HAMMOND- Varnell Dixon, 24, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge James T. Moody to 60 months imprisonment following his guilty plea to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Bell.

According to documents in the case, on December 28, 2019, Dixon was driving a rented vehicle speeding eastbound on Interstate 80/94. At the time, he possessed a fully loaded Glock nine millimeter firearm, four bags of marijuana, some of which he intended to distribute, and $323.00 in small bills. Upon being pursued by the Indiana State Police, Dixon attempted to elude the police at a high rate of speed and ultimately exited onto the Cline Avenue ramp. Dixon lost control of the vehicle, causing it to leave the roadway and roll over several times. Dixon was thrown from the vehicle and arrested by police.

This case was the result of the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Gang Response Investigative Team and the Indiana State Police. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria N. Lerner and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Cooley.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – A 45-year-old Houston man has been sent to prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million following his convictions on five separate counts of sex trafficking involving adults and minors, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

A Houston federal jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting David Mearis Oct. 18, 2019, following three days of trial.

Today, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt sentenced Mearis to life in federal prison on each count to run concurrently. He was further ordered to pay $921,680 in restitution to the victims.

At the hearing, the court heard additional information including excerpts from victim impact statements two of the victims had prepared. “Many days I thought might be my last, being beat as if not human,” said one woman. “I ask that you ensure that no other human has to be subject to the threat of Mr. Mearis. He has created distress and trauma to one too many women and I how we are the last victims of his destructive mind.” Another victim called Mearis the “Devil. I was fearing for my life not knowing how to escape the humiliation that was going on. I have been mentally and physically abused,” she said.

“David Mearis was a career pimp who abused, controlled, and exploited his victims. He stooped to a new kind of low by taking advantage of one of the girls who had a learning disability and the mental capacity of a child,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner. “Mearis wasn’t the caretaker he wanted the court or his prey to believe. He was a dangerous predator who saw his victims not as girls or women, but a money-making commodity.”

At trial, the jury heard evidence that spanned from approximately 2007 – 2016. Four victims testified about how they each met Mearis while still teenagers and how he won them over with gifts and kindness before using threats, sexual abuse and physical force to compel them into prostitution.

The jury heard Mearis knew what he was doing and that he lived off the backs of these young women and girls. The government described how Mearis exerted constant control over the female victims. At today’s hearing, the court heard Mearis trafficked one victim for eight years, during which she “endured his reign of terror.”

One girl began a relationship with Mearis, then 32, when she was 17 after

she had run away from her Oakland, California, home. Another victim was only 15 when she met Mearis, then 34. Both of these girls considered Mearis their boyfriend in the earlier stages of their relationships but were eventually forced to engage in commercial sex in north Houston. One testified that they had to engage in these acts daily and at all times of the day.

Another victim, 14, encountered Mearis, then 41, and eventually ran away to live with him after they met on MocoSpace. She testified he had sexually assaulted her twice while she was with him in 2016.

Testimony revealed Mearis had put at least two of the girls on a peanut butter diet in order to fatten them up for the purpose of working as his prostitute. Evidence also showed text messages between Mearis and several victims demonstrating his constant control over their activities, including during the sex dates themselves. He controlled where they went, what they wore, what they ate and with whom they engaged in commercial sex. The jury saw commercial sex advertisements Mearis created for two of the victims and heard evidence about numerous times Mearis had accessed Backpage, a site formerly used for the purpose of advertising people for sexual activity. He also had bonded one of the victims out of jail at least twice after she was arrested for engaging commercial sex.

Some victims testified Mearis perpetrated acts of violence upon them, from slapping them across the face to being bound and gagged. They reported multiple instances in which they feared physical retaliation if they did not comply with demands, did not do as instructed or perform sexual acts as required. One victim described violence she experienced at the hands of Mearis following her release from jail.

At one point, when the girls were not making enough money, Mearis made one of them participate in a bank robbery. When it did not go exactly as he had planned, he berated her, calling her stupid, among other things.

That victim also described how she had virtually no relationships with anyone outside Mearis’ circle. He had taken her ID, would not let her drive or even use the phone. She was brought to tears multiple times on the stand. In one instance, she described that when her grandfather passed away, Mearis would not let her go unless he went with her. In trying to find the right word to describe the experience, she testified she felt “kidnapped” at the time and called him in court a “threat to young women.” “I felt like I had met the devil,” she said.

