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United States of America v. Pitshou Yunga Kafuku ,
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with check fraud. <center><h2> <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/*/lawyers/*/criminal_defense.asp"target="_new"><h2>Click Here For The Best * Criminal Defense Lawyer Directory</h2></a></font></center> Pitshou Yunga Kafuku, 43, of Millcreek, Utah, ran a check fraud scheme between 2022–2025, stealing upwards of $1.7 million from banks with the help of a small network of African expats. Between 2022 and 2025,
View VerdictJeffrey Christensen v. Courtney Jessica Christensen
Salt Lake City, Utah family law lawyers represented the parties in a divorce action. Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> After some twelve years of marriage, Jeffrey Christensen and Courtney Jessica Christensen divorced. They were able to agree on the terms of their separation, and these terms were incorporated into the divorce decree subsequently issued by the district court (the Decree). In
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Marcus Kentral Brown
St. George, Utah, criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendant charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(A)(1). Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> On July 13, 2021, Marcus Kentral Brown, 44, of Chicago, Illinois, was pulled over by a Utah Highway Patrol Trooper. Brown, the driver and sole occupant of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, stated he was tra
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Jawuan Donte Thomas
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2113(a). Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> Jawuan Donte Thomas attempted to rob a bank ATM in Riverton, Utah. Thomas admitted that prior to the attempted robbery, he and two co-conspirators jammed the ATM, knowing it would cause the machine to malfunction and require the
View VerdictState of Utah v. Featheston
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendant charged with aggravated kidnapping based on an unlawful detention. Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> The power to define crimes and fix their penaltiesis the “prerogative of the legislature.” State v. Tapp, 490P.2d334, 336 (Utah 1971). At the time Featherston was resentenced,the legislature h
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Jevaunte Reese
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with bank rubbery by force or violence in violation of 18 U.S.C.2113(a). Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> On September 11, 2024, Taylorsville Police Department and special agents from the FBI responded to the Mountain America Credit Union in Taylorsville, Utah, for an ATM robbery. Upon arrival, law enforcement spo
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Robert Sutherland Maclean
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged withabusive sexual contact while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2244(b) and 2246(3), and 49 U.S.C. § 46506. Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> Robert Sutherland Maclean, sexually assaulted W.J. on flight. W.J. called the Salt Lake City Police Department and
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Jennifer Joma and Lauren Kelsey Morrow
Salt Lake City, Utah criminal defense lawyers represent the Defendants charged with helping an illegal alien evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest. Reported by: <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> Jennifer Joma, 27, and Lauren Kelsey Morrow, 26, both of Logan, Utah, were working at the Logan City Municipal Justice Court in Logan when an ICE Enforcement and Removal Officer (ICE-ERO) ent
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Christopher J. Ashby, et al.
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with mail and wire fraud. Reported by <a href="https://www.morelaw.com/vendors/vendor.asp?f=Kent&l=Morlan&i=28729&z=74119&s=OK" target="_new">Kent Morlan</a> Christopher J. Ashby, age 52, and others participated in a nationwide scheme to defraud victims out of more than $30 million by inducing them to invest in Noah’s Event Centers and promising impressive long-term financial returns. Jordan S. Nelson, 45,
View VerdictState of Utah v. Kouri Richins
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendant charged with aggravated murder. Reported by Kent Morlan Kouri Richins was accused of poisoning her husband to get his wealth and to get insurance money on a $100,000 life insurance policy she purchased. The prosecution asserted that Kouri killed Eric for his money because her business was failing. The called 911 and did not use the speaker when she was allegedly performing CPR on her husband. Eric Richins w
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Devin Michael Tew
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with unlawful possession of drug-manufacturing paraphernalia. By Kent Morlan Devin Michael Tew, 40, of West Jordan, Utah, operated an illegal online business via his website poppyseedwash.com. More specifically, he sold “PoppySeed Wash” kits to customers who wanted to get high off the opium coatings on specially sourced poppy seeds that could be made into an opioid-rich tea. Each of the “PoppySeed Wash”
