News Releases and Statements

In the course of Operation SOAR, ERO deportation officers apprehended 16 individuals with criminal histories related to sexual offenses. Of those arrested, 5 were previously released from local law enforcement on an active detainer.

On Sept. 10, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo accepted the guilty pleas of Mario Emiliano-Herrera and Julio Cesar Lopez-Nino, both 19 and from Mexico, for their role in transporting illegal aliens, resulting in a death.

Robert P. Hoopes, 71, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right.

According to Jamaican law enforcement authorities, on June 12, 2017, Wayne Thompson, 24, got involved in an argument with an adult male, over a woman, pulled a firearm and shot the adult male, who succumbed to his injuries.

A jury found Katherine O'Neal, 43, guilty of smuggling goods from the United States on March 6, 2018. O'Neal was acquitted on other counts alleging false information on firearm-purchase forms and money laundering.

Aron Alexi Herrera Munguia, 29, from Honduras, was sentenced to 40 years for raping and robbing two women who owned a bar in the Houston, Texas, area. Munguia is the sixth member of Los Tumbadores to be convicted in state court as part of this investigation.  

Houston-based Waste Management of Texas has agreed to forfeit more than $5.5 million and perform remedial measures for a documented pattern and practice of hiring illegal aliens at the company’s Afton, Texas, location.

During this operation, ERO deportation officers made arrests in the following states: Illinois (134), Indiana (52), Kansas (43), Kentucky (60), Missouri (42) and Wisconsin (33). Of the 364 arrested, 187 had criminal convictions. Eighteen women and 346 men were arrested.

Alexis Lopez, 21, from Roma, Texas, was sentenced Aug. 28 by U.S. District Judge Randy Crane to 51 months in prison. The sentence was enhanced as the court took into consideration the fact that Lopez recruited and directed three straw purchasers to purchase a total of four .50 caliber rifles on his behalf.

Nineteen foreign nationals were charged with unlawfully voting in the 2016 elections Friday, and a U.S. citizen was charged with aiding and abetting an alien to falsely claim U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

Melvin Isaac Martinez-Guevara departed the U.S. and was turned over to El Salvadoran law enforcement authorities where he is wanted for the offense of criminal conspiracy. He unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date and location without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by an immigration officer.

The National Football League has partnered with the USO for more than 50 years to honor and celebrate servicemen and women, veterans and their families. For the Super Bowl Champion Eagles, the franchise has recognized local veterans at each home game for the past several years.

Melvin Valencia-Menjivar, 38, wanted for aggravated homicide, and Joel Medina-Molina, 33, wanted for aggravated theft and illicit groupings charges, were removed from the United States via an ICE Air Operations Charter flight and transferred into the custody of Salvadoran law enforcement authorities.

Fujing Zheng, aka Gordon Jin, 35, and his father Guanghua Zheng, 62, both of whom reside in Shanghai, China, are charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to import controlled substances into the United States, operating a continued criminal enterprise, money laundering and other crimes.

Moises Alvarado, 19, pleaded guilty to the charges May 16, 2018. On Aug. 21, Alvarado was sentenced to 108 months for the synthetic cannabinoid offense, as well as a 120-month consecutive term for discharging a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Following his prison term, Alvarado must also serve three years of supervised release. 

In addition to his 448-month prison sentence, Ryan Glen Colburn, 25, Rosenberg, Texas, was further ordered to pay restitution to his three known victims.

According to court documents, Theodore Williams Symonds, 51, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, travelled frequently between the United States and the Dominican Republic including a trip on March 20, 2017. Symonds was arrested March 23, 2017 by local Dominican authorities for crimes related to the sexual abuse of children.

Navor Salas-Cruz, 45, a Mexican national residing on Kauai, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright today to 30 months of imprisonment for illegally reentering the United States after being deported, and for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

33 individuals were charged Thursday following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) into a scheme to illegally bring into the United States millions of dollars of Chinese-manufactured goods by smuggling them through ports of entry on the East and West Coasts.  One defendant is also charged with unlawful procurement of naturalization.  

According to the indictment, between 2015 and January 2017, William Matthew Napolitano, 35, of New Port Richey enticed and coerced a minor to engage in sexual activity. Napolitano is also charged with persuading a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography in June 2015.

ERO deportation officers escorted Cristian Vintila, 47, to Romania via a commercial flight. Vintila was transferred to the custody of Romanian law enforcement authorities upon arrival in Bucharest.