Press Release
For Immediate Release
July 31, 2009
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691


FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending July 31, 2009

1. Charlotte: Seven Charged with Terrorism Violations in North Carolina

Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad. The indictment alleges that the defendants prepared themselves to engage in violent jihad and were willing to die as martyrs. They also allegedly offered training in weapons and financing, and helped arrange overseas travel and contacts so others could wage violent jihad overseas. Full Story

2. Washington Field Office: James Von Brunn Indicted for Attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a seven-count indictment charging James Wenneker Von Brunn, 89, of Annapolis, Md., with the murder of Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns and related hate crime and gun charges for his alleged attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009. Full Story

3. Buffalo: FBI Announces Arrests involving an Illegal Narcotics Trafficking Organization

Twenty-two federal arrest warrants and 15 federal search warrants were executed in connection with an illegal narcotics trafficking organization. As evidenced by the locations of the search warrants, this was a wide ranging drug trafficking operation that reached across Erie and Niagara County borders into neighboring communities. Law enforcement officers seized 14 weapons, illegal drugs including cocaine and marijuana, $15,000 in cash, and approximately 10 vehicles. Full Story

4. Houston: Medicare Fraud Strike Force Operations Lead to Charges Against 32 Doctors and Health Care Executives

Thirty-two people have been indicted for schemes to submit more than $16 million in false Medicare claims in the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The Strike Force in Houston is the fourth phase of a targeted criminal, civil, and administrative effort against individuals and health care companies that fraudulently bill the Medicare program. Full Story

5. Newark: Six Mortgage Industry Insiders Charged by FBI and IRS

Daniel Verdia, Don Apolito, Jaye Miller, and Chrystal Paling were arrested and Robert Gorman and Philip Blanch surrendered in connection with a mortgage fraud scam operated out of an office in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. The six defendants are each charged with one count of wire fraud, in a joint investigation between the FBI and IRS titled “Operation Follow The Money.â€