News Releases and Statements

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending Oct. 10, 2014

Joshua Quick, from Palestine, Texas, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography Oct 14 before U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell.

Eleven Colombian citizens face charges for human trafficking of minors, pimping and pandering. Details regarding the remaining individual are not being disclosed pending the completion of the investigation.

Gean Fabio DaSilva, 33, pleaded guilty after being indicted in December 2013 for his role in a sophisticated bank fraud scheme that involved the use of dozens of counterfeit identities to fraudulently open bank accounts.

Jonathan Lee Whitmire, 36, of Auburn, was sentenced by United States District Judge William C. O'Kelley to 20 years in prison to be followed by 20 years of supervised release. Whitmire was also ordered to pay a $3,000.00 fine and a $100 special assessment. The defendant will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

The investigation leading to the settlement was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation's (HSI) Foreign Corruption Investigations Group and the HSI Asset Identification and Removal Group in Miami, with the assistance of HSI Los Angeles and the HSI Attaché offices in Rome, Madrid, London and Paris.

Nick Chen, 46, was charged in a 4-count sealed indictment returned Oct. 8, which was unsealed Oct. 10 as he made his initial appearance before US Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy.

Leon Perry Brooks Sr., 40, of Jacksonville, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison on each count. Brooks was indicted Dec. 18, 2013. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Tune in to 60 Minutes on CBS at 7 pm, Sunday, Oct. 12 for a story about the dramatic capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the fearsome, brutal boss of Mexico's violent Sinaloa Cartel, and the role of ICE in his apprehension.

Mario Guadalupe Saenz, 27, of McAllen, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos Oct. 10 where he was formally charged. He was also charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

Hsien Tai Tsai, aka Alex Tsai, admitted that he engaged in illegal business transactions involving the export of U.S. origin goods and machinery. Tsai, 69, was arrested in May 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia, and was later extradited to the United States, where he remains in federal custody.

Tamara Williams, 36, Kriss Rockson, 45, Jason Chance, 25, Alaia Harrison, 20, and Mickael Knight-Williams, 44, were part of an alleged scheme to use stolen personal identifying information from Saks Fifth Avenue customers to purchase approximately $400,000 in luxury goods from the Midtown flagship store for later resale on the black market.

According to court documents, the indictment charges Eric Alexander Rodriguez, 20, Brandon Troy Robbins, 20, and Christopher David Wix, 21, all active-duty US Army soldiers stationed at Fort Hood.

Daniel Barrera Barrera, aka Loco, 44, was responsible for manufacturing hundreds of tons of cocaine annually in Colombia, trafficking it to various parts of the world, including the United States, and laundering tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from that narcotics trafficking activity.

Richard J. Simone Jr., 23, of Acworth, Georgia, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court to traveling across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct with a minor. Simone has been in custody since his arrest in September 2013.

The forum and MOU will assist in developing a deeper understanding of the black and grey markets that criminal networks use to traffic goods into Mexico and throughout Latin America.

Joshua Peterson, 45, of Prescott, Arizona, and Steven Grovo, 35, of Shirley, Massachusetts, were accused by a federal grand jury in Montana of promoting the sexual exploitation of children using an international online bulletin board where members advertised, distributed, viewed and received images depicting child pornography.

Dmitry Ustinov, 53, of Moscow, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In July, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to export the high-tech military technology, in violation of federal law.

Authorities arrested Faru Fernandez-Igua, 48, and Monica Evangelista-Laos, 30, late last week after they attempted to enter Canada at Port Huron's Blue Water Bridge.

According to information presented in court, the six men were admitted members of ABT, a powerful race-based, statewide organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas and the United States.

In 2012, the local officer, who is a part of the HSI Guatemala Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU), requested the letter to assist in his entrance into a newly-formed U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-sponsored program that would earn him a bachelor’s degree in police science and a minor in community policing. On Sept. 16, two years after receiving his later of recommendation, Vazquez received his degree from the Universidad del Occidente in Guatemala.

Eric C. Opitz, 45, of Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged with using Medicare Part D benefits to obtain human growth hormone (HGH) and anabolic steroids, which he then sold by advertising on the Internet.

The first U.S. federal law enforcement app designed to seek the public's help with fugitive and unknown suspected child predators is now available for Android smartphones, and in Spanish for both Apple and Android versions.