner of LA Aurora. Malone has long since enjoyed relaxing with cigars, and the development process has given him a new view on the industry. As the TPE 2020 Keynote Speaker, Karl Malone will offer attendees insight as an enthusiast, a manufacturer, and even as a retailer on behalf of his daughter, Kadee Malone, who owns Legends Cigar & Vape. Perfect for a B2B show that brings the entire industry together, the Keynote Session at TPE 2020 will lead a well-rounded schedule of interesting educational sessions covering different categories, facets, and perspectives.
The first major tradeshow of the year for the tobacco and alternative industries, TPE 2020 runs Wednesday, January 29 through Friday, January 31 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. For TPE 2020, TMG set out to re-invigorate the trade show’s educational benefits by bringing in some of the premium tobacco industry’s biggest disruptors and headliners. Each session of IGNITE has been designed to empower retailers and manufacturers and improve their businesses with insights from companies and entrepreneurs who are making a difference and challenging the status quo of their respective industries.
“TMG’s mission and goal is to provide our audience with timely, useful content that will help them do business better. When it came time to plan out the educational lineup for TPE 2020, we wanted to bring the same energy and top-notch content we feature in each issue of Tobacco Business Magazine into the upcoming trade show,” says Antoine Reid, Senior Editor and Digital Content director for TMG. “We understand that the typical educational conference can be boring and a chore to sit through, but that’s not what TPE 2020’s educational sessions will be. IGNITE will be informative, engaging and feature a diverse lineup of speakers and experts that will leave attendees feeling inspired, invigorated and ready to take on the rest of 2020 with excitement and the knowledge needed to be successful in business.”
In addition to the Keynote Address, TMG is pleased to announce the following sessions and moderators, which will also include a panel of industry experts on each topic:
Thursday 1/30/20
11:30-12:15 Sisters of the Leaf: Selling, Marketing, and Promoting Tobacco Products to Women, moderated by Erica Arroyo
2:30-5pm NATO: Local, State, and Federal Tobacco Legislation and Regulations: What Industry Members Need to Know with Thomas Briant
Friday 1/31/20
11:30-12:15pm Tobacco Retail Rebooted: Jumpstart and Rejuvenate Your Retail Operation, moderated by Dave Garofalo
2:30-3:30pm State of the Union: Cigar Legislation Update, moderated by Glynn Loope
Our education session calendar is continuously being updated as new conferences are added to the show. For additional details and the most up to date scheduling information, please visit www.tobaccoplusexpo.com.
It’s not too early to secure your pass for TPE and success in 2020. Just visit www.tobaccoplusexpo to register.
# # #
About TPE:
Under the banner of Tobacco Media Group (TMG) owned by Kretek International, Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) is the largest B2B tobacco trade show highlighting the full-spectrum of tobacco, vapor, alternatives and general merchandise products available on the ever-evolving market. TPE 2020 is planning to deliver the industry’s most compelling content, products, and information, and will be held January 29, 2020 through January 31, 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. To learn more about the show, please visit the website: www.tobaccoplusexpo.com.
TEMECULA ROAD MAKES GRAND OLE OPRY DEBUT
For Immediate Release
TEMECULA ROAD MAKES
GRAND OLE OPRY DEBUT
“Maybe Not” acoustic video available now
Nashville, TN — November 4, 2019 — Rising country trio TEMECULA ROAD made their Grand Ole Opry debut on Friday, November 1 at the first weekend of the show’s annual winter run of Opry At The Ryman in downtown Nashville. Maddie, Emma, and Dawson, introduced by Connie Smith, brought their unforgettable harmonies to the iconic stage. Performing their latest single “Maybe Not” and a stripped-down acoustic version of the Eagles classic “Desperado,” their debut brought a packed house of family, friends, and fans to their feet for a standing ovation.
“Tonight has been a dream come true,” says Emma. “We feel so very blessed,” says Maddie. “I am speechless, and that doesn’t happen very often. What an amazing night,” adds Dawson.
Emma, Maddie, and Dawson took the Ryman stage fresh off of an overseas tour stint with Scotty McCreery, including sold out stops in Berlin, Cologne, London, and Manchester. Their soulful new track “Maybe Not,” written by the trio’s Dawson Anderson, along with Trannie Anderson and Ian Christian and produced by Andrew DeRoberts (Devin Dawson, Kip Moore, Eli Young Band, Jillian Jacqueline), is their third new release this year, following “Fades” and “Never Knew I Needed You” which hit Top 5 and Top 15 respectively on Radio Disney Country’s Top 50 Chart.
To celebrate their Opry debut, Temecula Road released a stripped version of their “harmony rich tune,” “Maybe Not,” – named a “Song You Need To Hear” by The Boot – via YouTube. Watch HERE.
Called out by The Huffington Post, CMT, Sounds Like Nashville, and Taste of Country as one of the top new country artists to watch and named after the town they grew up in, Temecula Road (comprised of sisters Emma and Maddie Salute, and longtime friend Dawson Anderson) are known for their trademark harmonies and their covers which have earned praise from Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, and Brett Eldredge. With over 13 million streams and counting, these days it’s their original music putting them on the map. Over the past two years, Temecula Road made debut performances at C2C’s Country Music Festival in London, Stagecoach Music Festival and the CMA Music Festival. The band was named one of Radio Disney’s NEXT BIG THING artists and were nominated in the “The Freshest! – Radio Disney Country Best New Artist” category at the Radio Disney Music Awards, putting them in great company alongside Maren Morris, Lauren Alaina and Old Dominion. On the touring side, the trio will join as special guests opening for Sara Evans on her “Sara Evans – Blue Christmas Tour” over the holidays.
# # #
SOCIALS
https://www.temecularoad.com
https://www.instagram.com/temecularoad
https://www.twitter.com/temecularoad
https://www.facebook.com/temecularoad
https://www.youtube.com/temecularoad
Fades: https://hollywoodrecs.co/Fades
Never Knew I Needed You: https://smarturl.it/TemeculaNeverKnew
Maybe Not: https://smarturl.it/MaybeNotTR
CONTACTS:
Monarch Publicity
Cindy Hunt & Heather Conley
Cindy.Hunt@MonarchPublicity.com / Heather.Conley@MonarchPublicity.com
Buena Vista Records
Heather Davis
Heather.Davis@disney.com
Temecula Road Makes Opry Debut – Novemeber 1, 2019
Left to right: Temecula Road’s Emma Salute, Maddie Salute and Dawson Anderson
Photo credit: Chris Hollo / Grand Ole Opry
LINK to Photo
Easet1d: Upcoming Type 1 Diabetes Meet Ups – Southern California
Upcoming Type 1 Diabetes Meet Ups – Southern California
EaseT1D Meet-up
When: Sunday, November 17th
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Location: Graziano’s Pizza Restaurant, 333 Magnolia Ave., Corona, 92879 (Banquet Room)
Let’s meet-up! Join us for food, fun and friends as we celebrate National Diabetes Awareness Month!
PLEASE STAY TUNED… MORE EVENTS ARE COMING!
AGENCIES ANNOUNCE DOLLAR THRESHOLDS IN REGULATIONS Z AND M FOR EXEMPT CONSUMER CREDIT AND LEASE TRANSACTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 31, 2019
MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Tel: (202) 435-7170
AGENCIES ANNOUNCE DOLLAR THRESHOLDS IN REGULATIONS Z AND M FOR EXEMPT CONSUMER CREDIT AND LEASE TRANSACTIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Reserve Board today announced the dollar thresholds in Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and Regulation M (Consumer Leasing) that will apply for determining exempt consumer credit and lease transactions in 2020. These thresholds are set pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amendments to the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act that require adjusting these thresholds annually based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). If there is no annual percentage increase in the CPI-W, the Federal Reserve Board and the Bureau will not adjust this exemption threshold from the prior year. However, in years following a year in which the exemption threshold was not adjusted, the threshold is calculated by applying the annual percentage change in CPI-W to the dollar amount that would have resulted, after rounding, if the decreases and any subsequent increases in the CPI-W had been taken into account. Transactions at or below the thresholds are subject to the protections of the regulations.
Based on the annual percentage increase in the CPI-W as of June 1, 2019, the protections of the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act generally will apply to consumer credit transactions and consumer leases of $58,300 or less in 2020. However, private education loans and loans secured by real property (such as mortgages) are subject to the Truth in Lending Act regardless of the amount of the loan.
Although the Dodd-Frank Act generally transferred rulemaking authority under the Truth in Lending Act and the Consumer Leasing Act to the Bureau, the Federal Reserve Board retains authority to issue rules for certain motor vehicle dealers. Therefore, the agencies are issuing these notices jointly.
The Regulation M notice is available in the Federal Register here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/30/2019-21554/consumer-leasing-regulation-m.
The Regulation Z notice is available in the Federal Register here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/30/2019-21557/truth-in-lending-regulation-z.
###
Media Contacts:
Federal Reserve Susan Stawick (202) 452-2955
CFPB Marisol Garibay (202) 435-5169
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.
Global Automotive Premium Audio System Market : Overview, Growth Factors and Competitive Players till 2028
New York City, NY: October 23, 2019 – Published via (Wired Release) – MarketResearch.Biz has added a report titled “Automotive Premium Audio System Market Research report 2019-2028” which provide insightful information of the Automotive Premium Audio System industry. The Latest Market report offers an entire analysis of each area together with the degree of the Automotive Premium Audio System Market therein space within the calculable period. The report is an exquisite piece of study for the investors who are looking for the opportunity in the market.
