Category: Courts

Defendants charged in connection with forced labor of minor victims

A federal grand jury in the District of Kansas has returned an eight-count indictment against eight defendants for their alleged roles in a forced labor conspiracy that victimized numerous minors who, between 2000 and 2012, worked in various food service and other businesses in Kansas and around the United States.

The indictment alleged that from 2000 through 2012, the defendants participated in running an organization called the United Nation of Islam (UNOI), an organization founded by the now deceased Royall Jenkins. The UNOI is alleged to have subjected multiple minors employed at UNOI-operated businesses in Kansas, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and elsewhere, to forced labor.

The indictment charge eight individuals with conspiracy to commit forced labor and forced labor: Kaaba Majeed, age 47, Jonesboro, Georgia; Yunus Rassoul, age 36, Cape Coral, Florida; James Staton, age 59, Fayetteville, North Carolina; Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, age 40; Lawrenceville, Georgia; Randolph Rodney Hadley, age 46, Fairburn, Georgia; Jacelyn Greenwell, age 42, Severn, Maryland; Etenia Kinard, age 46, Waldorf, Maryland; and Dana Peach, age 57, Clinton, Maryland.

The indictment alleges that over the course of more than a decade, the defendants coerced the victims into physically demanding labor at various UNOI-owned businesses around the United States.

The defendants allegedly used coercive tactics, such as separating victims from their families; withholding food; abusing victims physically and verbally; subjecting victims to crowded living conditions; psychological manipulation; degrading treatment; isolating victims and limiting their ability to interact with anyone outside of UNOI; and suggesting to victims that those who left UNOI met tragic consequences. Although the victims were school-aged, it is alleged the defendants did not provide them with an adequate or legitimate education.
The defendants will be arraigned at a later date in Kansas City, Kansas.

Upon conviction, the alleged crimes carry the following penalties: forced labor with a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 and conspiracy to commit forced labor with a penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General and Wage and Hour Division. It will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Huschka for the District of Kansas and Trial Attorneys Vasantha Rao and Kate Alexander of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Kansas senator makes plea deal in DUI case after driving wrong direction on I-70

GOP’s Suellentrop avoids felony conviction, agrees to serve 48 hours in jail

by Tim Carpenter and Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Sen. Gene Suellentrop entered a no contest plea to two misdemeanor charges Monday that stemmed from an incident in March in which he drove for miles in the wrong direction on Interstate 70 before being stopped by a Kansas Highway Patrol officer.

Suellentrop, a Wichita Republican who was forced out of his role as the Kansas Senate’s majority leader following his arrest, agreed to a deal that avoided conviction on a felony charge, including the pending count of eluding police. The plea agreement with prosecutors led Judge Jason Geier to find Suellentrop guilty of driving under the influence and of reckless driving.

Suellentrop acknowledged the evidence would prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the KHP officer’s charging affidavit, he was driving at speeds approaching 100 mph while fleeing through Topeka, and multiple vehicles swerved to avoid head-on collisions. When he was finally stopped, he reeked of alcohol and struggled to speak.

“There are many lessons to be learned in circumstances such as these, and I can assure you I’ve learned my share,” Suellentrop told the court before sentencing. “I take full responsibility for my actions, and I apologize for my actions. You will not see me in this court or any other court of law on any similar infractions whatsoever.”

Suellentrop is required by state law to serve 48 hours in the Shawnee County Jail. His incarceration is set to begin at noon Nov. 18.

The judge suspended a six-month sentence for the DUI conviction and 90 days for reckless driving and ordered Suellentrop to serve one year of probation. Suellentrop also has to participate in eight therapy sessions and take a substance abuse class. Eventually, he will be eligible to have the convictions expunged from his record, the judge said.

Although the judge has the authority to reject the terms of a plea deal, Geier said it was the court’s policy to accept any agreement reached between the prosecutor’s office and a defense attorney.

“I know this case has garnered a lot of attention — media attention and attention from the public,” Geier said. “I’m not allowed ethically to consider any of those outside influences.”

After taken into custody March 16, Suellentrop was verbally abusive to law enforcement officers attempting to test his blood alcohol level. He called the arresting officer a “donut boy,” the officer wrote in his report. Suellentrop bragged that he could beat the officer in a fight because he played sports competitively in high school.”

