YEAR IN REVIEW Year 2016 United States Attorney=s Office Western District of Michigan Patrick Miles, Jr. United States Attorney TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION BY UNITED STATES ATTORNEY .................................................. 1 2. NEW INITIATIVES AND CHALLENGES ................................................................ 2 3. ARRIVALS, DEPARTURES AND PROMOTIONS ..................................................... 2 4. AWARDS ................................................................................................... 4 5. REPRESENTATIVE CIVIL MATTERS ................................................................... 5 6. REPRESENTATIVE CRIMINAL MATTERS ............................................................. 7 7. REPRESENTATIVE APPEALS .......................................................................... 11 8. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION ......................................................................... 12 9. OUTREACH, TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ............................... 12 APPENDIX ORGANIZATION CHART ................................................................... 17 TASK FORCE ASSIGNMENTS .............................................................. 18 LITIGATION STATISTICS .................................................................... 20 WDMI SMART ON CRIME ACTION PLAN 2014‐2016………………………..27 LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING SCHEDULE .......................................... 34 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Introductory Message Patrick Miles, Jr. United States Attorney Western District of Michigan Thank you for reading our 2016 Year In Review. It is incredible how many good things this office accomplishes. It is also a pleasure to compile the annual highlights and report them publicly. This is my fifth and final message as United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan (WDMI). It truly has been a high honor and privilege to serve as a Presidentially-Appointed Senate-Confirmed United States Attorney over the past four and a half years in the Obama Administration. At the end of every day I said to myself, “We did some good today.” We know we are making a positive difference. This is one of the few jobs that is entirely satisfying on a daily basis. That is only possible because of the talented and hard-working individuals in this office. Their contributions, dedication, and excellence are consistently outstanding. I often tell people, publicly and privately, that we have the highest quality professionals working in this office. I’ve been proud to describe our efforts to others and even prouder to hear positive comments about them so frequently. From the start of my tenure as U.S. Attorney in 2012 I focused on protecting the vulnerable and taxpayers. That is why we put more emphasis on preventing and prosecuting cases of children being exploited through pornography or sex trafficking, seniors being targeted by financial scammers, and those who commit fraud against the government and our health care system. I also prioritized addressing violent crime with locally-tailored strategies. So we changed our approach to reducing violent crime in our seven urban cities of Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Holland, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Muskegon Heights by forming violent crime reduction task forces in 2013 to work with federal, state and local law enforcement to continuously identify and prioritize for federal prosecution the people, groups, and gangs causing the most neighborhood shootings and disruptions. Further, I believe affirmative efforts to reduce criminal recidivism through effective programs and employment opportunities are critical crime prevention measures. I also worked to increase trust between community and law enforcement to prevent and address shared problems. It’s difficult to develop trust in a crisis situation. It takes communication for a relationship, and it takes a relationship to develop trust. The successes we achieved with our law enforcement and agency partners speak for themselves, including our 95%-plus conviction rate, the 106 child sexual predators serving over 1,725 years in federal prison, the many fraudsters serving time in prison with large restitution orders for the money they stole from individuals, institutions, or the government, the large-scale drug traffickers serving lengthy prison sentences, the first-ever WDMI child sex trafficking conviction, the scammers sitting in prison no longer tormenting innocent victims of identity theft, the recovery and saving of money for the U.S., an active and focused violent crime reduction task force getting results in each of our seven major urban cities, the new effective crime prevention efforts of Facing Choices, Re-Entry Job Fair, and Justice Scholars as well as improving the relationship between law enforcement and our communities through Advocates & Leaders for Police and Community Trust in several cities. I am very blessed and grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity. It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead such an outstanding team of crime-fighters and people who work hard every day to protect the interests of America and its citizens. I deeply appreciate the support I received from inside and outside the office. My heart is full of admiration for those who continue to pursue justice and protect America. With my very best regards, Patrick A. Miles, Jr. 1 leadership of the Appellate Chief, the office was able to ride out NEW INITIATIVES AND CHALLENGES the waves of pleadings. We now await the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Beckles for a full understanding of the This year the district saw the office follow-through and expand on impact of Johnson on guideline sentencing. its many public outreach initiatives while continuing to pursue litigation priorities and weathering a significant wave of post- On the civil side, the office continued to work through a rising tide conviction challenges. of social security cases that began last year along with a historically high rate of defensive case intake, including in particular tort cases, Outreach included the following three “first-evers” for the office and a relatively smaller (compared to many years) but still very which are described in more detail inside this report: Consistent active and important bankruptcy docket. Compared to four years with his theme that “employment is crime prevention,” U.S. ago, the office secured substantially more judgments in favor of Attorney Miles hosted an Employer Summit in May followed by a the United States. September Job Fair for returning citizens. In May, the first class of Justice Scholars 7th grade students in Grand Rapids completed In terms of personnel, the office welcomed the arrival of a new their mock trials and, by September, the program had been attorney for the Criminal Division and several much-needed introduced to 7th grade students in the Lansing public school support staff and contract assistants. Reflective of both the long system. U.S. Attorney Miles hosted an October Justice Forum in careers so many have with the office and the changing times, we Grand Rapids to underscore the importance of developing and also said our goodbyes to a number of valued colleagues who maintaining a strong foundation of trust between the police could measure their time in the office by the decade while we also department and the communities it serves. bid farewell to more recent arrivals who chose to embark on new endeavors. Faced with an on-going opioid epidemic, the office not only prioritized opioid prosecutions but also aggressively pursued a ARRIVALS, DEPARTURES and PROMOTIONS public awareness campaign to increase understanding of the causes of the epidemic, its impact and the need for preventative Arrivals: measures. The campaign included an open conference where the news media met with experts in the field and heard first-hand the AUSA Davin Reust joined our Violent Crimes Section of the travails and heartbreak of a victim-parent. And on numerous Criminal Division in early summer. He is responsible for occasions, U.S. Attorney Miles and senior AUSAs presented on the investigating and prosecuting federal firearms violations and bank subject to health care professionals, school officials and even local robberies. He is also assigned to the Battle Creek Violent Crime legislators. Reduction Task Force which works with the Battle Creek Police Department. He helps the Appellate Section by researching which In the meantime, the office otherwise continued to pursue its crimes continue to constitute predicates for the Armed Career criminal litigation priorities as it has in recent years: with a focus Criminal Act and the Career Offender Sentencing Guidelines. on complex cases and those with a substantial federal interest. Davin’s prior experience includes an Associate in a private practice For example, in the area of violent crimes prosecutions, while the in Chicago, a Pili Fellow in the Felony Trials Division of the Cook office continues to prioritize domestic violence in Indian Country, County Public Defender in Chicago, an Intern in the Narcotics firearms and internet child exploitation, the office now also Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City, and a Legal pursues a substantial initiative to combat child sex and human Assistant in Wichita. Davin was a member of the Peace Corps and trafficking — crimes not on the radar five years ago. Drug volunteered with the organization Traffic Free, a group dedicated prosecutors now focus on sophisticated