FBI: Murder victim led local arm of global crime op

By JUSTIN WIER

jwier@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A man found burned to death in an SUV on the East Side in February served as an operative in an intercontinental criminal organization, U.S. attorneys said.

A federal grand jury indicted 20 people from the Youngstown area, and says Zachary Howell, 40, recruited them to help steal and launder at least $16 million from 2012 to 2016.

Howell’s slaying is unrelated to his role as a midlevel operative in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Flannery said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation served arrest warrants in Youngstown, Pittsburgh and Atlanta at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Two people were arrested in Atlanta, one in Pittsburgh and 10 in Youngstown.

The operation involved more than 100 law-enforcement officers.

Three people remain at large.

FBI offices in Youngstown, Buffalo and Tampa investigated the case along with the Toronto Police Service.

Todd Werth, who leads the Youngstown office, said hundreds of hours of interviews and extensive examinations of bank records went into the case.

Investigators “did a phenomenal job of painting the picture,” Werth said.

The indictment, filed Aug. 16 and unsealed Wednesday, alleges that conspirators were part of a transnational criminal organization operating in the U.S., Canada and Africa, and they used a variety of fraud and identity-theft schemes to obtain financial information from law firms, financial institutions, businesses and individuals.

Howell operated in Youngstown, Columbus and Atlanta, according to the indictment.

The indictment describes schemes used by the criminal organization to defraud people of money.

Using email accounts that looked like those of actual clients, operatives tricked real-estate attorneys into directing the proceeds from a sale to a new bank account, it says. A similar scheme involved debt-collection attorneys.

The indictment also outlines a scheme where operatives would pose as both the buyer and a seller of a property and filter counterfeit checks through escrow agencies.

The operatives also seduced people on internet dating sites and obtained credentials for online financial accounts and email accounts., the indictment states.

Finally, the operatives would create fake business accounts and request wire transfers.

Operatives carried these schemes out using the internet.

“The types of scams were only limited by the imagination of the scammers,” Flannery said.

He added that sophisticated people fell victim to these schemes.

All 20 individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

They are: Julius Smith Williams, 46; Jamal Perry, 37; Joseph Joe III, 40; William Howell, 47; Terry Marlowe, 53; Emmett Conner Sr., 44; Sterling Green, 47; Keisha Johnson, 32; Kayla Neeley, 29; Isiah Patterson Sr., 29; Donald Washington, 43; Terrence Phillips, 41; Steve Croom Jr., 40; Crystal Jefferson, 39; Dulcinea Purdue, 32; Terrance Howard, 43; Cobie Phillips Jr., 41; Ray Wynn, 43; Jermaine Donlow, 45; and Semira Stone, 29.

Most of these people had a loose association to Howell. His friends found others by word of mouth.

Many of these individuals traveled to Columbus and Atlanta to open accounts with at least 15 different banks, according to the indictment.

After receiving money, the operatives transferred the proceeds through multiple smaller transactions often structured in a way to avoid federal reporting requirements, the indictment claims.

Some of the money ended up in Canada, China and other parts of Asia. Flannery would not comment on the likelihood of the money being recovered or returned to victims.

Howard, Perry and Williams remain at large. Arrest warrants for Stone and William Howell have not been issued.

Flannery and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranya Elzein will prosecute the case, which has been assigned to Judge John R. Adams of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. Judge Adams’ court is in Akron.

Flannery said 10 people not included in the Aug. 16 indictment pleaded guilty to their involvement in both Ohio and New York federal courts.