He refused to voluntarily take a breath test, and a search warrant had to be obtained to compel the senator to give a blood sample for testing. That produced a reading of 0.17%, far above the legal limit of 0.08% in Kansas to legally operate a vehicle.

Suellentrop’s attorney, Tom Lemon, told the court he had produced a transcript from video of Suellentrop’s arrest. The transcript doesn’t include “salacious” language that got people’s attention. The attorney didn’t specify which words he was referring to.

“He was, frankly, what I would expect for a 69-year-old intoxicated man dealing with a younger trooper,” Lemon said.

Lemon said his client had drank too much and wasn’t aware he was being followed by police.

“As he stands here in front of you, he’s a 69-year-old man who doesn’t have any criminal history,” Lemon said. “I mean, he’s a parent, he’s a husband, he’s a father, he’s a grandfather, he’s a business owner. All other aspects of his life are in good shape. But it was a very, very, bad mistake that he made.”

“I say all these things not as an excuse or to divert anything,” the attorney continued, “but for mitigation purposes, judge. Because of the place that he holds, he’s not down the hall in the DUI docket today with every other DUI case.”

Wichita residents Jane Byrnes and Michael McCortle attended the hearing and were disappointed to see Suellentrop evade felony conviction.

“A felony is considerably different than this little tap on the arm,” Byrnes said.

McCortle, a constituent of the senator, said he deserves better representation.

“We were hoping to witness equal justice here today, what anybody else would have gotten,” McCortle said.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/10/25/suellentrop-makes-plea-deal-in-dui-case-after-driving-wrong-direction-on-i-70/.

Feds seize property of Kansas City area companies accused of COVID relief fraud

by Jason Hancock, Kansas Reflector

The federal government has seized two vehicles, and is threatening to seize a lake house, allegedly purchased illegally with COVID-19 relief money by a Kansas City-area businessman.

The property was seized from several real estate companies incorporated in Kansas by Joseph Campbell, with most operating under a version of the name Titan Fish.

According to a complaint filed by the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas, in early 2020 Campbell submitted 20 applications to the Small Business Administration for federal disaster loans made available under the CARES Act.

Most were deemed duplicates of other applications, the complaint says, and five were granted.

Campbell’s companies received nearly $1 million in aid that was supposed to be used to pay debts, payroll and other bills that could have been paid had the COVID-19 pandemic not occurred.

According to an affidavit filed by Richard Littrell, a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service, Campbell’s applications contained false information and he used the money he received to purchase two vehicles and a lake house in Morgan County, Missouri.

“Based on the information set forth in this affidavit, there is probable cause to believe Campbell committed violations of wire fraud and money laundering,” said Littrell, who conducts money laundering investigations as part of the Kansas City Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces.

Littrell later added that there is probable cause that the vehicles and property “were purchased with proceeds derived or obtained from the wire fraud violations.”

The two vehicles — a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 and a 2017 Ford Explorer — have been seized by the government. The lake house has not yet been seized.

Campbell did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Danielle Thomas, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas, said she cannot comment on open cases beyond what is available in the public record.

Titan Fish, based in Shawnee, Kansas, is described on its website as “special situation investors that focus on unique investment opportunities in real estate, energy and other real assets.”

The company garnered attention in 2017 when it purchased the former Rockwood Golf Club in Independence for $550,000 from a company that had owned the property for several years.

Just months after that purchase, the Independence City Council voted to buy the golf course from Titan Fish for $1 million in order to use it to build a solar farm.

The deal drew FBI scrutiny over a series of donations to Independence Mayor Eileen Weir days before she voted to approve the purchase.

Those donations came from four political action committees connected to lobbyist Steve Tilley, a former state lawmaker and longtime friend and adviser to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

Tilley’s lobbying firm represents Independence’s utility and the company chosen to operate the solar farm.

In 2019 Tilley began representing Titan Fish, and a year later was part of a proposal involving Titan Fish to repurpose a power plant owned by Independence.

Titan Fish and Tilley severed ties shortly after details of the proposal were made public.

This story was produced by Missouri Independent, an affiliate of States Newsroom.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/10/18/feds-seize-property-of-kansas-city-companies-accused-of-covid-relief-fraud/.