An Alabama company and its owner have been indicted on charges of illegally exporting sensitive military technology overseas, fraud involving aircraft parts, and submitting false documents to the government, Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Alice H. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

The five-count indictment, issued in the Northern District of Alabama, charges Axion Corporation, a defense contracting firm based in Huntsville, Ala., and its owner, Alexander Nooredin Latifi, 59, a resident of Huntsville.

"Keeping sensitive U.S. military technology from falling into the wrong hands is a top priority for the Justice Department," said Assistant Attorney General Wainstein. "This indictment and other recent illegal export prosecutions should serve as a warning to companies seeking to enhance their profits at the expense of America's national security." "No defense contractor can export an item on the United States Munitions List, to another country, without first obtaining a license from the Department of State. Critical technology, such as the bifilar weight assembly, will be protected through criminal law enforcement where violations are found," said Alice H. Martin, United States Attorney Northern District of Alabama.

According to the indictment, in September 2003 and continuing thereafter, Axion Corporation and Latifi knowingly and willfully exported defense articles, specifically technical drawings of the bifilar weight assembly for the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, to overseas manufacturers without first obtaining a required license and authorization from the State Department. By law, U.S. companies must obtain a State Department license or authorization before exporting defense articles.

The indictment also alleges that, on or about February 19, 2004, Axion Corporation and Latifi made a fraudulent representation to the U.S. Army concerning an aircraft part in connection with a military contract. Specifically, the defendants represented to the U.S. Army that certain parts were provided by Tungsten Products of Madison, Alabama, when that company was not the supplier.

Further, on or about January 2004, Axion Corporation and Latifi knowingly submitted a false document to the government in connection with a military contract involving a tank part. Specifically, the defendants submitted "First Article Test Reports" which falsely stated that Industrial Fabrications Co., Inc., had conducted testing, when the defendants knew that the test reports were false and the testing had not taken place before a specific date.

Counts four and five of the indictment seek forfeiture of any assets and property derived from the offenses alleged in the indictment, including real property at 317 Nick Fitchard Road, NW Huntsville, Alabama, where Axion Corporation is located, as well as $659,280 and all interest and proceeds derived therefrom.

The maximum penalty for exporting defense articles without a license is ten years imprisonment, a fine of $1,000,000 or both, and a term of supervised release of three years. The maximum penalty for fraud is fifteen years imprisonment, a fine of not more than $500,000, or both, and a term of supervised release of three years. The maximum penalty for filing false documents is five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both, and a term of three years supervised release. This investigation was conducted by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Inspector General; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS); Army Criminal Investigation Division; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David H. Estes, Angela Redmond Debro, and James D. Ingram from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama, as well as Trial Attorney Mariclaire Rourke from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government's burden to prove a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

A Milan woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Jackson on bank fraud and income tax evasion charges, according to a Friday release from David Kustoff, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

Donna L. Hardy, 48, of Milan, was charged with 12 counts of bank fraud and five counts of income tax evasion in a sealed indictment returned on Tuesday.
 
She made her initial court appearance on Wednesday, the release said.

According to the indictment, Hardy was employed by The Dedmon Company as a bookkeeper until it merged with Milan Box Corp. in March of 2002.
Hardy then was employed by Milan Box as a plant accountant. The indictment charges that from March 25, 2002 until around December 17, 2004, Hardy devised a scheme to defraud the former Union Planter's National Bank, now called Regions Bank.

Prosecutors said Hardy did not close bank accounts that belonged to Dedmon upon the merger of the two companies as she was instructed to do.

Instead, Hardy transferred funds from Milan Box accounts into the bank accounts belonging to Dedmon that were supposed to have been closed, the indictment said.

Hardy then transferred funds from this account to her personal bank accounts. The indictment lists more than $232,000 in fraudulent transfers from Milan Box accounts to Dedmon accounts.

In addition, the indictment charges Hardy with five counts of income tax evasion for the years 2000 through 2004.

According to the indictment, Hardy did not report over $250,000 in income on her federal income tax returns filed for these years. This resulted in a tax loss to the government of over $58,000.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation.

Los Angeles got just a half-inch of rain this month, indicating that the city was experiencing the driest rain year on record, the National Weather Service reported Sunday.

The .05 inches that fell in March is more than 3 inches below the average March rainfall of 3.14 inches.

This rain season, which begins in July, is currently the driest downtown since records began to be kept in 1877, according to the Weather Service.

This was largely due to global warming which pushes up temperatures and leads to rising sea levels, said scientists.

Since July 1, downtown has received just 2.47 inches of rain --nearly a foot, or 11.47 inches below the normal precipitation to date, which is 13.94 inches.

To date, only 18 percent of normal rainfall has fallen. If downtown receives less than 1.95 inches of rain through June 30, it will become the driest rain season ever for the area, beating the 4.42 inches of rain that fell in 2001-02.

Average rainfall begins to drop off sharply in Los Angeles in April, when the average is .83 inches. In May, average rainfall drops to .31 inches, and .06 inches in June.

