New York Paralegal Blog

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that Vincent Johnson of Brick, N.J., was sentenced to 50 months in prison and three years supervised release for sending a series of threatening email communications to employees of five civil rights organizations that work to improve opportunities for, and challenge discrimination against, Latinos in the United States. Johnson was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000. Johnson, 61, who went by the internet pseudonym “Devilfish,” pleaded guilty on Oct. 20, 2010, to 10 counts related to threatening conduct towards the victims, who included employees of the LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; the National Council of La Raza; the League of United Latin American Citizens; and the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. Johnson admitted that between November 2006 and February 2009, he emailed numerous threats to the victims to preve...

WASHINGTON – A Maryland resident, who previously worked as an attorney in the District of Columbia, was sentenced today for one count of receiving child pornography, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced. Emerson Vincent Briggs, 41, was sentenced by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 70 months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release and a fine of $12,500. According to the plea documents, Briggs admitted that between November 2005 and April 2006, while at his law office in the District of Columbia, he used peer-to-peer software to deliberately download and store multiple videos of child pornography. Briggs admitted that some of these images involved minors who were younger than 12 years old. More...