Federal Judge Sentences Birmingham Bank Robber to Nearly 12 Years in Prison

BIRMINGHAM—Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn today sentenced a Birmingham man to 11 years and nine months in prison for a 2011 armed bank robbery in eastern Birmingham, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Haley, III announced.

The judge sentenced Donald James Binns, 26, to 141 months in prison for the November 9, 2011 armed robbery of the Compass Bank at 9208 Parkway East and for weapons charges associated with the robbery. Binns pleaded guilty in May to the armed bank robbery and to using a firearm during the robbery and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court records, Binns robbed the bank of about $4,414 after brandishing a gun at the teller window and demanding money. He fled in a Cadillac Deville, which Birmingham police pursued and shortly thereafter arrested Binns. Police recovered the stolen money and a Bryco .380 caliber pistol from the car.

The FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Montminy prosecuted.

Former School Security Officer Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Production of Child Pornography

BIRMINGHAM—A federal judge today sentenced a former security officer in the Birmingham City School System and a substitute bus driver for Shelby County Schools to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Northern District of Alabama FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley; and Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper.

U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson sentenced Michael Wayne Wooten, 61, of Alabaster, to prison and ordered he remain on supervised release for the rest of his life after completing the prison term. The court noted during the hearing that Wooten had numerous child victims. Law enforcement has identified 11 children whom he exploited.

Wooten pleaded guilty in January to producing child pornography.

“Restoring the innocence and trust this defendant stole from his victims is impossible, but the judge’s sentence punishes him for the harm he did and ensures he will never exploit another child,” Vance said. “This defendant will be eligible for release when he is 91. Today, we confirm that victimizing children by taking sexually explicit photographs of them is abhorrent criminal behavior, and it will be not tolerated.”

“Mr. Wooten used his position as a school security guard to gain access to young children,” Breuer said. “But rather than protect school students, he sexually abused them and captured this abuse in dozens of photographs. Today, appropriately, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.”

“Mr. Wooten used and abused his position of trust to satisfy his own perverse sexual interest in children,” Maley said. “Working with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will bring to justice those individuals who prey on the innocent.”

“We believe that justice has been served and that this is the appropriate sentence in a case where so many innocent children have been affected,” Roper said. “We appreciate all the various criminal justice agencies that came together to bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.”

Wooten, a retired Birmingham police officer, worked as a security officer for the Birmingham City Schools from July 1997 until May 2011. Before his November arrest, Wooten had worked as a substitute bus driver in Shelby County Schools during the current school year.

Between August 2009 and April 2010, Wooten used an office at Dupuy Elementary School in Birmingham to take modeling photos of numerous juvenile girls, according to court records. After one of these modeling sessions, one of the victims told her parents of potentially inappropriate conduct by Wooten. A subsequent search of Wooten’s residence yielded multiple computers containing child pornography images, including images produced by Wooten depicting several victims, between 4 and 9 years of age, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The FBI and the Birmingham Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune and Trial Attorney Jeffrey H. Zeeman of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – An Alabama man who was employed as a security officer in the Birmingham, Ala., City Schools system pleaded guilty today to one count of production of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce White Vance, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Northern District of Alabama FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley and Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper.

Michael Wayne Wooten, 60, of Alabaster, Ala., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson in the Northern District of Alabama. 

According to court documents and proceedings, between August 2009 and April 2010, Wooten, while employed as a security officer for the Birmingham City Schools system, used an office at Dupuy Elementary School to take modeling photos of numerous minor girls.  A search of Wooten’s residence yielded multiple computers containing child pornography images, including images produced by Wooten depicting several victims, between four and nine years of age, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Wooten faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, as well as the possibility of lifetime supervised release.  Wooten also faces a fine of $250,000. 

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Birmingham Police Department.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune of the Northern District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Jeffrey H. Zeeman of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Multiple Arrests Made in Operation Green Giant

BIRMINGHAM—Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Patrick J. Maley, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale, and SAC Reginael D. McDaniel, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office, announced the arrests of 11 individuals in connection with an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case known as Operation Green Giant.

Arrested today were:

Anthony Bartae McGinnis, age 25;

Brandon Lane Moody, age 29;

Cameron Darnell White, age 20;

Corderell DeWayne Carson, age 22;

Dimitris Heckstall, age 18;

Gavin Darnell Walker, age 22;

Marion Jeray Campbell, age 24;

Marlon Earl Riggs, age 35;

Silanis Joseph Snedecor, age 38;

Kimberly Monique Warren, age 30;

Reco Darnell Walker, Jr., age 19

Indicted and currently incarcerated on other charges are:

Joel Dewayne Hall, age 33;

Demarcus Leshawn Whitt, age 23;

Carlos Antonio Riggs, age 33

The investigation, which began in 2008, resulted in the December, 2010 indictment of these individuals for distribution of oxycodone pills, more commonly referred to as oxycontin. The organization distributed thousands of pills per month. The investigation further revealed the organization also distributed heroin, cocaine, and other prescription medication, and was involved in money laundering.

The drug operation, which has a history of violence, was run out of the Brighton area of Jefferson County and operated like a fast food restaurant, putting so many vehicles on the streets that neighborhood residents couldn’t get through to their own homes. Citizen complaints brought the matter to the attention of law enforcement.

“Today’s operation is another outstanding example of citizen involvement, law enforcement cooperation and information sharing at all levels. This collaboration will lead to the disruption and dismantlement of a large scale drug operation with a history of violence,” SAC Maley said.

"We appreciate very much our relationship with our federal and local law enforcement agencies. That relationship impacted and shut down a major drug operation in western Jefferson County. There is no doubt lives will be saved because of it and good people living in the area will get some deserved relief, “ Sheriff Hale said.

“The indictment of these individuals puts a spotlight on organizations that distribute illegal drugs, and on the exemplary coordination among law enforcement in our community, which leads to breaking up these organizations. Illegal drugs, particularly ones as addictive as heroin and oxycodone, are enormously harmful to the individuals who use them and to the communities where they are trafficked,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. “Our goal is to stop criminal enterprises that profit from the illegal trade of dangerous narcotics and take away any financial benefit they receive from their crimes,” she said.

“IRS Criminal Investigation together with the law enforcement community in Birmingham are united in our resolve to investigate and financially disrupt any organization that is allegedly engaged in illegal drug distribution,” SAC McDaniel said.

SAC Maley credited the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and special agents from the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation with the investigation. Maley also thanked and expressed appreciation to the Birmingham, Hueytown, and Midfield Police Departments, as well as the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force (SSTF), which includes the Homewood, Hoover, Bessemer, and Irondale Police Departments, as well as Jefferson and Shelby County Sheriffs' Offices.

Members of the public are reminded that indictments contain only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.