According to the plea agreement, filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., Mary Jo LaDuron, aka Mary Jo Gault, of Leavenworth, Kan., lied to FBI agents who were investigating allegations of fraud against the E-Rate program. According to the information, LaDuron worked for Elephantine Corporation beginning in 1999 through at least November 2003. Elephantine was formed and owned by LaDuron’s son, Leonard Douglas “Doug” LaDuron. Mary Jo LaDuron lied to FBI agents on March 23, 2006, when she denied knowing certain information about Elephantine and the E-Rate program.

On April 24, 2008, Mary Jo LaDuron was previously indicted for participating in a conspiracy to defraud the E-Rate program. Today’s plea resolves the Antitrust Division’s charges against her. Other individuals who were charged in connection with the same conspiracy include Leonard Douglas LaDuron, as well as two co-conspirators, Benjamin Rowner and Jay H. Soled. Leonard Douglas LaDuron, Rowner and Soled have all pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy, which began in 1999 and ran at least until 2003. All three individuals are awaiting sentencing. Leonard Douglas LaDuron also pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, which administers the Department of Housing and Urban Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Program in Lawrence, Kan.

The Schools and Libraries Universal Service Fund, a federally funded program known as E-Rate, was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. E-Rate is a program through which the Universal Services Administrative Company, a not-for-profit corporation, acting under oversight of the FCC, subsidizes the provision of Internet access and telecommunications services, as well as internal computer and communications networks to economically disadvantaged schools and libraries.

The false statement charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Today’s charge is the result of an investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Field Office, the FBI, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, and the FCC with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas. Anyone with information concerning violations of the E-Rate program or other anticompetitive conduct is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Field Office at 312-353-7530.

Fondren, age 62, worked at the Pentagon and, from August 2001 through Feb. 11, 2008, was the Deputy Director, Washington Liaison Office, U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM).  He held a Top Secret security clearance, worked in a Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility (SCIF) and had a classified and unclassified computer at his cubicle. He has been on administrative leave with pay since mid-February 2008 and has not performed any duties in or for PACOM since that time.

On May 13, 2009, Fondren turned himself in to federal agents after being charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government.

According to the indictment returned today, from approximately Nov. 2004 to Feb. 11, 2008, Fondren provided certain classified Defense Department documents and other information to Tai Shen Kuo, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Taiwan.

Fondren was aware that Kuo had maintained a close relationship with an official of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), to whom Kuo introduced Fondren during a trip the two took to the PRC in March 1999. As Kuo well knew, this individual was an official of the PRC government. Fondren and the PRC official exchanged more than 40 email messages between March 1999 and November 2000.

Fondren is alleged to have provided classified information through Kuo, under the guise of consulting services, using a business that had Kuo as its sole customer. Fondren would incorporate this information into “opinion papers” that he sold to Kuo. He would also provide Kuo with sensitive, but unclassified Defense Department publications.

The indictment also alleges that, when Fondren was interviewed by FBI agents regarding this investigation, he falsely represented that everything he wrote to Kuo in his opinion papers was based on information from press and media reports and from his experience; that he had never taken any classified information home; and that he had not given Kuo a draft copy of an unclassified document on military strategy.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) provided substantial assistance and cooperation throughout the course of the investigation.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil Hammerstrom and James P. Gillis, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Trial Attorney Ryan Fayhee from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The public is reminded that an indictment only contains charges and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, entered his plea of guilty this afternoon before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in federal court in Minneapolis. At sentencing, which was set for 1:30 pm on July 9, 2009, Warsame faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to be removed to Canada upon completion of his criminal sentence.

Warsame was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda in a Jan. 20, 2004, indictment returned in the District of Minnesota. A June 21, 2005, superseding indictment charged Warsame with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda, one count of providing material support to al-Qaeda, and three counts of making false statements to the FBI. Warsame today pleaded guilty to count one of the superseding indictment. The government has agreed to dismiss the remaining charges.

According to the plea agreement, from about March 2000 through at least December 2003, Warsame conspired with others to provide material support to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, training and currency.

Specifically, in March of 2000, Warsame traveled to Afghanistan where he attended an al-Qaeda training camp outside Kabul. In the summer of 2000, he then traveled to the al Faruq training camp, where he received further training and met Osama Bin Laden. Warsame subsequently worked at an al-Qaeda guesthouse and clinic.

According to the plea agreement, in late March 2001, Warsame traveled from Pakistan via London to Canada. After leaving Pakistan, Warsame established email contacts with several al-Qaeda associates that he had met in Afghanistan. In addition, he sent money to one of his former training camp commanders.

Warsame then relocated to Minneapolis. Throughout 2002 and 2003, he continued to exchange email messages with, and provide information to, several individuals associated with al-Qaeda, according to the plea agreement.

“The many agents, analysts and prosecutors who helped bring about today’s guilty plea — after years of investigation and extensive pre-trial litigation — deserve special thanks for their efforts,” said Assistant Attorney General Kris. “This case serves as a reminder of the continuing threats we face as a nation and our resolve to meet those threats.”

The case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is a multi agency effort combining the resources of federal, state and local law enforcement. In addition to the FBI, the investigation was conducted with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Minneapolis Police Department, the St. Paul Police Department, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. In addition to those agencies, the JTTF in Minneapolis includes representatives of the Minnesota Department of Homeland Security, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Police, the Transportation Safety Administration, the Federal Air Marshals, the Bloomington Police Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, and Trial Attorney Joseph N. Kaster from the Counterrrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Kent, 59, a district judge in the Southern District of Texas, pleaded guilty to obstructing a special investigative committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit during an investigation of a judicial misconduct complaint filed against him. Kent was sentenced in federal court in Houston by Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson for the Northern District of Florida, who was sitting by designation in the Southern District of Texas.