Los Angeles averages 15.14 inches of rain a year.  

A production vehicle derived from the concept will be in showrooms by the end of the year, Nissan says. "In reality, the EX Concept is a very real preview of an all-new luxury crossover that's inspired by coupe design, which is set to arrive at Infiniti retailers nationwide by the end of calendar year 2007".

Anticipated to be available on the production version as "world's first technologies," the EX Concept showcases two innovative features: Around View Monitor (AVM) and Lane Departure Prevention (LDP).

Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, criticized the plea as an "to silence criticism and keep the facts of their torture and abuse of detainees from the public." Hicks is the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried under the new Military Commissions Act. Hicks' conviction is also the first by the tribunal.

U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani found that Kalymon served in the 5th Commissariat (later designated the 7th) of the Nazi-operated Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP) during World War II, in the city of L’viv. (That city, now in western Ukraine, was part of Poland until 1939.) The judge concluded that the 5th/7th Commissariat, along with other armed L’viv UAP units and other forces, rounded up Jews, shot Jews, prevented Jews from escaping, and transferred Jews to forced labor camps or killing sites for mass execution. Judge Battani further found, largely on the basis of captured wartime reports, that Kalymon shot Jews during these roundups. More than 100,000 Jews in L’viv were killed or displaced between 1942 and 1943 in part as a result of actions by the UAP in which Kalymon participated, according to Judge Battani.

Assistant Attorney General Fisher said, “The court’s ruling confirms that individuals who participated in genocide will not be permitted to retain the privilege of American citizenship.”

Kalymon entered the United States from Germany in 1949 and became a U.S. citizen in 1955. Judge Battani found that he was not eligible for citizenship because his service to Nazi Germany made him ineligible to immigrate to the U.S. She specifically found that he was ineligible to immigrate because Kalymon “assisted in the persecution of civil populations,” “advocated or acquiesced in activities or conduct contrary to civilization and human decency,” and lied about his UAP service when he applied for a visa to the U.S.

“Irrefutable evidence, including a handwritten report prepared by Kalymon in which he accounted to his superiors for ammunition he expended in shooting Jews, proved his participation in Nazi genocide. It has taken 62 long years, but history has at last caught up with John Kalymon,” said Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Director Eli M. Rosenbaum. OSI investigated the case and prosecuted it, in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The case was tried in Detroit last fall by OSI senior trial attorneys Jeffrey L. Menkin, William H. Kenety V, and Todd Schneider. The proceedings to denaturalize Kalymon were instituted in 2004 by OSI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Attorney General Gonzales was also joined in today's roundtable by the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Director, Massachusetts State Police Captain Tom Kerle, and other members of the Project Safe Childhood initiative for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Launched in May 2006, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.

Last year, the Department of Justice prosecuted 1,543 cases involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of children. To ensure maximum prison sentences for sexual predators in Massachusetts, the U.S. Attorney's Office provides training for local prosecutors about federal laws and sentences and works collaboratively with District Attorneys and the Massachusetts Attorney General to refer appropriate cases for federal prosecution. As a result, the U.S. Attorney's Office has seen a 300% increase in referred cases, including cases from Plymouth, Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk Counties. The prosecution of child exploitation cases has been a long held priority of U.S. Attorney Sullivan. In 2002, four years prior to the national launch of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney's Office created a position and hired an experienced, specially trained prosecutor to be dedicated solely to the prosecution of child exploitation cases. The number of child exploitation prosecutions has consistently increased—from five in 2000 to 18 in 2006.

"Nothing is more important than protecting our children from predators," said U.S. Attorney Sullivan. "The U.S. Attorney's Office and our federal, state and local law enforcement partners are committed to doing whatever we can—through enforcement and educational outreach—to provide that protection. Child predators should not to be lulled into thinking they are safe from law enforcement detection by the perceived anonymity of the Internet. We will find you and use every resource at our disposal to ensure you won't harm again."

Project Safe Childhood partners for the District of Massachusetts include: the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force; Massachusetts Attorney General's Office; Plymouth County District Attorney's Office; Essex County District Attorney's Office; Suffolk County District Attorney's Office; Middlesex County District Attorney's Office; the Massachusetts State Police; the FBI; ICE; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and U.S. Secret Service.

In addition to participating in the law enforcement roundtable, Attorney General Gonzales also unveiled a new series of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) regarding online sexual exploitation. The ads, which were developed jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and the Ad Council, are designed to educate teenage girls about the potential dangers of posting and sharing personal information online. The Think Before You Post campaign reminds teens that anything you post online, anyone can see, family, friends and even not-so-friendly people.

Popular social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Sconex make it easier for teens to post and share personal information, pictures, and videos, which may make them more vulnerable to online predators. Teenage girls are particularly at risk of online sexual exploitation. A recent study by University of New Hampshire researchers for NCMEC found that of the approximately one in seven youth who received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet, 70 percent were girls.http://www.missingkids.com

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about the Think Before You Post campaign, please visit http://www.cybertipline.com