Four Chinese nationals were sentenced to federal prison March 17 for their participation in a complex scheme that involved the theft of hundreds of identities to defraud multiple domestic retailers out of at least $1.2 million.
A fifth co-conspirator was previously sentenced to more than four years in prison, and a sixth is awaiting sentencing following a guilty plea.
As part of the scheme, these six defendants stole the victims’ identities – including their Social Security numbers, dates of birth and home addresses – and used that information to make fake driver’s licenses that were used to access credit in the victims’ names at large national retailers, including Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Williams-Sonoma, Dillard’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
The four defendants, all Chinese nationals who entered the country under false pretenses, were sentenced today by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson. All four pleaded guilty on January 6. They are:
Kar Kee “Steven” Cheung, 36, of Chino Hills, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of visa fraud, one count of possession of equipment used to manufacture false identification documents, and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud;
Qian Guo, 37, of Chino Hills, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for one count of possession of equipment used to manufacture false identification documents and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud; Continue reading →

The White House
April 11, 2025
Dear Ms. Cordova,
Thank you for taking the time to share your views regarding our justice system, public safety, and the rule of law.
As President, one of my most critical duties is to restore the sacred principle of equal justice under the
law for every citizen. That work begins with stopping the weaponization of our justice system and rebalancing the scales of justice in our Nation’s halls of power.
In recent years, the American way of life faced an existential threat from a corrupt political class that has selectively enforced the law based on Americans’ political, religious, and ideological convictions. For far too long, our federal law enforcement agencies abandoned justice in favor of political retribution—allowing violent criminals to roam our streets with impunity while targeting parents, churchgoers, political opponents, and everyday citizens.
This weaponization stood as the single greatest threat to our freedom, our security, and our sovereignty in modern American history. A nation without the free and impartial rule of law is not a free nation at all.
But the decline of the American justice system ended the moment I took the oath of office. For as long as I am President, our federal law enforcement agencies will once again be guided by the cornerstone American principles of fairness and impartiality. Our law enforcement officers will once again be empowered to do their jobs and keep our streets safe. Continue reading →

Department of the Treasury – Internal Revenue Service
Notice of Sealed Bid Sale
(OTHER THAN REDEEMED PROPERTY)
Under the authority contained in section 7506 of the Internal Revenue Code, the property described below will be sold. The United States acquired this property from a Quit Claim Deed by and between Ron Smith, Advisory Manager, Southwest Area, on behalf of the Director, Civil Enforcement Advice & Support Operations of the Internal Revenue Service, a duly authorized agent of the United States of America, grantor, and Dawn T. Harris, Director, Civil Enforcement Advice & Support Operations of the Internal Revenue Service, grantee, entered on the 31st day of January, 2024.
WHEREAS, the real estate conveyed herein was a court-ordered conveyance for nonpayment of taxes from Massoumeh Kharazmi, Trustee of the APF Revocable Trust to the Internal Revenue Service which transfer was pursuant to an Order of the Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2019-01116852-PR-TR-CJC that was filed on March 17, 2023.
This sale will be by sealed bid.
Date bids will be opened: May 5, 2025
Time bids will be opened: 1:00PM
Place of Sale: IRS office – Claude Pepper Fed. Bldg. – 51 SW 1st Ave, Miami, FL 33130 – M/S 800 PALS
Description of properties: (sold separately)
BIG BEAR LAKE, CA – 3.73 acres of land
APN 0310-672-35-0000
Minimum bid: $100
Legal description: PTN N 1/2 SE 26 TP 2N R 1E COM AT MOST SLY COR LOT 114 TR NO 7427 TH N 57 DEG 31 MIN 15 SECONDS W 374.58 FT TH N 50 DEG 28 MIN 08 SECONDS W
373.02 FT TO BEG OF NON TANGENT CURVE CONCAVE NELY WHOSE RADIUS IS 140 FT TH NWLY ALG SD CURVE THRU AN ANGLE OF 77 DEG 22 MIN 43 SECONDS AN ARC DISTANCE OF 189.07 FT THE RADIAL LINE AT THE BEG OF SD CURVE BEARS N 12 DEG 46 MIN 58 SECONDS W TH N 25 DEG 21 MIN 30 SECONDS W 97 FT TO BEG OF A TANGENT CURVE CONCAVE NELY WHOSE RADIUS IS 120 FT TH NWLY ALG SD CURVE THRU AN ANGLE OF 9 DEG AN ARC DISTANCE OF 18.85 FT TH N 16 DEG 21 MIN 30 SECONDS W 76.49 FT TH S 61 DEG 15 MIN 45 SECONDS W 77 FT TH S 28 DEG 44 MIN 15 SECONDS W 78 FT TH S 61 DEG 15 MIN 45 SECONDS W 100 FT TO A PT ON NELY LI SAND CANYON RD TH SELY ALG SD NELY LI SAND CANYON RD TO ITS INTERSECTION WITH WLY LI TETON DR TH NLY ALG WLY LI TETON DR TO PT BEG
3.73 AC M/L
RIVERSIDE DR, BARSTOW, CA 92311 – 0.20 acres of land
APN 0181-561-21-0000
Minimum Bid: $100
Legal description: Lot 2 of Tract 4161 of Maps in the office of the County Recorder of said County.
Property may be Inspected at: By drive by only
Submission of Bids: All bids must be submitted on Form 2222, Sealed Bid for Purchase of Seized Property. Contact the office indicated below for Forms 2222 and information about the property. Submit bids to the person named below before the time bids will be opened.
Form of Payment: Payment shall be by a certified or cashier’s check payable to the United States Treasury
Terms of Payment: Full payment due with bid
The Government reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to withdraw the property from the sale. The property is offered for sale “as is” and “where is” and without recourse against the United States. The United States makes no guarantee of condition of the property, or its fitness for any purpose. The United States will not consider any claim for allowance or adjustment or for the rescission of the sale based on failure of the property to comply with any expressed or implied representation.
You may obtain information about the property and proposed sale by contacting the office at the address shown below: Address for information about the Sale and submission of sealed bids:
Brittanny Dipla
51 SW First Avenue, M/S 800 PALS Miami, FL 33130-1608
Brittanny.Dipla@irs.gov
Irsauctions.gov
Phone 805-479-2552
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on April 11, 2025.