On Aug. 28, 2008, a grand jury in the Southern District of Texas indicted Kent, who was at that time a sitting U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, on two counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse for his alleged assaults in 2003 and 2007 on an employee of the Office of the Clerk of Court identified as Person A. On Jan. 6, 2009, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Kent. The superseding indictment incorporated the original charges and added three counts: one count each of abusive sexual contact and aggravated sexual abuse, based on Kent’s alleged repeated assaults on another U.S. District Court employee identified as Person B, and one count of obstruction of justice, based upon his obstruction of the Fifth Circuit’s investigation into a misconduct complaint filed by Person A.

On Feb. 23, 2009, Kent pleaded guilty to obstructing the judicial misconduct investigation into his sexual assaults. As part of his plea, Kent admitted that in both 2003 and 2007, he engaged in non-consensual sexual contact with Person A without her permission. He also admitted that he engaged in non-consensual contact from 2004 through at least 2005 with Person B without her permission. When Person A filed a misconduct complaint against him, the Fifth Circuit appointed a committee to investigate whether Kent had engaged in unwanted sexual contact with Person A and individuals other than Person A. Kent admitted that when he appeared before the committee in June 2007, he falsely testified about his conduct with Person B.

Kent was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine as well as restitution of $3,300 to Person A and $3,250 to Person B. Kent was ordered to surrender on June 15, 2009.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Chief for Litigation Peter J. Ainsworth and Trial Attorneys John P. Pearson and AnnaLou T. Tirol of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity, which is headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. The case was investigated by the FBI.

Including today’s charge, a total of 15 airlines and four executives have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the air transportation industry. Collectively, the companies have paid or agreed to pay criminal fines totaling more that $1.6 billion and three executives have already been sentenced to jail time.

According to the charge filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Franciscus Johannes de Jong, aka Frank de Jong, the former vice president of cargo sales in Europe for Martinair, and his co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to fix the cargo rates charged to customers for international air shipments, including to and from the United States. Under the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, de Jong has agreed to serve eight months in jail, pay a $20,000 criminal fine and cooperate with the Department’s ongoing investigation.

“By fixing prices for the shipment of products to and from the United States, this cartel targeted a critical piece of our country’s economy,” said Scott D. Hammond, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division’s Criminal Enforcement Program. “The Department remains dedicated to aggressively pursuing those who conspire to cheat American businesses and consumers with price-fixing schemes.”

According to the charge, from at least as early as April 2002 and continuing until at least Feb. 14, 2006, de Jong and his co-conspirators carried out the price-fixing conspiracy by:

• Participating in meetings, conversations and communications to discuss the cargo rates to be charged on certain routes to and from the United States;
• Agreeing, during those meetings, conversations and communications, on certain components of the cargo rates to charge on shipments on certain routes to and from the United States;
• Levying cargo rates in the United States and elsewhere in accordance with the agreements reached; and
• Engaging in meetings, conversations and communications in the United States and elsewhere for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon cargo rates.

The 15 airlines that have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty to date as a result of the Department’s ongoing investigation into the air transportation industry are: British Airways Plc, Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd., Qantas Airways Limited, Japan Airlines International Co. Ltd., Martinair, Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, SAS Cargo Group A/S, Société Air France, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines), EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd., LAN Cargo S.A., Aerolinhas Brasileiras S.A., Cargolux Airlines International S.A., Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. Ltd., and Asiana Airlines Inc. Airline executives who have already pleaded guilty for their involvement in the illegal activity are Bruce McCaffrey of Qantas, Timothy Pfeil of SAS and Keith Packer of British Airways.

De Jong is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $1 million and up to 10 years in prison for an individual. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. Anyone with information concerning price fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the air transportation industry is urged to call the National Criminal Enforcement Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-307-6694 or the FBI Washington Field Office, Northern Virginia Resident Agency at 703-686-6000.

Freeman, a registered sex offender, was found guilty following a six-day trial in January 2009 of six counts relating to his criminal activities as a member of the child exploitation enterprise. The charges alleged in these counts included engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising, transporting and receiving child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Five of the defendants previously sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey A. Collier: Daniel Castleman of Lubbock, Texas; Gary Lakey of Anderson, Ind.; Marvin Lambert of Indianapolis; Neville McGarity of Medina, Texas; and Ronald White of Burlington, N.C., also received life sentences. Five additional U.S. defendants also indicted in the case were sentenced on March 10, 2009.

According to evidence introduced at trial, the defendants were members of a highly sophisticated international network. The group was a well-organized criminal enterprise whose purpose was to proliferate child sex abuse images to its membership during a two-year period.

The defendants were found guilty of participating in an illegal organization that used Internet newsgroups – large file-sharing networks where text, software, pictures and videos can be traded and shared – to traffic in illegal images and videos depicting prepubescent children, including toddlers, engaged in various sexual and sadistic acts. Specifically, an Australian constable who infiltrated the group in August 2006 testified at trial about how group members employed a complex system of pseudonyms, screening tests for new members and sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection. He also testified that the group traded more than 400,000 images and 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse before it was dismantled by law enforcement.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS. The case is being investigated by the Innocent Images Unit of the FBI and the Queensland, Australia, Police Service, with the assistance of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Child Pornography Unit in Germany and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the United Kingdom.