Man Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Federal Prison for Transporting 14-Year-Old Girl That He Met on “My Space” from Virginia to Texas

Man Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Federal Prison for Transporting 14-Year-Old Girl That He Met on “My Space” from Virginia to Texas for Criminal Sexual Activity


Branden Tye Holden, of Kennesaw, Georgia, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 57 months in federal prison, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Holden, 19, pled guilty to one count of interstate transportation for criminal sexual activity in January 2009. Judge Cummings also ordered that Holden serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. Holden is presently in custody.

Holden admitted that he and Jane Doe, a 14-year-old girl who lived in Virginia, met on “My Space.” Although Doe was actually 14, her My Space profile identified her as a 17-year-old female. In telephone conversations, Holden and Doe discussed engaging in sexual relations with one another.

On Thursday, September 25, 2008, Holden left his home in Georgia and drove to Virginia to pick up Doe and bring her to Georgia. After her parents went to bed, she left the house and met Holden who was parked a block from her residence, at a park. The next day, Doe told Holden that she really was 15-years old. Holden then began driving from Virginia through North Carolina, South Carolina and into Georgia, stopping along the way at rest areas where they had sexual relations.

On September 26, 2008, while he was near Augusta, Georgia, Holden received a phone call from his mother who told him that he was being sought by law enforcement for kidnapping. His mother told him that the girl he was with was only 14-years-old and that he needed to go to Woodstock, Georgia, and turn himself into authorities. At that time, Holden and Jane Doe decided to head west.

On Monday, September 29, 2008, Holden was stopped by a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper in Crockett County, Texas, and was arrested. Jane Doe was with Holden.

Holden estimates that he engaged in sexual relations with Jane Doe approximately 10 times during his travels with her.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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Employment Agency Operator Convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Immigration Crimes

A jury in federal district court has returned a guilty verdict against LIANG YANG, 37, of Duluth, Georgia on charges of conspiring to transport, harbor and induce illegal aliens to remain in the United States. YANG was indicted on April 15, 2008 along with ten other employment agency owners and individuals who would transport the illegal workers to their jobs. He is the only defendant to go to trial. Defendants in three related cases are being sentenced on Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of today’s verdict, “Those who find employment for illegal immigrants are just as guilty under the law as those who employ illegal workers. In this case, the defendant found jobs for illegal immigrants as workers in Chinese restaurants as far away as New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The illegal aliens would work 10 and 12 hour days, six days a week, for less than minimum wage. The defendant profited from this exploitation of the immigration laws, but now he will pay the price with a prison sentence.”

Kenneth Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations in Atlanta, said, “ICE aggressively targets those who egregiously violate immigration laws by finding employment for an illegal alien workforce. This case demonstrates firsthand how ICE agents use our investigative tools to pursue those who take advantage of illegal labor and gain an unfair advantage in the business marketplace, all for personal profit.”

Greg Jones, FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge, said, “Today’s verdict demonstrates that the FBI, by working together in this investigation and similar investigations with our law enforcement partners, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and United States Postal Service, Atlanta, Georgia, can have a significant impact on the criminal element operating within our community and beyond. Although the employment agencies were based here in the Atlanta area, their placement of workers reached far beyond the state. This safe-haven for illegal workers has been dismantled as a result of this collective effort.”

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: The jury found YANG guilty on the sole count of conspiracy. Evidence at trial showed that employment agencies located at 3425 Chamblee Dunwoody Road were often one of the first stops for illegal Hispanic workers. The agencies were all run by Chinese individuals, some of whom were also illegally here. YANG was fluent in Spanish and two Chinese dialects and the testimony was that he served as the broker between the illegal workers and Chinese restaurants looking for cheap labor. In fact, the restaurants preferred more recent, less-experienced immigrants as they could pay these workers less money and they would not complain about the long hours or living conditions. YANG was able to place these illegal workers in jobs in Chinese restaurants and also provide the illegal worker transportation to the restaurant without any initial payment by the worker. The transportation fee and YANG’s commission would be paid up-front by the restaurant owner, who would then deduct that cost from the wages paid to the worker. YANG could make hundreds of dollars off the placement of each illegal worker. YANG had previously operated an employment agency at this same location in 2001-2002 and had established a reputation as a successful businessman and source of cheap labor. After the guilty verdict today, YANG was immediately taken into custody.

YANG could receive a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for July 8, 2009, at 10:30 before United States District Judge Timothy C. Batten. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE) Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) and Postal Inspectors with the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorneys Brian Pearce and Susan Coppedge are prosecuting the case.

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North Georgia Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Enticing a Child

KENNETH C. CHASE, 63, of Gainesville, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Thomas T. Thrash to serve over 15 years in federal prison on a charge of using a computer to attempt to entice a child for sexual activity.

“This case illustrates how important it is for law enforcement to be vigilant in investigating those who use the internet to express a willingness to sexually exploit children,” United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said.

CHASE was sentenced to 15 years, 8 months in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. On November 14, 2008, a federal jury convicted CHASE after a three-day trial.