View VerdictUnited States of America v. hristopher Gerard Ruiz
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug trafficking. On October 26, 2023, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper made a traffic stop on I-15. Christopher Gerard Ruiz, 42, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was the passenger, Aponas was the driver, and three children ages10 and under were in the backseat. Aponas admitted to law enforcement that methamphetamine was in the car. A search was conducted, and law enforcement located in the rear cargo area of the vehicle i
View VerdictUnited States of America v. David Estiven Alvear Carcamo
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute. David Estiven Alvear Carcamo, age 21, was found to be in possesson of approximately 10,000 fentanyl pills, and a handgun.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Johnston Blackhorse
St. George, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of child pornography. In February 2025, while serving a lifetime of supervised release for prior child sex crimes, two probation officers conducted a home visit where Johnston Blackhorse, 42, lived alone in Aneth, Utah.. Pursuant to Blackhorse’s supervised release conditions, the officers conducted an examination of Blackhorse’s computer. Officers discovered that a forensic wiping program had bee
View VerdictState of Utah v. Damien Michael Draughon
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with six counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor. Damien Michael Draughon married a woman who had two children from a prior relationship. He subsequently developed what he acknowledged was an inappropriate relationship with one of those children, a thirteen-year-old girl we’ll refer to as Sarah. One day, Sar
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Zuemei Zhao
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of a firearm by a restricted person (alien). uemei Zhao, 54, of the People’s Republic of China, admitted that she illegally possessed a black Rossi Braztech Int’l .357 Magnum revolver pistol in Zhao’s checked luggage. Prior to delivering the suitcase to American Airlines, Zhao did not disclose the presence of the firearm to TSA or American Airlines. In addition to the firearm, Zhao had 9 roun
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Michael Austin Ford
Salt Lake City, Utah criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with arson. Michael Austin Ford, 60, of West Valley City, intentionally set a Granite School District school bus on fire with a cigarette lighter on April 7, 2023. Ford was captured on video igniting the bus and continued to drive the bus with smoke billowing past his face. In other court documents, prosecutors described evidence of Ford as having attempted to tamper with the bus’s video surveillance system in th
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Cesar Aguayo-Montes
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug possession. Before Cesar Aguayo-Montes (Aguayo) pleaded guilty to a drug charge, he asked his attorney about the impact it would have on his immigration status. had lived in Colorado for as long as he could remember, so he was concerned about a line in the plea agreement warning that he “may” be removed. Counsel said he couldn’t tell Aguayo what would happen but that Aguayo didn’t need to worr
View VerdictState of Utah v. Kouri Richins
Park City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with first-degree murder. Kouri Richins, age 35, a Utah mother, was accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Hichins, age 39, in 2022 and then writing a book about it. The evidence introduce revealed that the Defendant's husband was highly insured and she inherited $4 million. The Defendant did not testify and she did not call any witnesses.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Michael David Hanson
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with posting threats against then President Biden and Vice President Harris on the social media site X. On December 22, 2023, Michael David Hanson, 44, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, posted “#joeAndKamala I’m asking you to resign on Monday your alternative is death brutally murdered…” on one of his X accounts. Hanson admitted that his threat was directed at President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Har
View VerdictState of Utah v. Ivan Miller
Loa, Utah, criminal defense lawyer will represent the defendant charged with three counts murder. Iowan Ivan Miller is accused for killing three women. Investigators used automated license plate readers and a victim’s own vehicle key fob to track and apprehend the suspect. The suspect's vehicle was tracked from Utah, to Arizona and then to Colorado before he was apprehended.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Isidro De Jesus-Mayo
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with illegally reentering the United States. Isidro De Jesus-Mayo, 44, of Mexico, was charged by felony information on December 17, 2025. In addition to his term of imprisonment, the court imposed a sentence of three years of supervised release. Upon his release of imprisonment, De Jesus-Mayo will be remanded to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings.
