DAWN ISON

A Wayne County man was sentenced to 17 years in prison after he filmed himself performing a sex act on a child under 10 years old, officials said.

DETROIT – A Michigan man has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting children, including recording himself sexually abusing a victim who was under 10 years old, authorities said. Travis Timmons, 33, of Gibraltar, pleaded guilty to using his cell phone to create a video of himself performing a sex act on the child. “This offender engaged in hands-on abuse to create sexually explicit images of a young child,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison, whose office prosecuted the case. He would offer them vape pens in exchange for sexually explicit images and sex acts. When law enforcement closed in on Timmons for an arrest, he jumped out of a window and fled.

U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison – Photo a courtesy of the U.S. Department of JusticeDETROIT — Dawn Ison, nominated by President Biden to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, says she knows the value of community engagement. “It is my great honor and privilege to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, a richly diverse district that I’ve called home for a long time,” Ison told The Arab American News. “It is a priority of the U.S. attorney general and I wholeheartedly embrace that priority,” Ison said. Ison’s work in civil rights extends into the local Arab American community, engaging local leaders and border security and law enforcement agencies in discussing treatment of Arabs and Muslims at borders. Ison said travelers have real avenues to file complaints about unfair and discriminatory profiling when traveling.

Nearly 200 child pornography pictures were found on a Michigan man’s cellphone just four months after he was released from prison following a conviction for the same offense, officials said.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with firing shots at a driver outside of a Detroit gas station, officials said.

A licensed gun salesman in Macomb County is accused of importing devices that convert standard firearms into machine guns from a Russian website.

A Dearborn man who owned and operated a pharmacy is facing federal charges in connection with the illegal distribution of misbranded drugs.

FBI agents broke down how they used a PlayStation box to track down a drug stash in Novi that led to the seizure of enough fentanyl “to kill the entire population of Michigan.”

A Detroit man who filmed himself sexually abusing three children under the age of nine years old and then sent those videos to other people will spend decades in prison.

Three men are accused of kicking and stabbing a fellow inmate to death inside a Washtenaw County prison.

Officials said a former registered nurse at a Detroit hospital extracted painkillers from vials and syringes and filled them with a different liquid.

The former mayor of Romulus pleaded guilty on Thursday to wire fraud of campaign funds.

A monitor appointed by a federal judge in the wake of a United Auto Workers bribery and embezzlement scandal contends that the union has been uncooperative by withholding information on additional misconduct allegations.

A monitor appointed by a federal judge in the wake of a United Auto Workers bribery and embezzlement scandal says the union has been uncooperative, withholding information on additional misconduct allegations.

Officials say that a former Highland Park police detective has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl-laced heroin.

A 53-year-old Metro Detroit man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after exploiting over 100 minors for child pornography.

Law enforcement agencies announced a plan to reduce gun violence in the Detroit neighborhoods that have the highest incidence of violent crime.

Another summer surge of gun violence is expected in Detroit. The feds and Detroit Police are teaming up for Project Safe Neighborhoods targeting hot spots in the 8th and 9th Police Precincts. Those are considered urban shootings not mass shootings and are the focus of this plan. We're going to do it unconstitutionally but I'm not going to apologize for locking somebody up with a gun. I'm not I'm not going to apologize for enforcing the law.”This program runs through summer and the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Three letter carriers have been charged for accepting bribes from a Farmington Hills man to help him steal credit cards from other people and intercept fraudulent COVID unemployment benefits he sent to homes along their routes, officials said.

A 28-year-old Farmington Hills man bribed letter carriers to obtain other people’s credit cards and later expanded his scheme to have those carriers intercept fraudulent COVID unemployment benefits he had filed for and sent to homes along their routes, officials said.

Seven more people have been arrested in connection with a scheme to bring drugs from Mexico into the country and sell them in Michigan, officials said.

A Dearborn man tricked dozens of people into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars for a phony investment scheme and used that money to fund his own lavish lifestyle, officials said.

A Dearborn based doctor has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances after allegedly writing prescriptions that were not needed.

A Detroit man who carjacked a woman in front of her children at their home and also failed to carjack a CPL holder at a gas station has been sentenced to 19 years in prison after police found him hiding in a bush.

A Troy woman, who worked with Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency, and a Detroit man have been charged for running a scheme to steal unemployment benefits, authorities said.

