Delaware man sentenced to prison in Maryland for role in $2M fraud plot

By The Associated Press
May 22, 2021 | 10:53 AM

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Delaware man has been sentenced in Maryland to nearly four years in prison for his role in a plot to defraud a beauty product manufacturer out of more than $2 million.

U.S. District Judge James Bredar on Friday ordered 51-year-old Thi Van Ho, of Bear, Delaware, to pay over $2.4 million in restitution and sentenced him to three years of supervised release after his 46-month prison term.

Ho pleaded guilty in November to charges of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Federal prosecutors say Ho and four others participated in a scheme to submit fraudulent invoices in the names of shell companies for services and products that weren’t provided to the defrauded company.

Fentanyl seizures plummet as Trump administration shifts focus to immigration

By Maryland Matters
August 22, 2026 | 8:26 PM

WASHINGTON — Fentanyl seizures decreased by 39% during the first year of the second Trump administration after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shifted the Department of Homeland Security’s criminal investigations arm to conducting immigration enforcement, according to a report government investigators published Friday. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a subagency of DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reported an “all hands-on deck” environment toward immigration enforcement began in January 2025, according to the DHS Office of Inspector General report. “With ICE dedicating more staff hours to immigration investigations, staffing hours for fentanyl investigations declined,” the report said. The report found that the hours dedicated to fentanyl investigations for fiscal 2025 declined by more than 250,000 hours, or 31%, compared to fiscal 2024.

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