Birmingham Man Convicted in Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy
BIRMINGHAM – A federal jury late Monday convicted a Birmingham man in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine between Birmingham and Austin, Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Clay A. Morris.
Following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor, the jury convicted Artavis Desmond McGowan, 40, of conspiring with Donaldo Figueroa Cruz, 34, of Austin, Texas, and others, to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine in Jefferson County between August 2011 and October 2011.
Figueroa pleaded guilty in July to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, and concealing $110,000 in a hidden compartment behind the bumper of a Lexus sedan in order to secret the money out of the country. Figueroa was sentenced Nov. 6 to 10 years in federal prison.
“McGowan and his conspirators are among the prime movers of illicit drugs into our community and they made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling it,” Vance said. “These drugs devastate neighborhoods and fuel violent crime, so it is particularly important that we prosecute those like McGowan who are indifferent to the shattered lives they leave behind when they profiteer off of dangerous drugs,” she said.
“The DEA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with our state and local counterparts, worked tirelessly during the investigation of Artavis McGowan,” Morris said. “Our partnership with the law enforcement community in Birmingham is dedicated to making our community safer and taking dangerous criminals off the streets of Alabama.”
On Oct. 5, 2011, DEA agents seized six bricks of cocaine and other drugs from a home located at 1156 Skyline Drive in Birmingham. Also seized from the house was $341,679 cash. McGowan and his confederates used the home as a “stash” house to remove cocaine from drug “load” vehicles driven from Austin to Birmingham. The basement of the home also was used to process drugs and money, according to evidence at trial.
Evidence further showed that McGowan’s fingerprints were found on two of the 46 kilogram wrappers found in the trash in the basement of the Skyline Drive home. In May of this year, DEA agents executed a search warrant at 108 Page Ave. in Birmingham where they found McGowan with more than $61,000 cash.
McGowan is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 25. He faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
The DEA investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Dimler prosecuted.
Clay County Jail Administrator Indicted for Violating Inmates’ Civil Rights
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury recently indicted the former jail administrator of the Clay County Detention Center for violating the civil rights of four inmates by using his authority to sexually abuse or otherwise deprive the inmates of their constitutional rights, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein Jr.
An indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Jeffrey Scott Cotney, 48, of Ashland, with eight counts of deprivation of rights under color of law between May 2009 and spring 2010 while he worked as Clay County’s jail administrator.
“It is unacceptable for law enforcement officers who are entrusted with police powers to sexually abuse inmates,” Vance said. “People convicted of crimes are to be punished by the justice system according to the rule of law. They should not be subjected to a deprivation of their constitutional rights by one who abuses the power of his badge for personal gratification.”
The first four counts of the indictment charge Cotney with coercing an inmate to submit to a sexual act on four separate dates between May 2009 and September 2009. Count Five charges Cotney with depriving that same inmate of his liberty, without due process of law, by withdrawing the inmate’s application for acceptance into a community corrections program in Barbour County in order to keep the man confined in the Clay County Detention Center. Cotney falsely represented the inmate’s interest in the community corrections program and withdrew his application for the program without the inmate’s knowledge, according to the indictment.
Counts Six and Seven charge Cotney with directing two inmates, one in August 2009 and the other in spring 2010, to disrobe and then rubbing the tattoos on their bodies, thereby depriving them of their constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches and to possess bodily privacy and integrity.
Count Eight charges Cotney with depriving a fourth inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by falsely accusing the inmate of possessing contraband, ordering him into lockdown for 45 days and having him transferred to a state prison, all in retaliation for the man rejecting a sexual proposition from Cotney.
Cotney could face a total of eight years in prison on all counts charged.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews Johnson is prosecuting.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent and it is the government’s responsibility to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Childersburg City Councilwoman Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud and Money Laundering
BIRMINGHAM – A Childersburg City Councilwoman pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to bank fraud and laundering nearly $1 million from SouthFirst Bank in Childersburg, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Craig Caldwell, and IRS Criminal Investigation Supervisory Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot.
Federal prosecutors charged Bonny Jean Carter in October with the nearly $1million embezzlement from SouthFirst Bank. According to the charge and her guilty plea before Senior U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson, Carter, 61, worked as an account clerk at SouthFirst Bank. In that position, between October 2002 and March 2013, Carter embezzled funds held by SouthFirst Bank by converting the money to personal savings accounts. Carter recorded journal entries to transfer money from various SouthFirst Bank general ledger accounts into personal accounts held in her daughter’s name. She also skimmed amounts from checks made payable to SouthFirst Bank by depositing the funds into those personal accounts. Additionally, Carter issued debit transactions from SouthFirst Bank’s operating expense account to pay personal debts she owed.
As part of a plea agreement Carter entered with the government in October, she is responsible for repaying $951,787 to SouthFirst Bank. Her sentencing is scheduled March 11.
The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and the maximum penalty for money laundering is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
