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Daniel Motha, of Miami, Florida, and Jeffrey Motha, of Norfolk, Massachusetts, who co-owned a now-defunct Florida-based company, were sentenced in federal court in Boston for charges associated with shipping facemasks that were misbranded as N95 respirators and price gouging hospitals—during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were each sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine. They pleaded guilty to one count of introduction of misbranded devices into interstate commerce and one count of conspiracy to commit price gouging in violation of the Defense Production Act. A third individual, Jason Colantuoni of Norfolk, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit price gouging in connection with this investigation. Colantuoni is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23, 2025. The VA OIG, the US Postal Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, the FBI, and the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case.
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Real estate agent and property manager Melanie Ann Carlin of Clancy, Montana, was sentenced to three years of felony probation and fined $150,000 after pleading guilty in 2024 to one felony count of knowing endangerment. She admitted to failing to provide lead-based paint disclosures as required to veterans residing in housing at Fort Harrison in Helena, which resulted in the exposure of veterans and their families to significant levels of lead. Mold Wranglers Inc., located in Kalispell, Montana, which provides material mitigation services, was also sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and $348,000 in restitution to VA for filing false reports of payment to a federal agency, claiming an abatement of lead paint was done when it was not. The company pleaded guilty to one count of False Claims Act Conspiracy in 2024. The VA OIG, the Environmental Protection Agency OIG, the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG investigated this case.
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