News Releases and Statements

Following a multi-year HSI investigation into global trade networks, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Iranian national Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and co-defendant Gary Lam, who worked for a Chinese company, with crimes related to the procurement of U.S.-manufactured dual-use microelectronics for the IRGC ASF SSJO's one-way attack UAV program.

Ronald Jenkins, 42, of Franklin, Virginia, Japree Brooks, 40, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina and Malik Newsome, 30, of Ivor, Virginia, were convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and witness tampering at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ramon Alvarez-Hernandez, 40, of El Salvador, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm. HSI and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case.

The captain and co-captain of a boat that capsized off Imperial Beach during a 2022 smuggling incident, resulting in three deaths, were sentenced in federal court Dec. 14 to 54 and 50 months in prison, respectively.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today the selections of Daniel A. Bible as the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Executive Associate Director and Russell Hott as the ERO Deputy Executive Associate Director. ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement.

Kenneth Howard Worthy, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 40 years in federal prison without parole.

Pablo Talavera Jr., 36, of Pharr, was sentenced Dec. 14 by a federal judge to serve 18 months in federal prison immediately followed by two years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard opposing arguments regarding the appropriate sentence.

In keeping with standard practice, the United States ensures that all noncitizens without a legal basis to remain in the United States are properly screened for valid protection claims and withholding of removal in accordance with our laws and U.S. international obligations.

Noe Gonzalez-Martinez aka Tocayo, 40, was convicted Dec. 15 on all counts as charged following a three-day trial. Gonzalez-Martinez was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap, possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking related crime, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

During the conspiracy, Ariel Pintado-Montalvo paid thousands of dollars in bribe payments to Antonio Silva-Rodriguez, Hector Vazquez-Barroso and Doris Bonilla-Valle, who each used their positions as Department of Treasury employees to approve fraudulent and non-fraudulent vehicle excise-tax declarations in exchange for bribe payments.

Emeterio Contreras Martinez, 37, a citizen of Mexico, was transported Dec. 13 from the Nye Detention Facility in Pahrump, Nevada, arriving the same day in San Diego, where he was driven to the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Upon arrival at the border, Silva was turned over to local authorities in Mexico.

Nathan Hernandez, 20, of Yuma, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 25, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi.

Pilar Angel Leon-Beltran, 44, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty to the charges on March 22. He admitted to being in violation of a condition of his supervised release from a previous federal conviction.

David Alejandro Bautista, 32, was sentenced by a federal judge Dec. 14 to 240 months in federal prison. The judge also ordered Bautista to pay $84,000 restitution and special assessments in the amounts of $100, $5,000 and $35,000. He must also forfeit his electronic devices.

Augusto Jean Carlo Castillo-Hernandez aka Metal aka Joker, 34, of Guatemala, was arrested on Aug. 31, 2021, in Guatemala and extradited to the United States in February 2022 along with two other people.

ERO Harlingen removed Juan Carlos Pena Escobar, 46, a citizen of El Salvador with a final order of removal, to El Salvador via an ICE Air Operations charter aircraft.

On Nov.29, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned an 11-count indictment against Jorge Damian Roman-Figueroa, Luis Eduardo Roman-Flores, Manuel Jose Bernal, Joel Salazar-Ballesteros and Jesus Armando Gonzalez-Villela, citizens of Mexico, for conspiracy to transport aliens; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; conspiracy to distribute marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine; and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

ICE, working in coordination with DHS and CBP, facilitated removal flights, including single adults and family units to Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela from December 11 - 13.

Ezequiel Alanis Espitia, a 40-year-old citizen of Mexico, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 27 years in federal prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for money laundering and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Espitia pleaded guilty to the charges on May 17.

Sean Michael Kriss, a 40-year-old resident of Brazoria, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 30 years for the sexual exploitation of a child and 10 years in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material.

An unlawfully present Mexican man and previously convicted sexual predator pleaded guilty to illegal reentry in November 2023 and will serve a 42-month sentence in an Indiana Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.

Ghacham Inc., based in Paramount and doing business under the brand name Platini, was given financial penalties and ordered to create and maintain an anti-money laundering compliance and ethics program with a third-party monitor review, who will report to the court annually.

The 41-year-old Salvadoran unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without being admitted or inspected by an immigration official. Local authorities arrested him in Everett in September 2021.

Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested a Honduran noncitizen and member of MS-13 Dec. 12 in Hyattsville, Maryland, who was convicted of killing a Maryland resident in 2016.

Deportation officers removed Raul Herbert Manyari-Castellares from the United States to Peru Dec. 8. Peruvian authorities took custody of him upon his arrival.