Fresno, California - A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment Thursday against Carlos Villa-Lozano, 30, and Paulina Silva Aguilar, 32, both of Fresno, charging them with aiming the beam of a laser pointer at a California Highway Patrol aircraft, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Villa-Lozano was also charged separately with making false statements to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

San Francisco, California - A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned a superseding indictment charging Marcus Etienne, a.k.a. Hitler, Mario Robinson, and Burte Gucci Rhodes, a.k.a. Moeshawn, with murder-for-hire, a number of firearms and drug distribution offenses, and related crimes, announced United States Attorney Alex G. Tse, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett and Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Tara Sullivan.  Etienne and Robinson also are charged with racketeering conspiracy.

Sacramento, California - Lorene Deanda, 59, of Ceres, was arrested Tuesday on an indictment charging her with 10 counts of mail fraud and one count of conversion of Social Security benefit funds, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Deanda was charged by federal grand jury on December 6, 2018.

Fresno, California - Devone Johnson, 32, of Fresno, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to three years in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Co-defendant Anthony Thomas, 26, also of Fresno, was sentenced last week to two years and nine months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm.

Los Angeles, California - A Pasadena man who organized and directed a conspiracy to ship multi-kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine in airplane luggage from Los Angeles to Detroit was sentenced Monday to 162 months in federal prison.

Los Angeles, California - Rasheed Al Jijakli, 57, a Syrian-born naturalized U.S. citizen who resides in Walnut, California, was sentenced Thursday to 46 months in prison for his role in a scheme to smuggle rifle scopes and other tactical gear to Syria in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions imposed on Syria by the United States.