News Releases and Statements

Jerry Wang, 34, appeared Monday before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila. Wang was ordered to surrender and begin serving his sentence by Nov. 3. In addition to the prison term, Judge Davila ordered the defendant to forfeit $700,000 in proceeds derived from the scheme.

The federal judge also ordered Brandon Jones, 34, from Reading, Pennsylvania, five years of supervised release and a $300 special assessment. The fraud gang’s ringleader, Damian Gasdaska, was sentenced in May 2015 to 12 years in prison.

Each year, millions of children fall prey to sexual predators. These young victims are left with permanent psychological, physical and emotional scars. One of the top priorities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is to combat child exploitation, and rescue these innocent victims from further abuse.

The 72-count indictment includes 26 counts for mail fraud, one count for theft of public money and 45 counts for aggravated identity theft. The mail fraud charges relate to payments made through the U.S. mail system to Rocket Learning, Inc., for fraudulent invoices to the Puerto Rico Department of Education.

“As our nation remembers the attacks on our nation 14 years ago, this arrest and investigation highlight the cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement, ensuring the safety of our citizens,” said Marc J. Moore, field office director for the Miami Field Office of ERO.

James Marcus Malone, 42, of Boaz, Alabama, was convicted on all four counts as charged following two days of testimony.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent James (Jamie) Deboer will never forget that Tuesday morning when his phone rang.

Keith Monroe Wallace, 53, of Eureka, pleaded guilty June 24 to possession of child pornography. According to the plea agreement, the defendant admitted possessing more than 600 images of prepubescent minors, or minors under the age of 12, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Leaford George Cameron is facing mail fraud, wire fraud and false statement charges for the fraud scheme, and HSI authorities are seeking any additional “clients” who could have been victimized by the alleged imposter attorney.

Jason B. Scarcello, 45, of Anderson, appeared before U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley. According to court documents, between April and June 2012, Scarcello used a file-sharing program to download multiple movies depicting the sexual exploitation of children. Scarcello was arrested July 25, 2012, after agents executed a federal search warrant at his residence and discovered CDs and DVDs containing sexually explicit images and videos of children.

Carl McBride, age 50, of Claymont, Delaware, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years, in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of at least five years to life following his prison sentence.

Carlos Valencia-Zepeda, 34, of Mexico, was sentenced Sept. 9 by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 18 months in federal prison for illegally reentering the United States after having been deported, which is a felony. Valencia-Zepeda pleaded guilty to the charge July 7.

Samuel Rahamin Topaz, 21, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with others to provide services and personnel to ISIL.

Tiburicio Juarez Chavez, 28, formerly of Encinitas, was transferred by San Diego-based officers from the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Special Response Team to the custody of representatives from Mexican Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) and Mexican immigration officials at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Juarez is charged in an arrest warrant issued in June with an aggravated rape committed in Oaxaca, Mexico, in May 2013.

The two defendants arrested Wednesday morning are: Jason Shiao, also known as "Jason Zheng" and "Zheng Yi Xiao," 65, who allegedly posed as an immigration lawyer; and Shiao's daughter, Lynn Leung, also known as "Linda," 43, of Pasadena.

Jean Claud Mills, 32, was arrested May 16, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and using and carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Mills subsequently was indicted on those same charges June 11, 2014.

David Albert, 50, of Springfield, pleaded guilty March 11 to sexually exploiting a child to produce child pornography.

Satishkumar A. Patel, 47, and Daxaben S. Patel, 36, both of McPherson, Kansas, entered their guilty pleas Sept. 9.

Lawrence Joynes, 56, of Dundalk, Maryland, sexually abused 14 children in kindergarten through second grade in his classroom at the New Hampshire Estates Elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he was a music teacher.

HSI, DEA and NYPD officers arrested 17 members and associates of the Taylor Avenue Crew and Leland Avenue Crew: James Capers, 22, Tommy Brown, 20, Jesse Irvin, 24, Edwin Moye, 24, Unique Christopher, 19, Dante Rodgers, 21, Irvin Ortiz, 27, Elijah Davila, 23, Ricardo Garcia, 24, Pablo Chevere, 32, Gladys Morales, 34, Kenneth Mercado, 25, and Andrea Bell, 41.

Seventy eight of the foreign nationals taken into custody by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers during the enforcement action, which concluded Thursday, had prior criminal convictions, with the exception of one, who’s being charged federally with reentry after deportation.

Ernest Garza Reyes, 32, of Madera, appeared before U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. According to court documents, from July 2, 2011, through Dec. 1, 2011, Reyes sent and received over 200 email messages containing more than 2,800 images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The images also involved the portrayal of sadistic and masochistic violence, and included depictions of prepubescent minors. Reyes was charged with receiving or distributing child pornography on May 9, 2013, and pleaded guilty to this charge on Sept. 8, 2014.

Bassam Arif Al Zarkani, 33, of Dumas, Texas, has been in custody since his arrest in April.

Ragini Vecham, 36, of Cupertino; Kishore Pallapothu, 42, of Cupertino; Satyanarayana Tota, 45, of Sunnyvale; and Ramana Reddy, 44, of Sunnyvale, were indicted Wednesday and turned themselves in to the U.S. Marshals Service the following day.

Personnel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection gathered this week to receive key training in the prevention of textile trade fraud that threatens the U.S. economy, restricts the competitiveness of U.S. industry and endangers the health and safety of the American public.