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The key players focused in this report:
Bose Corporation, Bowers & Wilkins Group Limited, Harman International Industries, Incorporated, Alpine Electronics Inc, Clarion Co Ltd, Blaupunkt GmbH, Panasonic Corporation, QSC, LLC, Bang & Olufsen a/s, Onkyo Corporation
The Segmentation for the report:
Segmentation by product type: 6 Disc, 8 Disc, 10 Disc, 12 Disc. Segmentation by application: Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles. Segmentation by sales channel: Original Equipment Manufacturer, After Market
Key Questions Answered by This Report:
-How did the market evolve and what is the market status in 2019?
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-What are the opportunities for growth within the market and where do the major threats lie?
-How will each submarket segment grow in the near future and how much market value will each segment generate for in 2028?
-How will individual leading national markets perform over the forecast period, and what are their drivers and restraints?
-How will the market shares of the regional and leading national markets evolve by 2028, and which geographical region will lead in 2028?
-Who are the key players within the market, and what are their strategies over the forecast period?
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MarketResearch.Biz (Powered By Prudour Pvt. Ltd.)
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Central Texas Lawyer Guilty of Swindling Colombian Drug Trafficking Clients
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Central Texas Lawyer Guilty of Swindling Colombian Drug Trafficking Clients
SHERMAN, Texas – A Central Texas criminal defense lawyer was found guilty of federal violations related to an international fraud scheme involving his Colombian cocaine trafficking clients, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown and FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the Dallas Field Office today.
James Morris Balagia, 62, of Manor, Texas was found guilty by a jury of five federal charges today following a two week trial before U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant.
According to information presented in court, Balagia, also known as Jamie Balagia, also known as The DWI Dude,
DUI Dude Van
had a law practice with offices in San Antonio and Manor specializing in defending clients charged with violations such as driving while intoxicated and drug possession. In 2014, Balagia conspired with Florida private investigator, Chuck Morgan, and Colombian attorney, Bibiana Correa Perrea to swindle Colombian drug traffickers under the guise of bribing officials in the United Sates. During meetings in Colombia and in Collin County, Texas, the group represented that in exchange for inflated “attorney fees,” they were in contact with government officials in the United States who would accept bribes resulting in either the dismissal of their criminal charges or significant reductions in their U.S. federal prison sentences. In reality, there were no bribes or government officials.
The Office of Foreign Assets and Control (OFAC) had previously designated Balagia’s Colombian clients as “Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers.” These individuals were considered some of the biggest drug traffickers in the world. As such, they were on an OFAC list, essentially freezing their assets and prohibiting U.S. persons from engaging in any financial transactions or dealings with them unless they had received an OFAC license. In order to comply with federal requirements under the “Kingpin Act,” Balagia was advised to obtain an OFAC license on multiple occasions but failed to do so.
As part of the scheme, Balagia provided Colombian co-conspirators with his personal bank account number and routing number. Evidence at trial showed multiple deposits over several months into the account in amounts intended to avoid federal cash transaction reporting requirements. The cash deposits were made at bank counters across the United States by anonymous individuals with daily deposits totaling just under the $10,000 reporting threshold. Additionally, at least four bulk cash payments were made to Balagia in amounts ranging from approximately $70,000 to $120,000. Balagia admitted to driving from his San Antonio office to a mall parking lot in Katy, Texas, where he was given a shopping bag filled with bundles of cash from either an unknown individual, or an individual who identified himself only as “Coco.” In an attempt to conceal these payments, Balagia failed to report the payments as required by federal law.
Balagia was indicted by a federal grand jury on Dec. 15, 2016. Bibiana Correa Perea pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison on June 29, 2018. Chuck Morgan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison on Mar. 8, 2018.
Balagia was found guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering; obstruction of justice, violation of the Kingpin Act; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
“This defendant-and his group-were running a scam on drug dealers – some of the biggest drug dealers in the world,” said U.S. Attorney Joe Brown. “Fortunately for him, these drug dealers chose to turn him into the FBI rather than handle it any other way. It is important for the American justice system that we prosecute those who represent that the justice system is for sale. The Colombians, and criminals in every other country that we deal with, need to understand things don’t work that way in the United States. When we have lawyers representing that officials can be bought, we take that very seriously.”
“The defendant used his position as an attorney to not only steal from drug lords, but also to sell out the U.S. justice system in order to line his own pockets,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the Dallas Field Office. “The FBI prioritizes all cases of public corruption and we will continue to hold these officials accountable for using their positions to benefit financially.”
This case is the result of an extensive joint investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
Under the federal sentencing guidelines, Balagia faces up to 30 years in federal prison. The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office – Frisco Resident Agency and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather H. Rattan and Jay Combs.
Three Port Everglades Employees and Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Fraud Scheme
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Florida
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Three Port Everglades Employees and Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Fraud Scheme
U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office announced that Port Everglades employees, William Woessner, 68, of Margate, Florida, David Moore, 43, of Pompano Beach, Florida, and Rajindra Lallharry, 60, of Coral Springs, Florida, and business owner Bryan Zascavage, 57, of Pompano, Florida, were sentenced to prison today for their involvement in a fraud scheme. The defendants had each previously pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit fraud concerning programs receiving federal funds.
According to the court record, including the factual statements in support of the defendants’ guilty pleas, Woessner, Moore, and Lallharry were issued purchase cards or P-cards, which were to be used to buy business related goods and services for Port Everglades. Instead, they utilized the P-cards to engage in schemes to illegally profit from the use of the cards. Zascavage operated a business, Z & Z, Inc., that provided goods and services to the Port. Woessner and Zascavage engaged in a scheme wherein Woessner would direct Zascavage to purchase certain goods. Woessner would pay for the goods using his Port Everglades P-card, but the goods were not sent to Port Everglades. Instead, Woessner utilized the goods at his plumbing company. In addition, Moore and Zascavage engaged in a scheme wherein Zascavage would receive payments for goods ordered by Moore utilizing his Port Everglades P-card. None of the goods would be sent to the Port. Instead, Zascavage and Moore would split the illegally obtained funds. Further, John McGahee and Zascavage engaged in a scheme wherein Zascavage would receive payments for services ordered by McGahee utilizing his Port Everglades P-card. The services ordered by McGahee would not be performed by Zascavage or his company. Zascavage and McGahee would split the illegally obtained funds.
Lallharry’s family owned five separate companies. Lallharry would utilize his P-card to make direct payments to each of the family-owned companies for goods to allegedly be utilized by the Port. The goods were not delivered to the Port. The illegally obtained funds were utilized by Lallharry and his family to pay personal expenses, including approximately $101,790.85 to pay monthly expenses due the Chapter 13 trustee overseeing Lallharry’s bankruptcy.
Lallharry was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to 21 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $206,297.74 in restitution (Case No. 19cr60205). After his sentencing, Lallharry was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving his sentence of imprisonment. Woessner was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman to 21 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $153,685.88 in restitution (Case No. 19cr60202). Zascavage was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ursula M. Ungaro to 12 months and 1 day in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $205,706.90 in restitution (Case No. 19cr60203). Moore was sentenced by Judge Ungaro to 3 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $34,768.86 in restitution (Case No. 19cr60206).
McGahee is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18, 2019 (Case No. 19cr60204).
U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the FBI in connection with this matter. She also thanked the Broward County Sheriff’s Office – Public Corruption Unit, Office of the Broward County Auditors, and Port Everglades Department – Port Director’s Office for their assistance with the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on https://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov
Former Administrator of Texarkana Assisted Living Facility Guilty of Federal Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Former Administrator of Texarkana Assisted Living Facility Guilty of Federal Violations
TEXARKANA, Texas – A 43-year-old Little Rock, AR man has pleaded guilty to federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.
Antonio Otero pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with equity skimming today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry A. Bryant.
According to information presented in court, from before 2011 until October 2015, Otero was the administrator of the Magnolia Alzheimer’s Assisted Living facility in Texarkana, Texas, and was instrumental in the founding and operation of the facility. In order to secure millions of dollars in necessary funding, Otero obtained a loan that was insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD.) The HUD insured loan provided a favorable interest rate and did not require the owners of the Magnolia to take personal responsibility for the loan in the event of a default. Instead, HUD would suffer the financial loss in the event that the Magnolia defaulted on the loan. As a condition of this federal benefit, Otero and the owners of the Magnolia agreed to be bound by a regulatory agreement with HUD that prohibited them from removing equity from the Magnolia unless the loan was being paid and the Magnolia had surplus cash.
Instead of paying the HUD insured loan, Otero engaged in a scheme to skim equity from the Magnolia. For example, Otero took money from the Magnolia to pay for $3,952 of camera equipment, a $3,247 watch, $2,520 in landscaping for his personal residence, a $27,408 personal mortgage payment, a $12,750 down payment on a personal vehicle, and $1,540 tickets to a Dallas Cowboys football game. Additionally, he took money from the Magnolia and gave it to other individuals, including $13,000 for cosmetic surgery, $5,500 for a loan repayment, and $30,000 in equity distributions. In total, Otero took personal responsibility for causing a loss to the United States in the amount of $2 million. As part of his plea agreement, he has agreed to pay restitution in that amount to the United States.
Under federal statutes, Otero faces up to five years in federal prison at sentencing and restitution to the parties involved. The maximum penalty prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case is being investigated by the Fort Worth Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Hornok.
