Tag: Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol A. Casto

Ex-Hotel Employee Admits to Embezzling More Than $955,000

A former hotel employee in West Virginia has admitted to embezzling more than $955,000.

U.S. Attorney Carol Casto says in a news release that 52-year-old Mark Kuhn of Milton pleaded guilty to wire fraud Wednesday in federal court in Charleston.

Kuhn worked for the Charleston Marriott Town Center as an accountant and general cashier, including collecting cash from the hotel’s gift shop, front desk, and restaurant and bar.

The statement says he admitted embezzling from the hotel from 2005 through February 2016 and posted false entries in the hotel’s accounting system.

The statement says Kuhn used the funds for personal expenses, including a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, and numerous vacation trips.

Kuhn faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing has been set for Dec. 5.

Casto Tapped as U.S. Attorney for Southern W.Va.

Acting U.S. Attorney Carol Casto will serve as U.S. Attorney in southern West Virginia, but her stint may be finished in four months or sooner.

A news release says Attorney General Loretta Lynch appointed Casto to U.S. Attorney starting Friday. She will remain in the post until a presidential appointment is made, or until 120 days after the appointment.

If 120 days pass without a presidential appointment, the U.S. District Court in southern West Virginia can appoint a replacement until the vacancy is filled.

Casto has served as acting U.S. Attorney since Jan 1. She accepted the job after former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin resigned in December to run for a governor, a bid which he lost.

Ex-Shop Worker Convicted of Allowing Illegal Gun Buys

Federal prosecutors say a former Logan County gun and pawn shop employee was involved in more than 50 illegal gun purchases and transfers.

Acting U.S. Attorney Carol Casto says 38-year-old Steven Adkins of Man pleaded guilty Wednesday to making and aiding and abetting false statements relating to firearms purchases.

Adkins formerly worked at Uncle Sam’s Loans in Man. Casto says that from 2009 to 2014, Adkins was involved in illegal straw purchases, or the sale or transferring of firearms to people he knew weren’t the actual buyers.

Many gun purchases by criminals are made from straw purchasers who pass background checks.

Adkins faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing has been set for June 6 in federal court in Charleston.

Inmate Sentenced for Possessing Weapon

A federal inmate in West Virginia has been sentenced to an additional year and nine months in prison for possessing a weapon.

Acting U.S. Attorney Carol Casto says in a news release that 36-year-old Rafael Carrera-Fuentes was sentenced last week in federal court in Beckley.

Carrera-Fuentes admitted to having a shank, or homemade knife, last April at the Federal Correctional Institution in Beckley.

Casto says the sentence will run consecutively to an 11-year sentence Carrera-Fuentes is serving for a 2011 federal drug conviction.

Feds Say They Likely Won't Collect Freedom Criminal Fine

Federal prosecutors say they likely will not try to collect any criminal fine that Freedom Industries is ordered to pay unless the company responsible for the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill is first somehow able to pay off other creditors.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Acting U.S. Attorney Carol Casto and Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Wright say in a new court filing that the federal government “has no intention of attempting to execute on any judgment of a fine to the detriment of Freedom’s creditors.”

The prosecutors filed their sentencing memo as sentencing hearings are set to begin next week for Freedom and six former company officials who have pleaded guilty to water pollution crimes.

Freedom faces minimum fines of $7,500 per day of violation as part of its plea agreement.

Former Prison Employee Sentenced for Witness Tampering

Former prison employee Scotty Rose has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for witness tampering.

Acting United States Attorney Carol Castro says in a news release that Rose was sentenced Thursday.

Rose worked in the Federal Correctional Institution in Beckley as a physician’s assistant. The release says that in February 2013, Rose told a prisoner that another inmate was wearing a recording device and working for the FBI as an informant. The informant was, in fact, working with the FBI on a large scale methamphetamine trafficking investigation and wearing a recording device as part of that investigation.

The news spread, putting the informant at risk of retaliation. She was moved from the prison for her safety.

The FBI determined Rose to be the source of the leak.

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