News

FRESNO  -  A grand jury returned an indictment last week against Kenneth Gould, 65, of Clovis, charging him with bank larceny for stealing over $1 million from a federally insured financial institution, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. The indictment was unsealed today, and Gould will be arraigned tomorrow on Oct. 14.

According to court documents, Gould was a CPA in Clovis who owned and operated a payroll services company. From October 2017 through March 2018, he initiated over 90 fraudulent Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments totaling over $20 million from one of his clients’ accounts to his payroll company’s account at the same bank. An ACH payment is a type of Electronic Funds Transfer used to move money from one bank account to another account.

SACRAMENTO  -   A Fresno man was sentenced today to 55 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor and distribution of child pornography.

Jacob Blanco, 29, of Fresno, pleaded guilty in May 2020 to sexual exploitation of a minor and receipt and distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. According to court documents, Blanco’s activities were discovered in March 2017 when the parents of a then six-year-old discovered the child had communicated with and created sexually explicit images at the request of another user on the social media application Musical.ly (now TikTok). Law enforcement investigators subsequently identified the offender as Blanco.

FRESNO  -   A federal grand jury returned an indictment today against Salvador Ortiz-Padilla, 24, of Fresno, charging him with possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl pills, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Sept. 22, 2021, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a residence of a suspected fentanyl-pill dealer, Ortiz-Padilla. During the search of the residence, agents found approximately 9,000 fentanyl pills hidden in a safe that Ortiz-Padilla controlled.

FRESNO - A jury found Lorenzo Amador, 23, of Mendota, guilty of one count of assault with a deadly weapon in aid of racketeering and one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Amador was a member of La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a violent criminal street gang that engages in racketeering activity, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and drug trafficking. On Aug. 12, 2018, Amador and fellow MS-13 members kicked, hit, and stabbed a member of a rival gang in the back with a knife, slicing his diaphragm and sending him to the emergency room where he had to have life-saving surgery.  

FRESNO - Ashley Michelle Hill, 33, of Coarsegold, was sentenced today to 11 years and three months in prison for selling heroin that resulted in the overdose death of another Coarsegold resident, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, on Aug. 22, 2019, Hill and Georgia Nicole Dean, 38, of Coarsegold, drove to the victim’s residence because he had contacted Dean asking for heroin. They arrived after midnight and met with the victim outside his residence on the street. Hill gave approximately .3 grams of heroin and a syringe to Dean, who then gave it to the victim. The victim died later that day as a result of using that heroin.

FRESNO -  William Lee Robinson, 40, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was arrested today after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging him with sending interstate threats with intent to extort, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to the indictment brought on Aug. 12, 2021, Robinson worked at a business in Fresno from June to November in 2017. After the business fired him, Robinson began sending threatening messages to his former supervisor and other coworkers in an attempt to extort them for money. These threats included graphic statements threatening to physically harm the supervisor’s daughter. Robinson made the threats because he wanted the company to pay him between $10,000 and $20,000.