News Releases and Statements

Jonathan Michael Swearingen, 28, of Orange, Texas, pleaded guilty July 1 to possessing child pornography before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zachary J. Hawthorn.

The World Customs Organization-led (WCO) operation, dubbed FLYAWAY, teamed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to three separate seizures totaling more than three tons of marijuana June 23 near the border south of Tucson.

Wen Ping Chen, 30, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and his brother Wen Qiu Chen, 31, of Santa Fe, were also ordered to forfeit a residence located on Aztec Court in Rio Rancho that was used to facilitate the Chens’ criminal conduct. Although the amount of restitution to be paid by the Chen brothers will be determined at a later date, the court noted that the restitution order will be at least $120,000.

Marijan Cvjeticanin, 50, of St. James, New York, was convicted of nine counts of mail fraud following a one-week trial.

Casey Lamotte, 30, of Flora Vista, New Mexico, was sentenced June 29 to 75 months in prison, which is to be followed by two years of supervised release. Lamotte was one of 29 individuals charged with drug trafficking offenses following a multi-agency investigation targeting drug trafficking in northwestern New Mexico.

Officials from more than 25 countries gathered June 18-19 to discuss the use of virtual currencies by criminal organizations to complete illicit transactions and launder ill-gotten gains. The event was co-hosted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Europol’s Cybercrime Center.

Hardened criminals, such as drug cartel and violent gang members are not always cooperative when arrested, taken into custody and removed from the United States. That’s a situation for the elite SRTs from ICE’s ERO to handle.

The arrests, made from June 23 through June 25, were made throughout New Jersey, with multiple arrests in cities such as Lakewood, Jersey City, Newark, Trenton, Cherry Hill, Paterson, Secaucus and Elizabeth. Of the 69 taken into custody by ERO, 51 met the agency’s highest priority level due to felony convictions or participation in a criminal street gang.

Stephen Voudouris, Sr., 59, from Newtown Square, Yung Chung, 31, from West Chester, and Jaimmy Chun, 30, from Philadelphia are charged with conspiracy, trafficking in counterfeit goods and wire fraud. Voudouris, Sr. is also charged with smuggling counterfeit goods into the United States.

Juan Francisco Saenz-Tamez, 23, of Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and a $100 million fine by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.

This new guidance is the result of a six-month agency Working Group that examined these issues with subject matter experts, sought input from transgender individuals, and visited various non-federal facilities across the country to observe best practices.

Ronald Carey Shirley, 64, of Simi Valley, a certified public accountant who served as the chief financial officer for the California Angels baseball team in the 1990s, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter.

Steven Lesmeister, 38, of Harrison, was indicted June 4 on three federal felony charges for sending unprovoked lewd messages and videos to juvenile females in Virginia, New York and North Carolina in September 2014.

Zachary Knight, 20, lived in the U.S. Army War College housing area with his family when HSI special agents arrested him May 9, 2014, after they found videos of his sexual abuse he made with the victims.

Martez Alando Gurley, 40, from Napa, California, admitted at his pre-arraignment hearing June 29 that he purchased 15,000 to 18,000 counterfeit Viagra and counterfeit Cialis tablets from an individual in China he knew as “Alice,” as well as an additional 3,600 to 4,800 tablets from another individual within the U.S.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Sarah R. Saldaña and U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) Director General Keith Bristow officially signed an agreement June 25 in London to provide information on the travel of convicted child sex offenders between the two countries.

Emanuel Lockhart, 24, was sentenced June 26 by U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez to 240 months in prison for sex trafficking, a $2,500 fine and supervised release for 10 years after he completes his prison term.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson appointed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., Special Agent in Charge Clark Settles as the 2015 World Police and Fire Games federal coordinator. Settles is charged with overseeing the safety and security of the event.

In less than one week, ERO and Interpol Guatemala identified three men – Marcos Najera Perez, Roberto Agustin Mendoza and Hugo Jose Eguizabal Garcia – wanted by Guatemalan authorities for separate incidents involving aggravated rape, domestic violence, criminal threats and homicide.

Jonathan Daniel Kutej, 34, from Tolar, Texas, was convicted in November 2014 on two counts of producing child pornography.

These departments collaborated to develop the ACTeam Initiative to streamline rapidly expanding human trafficking enforcement efforts, focusing on forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud and coercion.

According to the criminal complaint, William Vergara-Alamo, 21, began text messaging with a 14-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe, after she mistakenly called his cellphone. Within approximately two weeks of communicating with her, Vergara-Alamo asked Jane Doe to send him photographs of her and eventually, he started requesting sexually explicit photos.

On Oct. 30, 2014, HSI special agents received information from Puerto Rico Police Department’s (PRPD) Arecibo Sexual Crimes Division regarding Edgar E. Nieves-Hernandez, 40. According to the information, Nieves-Hernandez was in possession of sexually explicit images of a child 6 years old.

Jurgen and Bernhard Striegel were transferred into the custody of the German Federal Police upon their arrival in Germany June 17. According to an Interpol arrest warrant, both men participated in a vehicle fraud scheme that defrauded several banks out of approximately $2.76 million in U.S. currency.