Tag Archive for: Prison

Northern District of Iowa | Man Who Possessed Child Pornography Sentenced to Over Five Years in Prison

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A man who possessed over 3,500 photographs and 25 videos of child pornography was sentenced today to more than 5 years in federal prison.

Stephen Gruber, age 60, from Sumner, Iowa, received the prison term after an October 13, 2022 guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

At the guilty plea, Gruber admitted he possessed child pornography on his computer between November 2016 and March 2017.

Gruber was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Gruber was sentenced to 63 months’ imprisonment.  He was also ordered to make restitution.  He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Gruber is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Liz Dupuich and investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Sumner Police Department.. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-cr-2054.

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Detroit man sentence to prison for hacking into bank accounts, stealing $300K

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A Detroit man was sentenced to prison for stealing more than $300,000 from the bank accounts in a criminal enterprise, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Wednesday.

Johnny Richardson, 28, was sentenced to three to 20 years behind bars for conducting a criminal enterprise that included gaining cellphone data of victims and hacking into their bank accounts for money or to take out loans, according to Nessel’s office. Richardson will be required to pay for court costs, crime victim fees and $309,210 in restitution.

Richardson already is serving eight years in prison for operating an unemployment fraud scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic. He pleaded guilty in July 2021 to stealing $138,000 in COVID aid.

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Prison officer who helped smuggle cocaine into convicted murderer’s cell facing jail time

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Prison officer, 31, who helped smuggle cocaine and a mobile phone into convicted murderer’s cell at maximum-security jail after ‘forming a close relationship’ is now facing time behind bars herself

  • Heather McKenzie was working at HMP Shotts when she teamed up with convicted murderer Zak Malavin to supply drugs to inmates
  • McKenzie will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on February 23

By David Meikle and Ashlie Mcanally

Published: | Updated:

A prison officer is facing time behind bars after helping to smuggle cocaine into one of Scotland’s most notorious maximum-security jails.

Heather McKenzie was working at HMP Shotts – home to some of the country’s most hardened criminals – when she teamed up with convicted murderer Zak Malavin to supply drugs to inmates.

Prison officials and police started an investigation after noticing a significant rise in the quantities of drugs being found in the jail – and receiving a tip-off about possible staff corruption.

Intelligence suggested McKenzie, 31, was illegally bringing drugs and mobile phones into the prison.

Heather McKenzie (pictured) was working at HMP Shotts – home to some of the country’s most hardened criminals – when she teamed up with a convicted murderer

Heather McKenzie (pictured) was working at HMP Shotts – home to some of the country’s most hardened criminals – when she teamed up with a convicted murderer

Zak Malavin who is serving life for murdering a man in a park by attacking him with a sword, was found to have an iPhone, 1.45g of cocaine and a sleeping pill in his cell

Zak Malavin who is serving life for murdering a man in a park by attacking him with a sword, was found to have an iPhone, 1.45g of cocaine and a sleeping pill in his cell

Malavin, serving life for murdering a man in a park by attacking him with a sword, was found to have an iPhone, 1.45g of cocaine and a sleeping pill in his cell when officers searched it in May 2020.

A search the following month uncovered two knotted bags containing a further 5.7g of cocaine, while data on the iPhone revealed texts and calls to McKenzie.

Police later raided McKenzie’s home in Forth, Lanarkshire, and arrested her after finding £2,500 in cash, mobile phones, syringes and trenbolone – a powerful steroid – as well as traces of cocaine and 28g of another drug, benzocaine.

An iPhone found by police had a missed WhatsApp call from a contact named ‘Zak’….

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Beefed-up prison security captures record level of contraband

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  • even more jails deploy cutting-edge baggage scanners for prison visitors
  • measures part of £125 million strategy to clamp down on prison rule breakers and cut crime

Game-changing X-ray body scanners have foiled more than 28,000 attempts to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons behind bars as the war on prison rule breakers picks up speed.

Over the last 2 years, more than 90 new advanced scanners have been installed in all closed male jails, producing high-resolution images of concealed contraband so staff can stop more dangerous items from getting in and causing havoc on prison landings.

This tough new security has captured and confiscated illegal contraband concealed on prisoners including mobile phones, vapes and improvised weapons.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, said:

Our tough new security measures in prisons are putting prisoners back on the straight and narrow. Allied to our renewed drive to get prisoners off drugs for good, we are cutting crime and keeping the public safe.

This new development comes just days after the government announced plans to roll out cutting-edge baggage scanners to 45 prisons across England and Wales. These will check bags brought in by the thousands of staff and visitors who enter prisons every day – cutting off another route of smuggling. Together these measures have kept mobile phones, drugs and improvised weapons out of the hands of prisoners where they would fuel violence and disorder.

The government’s investment of up to £125 million in next-generation prison security measures has also seen the most challenging prisons kitted out with new handheld and archway metal detectors, and more than 150 specially trained drug sniffer dogs.

This investment has created a new team of specialist investigators to clamp down on the small minority of corrupt staff who have no place in the Prison Service.

And to clamp down on the pernicious smuggling of drugs via prison mail, jails have installed over 135 drug trace detection machines that can detect microscopic smears of new psychoactive substances such as ‘spice’ on letters and items of clothing.

These advances deliver on the government’s commitments…

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