WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following remarks on Sept. 19, 2024, by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke announcing a pattern or practice investigation of Rankin County, Mississippi, and Rankin County Sheriff's Department: * * * As Prepared for Delivery Good afternoon. My name is Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. I am joined by Todd Gee, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Miss  more

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Sept. 20 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico issued the following news release: A husband and wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges for working together to steal over $10,000 from a local business on the Isleta Pueblo. According to the plea agreements, on February 4, 2023, Eva Mae Hernandez and Frank Joe Hernandez drove to Chical Haystack, a general store located within the Isleta Pueblo. Eva acted as a lookout while Frank entered a   more

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Sept. 20 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico issued the following news release: Five young men face federal charges for allegedly running a firearms and drug trafficking operation that utilized social media platforms to sell machine gun conversion devices and cocaine. The indictment alleges that from approximately February 13, 2024, to July 2024, Micah Maestas, 19, Dominic Ramirez, 20, Daniel Garcia, 18, and Oscar Ruiz Salmeron, 19, engage  more

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Sept. 20 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico issued the following news release: A Farmington man was charged by indictment for carjacking incident in 2022 in Fruitland, New Mexico. Myles Cordelle Dan Padilla, 32, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, appeared before a federal judge and will remain in custody pending trial, which is set for November 12, 2024. According to the indictment, on April 10, 2022, Padilla took a motor vehicle f  more

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Sept. 20 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico issued the following news release: An Albuquerque man was sentenced to 12 years and one day in prison for a violent crime spree that included two carjackings at gunpoint, an attempted bank robbery, and a high-speed chase with law enforcement. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on the evening of January 8, 2019, Charles Chavez, 33, approached a home on Gold A  more

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Sept. 20 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico issued the following news release: A Los Lunas man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for shooting at a family friend with a shotgun following a dispute. According to court records, on December 14, 2023, Vincent Jerome Martinez opened fire on a family friend with a 12-gauge shotgun when the victim arrived to give a ride to Martinez's grandmother and her granddaughters. Martinez exited his resi  more