Chicago Man Pleads Guilty to Meth Trafficking, Faces 15 Years in Prison
Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Missouri
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Chicago Man Pleads Guilty to Meth Trafficking, Faces 15 Years in Prison
‘I Should Have Stayed in the Bushes’ He Tells Officers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Chicago, Illinois, man who was arrested while driving through northern Missouri pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine to distribute.
Kevin M. Phyfiher, 29, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper stopped the Dodge Caravan Phyfiher was driving on Interstate 29 in Andrew County, Missouri, on May 8, 2017. In addition to Phyfiher, co-defendant Donta Mosley, 27, of Chicago, was in the cargo area of the van, and there were two female passengers. Phyfiher was not identified as a lawful driver of the vehicle, which had been rented by his cousin (who was not present).
Officers directed Phyfiher and the passengers to get out of the van while they deployed a police support canine. Mosley, who had a handgun in his waistband, was arrested. The others were instructed to get on the ground during the search. Phyfiher then fled, running into the underbrush, and law enforcement officers were unable to find him. During a later search of the vehicle, officers found two plastic baggies that contained a total of 907 grams of methamphetamine.
The next day, a vehicle was reported as stolen from Jesse’s Last Stop Gas Station in Andrew County. At about 6:19 a.m., a state trooper saw Phyfiher driving the stolen vehicle on 36 Highway. The trooper attempted to stop the vehicle and the vehicle attempted to evade the officer. After several miles of pursuit at high rates of speed, the stolen vehicle was stopped by spike strips that were deployed in the road by other law enforcement officers. Phyfiher, who surrendered and was arrested, told officers, “I should have stayed in the bushes.”
According to today’s plea agreement, investigators discovered several live stream video recordings taken by Phyfiher in the days before his arrest. The videos show Phyfiher on a road trip to Las Vegas and California. In one of the videos, Phyfiher and Mosley are holding large stacks of money. In another video, Phyfiher refers to getting some “Cali dope.”
Mosley was sentenced on Jan. 30, 2019, to five years and four months in federal prison without parole after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Phyfiher is subject to a sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Overwhelming Fan and Industry Response for Craig Morgan’s Self-Released, Faith-Filled Tribute to Son, Jerry
Overwhelming Fan and Industry Response for Craig Morgan’s Self-Released, Faith-Filled Tribute to Son, Jerry
Nearly 300k combined streams and video views for “powerful, inspirational” song in first 72 hours of release
Nashville, TN — September 4, 2019 — Craig Morgan’s faith-filled tribute to his son Jerry — “The Father, My Son, And The Holy Ghost” — released Friday (8/30) to an overwhelming response. Fans immediately took to social media to share their own personal journeys with loss and the hope the song inspires:
“Oh wow ? brought tears to my eyes. Such a beautiful song. We also lost our son Derek, age 20, almost three years ago. This speaks to my heart, the Lord and knowing we will see our son in Heaven is the only way we have been able to keep going. I also have sweet memories of my son singing Almost Home at the top of his lungs as a little boy. Thank you for what you do.”
– Melody Kennedy on Facebook
“ I don’t know if you will ever see this but thank you so much for this song I am 69 years old we just lost our son on 8-2-19 six days before his 38th Birthday he was my son and friend I miss him so much and this song helps heal my heart thank you again my heart bleeds for you and your family no parent should have to feel this pain but your song reminds us we will be together again.”
– Tom West on Facebook
“Beautiful song to honor your son! We lost our daughter the same month you lost your son. That song brought me to tears and made me feel it deep in my soul! I truly needed that tonight! God Bless you and your family!”
– Faith Kirkpatrick on Facebook
His first new music in over three years, the self-released song shares Craig’s own personal grief and ever-present faith. “The Father, My Son, And The Holy Ghost” audio and video was streamed nearly 300,000 times in 72 hours as media from coast-to-coast reacted to the song:
“As country fans know, Craig Morgan can deliver a ballad — and the vocal power here is impressive — but what makes this song shine is the lyric. If ever there was a song that will force you to the side of the road and compose yourself, this is it.” – CMT
“Craig Morgan holds nothing back during ‘The Father, My Son, And The Holy Ghost’…cathartic to the very last note…a tremendously powerful song that twists like a knife in the collective guts of the country music fan.” – Taste of Country
“…his constant and compass has always been a big emphasis on faith and family. ‘The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost’ is hard to not feel the power of, as the words run like palpable finger ends tracing the crevices of the spine, even if faith is something the listener finds elusive.” – Saving Country Music
“Keep the tissues nearby for Craig Morgan’s powerful song ‘The Father, My Son, And The Holy Ghost.’” – Billboard
“Craig Morgan gets real about grief…a heart-wrenching, incredibly personal ballad in which Morgan discusses the realities of trying to live life without a loved one.” – The Boot
“Grab a tissue (or two) before listening to this powerful new song by Craig Morgan.” – Pop Culture
“Powerful…inspirational…the listener is brought along on this ride with Morgan filled with anguish and sadness as he closes out the track…in his delivery, you feel the agony as well as the confidence and conviction that he knows his son is no longer with him on Earth but that he is not gone.” – NY Country Swag
“Powerful tribute…Craig has channeled that incredible grief into his first new music since that unimaginable loss. ‘The Father, My Son, and the Holy Ghost’ is an intensely personal song that addresses how those left behind find a way to create a new reality without their loved one. And while the song is about Craig’s unique situation, it’s relevant to anyone who has experienced the ultimate loss.” – OneCountry
Listen to “The Father, My Son, And The Holy Ghost” on numerous playlists including Apple Music’s Breaking Country, Pandora’s New Country Now, Spotify’s New Traditions: Country Heroes and YouTube’s Country’s New Crop plus Billboard’s “First Country” selections and Rolling Stone Country’s “10 Best Country Songs To Hear Now.” Fans can also watch an emotional performance from Craig during a recent appearance at the Grand Ole Opry where he received a standing ovation in response to the song.
About Craig Morgan: A multi-faceted entertainer, Craig Morgan has made a name for himself as a country music icon, TV personality, celebrated outdoorsman and patriotic Army veteran. One of country music’s best-loved artists, Morgan has charted 25 songs on Billboard and thrills massive crowds with signature hits including “Bonfire,” Almost Home,” “Redneck Yacht Club,” “International Harvester,” “This Ole Boy,” “Wake Up Loving You” and the four week #1, “That’s What I Love About Sunday.”
Craig received one of country music’s highest honors when he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. Prior to becoming a country music star and TV sensation, Morgan spent seventeen years serving our country in the Army and Army Reserves. Morgan remains an avid supporter of America’s military personnel and has made 16 overseas trips to perform for our troops. He is a recipient of the 2006 USO Merit Award and in 2018 was awarded the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, one of the highest awards the Department of the Army can bestow upon a civilian, in recognition of his significant dedication to our military men and women around the world.
In 2017 Craig debuted The Gallery at Morgan Farms, a family-owned and operated farm-to-home business in his hometown of Dickson, TN. The store features a variety of artisan items handmade by Craig and his family.
# # #
Media Contacts for Craig Morgan:
Cindy Hunt / Heather Conley
Monarch Publicity
615-429-2203 / 615-202-5070
cindy.hunt@monarchpublicity.com / heather.conley@monarchpublicity.com
Apple to Acquire Majority of Intel’s Smartphone Modem Business Intel Sharpens Focus on Network Transformation and Compute at the Edge
News Release
Apple to Acquire Majority of Intel’s Smartphone Modem Business
Intel Sharpens Focus on Network Transformation and Compute at the Edge
SANTA CLARA and CUPERTINO, Calif., July 25, 2019 – Intel and Apple have signed an agreement for Apple to acquire the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business. Approximately 2,200 Intel employees will join Apple, along with intellectual property, equipment and leases. The transaction, valued at $1 billion, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, including works council and other relevant consultations in certain jurisdictions.
Combining the acquired patents for current and future wireless technology with Apple’s existing portfolio, Apple will hold over 17,000 wireless technology patents, ranging from protocols for cellular standards to modem architecture and modem operation. Intel will retain the option to develop modems for non-smartphone applications, such as PCs, internet of things devices and autonomous vehicles.
“This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created,” said Intel CEO Bob Swan. “We have long respected Apple and we’re confident they provide the right environment for this talented team and these important assets moving forward. We’re looking forward to putting our full effort into 5G where it most closely aligns with the needs of our global customer base, including network operators, telecommunications equipment manufacturers and cloud service providers.”
“We’ve worked with Intel for many years and know this team shares Apple’s passion for designing technologies that deliver the world’s best experiences for our users,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. “Apple is excited to have so many excellent engineers join our growing cellular technologies group, and know they’ll thrive in Apple’s creative and dynamic environment. They, together with our significant acquisition of innovative IP, will help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward.”
Advisors
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisor to Intel, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as legal advisors.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), a leader in the semiconductor industry, is shaping the data-centric future with computing and communications technology that is the foundation of the world’s innovations. The company’s engineering expertise is helping address the world’s greatest challenges as well as helping secure, power and connect billions of devices and the infrastructure of the smart, connected world – from the cloud to the network to the edge and everything in between. Find more information about Intel at newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.
