Local News

SACRAMENTO - Jabari Monson, 32, of Merced, California, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances, and Saudia Monson, 39, also of Merced, pleaded guilty today to a violation of the Travel Act, using the mail and internet to distribute controlled substances, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, from July 2018 through January 2019, Jabari Monson and Saudia Monson operated several vendor accounts on the dark-web marketplace Dream Market, through which they sold cocaine, cocaine base, methamphetamine, and marijuana.

SACRAMENTO  -   A federal jury convicted Abhijit Prasad, 52, of Tracy, of 21 counts of visa fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft today.  The case originated in Sacramento when the grand jury there indicted Prasad in 2016, but the case was ultimately tried in San Francisco following a court order transferring the case there. U.S. Attorney David Anderson for the Northern District of California and U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott for the Eastern District of California made the announcement.

According to the evidence at trial, Prasad filed 19 petitions for H-1B nonimmigrant visas containing false statements, made under penalty of perjury, as to purported work projects to be performed at locations in California, including Cisco Systems. The evidence at trial showed that Cisco had no expectation that the foreign workers who were the beneficiaries of the visa petitions would actually work at Cisco on an existing work project. The evidence at trial further showed that the defendant knowingly submitted forged Cisco documents to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in support of his claims that the beneficiaries would work at Cisco.

FRESNO  -  On Thursday, Aug. 1, after a three–day trial, a federal jury found Jose Jesus Carbajal, 33, of Waterford, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce, one count of interference with commerce by robbery, and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to evidence presented at trial, from at least October 2014 until December 2017, Carbajal was part of a robbery crew that targeted and robbed marijuana growers of their marijuana and cash. Carbajal and the crew posed as law enforcement officers to gain access to the property, announced they had a search and seizure warrant, then tied up the victims and held them at gunpoint while robbing them of marijuana, cash, and other items.

MADERA – Just seven months after the Madera Unified School District Board of Trustees was restored to full strength following the 2017 resignation of Trustee Al Galvez, the seven-member board is again down one member. This time, one of the two senior trustees has resigned his position, 10-year board veteran Ric Arredondo.

Arredondo, who announced his intent to resign to his fellow board members and district staff weeks ago, resigned his position on the board Friday morning as he is moving out of the area he has represented since 2009. In a press release sent to BVN Thursday, Arredondo announced he would make a run for the Madera County Board of Supervisors District 4 seat currently held by Max Rodriguez.