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: In February 2008, an undercover FBI agent was approached by CHASE in an online chat room devoted to the topic of sex with children. Over the next several days, CHASE told the agent he wished to engage in sexual activities with the agent’s fictitious 11 year-old daughter. They arranged to meet in the parking lot of the Mall of Georgia, where CHASE said he wished to sexually assault the child. He told the agent he would bring a sunshade and blanket to hide the three of them from prying eyes while they engaged in sexual activity in his truck. He also told the agent he would bring liquor he might give the child. When CHASE arrived at the Mall of Georgia, he was arrested. Agents found a blanket, a sunshade, and butterscotch schnapps, on ice, in his truck. When interviewed, CHASE told agents he might have gone through with the sexual assault of the child.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney's Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI.

Assistant United States Attorney Francey Hakes prosecuted the case.

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Three Former Atlanta Police Officers Sentenced to Federal Prison in Fatal Shooting of Elderly Atlanta Woman

David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice; and Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that three former Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers were sentenced to prison today by Chief United States District Judge Julie E. Carnes on a charge of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death, arising from the fatal police shooting of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year old Atlanta woman, at her home during the execution of a search warrant obtained by the defendants based upon false information on November 21, 2006.

JASON R. SMITH, 36, of Oxford, Georgia, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. GREGG JUNNIER, 42, of Woodstock, Georgia, was sentenced to six years in federal prison. ARTHUR TESLER, 42, of Acworth, Georgia was sentenced to five years in federal prison. There is no parole in the federal system. Each defendant was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term, and collectively to pay $8,180 in restitution for the costs of Ms. Johnston’s funeral and burial.

In a brief news conference after the sentencing hearings, United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said in part, “As Atlanta police narcotics officers, these three defendants repeatedly failed to follow proper procedures and then lied under oath to obtain search warrants. Their routine violations of the Fourth Amendment led to the death of an innocent citizen. The death of Kathryn Johnson in a police shooting was a terrible tragedy for a law-abiding elderly woman, her family, and friends and our entire community. But as her family and others hoped, from this tragedy have come two positive results. First, it has led the Atlanta Police Department to implement useful reforms in training and supervision and to entirely revamp its Narcotics Unit, reducing the possibility of a similar tragedy in the future. Second, the significant prison sentences imposed by the Court today should send a strong message to other law enforcement officers who may be tempted to lie under oath or otherwise violate the law. Officers who think, as these defendants once did, that the ends justify the means or that ‘taking shortcuts' and telling lies will not be discovered and punished should realize that they are risking their careers and their liberty. And officers who try to obstruct justice when their misconduct faces exposure, rather than cooperating in the investigation, should realize that they will face even more severe punishment.”

In Washington D.C., Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King said, “The Justice Department is committed to vigorously prosecuting law enforcement officers who willfully disregard the Constitution and abuse their authority to violate the rights of others. This sort of unlawful behavior, resulting in Ms. Johnston's tragic death, undermines the efforts of law enforcement officers who honorably perform their duties.”

Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta, said, “This is a sad day in the law enforcement community. Few crimes are as reprehensible as those committed by police officers who violate the very laws they have sworn to uphold. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Johnston family, and we hope today's sentencing helps bring closure to this tragedy. Further, we want the public to know the FBI will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who violate their oaths of office and the civil rights of others.”

JUNNIER and SMITH pleaded guilty to the federal civil rights conspiracy charge, as well as voluntary manslaughter and related state charges in Fulton County ( Georgia) Superior Court, on April 26, 2007. Pursuant to their plea agreements, they are scheduled to be sentenced in state court on March 5, 2009, to the same sentence imposed in federal court, with the sentences to be served concurrently. TESLER initially declined to plead guilty and was indicted in state court on charges of violation of oath of office by a public officer, false imprisonment and false statements. In 2008, TESLER was convicted at trial in state court on the false statement charges, but that conviction has been reversed on appeal. Following the state trial, federal authorities re-evaluated TESLER’S case, conducted further investigation, and determined that federal prosecution of TESLER was appropriate. TESLER pleaded guilty to the federal charge on October 30, 2008.

JUNNIER began cooperating truthfully with authorities shortly after the federal investigation began and provided valuable assistance in the investigation and prosecution of SMITH and TESLER. Additionally, JUNNIER’S cooperation led to guilty pleas to federal charges by two additional APD officers, including a separate civil rights offense committed by the sergeant who commanded the narcotics team involved in the shooting. SMITH cooperated to a more limited extent. Both former officers provided information relevant to a broader FBI investigation of misconduct by APD narcotics and other officers, which culminated in a report provided by the FBI to APD Chief Richard Pennington in October 2008 for consideration of potential administrative discipline against other APD officers. As a result of their cooperation, the Court reduced JUNNIER’s sentence by 40 percent and SMITH’s sentence by 20 percent. TESLER did not provide substantial assistance in the investigation and received no sentence reduction on that ground, although his sentence was reduced based on his lesser role in the conspiracy.

The facts and other details regarding the case are set forth in the government’s Sentencing Memorandum attached to this release. (NEWS MEDIA NOTE: additional copies of the Sentencing Memorandum are available upon request.)

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Jon-Peter Kelly, United States Attorney David E. Nahmias, and Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Special Litigation Counsel Paige M. Fitzgerald prosecuted the case.

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