About Apple
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the pending sale of the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business to Apple, including statements regarding the benefits and the timing of the transaction, as well as forward-looking statements relating to Intel’s future plans and expectations, total addressable market and market opportunity, future products and technology and the expected benefits of such products and technology, and anticipated trends in Intel’s businesses and the markets relevant to them. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “goals,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on management expectations as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, Intel and Apple disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include the outcome of regulatory reviews of the transaction, the outcome of works council consultations and other relevant consultations in certain jurisdictions related to the transaction, the ability of the parties to complete the transaction in the time expected or at all, litigation or regulatory matters affecting the closing of the transaction, and other risks detailed in Intel’s and Apple’s SEC filings, including the companies’ most recent reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K, which are available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of Intel’s SEC filings may also be obtained by visiting Intel’s Investor Relations website at www.intc.com, and copies of Apple’s SEC filings may be obtained by visiting Apple’s Investor Relations website at investor.apple.com.
World Bank Mobilizes US$300 Million to Finance the Ebola Response in Democratic Republic of Congo
WASHINGTON, July 24, 2019—The World Bank Group today announced that it is mobilizing up to US$300 million to scale up support for the global response to the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The announcement follows the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the current outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
“Together, we must take urgent action to stop the deadly Ebola epidemic that is destroying lives and livelihoods in the Democratic Republic of Congo”, said World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva. “The communities and health workers on the front line of this outbreak urgently need more support and resources from the international community to prevent this crisis from worsening inside the country and from spreading across borders.”
The US$300 million in grants and credits will be largely financed through the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and its Crisis Response Window, which is designed to help countries respond to severe crises and return to their long-term development paths. The financing package will cover the Ebola-affected health zones in DRC and enable the government, WHO, UNICEF, WFP, IOM and other responders to step up the frontline health response, deliver cash-for-work programs to support the local economy, strengthen resilience in the affected communities, and contain the spread of this deadly virus.
This amount is approximately half of the anticipated financing needs of the Fourth Strategic Response Plan (SRP4), which is expected to be finalized in the coming week by the Government and the international consortium of partners working on the response. The World Bank has been supporting programs to combat DRC’s ongoing battle with Ebola since May 2018, with resources going to the frontline response, health system strengthening, and preparedness to reduce the risk of spread.
The US $300 million in World Bank financing announced today comes in addition to the US$100 million disbursed by the World Bank and the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) in response to the current Ebola Outbreak in DRC since August 2018. Details on the Bank’s total financing for the DRC Ebola response to date are available here.
Ebola has spread across communities already beset by the severe hardships of extreme poverty and insecurity. The World Bank’s engagement in DRC is focused on investing in people, supporting communities, strengthening services and systems, which are all critical steps to stamping out this crisis—and to tackle the underlying sources of poverty and inequity that have helped fuel this deadly outbreak.
Contacts
USCIRF Vice Chair Nadine Maenza Calls for Release of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
USCIRF Vice Chair Nadine Maenza Calls for Release of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2019
USCIRF Vice Chair Nadine Maenza Calls for Release of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
WASHINGTON, DC – Nadine Maenza, Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), today called on Iranian authorities to drop all charges against and to release Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. One year ago this week, plainclothes Iranian security forces invaded Pastor Nadarkhani’s home, reportedly tasered his son, and took Pastor Nadarkhani to fulfill a ten-year prison sentence for evangelizing and promoting “Zionist Christianity.”
“Iran must release Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and ensure freedom of religion for all citizens of Iran,” said Vice Chair Maenza, who adopted Pastor Nadarkhani as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project in 2018. “The Iranian government has vilified and deprived the basic rights of Pastor Nadarkhani and of many other Iranians simply for exercising their freedom of belief. This must stop. I call on the government of Iran to live up to its commitments to its citizens under international law.”
Since 2006, Iranian authorities have consistently harassed and detained Pastor Nadarkhani and his family. In 2010, the authorities sentenced him to death for apostasy before acquitting him in 2012. His current prison sentence stems from his arrest on May 13, 2016, when authorities detained him and his wife before releasing them later that day. On July 6, 2017, Pastor Nadarkhani was ultimately sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at Media@USCIRF.gov or Kellie Boyle at kboyle@uscirf.gov or +1-703-898-6554
Bronx Man Arrested for Attempting to Provide Material Support for Terrorism Delowar Mohammed Hossain was Arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport While Allegedly Attempting to Travel Overseas to Join the Taliban in Order to Kill Americans
Bronx Man Arrested for Attempting to Provide Material Support for Terrorism
John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael McGarrity, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, and James P. O’Neill, the Commissioner of the Police Department for the City of New York (NYPD), announced that Delowar Mohammed Hossain was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) in Queens, New York. Hossain was charged in a criminal Complaint today with attempting to provide material support for acts of terrorism, specifically in support of killing U.S. nationals located overseas. Hossain was presented today before Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron in Manhattan federal court.
“As alleged, Hossain planned to travel overseas and join the Taliban in order to kill American soldiers,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “The threat of terrorism at home and abroad remains, and the National Security Division is committed to preventing individuals from carrying out deadly plans such as this. I want to thank the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this case.”
“As alleged, Delowar Hossain plotted to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban, specifically so he could commit acts of terrorism,” said U.S. Attorney Berman. “Hossain wanted to kill Americans, and particularly wanted to target members of our armed forces, serving our nation overseas. The excellent work of the FBI and NYPD stopped Hossain’s alleged deadly plan to join the Taliban before he took flight, and he now faces federal terrorism charges.”
“The criminal complaint in this case reveals Delowar Hossain had a despicable goal. He wanted to make his way to Afghanistan, join up with Taliban forces, and kill Americans,” said Assistant Director McGarrity. “But he failed because members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force interrupted his plans. The FBI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to stop those who want to commit acts of terrorism here in the U.S. or overseas.”
“The lure of radical ideologies comes from many sources, and just because the Taliban may seem like an old and out of vogue extremist group, it shouldn’t be underestimated,” said Director-in-Charge Sweeney Jr. “The FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force stopped Mr. Hossain from traveling overseas to allegedly support a deadly organization, and kept him from his alleged plan to kill innocent people.”
“As we continue to see time and again, attempting to support terrorist attacks will lead to arrest,” said NYPD Commissioner O’Neil. “I commend the dedication of the NYPD detectives and FBI agents who, through the Joint Terrorism Task Force, remain relentless in their focus to keep New York City and our nation safe.”
As alleged in the criminal Complaint filed today in Manhattan federal court, beginning in the fall of 2018, Hossain expressed his desire to join the Taliban and fight against American forces. Over the months that followed, Hossain attempted to recruit a confidential source of the FBI (CS-1) to travel with Hossain from the United States to Pakistan, and then to cross the border into Afghanistan to join the Taliban. Hossain told CS-1 that his purpose was to “fight the American government from there . . . combined with the Taliban,” and that “I want to kill some kufars [non-believers] before I die.” Hossain described to CS-1 steps he had taken to prevent detection of his plan, such as planning to reach Pakistan by first flying to Thailand, which Hossain believed would conceal his ultimate goal of joining the Taliban. At the same time, Hossain made preparations to fight in Afghanistan, including buying equipment such as walkie-talkies and trekking gear and instructing CS-1 to save money “to buy weapons” after reaching Afghanistan.
Hossain purchased an airline ticket for a flight scheduled to depart on July 26, 2019, from JFK Airport, to Thailand, for the first leg of the route to Afghanistan that Hossain had described to CS-1. On July 26, Hossain traveled to JFK Airport, where the FBI arrested him after he attempted to board that flight.
Hossain, 33, of the Bronx, is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support for terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
Assistant Attorney General John Demers and U.S. Attorney Berman praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists principally of agents from the FBI and detectives from the NYPD.
This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David W. Denton, Jr. and Michael K. Krouse are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Jennifer Burke of the Counterterrorism Section.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Continues to Promote Elder Justice Initiative by Partnering with Meals on Wheels
U.S. Attorney’s Office Continues to Promote Elder Justice Initiative by Partnering with Meals on Wheels
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina continues to promote the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Elder Justice Initiative (EJI) throughout the Wake County area. On July 22, 2019, the Eastern District partnered with Meals on Wheels in Wake County to conduct Phase II of its outreach to approximately 1,300 seniors in the area to raise awareness about DOJ’s Elder Justice Initiative and provide facts about financial exploitation and how seniors can protect themselves from falling victim.
Below are some facts shared with the community about financial exploitation:
- Examples of financial exploitation include:
- Using ATM cards without permission
- Forging a signature on a check or property title (wills, deeds)
- Using a power of attorney to benefit oneself rather than the older adult
- Unauthorized sales, such as a family ring or the family farm
- Threats to harm precious property if money is not handed over
- How to protect yourself from financial exploitation
- Check your financial statements each month
- Store financial materials in a locked drawer or out of sight
- Talk to your bank about age-friendly banking options
- Contact a civil legal attorney before signing documents
- Visit ftc.gov every year to get your free credit reports
The mission of the Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate DOJ’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to prevent and combat elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and scams that target our nation’s seniors by promoting justice for older adults; helping older victims and their families; enhancing state and local efforts through training and resources; and supporting research to improve elder abuse policy and practice.
For more information about DOJ’s efforts to prevent and combat elder abuse, please visit the Elder Justice Website at https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice. Elder fraud complaints may be filed with the FTC at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or at 877-FTC-HELP. You can also contact the Victim Connect Hotline between 9am-6pm, Monday through Friday, at: 1- 855-4VICTIM (1-855-4842846), or contact the Elder Justice Coordinator at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina at (919) 856-4530.