View VerdictState of Utah v. Christiano Antonio Madison
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with murder and aggravated robbery. Christiano Antonio Madison, age 21, accused robbing and murdering a man of his marijuana.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Benedicta Okunlola
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire fraud. Benedicta Okunlola, 32, of Salt Lake City, used her position as a Merchant Growth Specialist to issue 2,343 prepaid gift cards to herself, her online art business, and family members. In her role, she had access to her company’s credit card for marketing promotions and incentives and was the only employee who purchased gift cards from an outside company to offer incentives to commercial custome
View VerdictState of Utah v. Matthew Elton
Manti, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with child abuse with serious physical injury. ¶1 Matthew Elton was charged with child abuse with serious physical injury, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, and violating a protective order. Elton pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced to prison. While those charges had been pending, the court had issued a no-contact order that prohibited him from contacting his ex-wife and their children. While incarcera
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Silvano Gonzalez Venavidez, aka Eduardo Torres-Zepeda, Edgar Ulises Torres Cervantes, aka Juan Maldonado Garcia, and Carlos Roberto Limon Martinez
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug trafficking. Silvano Gonzalez Venavidez, aka Eduardo Torres-Zepeda, 34; Edgar Ulises Torres Cervantes, aka Juan Maldonado Garcia, 38; and Carlos Roberto Limon Martinez, 21, all from Mexico, living in Salt Lake City were charged by complaint on January 15, 2026. Beginning in November 2025, the FBI Wasatch Metro Drug Task Force (WMDTF) initiated a criminal investigation into Venavidez, Cervantes, and Ma
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Rodney Quinn Rupe
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with attempted to steal more than $2 million in tax credits and wire fraud. On April 15, 2022, Rodney Quinn Rupe, 47, of Syracuse, Utah, an employee of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, accessed the IRS systems and moved tax credits in the amount of $2,021,986 from ExxonMobil’s taxpayer account to a taxpayer account for Ex XO Exteriors Ltd., a company Rupe created and controlled. He admitted that he moved the t
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Muna Abdi
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conversion of government funds. From November 1, 2021, to about June 30, 2024, Muna Abdi, 36, a Somali national living in Millcreek, Utah, converted funds from the United States Social Security Administration (SSA) for her own benefit. The SSA, who was not aware of Abdi’s mother’s death, continued to disperse funds to her Social Security account, to which Abdi had access. For over three years, Abdi fraud
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Mountazar Altalibi and Jaafar Altalibi
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with distributing Alpha-yrrolidinohexanophenone, commonly referred to as “Alpha PHP,” or “bath salts. Mountazar Altalibi, 36, of Salt Lake County, Utah, and Jaafar Altalibi, 44, both of Salt Lake County, were charged with distributing Alpha-Pyrrolidinohexanophenone, commonly referred to as “Alpha PHP,” or “bath salts,” out of two Utah businesses for several years and made hundreds of thousands of dol
View VerdictState of Utah v. Malachi Robles-Romo
St. George, Utah criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with manslaughter, felony discharge of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, and possession of a controlled substance. Malachi Robles-Romo admitted that he shot and killed a St. George juvenile.
View VerdictState of Utah v. Ryan A. Williams
Washington County, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with first-degree felony aggravated robbery. Ryan A. Williams, 47, accused robbing a credit union.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Austin Riley Jensen
St. George, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with r producing and receiving child sexual abuse material involving a 15-year-old victim. Law enforcement found communications between Austin Riley Jensen, 33, of Hurricane, Utah, and an individual on federal supervised release in Las Vegas, Nevada, which occurred between October 2022 and December 2022, containing images of child sexual abuse material and conversations about sexual interactions with a 15-year-old vi
View VerdictState of Utah v. Hali Lunt
Layton, Utah criminal defense lawyer represents the Defenndant, Hail Lunt, age 44, charge with lewd molestation of a 17 year old boy by kissing him.
View VerdictState of Utah v. Macaila Jaye Jenkins
Salt Lake City, Utah criminal defense lawyer represented Macaila Jaye Jenkins, age 25, charged with two counts of burglary, criminal mischief and two counts of theft valued from $1,500 to $4,999.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Halee Ann Mehlbauer
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with fraudulently obtained approximately $177,030 in COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans, along with her codefendant, Timothy Lopez, which they did not qualify for. She was also sentenced to two years’ supervised release and ordered by the court to pay $177,030 in restitution, of which $48,507 is to be paid jointly with Lopez. According to court documents and statements made at Mehlbauer’s change
View VerdictState of Utah v. Ashlee Buzzard
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with first degree murder. Ashlee Buzzard, age 40, is accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee, whose body was found in a rural area of Utah more than 2 months after she went missing.
