News Releases and Statements

The arrests follow a four-month investigation that targeted drug smuggling and street drug distribution rings operating in Ajo, and was conducted under the auspices of the Border Alliance Narcotics Network, a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiative.

Carlos Humberto Castaneda-Mendoza, 40, entered the U.S. illegally in August 2010. In November 2010, Interpol issued a red notice for the warrant in El Salvador.

According to court documents, Marco Laquin Rogers, 27, of Atlanta, traveled to a Jackson hotel in May 2012 to have sex with the child and videotape the act.

Jacob Ray Albarado, 20, of Big Spring, Texas, has been in custody since his arrest in March on a federal indictment alleging he possessed and produced child pornography, and attempted to entice a child. According to documents filed in the case, after befriending a girl (Jane Doe), Albarado called her with his cell phone for more than a year. In late 2012, Jane Doe began a dating relationship with Albarado and ran away from her home to his apartment in Big Spring.

According to the plea agreement, on Jan. 31, Charles Allen Nave III, 39, knowingly distributed child pornography over the Internet to an undercover agent he met in an online chat room.

If convicted, Eleftherios 'Ted' Zachariadis, 46, of Lake Alfred, faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Robert W. Scogin, 52, and Peggy S. Scogin, 55, both of Shreveport, admitted in their guilty pleas they purchased approximately 9,000 pills of Schedule II, III and IV narcotics in Belize to include codeine and dihydrocodeine

"John Doe" was profiled on a new app launched by ICE Thursday. The unidentified man is featured at the top of the list of suspected child predators wanted by HSI.

Mark Robert Austin was arrested Friday afternoon without incident by HSI and FBI special agents along with officers from the Michigan State Police in the Flint, Mich., area after numerous tips from the public were called in to the ICE tip line. Following the national and regional publicity generated by the app’s announcement, several members of the public called in tips indicating known areas Austin frequented.

Miguel Angel Gutierrez-Carranza, who is a convicted felon and is wanted in Mexico for murder, was indicted Tuesday in the Eastern District of Oklahoma for illegally re-entering the United States after being previously deported.

Victor Berrelleza-Verduzco, 24, pleaded guilty in April to multiple conspiracy counts related to distribution of controlled substances, money laundering, robbery and possession of firearms.

New Jersey man pleads guilty to role in identity theft ring, tax evasion

Long Van Nguyen, 45, of University Place, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kill persons in a foreign country and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.

Martin Paul Bean, III, 63, of Boca Raton, Fla., was ordered to serve 24 months in federal custody after pleading guilty in February to conspiracy to commit a number of federal offenses, including wire fraud, mail fraud, selling unapproved drugs, selling misbranded drugs and importing merchandise contrary to law.

Charles Glenn Perkins came to the attention of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) after being turned around at the U.S.-Canada border last December when a review of his laptop at that time by Canadian authorities revealed two images of nude children.

Sean Lawrence, 40, of Kansas City, Mo., was previously convicted in Missouri in 1995 and 2005 of sodomizing two young boys. He was sentenced to five years in prison for each offense and was required to register as a sex offender upon his release.

The HSI investigation revealed that Robert Lee Raeder, 45, of Tamaqua, produced child pornography videos and images and then maintained them on his computer.

ICE's HSI is launching a new smartphone app – the first of its kind in U.S. federal law enforcement – designed to seek the public's help with fugitive and unknown suspect child predators.

Luis Gerardo Alvarado, 22, met a girl who lived in Coleman County, Texas, by contacting her through a Facebook chat and attempted to persuade and entice her to have sex with him. Alvarado knew the girl was under 17 years of age.

Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) joins the nation in remembering the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 - a day that ultimately led to the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.

Two suburban Kansas City women, and four co-defendants, were sentenced in federal court this week for their roles in a $5 million conspiracy that used a state licensing office to provide more than 3,500 fraudulent documents to illegal aliens across the nation.

Eulises Abraham Nava-Romero, 26, has been in federal custody since his arrest in January on a related federal felony criminal complaint following the execution of a federal search warrant at his home in Dallas by HSI special agents.

Kevin Garcia Fuertes aka Kerlin Esquivel-Feuntes, 26, illegally residing in Annapolis and Richmond, Va., was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. to 235 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Judge Quarles further imposed a special condition that upon the completion of his sentence, that Fuertes must cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding deportation proceedings.

"A Pennsylvania man, Naman Bader, aka ""John C. Koshy,"" was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months in prison for smuggling and illegally distributing more than two million prescription pills including Xanax, Valium, Phentermine, Ativan, Klonopin, Ambien and their generic equivalents."

HSI Philadelphia received information from the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force alleging Van N. Epps, 36, of Philadelphia, was involved in distributing and receiving child pornography via the Internet.