A Chelsea, Mass., woman pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiring to engage in a child prostitution scheme, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division; United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts; Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in New England; Edward Davis, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; and Colonel Mark Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today.

Evelyn Diaz, 22, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to an indictment charging her with one count of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme, two counts of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution, and three counts of sex trafficking of children. Diaz was arrested on Friday, July 7, 2006.

As part of the plea agreement, Diaz admitted that between approximately July 2003 and May 2005, she operated an escort service that advertised in multiple publications and websites, and sent individuals—including minors—on prostitution calls in and around Boston. Diaz primarily operated the business out of her home in Chelsea. In addition, Diaz at times traveled to other states for the purpose of having individuals—including minors—engage in commercial sex. Diaz kept all or part of the money obtained for the sex acts performed.

Diaz also admitted that in July of 2003, she transported Minor A and Minor B, ages 15 and 13 respectively, to New York City to engage in prostitution. Diaz arranged this meeting through her business, paid for the hotel, supplied condoms and received the money paid by the callers.

Judge Saris scheduled sentencing for April 27, 2007. Diaz faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on the transportation of a minor charges; a 40 year maximum sentence on two of the sex trafficking of children charges; and a maximum life sentence on the third sex trafficking charge.

A charge of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme is still pending against Diaz’s co-defendant, Victor Diaz, 23, of East Boston, Mass.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Gershengorn in Sullivan’s Major Crimes Unit, and Wendy Waldron, Trial Attorney for the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

This case is part of the Innocence Lost Initiative, a cooperative effort to prevent and prosecute child prostitution between the FBI, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Last week, Sacramento mother of three Jennifer Strange entered a radio contest on KDND to try to win a Wii console.  The contest involved drinking large amounts of water. Strange later died of water intoxication.

Sacramento attorney Roger Dreyer told Sacramento Bee, “There isn’t going to be a settlement. There’s going to be a venting in a public forum. That’s what we want, and that’s what the family wants.”

He said the radio station had been “pushing an irresponsible, ill-advised contest” and would be named in the suit alongside employees directly responsible for the promo. He added that Nintendo “might” be named but only if they played a part in the promo.

Although Nintendo has not issued a statement about the tragedy, it seems highly unlikely that the company would knowingly involve itself in such a bad stunt.

"Pfizer has created and contributed to the perception of Viagra as a safe, sexy, lifestyle, recreational drug, to be frequently used regardless of the degree, or even existence of" erectile dysfunction, the group said in draft legal documents.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, said it was committed to appropriate Viagra use and urged men to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis. The drug is sold by prescription.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in its legal arguments, pointed to several Viagra promotions from recent years, including a 2005 newspaper ad that featured a smiling man asking, "What are you doing on New Year's Eve?"

Another ad that ran near the 2006 Super Bowl urged men to "Be this Sunday's MVP" and ask their doctors about Viagra.

Pfizer's Viagra website asks readers, "Want to improve your sex life?" and says the drug can help men who have erection difficulties "once in a while."

Healthcare foundation president Michael Weinstein said the promotions made Viagra sound like a "party drug" that can make sex more pleasurable for healthy men -- a claim the Food and Drug Administration has not approved.

Men in the ads also look much younger than Pfizer's earlier Viagra pitchman, former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, who is now 83, he said.

"Bob Dole has been replaced by the hunky 40-something guy who looks like he can really have a good time," Weinstein said in an interview. "The message they are sending out is that any and every male should take it," he said.

Studies show evidence of recreational Viagra use among men who have sex with men, sometimes to overcome the erection-inhibiting effects of alcohol or street drugs such as ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said.

The group asked Pfizer repeatedly to alter its ads, Weinstein said.

In 2004, the FDA objected to a television commercial suggesting Viagra could return a man to the "wild thing" of his younger days. The FDA said the ad, showing a man sprouting devilish horns, made an unproven claim that men could regain a youthful level of sexual desire. Pfizer halted that campaign.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation's lawsuit, to be filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks that Pfizer be prohibited from running similar messages and ordered to fund awareness ads about sexually transmitted disease risks and Viagra.

The suit also requests that Pfizer turn over profits gained from misleading ads and pay the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's costs of treating AIDS and other illnesses linked to Viagra use.

California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation runs AIDS clinics in the United States, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia that provide medical care and services to more than 53,000 people even if they cannot pay.