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By Mark Gutglueck
Former Caltrans engineer Raymond Wolfe’s nearly 13-year tenure as the head of San Bernardino County’s transportation agency has drawn to a close, with the board of county solons overseeing the region’s transit issues having voted to elevate Carrie Schindler as his replacement.
Since 2013, when he replaced Ty Schuiling as the executive director of what was then called San Bernardino Associated Governments, Wolfe has overseen the cooperative effort among San Bernardino County’s 22 cities, two incorporated towns and its county government to deal with the full range of transit-related challenges that apply to San Bernardino County. Those are outsize challenges: San Bernardino County, at 20,105 square miles is larger than New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, combined.
It was believed that Wolfe was up to the technological challenge. He had a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from USC, a more down-to-earth master’s degree in in civil engineering from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and a doctorate in civil engineering from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering He had qualified as a registered civil engineer after leaving CalPoly, and in 1991 went to work for the California Department of Transportation as a transportation engineer. In 1998, he was promoted to the position of senior bridge engineer, and in 2001 was entrusted with the assignment of opening a new bridge design office as the Southern California region’s supervising bridge engineer. He managed the structure design implementation efforts related to accelerated bridge construction throughout Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Imperial and San Diego counties. In 2008, the California Department of Transportation, also known by its acronym Caltrans, designated him as the director of its District 8 office, overseeing both San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Upon assuming the District 8 director role, Wolfe was also delegated an ex-officio member of the San Bernardino Association of Governments board.
San Bernardino Associated Governments, known by its acronym SANBAG, was created in 1973 as San Bernardino County’s council of governments and its regional planning agency. It subsequently took on the role of the county’s transportation agency overseeing freeway construction projects, regional and local road improvements, train and bus transportation, railroad crossings, call boxes, ridesharing, congestion management efforts, freeway service patrols and emergency freeway service, and continued to serve as the county’s council of governments. When voters in 1989 passed Measure I, a half-cent sales tax override, the proceeds from which were intended to provide transportation improvements countywide, SANBAG was entrusted with the administration of that funding. Continue reading →

Defying not only the predominate political currents in the Golden State but convention and the odds that our nation’s chief executive would choose a Muslim to head up the justice department in one of the largest metropolitan districts in the county, Bilal Essayli has been appointed to be the U.S. attorney for the justice department’s Central District of California.
As a consequence, Essayli was required to, and on Tuesday April 1, resigned his position as the Assemblyman representing California’s 63rd Assembly District.
On Wednesday, April 2, he was sworn in as U.S. Attorney by U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee.
“I am honored that President Trump and Attorney General [Pam] Bondi have placed their trust in me to serve as United States Attorney for the Central District of California,” Essayli stated afterward.
Unlikelihood has been a watchword throughout and even preceding Essayli’s personal existence.
In 1981, within Lebanon, fighting between Lebanese Christian militias, which had been forced together by Bachir Gemayel, and Palestinian insurgents backed primarily by the Palestine Liberation organization intensified. In 1982, the skirmishing erupted into a full-blown war, with forces that included the Palestinians and Lebanese Muslims, pan-Arabists, and leftists, backed by Syria and Iran, taking on the Christians, who had formed an alliance with Israel. That same year, Gemayel was elected, at the age of 34, president of Lebanon, making him the youngest president-elect in that country’s history. He did not take office, as he was assassinated before being installed as president. Instead, his older brother, Amine Gemayel, became Lebanon president. Continue reading →