United States v. Cassie Will-Darnall — N.D. Cal., San Jose Division, No. 5:24-cr-00292-PCP

Case summary

Cassie Will-Darnall was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, No. 5:24-cr-00292-PCP. On January 15, 2025 she entered an open plea and pleaded guilty to Counts One and Two of an information filed May 29, 2024, which the court accepted and ordered recorded before referring the matter to Probation. The information is not among the filings on this page, and no filing on the page states the offenses charged or names a pandemic relief program. After hearings on September 3 and September 24, 2025 the court committed her to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for 18 months on each count, concurrently, with three years of supervised release, a $200 special assessment and no fine, restitution to be determined later. A third party's petition contesting forfeiture was dismissed with leave to amend.

Case at a glance

What was she sentenced to?

The criminal minutes for September 24, 2025 record a term of 18 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons as to Counts One and Two of the information, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release as to both counts concurrently, a $200 special assessment, no fine, and restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date, with self-surrender by 5:00 p.m. on January 7, 2026. A restitution hearing was held on December 3, 2025; the minutes record only that the hearing took place.

What do the filings say about the charges?

The change-of-plea minutes for January 15, 2025 record that she was sworn, that an open plea was executed in court, and that she pleaded guilty to Counts One and Two of the information filed May 29, 2024, which the court accepted and ordered recorded. Neither the information nor any charging document is on this page, so the offenses cannot be stated.

What is the forfeiture dispute on this page?

Third-party claimant Sandra Will petitioned for an ancillary proceeding to determine her interests in two properties subject to forfeiture to the United States, one of them in Los Gatos, California. On October 21, 2025 the court granted the government's motion to dismiss her petition as to that property with leave to amend, holding that the petition set out no valid legal theory of an interest superior to the defendant's, and noting that the United States had withdrawn its forfeiture request as to the other property and that the defendant filed no opposition to the forfeiture request. A further petition and a further government motion to dismiss were argued on March 25, 2026 and taken under submission.

Summary written from the documents on this page; every sentence is sourced.