View VerdictState of Utah v. Mia Bailey
St. George, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with two counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated assault.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Terry Lynn Reynolds
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire and mail fraud. Beginning on or about November 8, 2004, and continuing to about June 13, 2025, Terry Lynn Reynolds, 69, of West Jordan, Utah, allegedly executed a scheme to assume the identity of Person 1, who received disability income from a private insurance policy (Company 1) and Social Security benefits from the United States Social Security Administration (SSA) to obtain that money for himself. Rey
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Noel Zuniga-Hernandez
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with reentering the United States after removal.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Bryan Walter McMahan
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with distributing fentanyl by mailing a package of oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to a Utah woman, who died after ingesting the narcotic. Brayan Walter McMahan, age 41, of Las Vegas, Skip to main content An official website of the United States government USAO-UT seal Utilities About USAO-UT Find Help Contact Us Search News Meet the U.S. Attorney Careers Contact Breadcrumb
View VerdictState of Utah v. Sterrett Oney Neale
Salt Lake City, Utah criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with seven counts of sex-related crimes committed against one of his students. The victim told investigators about a pattern of the abuse that began in March of 2017—when she was a seventeen-year-old student of the defendant—after a school-play that the victim participated in and the defendant directed. Initially, the defendant would have the victim come to his classroom—after school—where he would kiss
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Bryce Lucas Stimka
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with producing child pornography, receiving child pornography, and enticement to engage in illegal sexual activity. n July 2024, Stimka (who was twenty-three years old) began an online relationship via Snapchat with a fourteen-year-old girl in Utah. Over roughly the next nine months, Stimka and the girl exchanged numerous sexually explicit photos, videos, and texts. The relationship ended in March 2025 when
View VerdictState of Utah v. Najee Eugene Christopher
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with sexually assaulting a woman after striking her in the head during a conversation.<br> <br> Najee Eugene Christopher, 30, is charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Todd Harold Cooper
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with armed bank robbery.<br> <br> In 2003, a jury convicted Cooper of armed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113. At sentencing, the government sought a life sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c), the three strikes provision. Relevant here, § 3559(c) mandates a life<br> sentence if the defendant "is convicted in a court of the United States of a serious violent felony” and has two or more prior f
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Bryce Lucas Stimka
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with producing child pornography, receiving child pornography, and enticement to engage in illegal sexual activity.<br> <br> In July 2024, Stimka (who was twenty-three years old) began an online<br> relationship via Snapchat with a fourteen-year-old girl in Utah. Over roughly the<br> next nine months, Stimka and the girl exchanged numerous sexually explicit photos,<br> videos, and texts. The relationship ended in Mar
View VerdictState of Utah v. Todd Snider
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with disorderly conduct, threat of violence, and criminal trespassin<br> <br> Singer-songwriter Todd Snider was arrested for causing a disturbance at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Marlon Alonzo Smith
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with possession of controlled substance (drugs) with intent to distribute. <br> <br> During a traffic stop, a drug-detection dog named Marco signaled that he smelled drugs in Smith's car. Law enforcement discovered more than a kilogram of methamphetamine in the trunk. A federal jury later convicted Smith of possessing<br> methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it. Smith unsuccessfully challenged his convictio
View VerdictState of Utah v. Todd Snider
Salt Lake City, Utah criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing, and threatening violence.<br> <br> Country Singer Todd Snider was arrested Sunday for allegedly causing a disturbance Sunday at a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
View VerdictState of Utah v. Devin Stirling Barney
Cedar City, Utah, criminal law lawyer represented the Defendant charged with stalking.<br> <br> Samantha[1] told Devin Sterling Barney she did not have any romantic interest in him and to leave her alone, but he continued to pursue her by repeatedly delivering flowers, confronting her, and giving her a letter describing his feelings for her. <br> <br>
View VerdictState of Utah v. Charles Errill Lavadie
Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury for taking a painkiller and subsequently crashing his truck into a home, pinning a 10-year-old beneath his vehicle.<br> <br> On July 3, 2020, South Salt Lake Police were called to investigate a vehicle that crashed into a home near 3300 South and 300 East. When they arrived, the defendant's truck was entirely inside the house, with the defendant
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