When she had eventually made it back to family in California after seeking help from Houston authorities, Mearis contacted her and threatened to call the police about her actions and the bank robbery if she did not return.

Another victim described how Mearis had hog-tied her and that he made her find other women for him. The jury heard Mearis had put a sock in her mouth, a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

Evidence and testimony further established Mearis caused Supplemental Security Income benefits, intended for one of the victims, be directed to him. That victim had been diagnosed with mental retardation at an early age. Mearis himself described her as having the “mental capacity of a child” and could not do the simplest of tasks without constant supervision and instruction.

The defense implied the victims only implicated Mearis to avoid prosecution for their actions. The defense attempted to portray Mearis as simply a loving boyfriend who provided protection while the girls voluntarily engaged in commercial sex. However, testimony revealed the victims had to turn over the monies they earned for sexual acts directly to Mearis.

The jury did not believe the defense claims and found him guilty as charged.

He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The Houston Police Department, Texas Attorney General’s Office and FBI conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA).

Established in 2004, the United States Attorney’s office in Houston formed the HTRA to combine resources with federal, state and local enforcement agencies and prosecutors, as well as non-governmental service organizations to target human traffickers while providing necessary services to those that the traffickers victimized. Since its inception, HTRA has been recognized as a national model in identifying and assisting victims of human trafficking and prosecuting those engaged in trafficking offenses.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sherri Zack and Sebastian Edwards prosecuted the case.

MOBILE, ALABAMA – United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced that United States District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock sentenced defendant Jerald Sells, 62, to 40 years imprisonment after a federal jury found him guilty at trial in September 2020 on charges in a child exploitation case. As part of his sentence, the judge ordered that the defendant receive mental health and sex offender treatment as directed by the U.S. Probation Office, register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, pay special assessments totaling $10,200, and have no contact with minors. The judge further ordered that Sells be supervised by federal probation officers for 25 years after finishing his prison term.

On June 24, 2020, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama indicted Sells on one count of transporting minors across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of aggravated sexual abuse for crossing of a state line with intent to engage in a sexual act with a child under the age of twelve.

The jury heard two days of evidence during the trial, which began on September 28, 2020. According to the evidence introduced at trial, a child victim was abused for years by the defendant. The victim testified at trial that Sells had sexually abused her many times over the course of several years, including during one of his trucking trips from Alabama to Ohio, and back again. The defendant was employed as a long-haul trucker.

In April 2019, the victim disclosed the abuse to a school counselor. The counselor immediately contacted police. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office investigated the offense. During an interview with law enforcement, the defendant confessed to the abuse.

The jury also heard from a second child victim, who was abused by the defendant in Sells’s home in Mobile.

The victim wrote to the Court before today’s sentencing hearing. She described how the defendant’s abuse had irreparably altered her life.

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Kacey Chappelear prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

PORTLAND, OR – On January 10, 2021, at 7:02 p.m., officers from the North Precinct responded to a shooting that occurred at a vigil in the 4500 block of Northeast 125th Place. Officers arrived and learned that two people had been shot while attending a vigil for someone who had recently passed away. The two victims, one male adult and one female adult, were transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers found two apartments and a vehicle that had been struck by gunfire. Over 20 casings were recovered at the scene.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Portland Police at 503-823-3333 and reference case #21-9101.

Crime Stoppers of Oregon offers cash rewards of up to $2,500 cash for information, reported to Crime Stoppers, that leads to an arrest in any unsolved felony crime and tipsters can remain anonymous.

Visit the App Store and download P3 Tips to submit secure and anonymous tips.

PORTLAND, OREGON —A Beavercreek, Oregon man has been arrested and charged for discharging a firearm into the Hatfield Federal Courthouse on January 8, 2021, announced U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams.

Cody Melby, 39, has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of government property.

According to the complaint, at approximately 7:35pm on January 8, Melby allegedly jumped over a security fence at the Hatfield Courthouse and, using a 9mm handgun, fired several rounds into the building’s exterior. Two courthouse security officers exited the building and approached Melby after observing him on a closed-circuit security camera. Melby told the officers he had a gun and the officers placed him in handcuffs without further incident.

Federal Protective Service officers dispatched to the scene located five spent 9mm bullet casings, three spent bullets, three bullet holes in plywood affixed to the building’s stone columns, and damage to the metal soffit above the building’s main entrance.

Melby will make his first appearance in federal court today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Portland.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Protective Service and FBI. It is being prosecuted by Paul Maloney, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Criminal complaints are only accusations of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.