Justice Department Settles with T-Mobile and Sprint in Their Proposed Merger by Requiring a Package of Divestitures to Dish
Justice Department Settles with T-Mobile and Sprint in Their Proposed Merger by Requiring a Package of Divestitures to Dish
The Department of Justice announced today that it and the Attorneys General for five states reached a settlement with T-Mobile and Sprint regarding their proposed merger. The settlement requires a substantial divestiture package in order to enable a viable facilities-based competitor to enter the market. Further, the settlement will facilitate the expeditious deployment of multiple high-quality 5G networks for the benefit of American consumers and entrepreneurs.
The Department’s Antitrust Division, along with the offices of five state Attorneys General (Plaintiff States), filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction. At the same time, the Department and the Plaintiff States filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the Department’s and the Plaintiff States’ competitive concerns. The participating state Attorneys General offices represent Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, T-Mobile and Sprint must divest Sprint’s prepaid business, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint prepaid, to Dish Network Corp., a Colorado-based satellite television provider. The proposed settlement also provides for the divestiture of certain spectrum assets to Dish. Additionally, T-Mobile and Sprint must make available to Dish at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail locations. T-Mobile must also provide Dish with robust access to the T-Mobile network for a period of seven years while Dish builds out its own 5G network.
“With this merger and accompanying divestiture, we are expanding output significantly by ensuring that large amounts of currently unused or underused spectrum are made available to American consumers in the form of high quality 5G networks,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s settlement will provide Dish with the assets and transitional services required to become a facilities-based mobile network operator that can provide a full range of mobile wireless services nationwide. I want to thank our state partners for joining us in this settlement.” Delrahim added, “In crafting this remedy, we are also mindful of the significant commitments T-Mobile, Sprint, and Dish have made to the Federal Communications Commission.”
The Department and the Plaintiff States said that, without the divestiture, the proposed acquisition would eliminate competition between two of only four facilities-based suppliers of nationwide mobile wireless services. According to the complaint, T-Mobile and Sprint both operate mobile networks and offer nationwide coverage to consumers, and they are particularly close competitors to each other for the roughly 30% of retail subscribers who purchase prepaid mobile wireless service. The combination of T-Mobile and Sprint would eliminate head-to-head competition between the companies and threaten the benefits that customers have realized from that competition in the form of lower prices and better service.
T-Mobile US Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. In 2018, T-Mobile posted revenues of more than $43 billion. Deutsche Telekom AG, a German corporation headquartered in Bonn, Germany, is the controlling shareholder of T-Mobile US Inc.
Sprint Corporation is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. In 2018, its posted revenue was over $32 billion. Sprint is controlled by SoftBank Group Corp., a Japanese Corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed consent decree, along with the Department’s competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement within 60 days of its publication to Scott Scheele, Chief, Telecommunications and Broadband Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 7000, Washington, D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the court may enter the final judgment upon a finding that it serves the public interest.
Press Release: Detroit Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Selling Drugs In A Detroit Park
Detroit Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Selling Drugs In A Detroit Park
Danny Lee Woods, 46, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced on July 23, 2019, to a total of 20 years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh, III, for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider. Woods pleaded guilty on February 27, 2019.
Schneider was joined in the announcement by James M. Deir, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and Detroit Police Department Chief James Craig.
According to court records, Woods, who was on parole at the time, was selling crack cocaine and heroin that was mixed with fentanyl at Sasser Playground, a neighborhood park located in Detroit. While making the sales, Woods had a loaded pistol in his waistband, which Woods later hid behind a tree inside the park. Woods was being surveilled by officers of the Detroit Police Department and was subsequently arrested. The case was adopted for federal prosecution.
As part of his plea, Woods agreed that he qualified as a Career Offender under the Sentencing Guidelines.
“Parks should be a place where families feel safe to gather,” said United States Attorney Matthew Schneider. “We will continue to work closely with our local police
partners to prosecute violent offenders who threaten us, so we can protect innocent children and families who just want to enjoy a nice day at the park.”
“Danny Lee Woods put innocent lives in danger when he chose to sell drugs and toss a handgun in a public park,” said Special Agent in Charge James Deir. “Instead of improving his life following previous felony convictions, Woods continued to break the law. ATF stands with our law enforcement partners to rid our community of dangerous individuals.”
“We certainly appreciate the partnership of our federal partners and commend the great work by the men and women of this department,” said Detroit Police Chief James Craig. “Our families deserve to have safe and drug free parks and we will not tolerate behavior that will compromise the well-being of our residents. We will continue our efforts in working with our federal agencies in attacking the drug epidemic that plagues our society and dampens the quality of life within our communities.”
This case was investigated by special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and officers of the Detroit Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Michael Buckley and Trevor Broad of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
PRESS RELEASE: CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU RELEASES REPORT ON THIRD-PARTY DEBT COLLECTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 18, 2019
MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Tel: (202) 435-7170
CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU RELEASES REPORT ON THIRD-PARTY DEBT COLLECTIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) released a report today that found that more than one-in-four consumers with a credit report have at least one debt in collection by third-party debt collectors.
Today’s report, which covers 2004 to 2018, is drawn from the Bureau’s Consumer Credit Panel (CCP), a nationally representative sample of approximately 5 million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. Close to 900 third-party debt collectors furnished collection tradelines in the CCP. A tradeline is information about a consumer account that is sent, generally on a regular basis, to a credit reporting company. Tradelines contain data such as account balance, payment history, and status of the account.
Today’s findings show that more than one-in-four consumers (28 percent) with a credit report in the CCP in 2018 had at least one third-party collections tradeline on their file. The study also found that more than three-out-of-four third-party collections tradelines are for non-financial debt. More than half (58 percent) of these tradelines are for medical debt and another 20 percent for telecommunications or utilities debt. Positive payment information is generally not furnished for medical or telecommunications debt.
Banks and other original creditors may collect their own debts or hire third-party debt collectors. In some instances, the original creditors may sell the debts to debt buyers. The buyers may try to collect on these debts, or hire other third-party debt collectors. There are approximately 9,330 debt collectors and debt buyers in the United States.
“Market Snapshot: Third-Party Debt Collections Tradeline Reporting” can be found at: https://content.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.
Michigan Defendant Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS and Steal From an Organization Receiving Federal Funds
Michigan Defendant Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the IRS and Steal From an Organization Receiving Federal Funds
A Boca Raton, Florida, resident pleaded guilty today in Flint, Michigan, to conspiring to impede the lawful functions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and conspiring to steal from an organization receiving federal funds, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to court documents, from January 2013 through December 2017, Scott Jawetz and his co-defendants executed a scheme, using the company Blue Horseshoe Consulting Inc. (Blue Horseshoe), to obtain police reports, stolen from the Detroit Police Department, which contained automobile crash victim information. Jawetz and his co-conspirators used the stolen information to solicit automobile accident victims for medical and chiropractic services. Jawetz and his co-conspirators also underreported to the IRS gross receipts they received from Blue Horseshoe business operations and the total wages Blue Horseshoe paid to its employees.
United States District Court Judge Matthew F. Leitman scheduled sentencing for Jawetz for Jan. 15, 2020. Jawetz faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the two conspiracy counts. Jawetz also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Mark McDonald and William Guappone, who are prosecuting the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr., issues a statement as the House passes bill condemning President Donald Trump’s divisive comments
National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr., issues a statement as the House passes bill condemning President Donald Trump’s divisive comments
About the National Indian Gaming Association
PRESS RELEASE: Valley Fever Prisoners Appeal to the Supreme Court
Valley Fever Prisoners Appeal to the Supreme Court
Fatal Valley Fever Fungus
Washington, DC (Law Firm Newswire) July 5, 2019 – 117 prisoners appealed to the US Supreme Court on Friday in an action challenging California’s failure to move them out of harm’s way during a 2004-2014 valley fever epidemic in Central California. The disease ravaged the population in two facilities, Pleasant Valley State Prison and Avenal State Prison. The lead defendant in the action is former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. His administration did nothing.
In cases that are not fatal, it causes a continuum of adverse health complications starting with impediments to breathing (such as choking, coughing blood and feelings of suffocation), skin lesions, erosion of bones and joints, blindness, and colonization of other organs particularly in the spine and brain. Death is usually by some form of meningitis.
During the epidemic, contraction rates spiked to 600 times the danger level experienced in the rest of the state. These risks were consistently 10-50 times higher than the surrounding geographical area, known as the “hyperendemic zone,” which was already itself 10 times more dangerous than other areas of the state.
Nevertheless, Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration did nothing, affirmatively ignoring the recommendations of its own health experts. As a result, over the course of 10 years, the disease infected thousands of people. Today, the plaintiff pool reports mass health devastation.
Half of the infected inmates have been released and are now private American citizens. These former prisoners have families and otherwise lead a reformed life. They paid their debt to society. But they are saddled for life with management, hospitalizations, medication side effects, and other complications. The state incurred a debt to them and it has not been paid.
Prisoner lawsuits began in 2007 in federal court in Fresno, California. The US Supreme Court’s 1993 decision in Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25, 33-34 clearly requires officials to protect prisoners from diseases, or upon such failure, to compensate them for the resulting medical expenses and misery. The epidemic here represents a textbook case of cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
As a result of their inaction, approximately $100 million of taxpayer money was wasted in treating valley fever cases that could have been prevented. California prison management has repeatedly been cited by the courts for its failure to run a safe and efficient operation, especially in the area of prisoner over-crowding and medical care. The medical system was placed under receivership in 2005 and remains so today.