DETROIT - A former University of Michigan music teacher was sentenced on April 14 to serve five years in federal prison on a felony charge of sex with a minor, according to a Thursday United State Attorney’s Office release. Read more: UM violin professor accused of sexual misconductThursday’s sentencing will hopefully bring closure to Shipps’ victims, said James Harris, the Homeland Security Investigations agent who looked into the case. Read more: Sexual misconduct reports up at University of Michigan. The new policies change how UM officials are to address banned conduct, report instances of misconduct and align the university with current Title IX policies. Required oversight of University of Michigan sexual misconduct policies lynchpin of court settlementUpdates to sexual misconduct policy align University of Michigan with new Title IX guidanceUniversity of Michigan to overhaul how it handles sexual misconduct casesRetaliation against individuals reporting misconduct banned at University of Michigan

A Dearborn Heights pharmacist has been arrested for her role in a $10.6 million insurance fraud ring at two Inkster pharmacies.

A federal judge ruled against the city of Troy, finding that the city's zoning practices treat places of worship worst than nonreligious assemblies.

A husband and wife from Dearborn Heights were arrested in separate criminal cases Tuesday -- one for running a $10.6 million fraud scheme through two pharmacies in Inkster and the other for using $1 million in COVID relief money to buy a seaside condo in Beirut, officials said.

FLINT TWP., MI—The U.S. Attorney’s Office has filed a lawsuit against a Flint Township medical center for violating the rights of people with disabilities. Flint Neurological Centre P.C. “No one should be denied meaningful access to health care services, including the ability to exchange critical information with their medical providers.”Attempts to reach the Flint Neurological Centre P.C. The 17-page complaint also puts forth that Flint Neurological Centre did not provide sign language interpreters or any other communication aids to some patients over several years of treatment. This obligation requires the provision of auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters, when necessary to effectively communicate with patients who are deaf or hard of hearing.

A Lansing man has been sentenced to decades in prison after he manipulated a minor girl into sending him sexually explicit photos and videos, officials said.

A Southfield man has been sentenced for trafficking a 17-year-old girl and “branding” her face with a tattoo of his name, officials said.

A self-described “sick monster” from Waterford Township has been sentenced to decades in prison after he sexually exploited at least 10 children through means such as blackmail, child pornography and assault.

The former Hamtramck police officer who was charged Thursday in a federal bribery case has also been linked to dog mauling and racial profiling controversies in Metro Detroit over the past decade.

A former pastor from Canada was charged last week after he picked up a Michigan teenager at her high school and took her to a motel for sex acts in 2013, according to federal officials.

A Detroit man has been sentenced for a crime spree that included kicking in the door of his mother’s home, stealing a car from a retired police officer, firing shots on multiple instances and breaking into a house.

The local community was shocked by a disturbing incident last weekend when an armed man set fire at a mosque, shot at responding Dearborn police officers

Nine people from Detroit and four people from Phoenix have been charged in a drug and money laundering conspiracy linked to the distribution of fentanyl, meth, cocaine and marijuana, officials said.

Members of the United Auto Workers will vote in national leadership elections after a judge approved the results of a referendum that rose from a corruption scandal at the union.

DETROIT – A Detroit-area doctor and a patient recruiter have been charged in a $17 million opioid distribution conspiracy, federal officials announced today. The “conservative street value” of the alleged illegal prescriptions was more than $17 million. To maintain an appearance of legitimacy, Kirkpatrick allegedly required each “patient” to have certain records in a patient file before writing a controlled substance prescription. Williams and others allegedly created fraudulent medical records, including MRI reports and Michigan Automated Prescription System (MAPS) reports. Kirkpatrick also allegedly authorized electronic prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances without a medical evaluation.

Two women, including a Highland Park detective, pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl-laced heroin, officials said.

A Dearborn Heights pharmacist has been sentenced to 77 months, nearly six and a half years, in prison for defrauding healthcare insurers.

A father and son have been sentenced for using crack cocaine, heroin and threats of violence to force women with addictions to go on sex dates as part of the duo’s drug and prostitution house in Detroit.

Former Detroit city councilman Andre Spivey has been sentenced to two years in prison after having plead guilty to bribery.

Former Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey has been sentenced to two years in prison for accepting nearly $36,000 in bribe payments in connection with a towing corruption investigation.

Dawn Ison, a Detroit native, has officially been sworn in as the next U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan.

Dawn Ison, a Detroit native, is Southeast Michigan’s first Black female U.S. Attorney.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - President Joe Biden announced Friday his nominees to serve as U.S. Gretchen Whitmer since 2019, is the president’s nominee for the Grand Rapids-based Western District of Michigan and Dawn Ison is the nominee for the Eastern District of Michigan. If confirmed by the Senate, Ison will be the first Black woman to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Detroit-based Eastern District. From 2010 to 2014, Ison served as chief of the Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit for her office. “Dawn Ison is a highly-qualified Assistant U.S. Attorney serving in the Eastern District of Michigan.