Pfizer spokeswoman Shreya Prudlo said the company was not aware of the lawsuit. She said Pfizer "has always been committed to safe and appropriate use of Viagra" and that the drug's label and promotions stated "Viagra does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV."

Sales of Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, reached $1.6 billion worldwide in 2005.

Vioxx manufacturer Merck Pharmaceuticals, which withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes, claimed that the men's heart problems were caused by pre-existing coronary heart disease, and not the drug. After the mistrial was declared, Merck announced that the plaintiffs did not prove their cases, and that they were ready to defend against the allegations if they were brought fourth again. As of the end of last November, Merck faced 27,200 lawsuits over Vioxx and another 265 potential state-based class-action lawsuits. A federal judge rejected national class-action lawsuits in federal court early in November.

The Mountain View, Calif., maker of controller chips for PCs and LCD monitors has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple (AAPL), claiming the IT giant has been unfairly using Opti technology in its Macintosh line and its Xserve servers.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Apple used Opti-patented "predictive snooping" technology, which involves the transfer of data from a PCI bus controller to a PCI master bus. This piece of technology helps shorten the delay in data transfer within a microprocessor.

"The complaint alleges that Apple has infringed the patents by making, selling and offering for sale desktop and portable computers and servers incorporating Predictive Snooping," Opti said in a statement.

The lawsuit was nearly identical to one Opti filed against Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in November. The three U.S. Patent numbers referenced in the two lawsuits were also the same: 5,710,906; 5,813,036; and 6,405,291.

All three patents refer to "Predictive Snooping of Cache Memory for Master-Initiated Accesses."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Jan. 18. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the Opti statement.

Paul and D.J. Zweigle, who lost their beloved two-year-old daughter Lynnea when a Ford F-250 truck backed over and killed her, today called upon the automotive industry to install rear camera systems and sensors in commercial trucks and large vans, pickup trucks and SUVs to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries each year that result from backover crashes.

On the morning of November 8, 2005, Mrs. Zweigle was preparing to take her six year-old son, Kaleb, to his art class, along with her two other young children, four year-old Jacob and Lynnea who was twenty-two months-old. The children were playing in the open yard in front of the house and immediately adjacent to the driveway.

Mrs. Zweigle went inside to retrieve a blanket and sippy cup from the house. During that time, a driver from a local trash company, Double J Disposal, Inc., drove up the Zweigle’s driveway and loaded their trash into the back of his Ford F-250 pickup truck.

The truck had a significant blind zone and lacked a rear video camera or any other devices, such as sensors, to alert the driver to the presence of individuals immediately behind the truck.

While backing up to turn around and leave the driveway, the vehicle struck Lynnea, causing her to fall to the ground, and then continued to back up and run over her. Her brother, Kaleb, saw the accident occur and immediately began to scream. Mrs. Zweigle ran out of the house to find Lynnea’s body lying in the driveway. Lynnea Zweigle died in her driveway of massive cranial cerebral injuries.

"Lynnea was a happy child who loved life and playing with her older brothers. No compensation will ever remedy the pain and loss that our family has suffered from the death of our beloved daughter," stated Paul and D.J. Zweigle. "We wish to honor Lynnea by bringing to the public’s attention that scores of children each year across America are needlessly killed and injured in backover incidents."

In a report issued to Congress in November 2006 by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), the agency estimated, relying on 1998 data, that backover crashes involving all vehicle types cause at least 183 fatalities annually, with many of victims being children. In addition, between 6,700 and 7,419 injuries result from backover crashes per year.

Based on its research, the non-profit organization KIDS AND CARS states that "every year, thousands of children are hurt or die because a driver backing up didn't see them." Most of the victims are less than two years old, and over 60% of the tragedies involved a larger size vehicle such a truck, van or SUV. While backover incidents can happen in any vehicle because all vehicles have a blind zone, KIDS AND CARS notes that larger vehicles tend to have larger blind zones.

"Several technologies exist which can help reduce backover accidents," stated Paul and D.J. Zweigle. "We call upon the automotive industry to make rear video cameras and sensors standard equipment on commercial trucks and large vans, pickups and SUVs to stop this national tragedy. Companies that have purchased these vehicles should immediately undertake measures to improve the safety of their vehicles."

