Including 'very unique and important' Rwandan case
Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Iowa charged more defendants this year than last year and noted a 19 percent jump in charges related to violent crime.
Those numbers indicate that cases are churning more quickly through the courts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “It was good year,” Deegan said. “We were up in violent crimes, which means we were doing a good job focusing on crimes that enhance public safety. In last 10 years, that puts 2017 in the top three.”
Deegan said the numbers are based on fiscal year 2017 — Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30 of this year.
The number of violent crime defendants rose from 90 to 107. That includes gun charges that, which increased 14 percent from 90 to 107.
More cases were tried this past fiscal year — 22 compared with 18 in fiscal year 2016.
The conviction rate was 97 percent conviction rate, Deegan said, up slightly from 96.5 percent last year.
More convicted defendants were sentenced to prison this year — 92.5 percent compared with 89 percent last year.
The office has several “talented” trial lawyers with years of experience who are aren’t “afraid to go to trial,” Deegan noted.
Plea agreements are reached in many cases, but 22 cases going to trial places 2017 among the top four years for that in the past decade, he said.
“I feel fortunate that we have competent and accomplished prosecutors,” said Deegan, who was appointed and confirmed in September as the top prosecutor. “The high conviction rate and more going to prison shows me we are prosecuting the right people.”
High-profile prosecutions this year include several fraud cases, which involved illegal immigration and targeting of the elderly, and ice methamphetamine trafficking rings.
A Rwandan, Gervais “Ken” Ngombwa, 56, who had lived in Cedar Rapids for many years, was sentenced in March to 15 years in prison after being convicted by a jury in January 2016 of four charges relating to immigration fraud.
Evidence at trial showed Ngombwa lied to authorities about family relationships in an attempt to get his application approved for relocation as a refugee in 1998 and to later obtain citizenship.
U.S. District Senior Judge Linda Reade also considered evidence that Ngombwa actively participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Reade, during sentencing, said she had “no doubt” that he was a leader in MDR-Power, a Hutu extremist political party that slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsi people.
Reade revoked Ngombwa’s U.S. citizenship after his conviction last year and canceled the naturalization certificate he obtained in 2004.
“The Ngombwa case was a very unique and important case,” Deegan said. “It also presented some significant challenges since much of the conduct at issue occurred years prior in Africa.”
Deegan said prosecutors on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Murphy and Ravi Narayan, received the Anti-Defamation League’s prestigious “Shield Award.”
Two cases involved groups of defendants targeting elderly in a fraud scheme. Four defendants have been convicted and trials are pending for six more, in a similar scheme.
The defendants would call elderly people and tell them a relative was in jail and needed bail money. They would get the victims to wire money to get the person out of jail.
The scammers also would send wire transfers to the Dominican Republic. Other money would be deposited in various bank accounts, according to court documents.
The four convicted were Carlos Rodriguez, 37, of Dubuque; Michael and Stephanie Marcov, ages 26 and 27, of Hazel Green, Wis.; and Shawn Vaassen, 21, of Dubuque.
“These scams are all too common in Iowa and throughout the United States,” Deegan said. “These scams make big money for perpetrators, often persons overseas. But the scams often depend on people in the United States who are willing to receive the money from victims.”
Twenty-two people were convicted and sentenced in a large ice methamphetamine and money-laundering conspiracy that started in 2013. Some received prison time of 20 and 30 years. Others received 10 or fewer years.
The group distributing the meth was from the Marshalltown area and was responsible for distributing hundreds of pounds of ice meth throughout Northern Iowa, according to evidence at trial and other court hearings.
Co-defendants returned cash from the sale of meth to Mexico, by wire transfer or by using cars to smuggle cash across the border, according to court documents. The investigation culminated May 9, 2016, with 29 search warrants executed in Iowa and Wisconsin. More than $250,000 in cash was seized, along with 6 pounds of meth and 14 firearms. The meth had a street value of $272,880.
l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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