During World War II, US authorities holding captured German soldiers in Arizona agreed to move them out of harm’s way from the risk of valley fever. At the same time, in 1940, a Stanford scientist published criteria and other safety rules to minimize the disease’s epidemic impact.
That was 80 years ago.
Yet, Schwarzenegger’s administration has successfully argued in this case that its officials did not know that valley fever presented a risk that required it to do anything. Numerous formal warnings, medical alerts, inmate protests, and expert recommendations given to officials from 2004-2007 – and standard common decency – counseled them to implement a battery of precautions, including moving at-risk prisoners out of the Central Valley prisons.
However, as a political matter, all that could be accomplished at the time was for California’s prison construction industry to not build any more beds in the hyperendemic zone. The national mass incarceration effort was still in effect.
Even in spite of direct warnings to Governor Schwarzenegger, he held a press conference in September, 2007 announcing that despite the pending and ongoing epidemic, the state would “go ahead and build.” Schwarzenegger was later quietly overruled, but nothing was done about the prisoners already in harm’s way.
In response to their subsequent lawsuits, California has insisted that without prior specific instructions relating to valley fever from the courts, and despite all the warnings, Schwarzenegger and his officials were entitled to stand idly by and watch the epidemic play out, with the most severe consequences landing on African-Americans.
Their argument is founded in a legal doctrine called “qualified immunity,” which means in practical effect total unaccountability. The plaintiffs’ case was dismissed on this basis without any discovery, without a jury, and without a trial. In any other context, epidemic danger as depicted in the photo above, in which a business, government or other institution subjects a population to dramatically-elevated health risk, would require a trial and undoubtedly result in liability.
In 2012, Cal-Trans ignored a valley fever risk for workers on a Kern County highway project. A jury returned a verdict for four of the victims in the total amount of $12M, or $3M each.
Given the magnitude of Schwarzenegger’s mistakes, the current California government structure is looking to find any loophole to avoid a jury and to avert responsibility for the quantum of harm and personal human wreckage the 2007 administration inflicted on the prison population.
According to their legal position, Schwarzenegger and his officials are entitled to qualified immunity because no court case previously informed them of exactly what to do about valley fever. Yet the Supreme Court had published Helling v McKinney in 1993, directing government officials to take reasonable measures to protect prisoners from significant diseases. The government works around Helling by claiming it was not specific enough.
This is akin to the state arguing that while it was notified as a traffic matter to avoid oncoming cars, it was not specifically warned to avoid oncoming Toyotas. Ergo, it should be held unaccountable for the head-on collision it caused with the inmates’ Camry.
It is a rocky contention at best, but one that has been validated by the Ninth Circuit to date and one that will probably not be corrected because of the Supreme Court’s impossibly busy docket. It only has the capacity to accept 1 percent of the cases presented to it.
For plaintiffs like Theodore Parker, it’s hard news to hear. Serving time in Pleasant Valley in 2010 for theft of a cell phone, he watched as other inmates became seriously ill. He pleaded with authorities to move him out. Those protests were met with pressure on him to abandon the grievance.
Soon he became infected as well, formally diagnosed in 2012 and released in June, 2014. Since then, he, his wife and his daughter have left California for a less controversial life in Portland. His youthful indiscretions are behind him, but he still lives with the disease. Last year alone, he was sick for eight months straight, coughing uncontrollably. Despite the prospect of a lifetime of complications, “the worst part of it was the psychological stress when they refused to move me.”
Despite the continuing challenges with the case, he and the other plaintiffs are resolute. Most filed their petition to the High Court on June 24, 2019 (Case No 18-1590), and if that fails, some like Parker can litigate their own round of appeals back at the 9th Circuit next year. Barring a change of heart by the Ninth Circuit, a second petition to the US Supreme Court will be filed in 2022, lasting another year or two.
If there is no luck in the American courts, the prisoners intend to press their case against Schwarzenegger and California prison officials in the United Nations, through approximately 2026. The argument there is that his administration committed acts of cruelty in violation of Article 5 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In summary, litigation over valley fever was initiated by prisoners twelve years ago, in 2007. By the time all of the victims are completely out of options it will be roughly 2026, or 19 years later.
For American businesses, governmental authorities and other institutions, the message is this. Upon detection of a risk of valley fever, or initiation of any outdoor industry in the hyperendemic zone of California and Arizona, the maximum number of precautions, including exclusion of high-risk persons and environmental suppression, should be implemented immediately and aggressively.
If farm workers, construction personnel, truck drivers, wards, or any other subordinates under a business or institution’s care get infected, the best case scenario is a lawsuit and possibly spend two decades in court, while the worst case scenario is that a lawsuit, and after five years in court, pay $3,000,000 per victim.
Benjamin Pavone, Esq.
Attorney for the Prisoners
619 224 8885
bpavone@cox.net
Contact:
PAVONE & FONNER, LLP
501 West Broadway, Suite 800
San Diego, California, 92101
Phone: 619 224 8885
Fax: 619 224 8886
Email: bpavone@cox.net
Website: https://www.pavone-fonner-llp.com/
PRESS RELEASE: Global Music Publishing Market Research Report
The global Music Publishing Market research report studies market overview defining; definition, types, applications latest trends to identify the revenues and the progress of the market over the forecast period. The report offers preventive and premeditated management along with emphasizes the summary of the global Music Publishing market along with classifications and market chain structures. It also highlights authorized statistics of the global Music Publishing market.
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PRESS RELEASE: Type 1 diabetes and the developing brain in children
SAN FRANCISCO (June 10, 2019) – A study co-led by Dr. Nelly Mauras at Nemours Children’s Health System in Jacksonville, Florida found that children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have slower growth in brain areas associated with mild cognitive deficits compared to children without T1D. The study, presented today at the American Diabetes Association’s® (ADA’s) 79th Scientific Sessions®, found significant differences in total brain and regional gray and white matter growth based on a series of three structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies.
“Even with new insulin and technologies that can significantly improve care, children with Type 1 Diabetes are still exposed to significant swings in sugar control, creating potential risks to the developing brain,” said Nelly Mauras, MD, co-principal investigator of the study, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism at the Nemours Children’s Health System in Jacksonville, Florida, and professor of pediatrics at the Mayo College of Medicine. “Understanding the early effects of blood sugar control on brain development is a necessary step towards developing strategies for reducing these risks and the public health implications of diabetes-related cognitive dysfunction later on in life.”
As part of a multi-site study of the Diabetes Research in Children Network (DirecNet), researchers aimed to determine the extent to which glycemic exposure adversely impacts the developing brain in children with early-onset T1D. The study enrolled 138 children with T1D with a median age of seven years. The participants had a disease duration on average of 2.4 years at the beginning of the study. MRIs were performed at three time points (baseline visit, 18 months and approximately 2.9 years after the second visit) to measure gray and white matter volumes in key brain regions. Total cumulative hyperglycemic exposure was determined using lifetime blood sugar, using hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values from the time of diagnosis. Researchers compared the MRI results of T1D participants to those of a control group of 66 age-matched children who did not have diabetes.
Researchers found that the group with T1D had slower growth of total cortical and subcortical gray and white matter than the control group at all time points. In particular, a set of metabolically active brain regions associated with other brain disorders, known as the “default mode network,” showed less growth in the T1D group compared to the control group. These regions of slower growth were associated with higher lifetime blood sugar, as measured by HbA1c values.
“Ongoing research is investigating whether diligent maintenance of blood sugar levels in the normal range through advanced diabetes technologies can impact these findings to reduce the risk for cognitive dysfunction,” said Mauras.
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The DirecNet includes Nemours Children’s Health System JAX, Stanford University, University of Iowa, Washington University in St Louis, and Yale University. The research is supported through funding from the National Institutes of Health’s Special Type 1 Diabetes Funds and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Mauras and her co-principal investigator, Allan Reiss, MD, Howard C. Robbins Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, will present these findings in a press briefing on Sunday, June 9, 2019 from 12-1 p.m. PT at the American Diabetes Association’s 79th Scientific Sessions in San Francisco.
About Nemours Children’s Health System
Nemours is an internationally recognized children’s health system that owns and two free-standing children’s hospitals: the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org, and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through Nemours CareConnect. Nemours ReadingBrightstart.org is a program dedicated to preventing reading failure in young children, grounded in Nemours’ understanding that child health and learning are inextricably linked, and that reading level is a strong predictor of adult health.
Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy and prevention programs to families in the communities it serves.
CFPB To Hold First Symposium On June 25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 11, 2019
MEDIA CONTACT:
Office of Communications
Tel: (202) 435-7170
CFPB To Hold First Symposium On June 25
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced today that its first symposium will be held on June 25 at 9 a.m. The symposium, part of a series announced earlier this year, will focus on the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on abusive acts or practices. The symposium will be webcast on the Bureau’s website.
The Dodd-Frank Act authorizes the Bureau to take enforcement, supervision, and rulemaking actions concerning unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (UDAAP). The meaning of abusiveness is less developed than the meaning of unfair or deceptive, which have been defined substantially by the Federal Trade Commission Act. The symposium will provide a public forum for the Bureau and the public to hear various perspectives on the meaning of abusiveness.