In litigation against Double J Disposal, Inc., which was resolved in December 2006, the Zweigles asked the trash company to install a rear video camera system on all of their trucks. To date, the company has agreed to install a rear video camera on the vehicle that killed their beloved daughter and the family continues to seek additional safety measures. “We call upon Double J Disposal to install rear video camera systems or other backup safety devices on all of their trucks,” stated Paul Zweigle.

Wendy R. Fleishman, a partner at the national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, which represented the Zweigles, commented, "I applaud the Zweigles for their courage and determination to raise the public’s awareness of backover incidents involving children. If all companies agreed to install safety systems on all of their large vehicles, millions of children nationwide would no longer be at risk of being the victim of a backover crash."

“We know young children are impulsive and have poor or no appreciation of risks obvious to adults,” stated attorney Fabrice N. Vincent of Lieff Cabraser. “Every life is precious and automobile and truck makers, owners and operators should take action now to stop scores of toddlers from being killed year after year simply because they were in the blind zone of large vehicles.”

To learn more about the dangers of backover accidents and ways to avoid them, please visit www.kidsandcars.org or www.vehicle-injuries.com/backoveraccident.htm.

WASHINGTON – Former Congressman Robert W. Ney has been sentenced to 30 months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release and fined $6,000, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

Ney, 52, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, before Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who also ordered the defendant to serve 100 hours of community service for each year of supervised release.

Ney pleaded guilty on October 13, 2006, to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy to commit multiple offenses – including honest services fraud, making false statements, and violations of his former chief of staff’s one-year lobbying ban – and with making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives. The named co-conspirators in the charges to which Ney pleaded guilty include Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy, and Ney’s former chief of staff Neil Volz. All have previously pleaded guilty in this investigation and are cooperating with law enforcement officials.

“Today’s sentence makes it clear that our government is not for sale. Former Congressman Ney now faces 30 months in prison for abusing his position of trust as a representative of the American people,” said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. “The Justice Department will continue to pursue and prosecute public officials who compromise the integrity of elected office for private benefit.”

“The foundation of good government rests on the leap of faith Americans take that our public officials act in our interests. When an elected official violates that faith through the illegal exploitation of public office for personal gain, confidence in government suffers,” said Assistant Director Chip Burrus of the Criminal Investigative Division, FBI. “Most public servants are law abiding and honest and I want to emphasize that point, but when an official chooses to sell his integrity as we see here today, the FBI stands ready to work with our partners and restore the confidence in government to which Americans are entitled.”

Ney was a Congressman representing the 18th District of Ohio from 1995 through the present. In 2001, Ney became chairman of the House Committee on Administration, a position he held until January 2006. Ney admitted that he engaged in a conspiracy beginning in approximately 2000 and continuing through April 2004, wherein he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of things of value from Abramoff, Abramoff’s lobbyists, and a foreign businessman, in exchange for agreeing to take and taking official action to benefit Abramoff, his clients, and the foreign businessman.

Specifically, Ney admitted that he corruptly solicited and accepted things of value from Abramoff and his lobbyists – including international and domestic trips, meals and drinks, concert and sporting tickets and tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and in-kind contributions such as free fundraisers – with the intent to be influenced and induced to take official actions. Ney admitted that the actions he agreed to take, and took, to benefit Abramoff, his lobbyists and their clients, included opposing legislation at Abramoff’s request, the insertion of statements into the Congressional Record at Scanlon’s request, and supporting an application of a license for a contract to install wireless telephone infrastructure in the House of Representatives.

Ney also admitted that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars worth of gambling chips from a foreign businessman who was hoping to sell U.S.-made airplanes and airplane parts in a foreign country. Ney agreed to help the businessman with obtaining an exemption to the U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of these goods to the foreign country and with obtaining a visa to travel to the United States. Ney also admitted conspiring to aid and abet violations of the federal one-year lobbying ban by his former chief of staff Neil Volz. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Mary K. Butler, M. Kendall Day and James A. Crowell IV of the Public Integrity Section. The case was investigated by a task force of federal agents including special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General, the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Criminal Investigation branch of the Internal Revenue Service. The investigation has received assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The broader investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff is being conducted by federal agents from the above-named agencies as well as prosecutors in the Public Integrity and Fraud Sections of the Criminal Division and prosecutors in the Criminal Tax Section of the Tax Division.