News

FRESNO  -   A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment today against Jesus Ramos, 48, of Sinaloa, Mexico, charging him with distributing and possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, eutylone, hydrocodone, and ketamine, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Oct. 13, 2021, after negotiating for the delivery 10,000 “pills” and “one of China”–a street term for synthetic heroin powder usually containing fentanyl–Ramos delivered pills containing fentanyl that weighed approximately 31 grams and approximately 2 pounds of a white powdery substance containing eutylone, hydrocodone, and ketamine. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, 2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose. Ketamine is a schedule III pain reliever commonly used in anesthesia. Hydrocodone is a schedule II opiate used for severe pain. Eutylone is a schedule I stimulant, and is also known as “boot.”

SACRAMENTO  -   A 10-count indictment was unsealed today against Suneet Singal, 43, of El Dorado Hills, charging him with wire fraud and mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between March 2017 and July 2017, Singal engaged in a scheme to make false representations in order to induce financing companies to provide funds to certain companies in the form of merchant cash advances, which are advances of money in exchange for promises to repay greater amounts of money from future receivables. To obtain the cash advances, Singal claimed that he was the owner of a company that operated a chain of fast-food franchises, but he did not actually own that company.

FRESNO — Kenneth Shane Patterson, 44, of Fresno, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to five years and six months in prison and ordered to pay $1.9 million in restitution for wire fraud, bank fraud, and evading the payment of taxes, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Patterson convinced a small business owner to give him more than $1 million over approximately 31 months so that Patterson could acquire a skilled nursing facility in Pasadena. Patterson promised to then sell the facility to the business owner at below market value. Patterson told the business owner that he needed the money to clear liens and pay other expenses so the deal would close. In reality, Patterson never actually intended to buy the facility and instead spent the money on unrelated business expenses and his own gambling.

FRESNO - A federal grand jury returned a 21-count indictment Thursday against 18 individuals, charging them with illegally trafficking fentanyl, fentanyl analogue, methamphetamine, and cocaine as well as illegally possessing firearms, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Horacio Torrecillas Urias Jr., 22, of Fresno, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute methamphetamine, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute fentanyl (two counts), conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, and distribution of fentanyl.

FRESNO -  A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment today against Dennis Falaschi, 75, of Aptos, California, charging him with conspiracy, theft of government property, and filing false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Falaschi was the general manager for a public water district in Fresno and Merced Counties near the communities of Dos Palos, Firebaugh, and Los Banos. He exploited a leak in the Delta-Mendota Canal and engineered a way to steal over $25 million in federally owned water.

SACRAMENTO - A Redding woman has signed a plea agreement admitting that she planned and participated in her own hoax kidnapping and agreeing to plead guilty to making materially false statements to FBI agents about the circumstances of her disappearance and committing mail fraud based on her being a kidnapping victim, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced today.

Sherri Papini, 39, of Redding, was charged in a criminal information filed today in the U.S. District Court with thirty-four counts of mail fraud and one count of making false statements. In a plea agreement, also filed today, Papini agreed to plead guilty to a single count of mail fraud and one count of making false statements. Papini was arrested on March 3 based on a criminal complaint filed that day.