This first symposium will have two panels of UDAAP experts. The symposium will also include remarks by CFPB Director Kathleen L. Kraninger and CFPB Deputy Director Brian Johnson. The first panel will include a discussion with leading academic experts in the area of Consumer Protection on various policy issues relating to the abusive standard under Dodd-Frank. The panel will be moderated by Tom Pahl, CFPB’s Policy Associate Director, Research, Markets and Regulation. The experts on the panel will include:
• Patricia McCoy, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
• Todd Zywicki, Professor of Law, George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School
• Howard Beales, George Washington University; former Director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection
• Adam Levitin, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law School
The second panel will examine how the abusive standard has been used in practice, and will include leading legal experts in the field. The panel will be moderated by David Bleicken, CFPB Deputy Associate Director, Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending. Experts on the panel will include:
• William MacLeod, Partner at Kelley Drye; former Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection and Bureau of Competition
• Eric Mogilnicki, Partner at Covington & Burling; former Chief of Staff, Senator Ted Kennedy
• Lucy Morris, Partner Hudson Cook; former CFPB Deputy Enforcement Director
• Nicholas Smyth, Assistant Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Senior Deputy Attorney General
Members of the public that plan to attend the symposium should RSVP at: https://consumer-financial-
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by regularly identifying and addressing outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations, by making rules more effective, by consistently enforcing federal consumer financial law, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.
AWS Announces General Availability of Amazon Personalize
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Amazon Personalize enables developers to build applications with the same machine learning technology used by Amazon.com for real-time personalized recommendations – with no machine learning expertise required
Yamaha, Subway, and Zola among customers using Amazon Personalize
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun. 10, 2019– Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced the general availability of Amazon Personalize, bringing the same machine learning technology used by Amazon.com to AWS customers for use in their applications – with no machine learning experience required. Amazon Personalize makes it easy to develop applications with a wide array of personalization use cases, including specific product recommendations, individualized search results, and customized direct marketing. Amazon Personalize is a fully managed service that trains, tunes, and deploys custom, private machine learning models. Amazon Personalize provisions the necessary infrastructure and manages the entire machine learning pipeline, including processing the data, identifying features, selecting algorithms, and training, optimizing, and hosting the results. Customers receive results via an Application Programming Interface (API) and only pay for what they use, with no minimum fees or upfront commitments. To get started with Amazon Personalize, visit https://aws.amazon.com/personalize/
Amazon has pioneered the use of machine learning for recommendation and personalization for more than 20 years. During that time, customers have asked for access to these capabilities so they could enjoy similar benefits when running their businesses. However, the technology can be challenging to deliver effectively across a variety of use cases because there isn’t a single, master personalization algorithm. Each use case – videos, music, products, or news articles – has its own specificities, which requires a unique mix of data, algorithms, and optimizations to create a result. Today’s general availability of Amazon Personalize provides a major step toward putting the power of Amazon’s experience in machine learning into the hands of everyday application developers and data scientists at businesses of all sizes across all industries. Amazon Personalize reduces the time to build a custom model from months to days. When using Amazon Personalize, customers provide the service an activity stream from an application (e.g. page views, signups, or purchases) along with an inventory of the items to recommend (e.g. music, videos, products, or news articles), and receive recommendations via an API. Amazon Personalize does this by processing and examining the data, identifying what is meaningful, selecting from multiple advanced algorithms built and refined over years for Amazon’s retail business, and training and optimizing a personalization model customized to the data. During the whole time, all of the data is kept completely private, owned entirely by the customer.
“We are excited to share with AWS customers the expertise we’ve developed during two decades of using machine learning to deliver great experiences on Amazon.com,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President of Machine Learning, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “Customers have been asking for Amazon Personalize, and we are eager to see how they implement these services to delight their own end users. And the best part is that these artificial intelligence services, like Amazon Personalize, do not require any machine learning experience to immediately train, tune, and deploy models to meet their business demands.”
Amazon Personalize is available today in US East (Ohio), US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), Asia Pacific (Singapore) and EU (Ireland) with additional regions coming soon.
Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) offers a large assortment of high-quality musical instruments and audio products to U.S. customers. Their products include Keyboard, Guitar, Winds and Strings, Percussion, Professional Audio and Consumer Audio. “Amazon Personalize saves us up to 60% of the time needed to set up and tune the infrastructure and algorithms for our machine learning models when compared to building and configuring the environment on our own. It is ideal for both small developer teams who are trying to build the case for ML and large teams who are trying to iterate rapidly at reasonable cost. Even better, we expect Amazon Personalize to be more accurate than other recommender systems, allowing us to delight our customers with highly personalized product suggestions during their shopping experience, which we believe will increase our average order value and the total number of orders,” said Ishwar Bharbhari, Director of Information Technology, Yamaha Corporation of America.
The Subway restaurant chain offers guests in over 100 countries quality ingredients and flavor combinations with nearly 7 million made-to-order sandwiches created daily. “At Subway, guest experience matters,” said Neville Hamilton, Interim Chief Information Officer at Subway. “Using Amazon Personalize, we can quickly deliver personalized recommendations for our endless varieties of ingredients and flavors to fit the unique lifestyles of our busy guests. Amazon Personalize lets our team use simple API calls to curate recommendations without requiring machine learning expertise. We are looking forward to continuing to work with Amazon Personalize to provide the best experience to our guests who want to eat fresh. We have already successfully tested using Amazon Personalize to provide recommendations to guests making orders from our app, and are excited to expand into personalized app notifications in the near future.”
Zola is the fastest-growing wedding company in the country using design and technology to create the easiest wedding planning and registry experience for couples. “At Zola, we develop innovative wedding planning tools. We want to be there along the entire wedding journey and provide the best possible recommendations to our customers based on their style, interests, or preferences. Until now, those recommendations have been implemented via rule-based ranking, popularity, or more recently, via a similarity model calculated internally. These methods were difficult to maintain and scale. Amazon Personalize provides us with state-of-the-art algorithms and an end-to-end personalization solution that enables us to provide recommendations and personalized content in real time. Being a small team, using Amazon Personalize will allow us to quickly deliver capabilities that would have otherwise taken a much larger team and several months development time,” said Stephane Bailliez, Vice President of Engineering at Zola.
Segment provides customer data infrastructure allowing companies to collect, unify, and connect their first-party customer data to over 200 marketing, analytics, and data warehousing tools with just a flip of a switch. “Today’s consumers expect real-time personalization and recommendations, yet the reality for most companies is that the amount of engineering required makes that experience very hard to create, let alone deliver,” said Tom Pinckney, Head of Partnerships at Segment. “Amazon Personalize brings Amazon’s world-class machine learning technology to every company. By combining it with Segment’s Customer Data Infrastructure, our customers can deliver these highly individualized recommendations at scale and in real time. We have been impressed and plan to extend its functionality for Segment with further integration in the future.”
About Amazon Web Services
For almost 13 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 165 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 66 Availability Zones (AZs) within 21 geographic regions, spanning the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and the UK. Millions of customers including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
Russian authorities have dropped all charges against Russian journalist Ivan Golunov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“The dropping of all charges against Ivan Golunov is cause for celebration, both because it means this dogged reporter is free to return to his work, and also because it reminds us that even an intransigent government can be moved by international outcry. We all know well that Golunov could easily have ended up spending years in prison as a result of these spurious charges, but the solidarity shown by journalists and newspapers in Russia and the voices from across the globe denouncing Golunov’s arrest helped stave off this injustice. The Russian government should know that the world will not look away from its attempts to silence truth-tellers.”
CONTACT: PEN America media consultant Suzanne Trimel, strimel@pen.org
South Carolina Man Sentenced for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS
South Carolina Man Sentenced for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS
Zakaryia Abdin, 20, of Ladson, South Carolina, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Abdin previously entered a guilty plea in August of 2018 and has remained in federal custody since his arrest by the FBI in March of 2017.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Sherri A. Lydon for the District of South Carolina and Special Agent in Charge Jody Norris of the FBI’s Columbia Division made the announcement. Abdin appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel.
“The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable U.S. citizens, like Abdin, and others who would leave here to provide material support to ISIS overseas,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “Thanks to the great work of the agents and prosecutors on this case, his plans were thwarted and with this sentence he is now being held accountable for his crime. The National Security Division is committed to identifying and bringing to justice those who would provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.”
“The most important job of government is protecting the people of the United States from harm, whether it comes from criminals or terrorists,” said U.S. Attorney Lydon. “This case is an example of law enforcement doing exactly that, and preventing what could have been a much greater tragedy. I am proud of the great work JTTF did in preventing this defendant from joining ISIS and fighting on their behalf, whether that would have been domestically or internationally. His goal was to kill on behalf of ISIS, whether that was in the United States or abroad. His goal was to be an ISIS soldier, and to kill Americans wherever ISIS directed him.” U.S. Attorney Lydon commended the intense work of Charleston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and noted that this is the first conviction for a person attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization in the District of South Carolina.
“Once again, the Joint Terrorism Task Force has uncovered, investigated and prevented terrorist activity with roots in South Carolina” said Special Agent in Charge Norris. “These results are made possible by the coordinated efforts of our federal, state and local partners, who are committed to sharing information and resources to protect our communities.”
The FBI arrested the defendant at the Charleston International Airport on March 30, 2017, when he attempted to board an airplane in order to travel overseas to join ISIS.
According to court documents, Abdin, a U.S. citizen, began his efforts on Jan. 3, 2017, when he created a social media account to be used to join ISIS. On Jan. 20, 2017, Abdin visited the FBI in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, to meet with an FBI Special Agent from the Joint Terrorism Task Force. During this visit, the agent advised Abdin about the FBI’s role in conducting counterterrorism investigations, discussed various statutory definitions (including terrorism), and told Abdin that ISIS was a designated foreign terrorist organization and that it was illegal to give any foreign terrorist organization any form of material support, including personnel.
