Dublin man faces up to 40 years for marijuana trafficking, COVID-19 insurance fraud
DUBLIN – A Dublin man pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple crimes, including conspiracy to distribute marijuana, aggravated identity theft and obstruction of justice, federal prosecutors said.
Quenten Giovanni Moody, aka Christano Rossi, 38, admitted transporting marijuana out of state, committing insurance fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, and creating fake FBI documents to attempt to get two of his government-seized vehicles released back to him.
Between 2017 and 2022, Moody and a co-defendant generated hundreds of thousands of dollars by transporting marijuana bought in California to other states such as Texas, Georgia and Nevada, prosecutors said. Moody used commercial planes and carrier services to deliver the marijuana and then bring back the cash from its sale.
Beginning in 2020, Moody also participated in a scheme to submit fraudulent unemployment benefit claims during the pandemic. Moody used another person's identity to get a benefits card through Bank of America that he used to buy things at two Las Vegas high-end stores, Louis Vuitton and Cartier.
As part of its investigation, the U.S. government seized two vehicles from Moody in April 2022 that were purchased with money he obtained illegally, a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and a 1956 Chevrolet pickup truck, prosecutors said.
The vehicles were transported to an FBI field office for storage, but on May 8, a flat-bed truck arrived at the facility and the driver told FBI security personnel that he had been instructed to take the vehicles out of federal custody. The driver gave the FBI security team a document that purported to be an order issued by a judge ordering the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI to release the vehicles. The documents were fake, however, and were created by Moody.
Moody tried the same thing on May 21, again sending a tow truck and having the driver present fraudulent documentation stating the vehicles were to be released.
"The fraudulent federal court documents had been altered from the previous attempt," prosecutors said.
Shortly before the arrival of the second tow truck, a co-conspirator also allegedly called the FBI field office pretending to be an FBI special agent.
"While in character, the co-conspirator attempted to contact the employees assigned to the gate outside of the field office to facilitate the tow truck gaining access to the FBI property," prosecutors said.
Moody has a sentencing date set for July 11. He is facing a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $5 million for the marijuana conspiracy, prosecutors said. He is also facing up to 12 years for both the aggravated identity theft and obstruction of justice counts, plus fines of up to $500,000.