After that date, Abdin began to seek a handler to get him overseas to Syria or Egypt to make contact with ISIS. Unbeknownst to him, he ended up making contact with an undercover FBI employee. Abdin believed this person was affiliated with ISIS. These communications continued up until he was arrested.
Abdin had extensive communications with the undercover FBI employee. During the course of these on line conversations, Abdin expressed continued loyalty to ISIS. He said he had given a pledge of loyalty to ISIS in 2014 and provided a video of a new pledge to Abu Baker al Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of ISIS, in which Abdin pledged to “wage jihad against the enemy of Allah.”
Abdin also indicated that he wished to join ISIS and its so-called caliphate and requested to serve in combat. He stated that he was proficient with various weapons, including pistols and AK and SKS rifles. He also asserted that he was well prepared, knew how to shoot, and had experience with and was reliable in close combat. He also purchased weapons, including an SKS assault rifle, modifying it to expand its capacity from a 10 round magazine to a 30 round magazine. Abdin practiced with an AK assault rifle at a local gun store, and with an SKS assault rifle and a 9mm handgun at a local outdoor shooting range outside of Charleston.
Abdin took a picture of himself carrying the 9mm in his waistband and took a picture of himself practicing shooting at night at the local outdoor range, and sent these to the undercover FBI employee.
Abdin undertook concrete steps to join ISIS and travel overseas to fight jihad. He applied for a passport. On March 22, 2017, the FBI was notified Abdin’s passport was delivered to his residence in Ladson. Later on the same date, Abdin sent a message to the undercover FBI employee to tell him to “let the brothers know I am coming very soon.”
On March 23, 2017, Abdin made flight reservations aboard a commercial airline departing Charleston with a final destination of Amman, Jordan. The date for travel was set for March 30, 2017. After making the reservations, Abdin told to undercover FBI employee that he was scheduled to arrive in Amman, Jordan on April 1, 2017.
On March 30, 2017, Abdin arrived at the Charleston International Airport, checked in for his departing flight, and was subsequently arrested.
Abdin faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. Any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathan Williams and Sean Kittrell of the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney Jennifer Burke of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Former Owners of T-Mobile Retail Store Arrested on Federal Charges Alleging $25 Million Scheme to Illicitly Unlock Cell Phones
Former Owners of T-Mobile Retail Store Arrested on Federal Charges Alleging $25 Million Scheme to Illicitly Unlock Cell Phones
LOS ANGELES – Two men who formerly owned a T-Mobile retail store in Eagle Rock were arrested this morning on federal charges that allege a scheme to use stolen T-Mobile employee credentials to illegally infiltrate the mobile phone company’s internal computer systems to “unlock” cell phones so they could be used on any carrier’s network. The defendants were arrested pursuant to a 21-count grand jury indictment outlining the scheme that investigators believe earned the two men more than $25 million.
Argishti Khudaverdyan, 41, of Burbank, and Alen Gharehbagloo, 40, of La Cañada Flintridge, are charged with multiple felonies, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, computer fraud and money laundering. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of more than $2.25 million seized from several bank accounts and residential properties allegedly purchased with ill-gotten gains.
Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo are expected to be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the indictment, for the first six months of 2017, Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo were co-owners of Top Tier Solutions, Inc., a T-Mobile premium retail store in the Eagle Rock Plaza in Northeastern Los Angeles. During this time, most cellular phone companies – including T-Mobile – “locked” their customers’ phones so they could be used only on the company’s network until the customers’ phone-purchase and service contracts had been fulfilled. If customers wanted to switch to a different carrier, their phones had to be “unlocked.”
Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo allegedly conspired to fraudulently unlock T-Mobile phones, which would allow T-Mobile customers to stop using T-Mobile’s services and thereby deprive T-Mobile of revenue generated from customers’ service contracts and equipment installment plans. The defendants also allegedly conspired to “whitelist” or “clean” phones that had been reported lost or stolen so they could be activated again.
Between August 2014 and January 2019, Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo allegedly advertised their unlocking services through brokers, email solicitations and websites such as unlocks247.com. The defendants falsely claimed they provided “official” T-Mobile unlocks.
In order to gain unauthorized access to T-Mobile’s protected internal computers, Khudaverdyan obtained T-Mobile employees’ credentials through various means, including phishing emails that appeared to be legitimate T-Mobile correspondence. The fraudulent emails were used by Khudaverdyan to deceive T-Mobile employees to log in with their employee credentials so that Khudaverdyan could harvest the employees’ information and fraudulently unlock the phones, according to the indictment. Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo, assisted by a co-conspirator, allegedly used the Wi-Fi access points inside T-Mobile Stores to log onto the company’s internal network using compromised employee credentials.
Investigators have determined that Khudaverdyan and Gharehbagloo obtained more than $25 million for these illicit activities. They allegedly used these illegal proceeds to pay for, among other things, real properties in Burbank, Northridge and La Cañada Flintridge.
The indictment in this case was returned by a federal grand jury on June 6 and unsealed today.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
If Khudaverdyan is convicted of all 17 counts in which he is charged, he would face a statutory maximum of 237 years in federal prison. If convicted of all 15 counts with which he is charged, Gharehbagloo would face a statutory maximum of 235 years in federal prison.
This matter is being investigated by the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) in Los Angeles and IRS Criminal Investigation’s Western Area Cyber Crime Unit. The ECTF includes representatives of the Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennie L. Wang of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section and Special Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Waters of the Asset Forfeiture Section.
Former Colorado Springs Sheriff’s Deputy Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography
Former Colorado Springs Sheriff’s Deputy Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography
Donald Glenn Beasley (“Beasley”), 56, of Key Largo, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore to 108 months in prison and 20 years of supervised release for receiving and possessing child pornography in connection with internet downloads Beasley made of child pornography.
Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and George Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
Beasley, a former sheriff’s deputy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had been downloading child pornography on a peer-to-peer network and utilizing a state of the art encryption when he became known to FBI special agents. According to the stipulated facts filed in court, on September 20, 2018, a search warrant was executed at Beasley’s residence located at 95500 Overseas Highway in Key Largo, Florida. Pursuant to the search warrant, law enforcement searched a Starcraft trailer, which records checks revealed was registered to Beasley.
After a search of the Starcraft trailer, law enforcement seized various electronic items, including Beasley’s laptop and 3 external hard drives. The forensic examination of the items revealed multiple videos and numerous images of child pornography, many involving minor children under the age of 12. On February 11, 2019, Beasley pled guilty to the receipt and possession of child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigatory efforts of the FBI in this matter. She thanked the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their assistance. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra L. López.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on https://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Former pro baseball player sentenced to federal prison in Operation Vanilla Gorilla
Former pro baseball player sentenced to federal prison in Operation Vanilla Gorilla
SAVANNAH, GA: A former professional baseball player has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a drug trafficking network dismantled in Operation Vanilla Gorilla.
Darren J. Driggers, also known as “DJ” and “eBay,” 26, of Bloomingdale, Ga., was sentenced to 57 months in prison by U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker for Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Controlled Substances and for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
At the completion of his incarceration, Driggers will be on supervised release for three years. There is no parole in the federal system. Because he was on probation when he committed his offense, his federal sentence will be served consecutively to his sentence for violating probation.
In November 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Driggers and 42 other defendants as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation into a drug trafficking organization associated with the Ghost Face Gangsters, a violent criminal street gang. Of the 43 defendants, 41 have been convicted of federal charges in this multi-district case.
According to information presented in court filings and testimony, Driggers and other conspirators, including associates of the Ghost Face Gangsters, distributed crystal methamphetamine throughout southern Georgia. Driggers, a convicted felon, also possessed and sold stolen firearms to conspirators to assist the drug trafficking organization by promoting a climate of fear. During the investigation, Driggers bragged to federal agents that he was nicknamed “eBay” because he sold stolen goods via social media platforms.
Prior to his criminal activity, Driggers was selected in June 2012 in the 22nd round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers. The following year he received a 50-game suspension after failing a drug test, and in January 2014 he was released from the MLB after positive drug screens. Driggers explained to the United States Probation Office that “I decided I liked meth better than baseball.”
“DJ Driggers was a gifted athlete who did what thousands of hard-working athletes can only dream about: He was chosen to play professional sports,” said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “Instead, he fouled out of his once-promising career by abusing illegal drugs, squandering a truly major-league opportunity and will now spend half a decade in prison for gun and drug charges.”
“This is yet another example of the law enforcement community working together to make our streets and communities a safer place to live, said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “Dismantling these violent drug trafficking networks continues to be a priority for ATF and our law enforcement partners.”
“Methamphetamine continues to dominate the country as the most abused illicit drug,” said Jamie Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the Savannah Office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). “Driggers is just one of many victims whose lives have been destroyed because of meth. However, Driggers made the decision to become a distributor of this poison, which in turn affected countless others. This was his downfall, as distributors become targets of law enforcement and go to prison or in some cases end up dead in the street. Fortunately for Driggers, he goes to prison and not the graveyard.”
Operation Vanilla Gorilla was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), the premier U.S. Department of Justice program to dismantle multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking organizations. The case was investigated by the ATF, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the GBI, the Chatham County Narcotics Team (CNT), the Georgia Department of Corrections Intelligence Division, the Savannah Police Department, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, the Richmond Hill Police Department, the Pooler Police Department, the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and the Bloomingdale Police Department, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys E. Greg Gilluly Jr. and Frank Pennington.
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