News Releases and Statements

Jeffrey Schmutzler, 42, of Fayettesville, Pa., a teacher in the Chambersburg School District, is charged with distribution and receipt of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Daniel Alan Jines of Whitestown, Ind., was charged with producing sexually explicit photos and videos of a minor over a two-year period.

Harold Duane Davenport of Le Center, Minn., pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to receiving videos containing child pornography. Davenport admitted that he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography, including images and videos portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

Joshua P. Blakenship was sentenced Wednesday in a local example of what child exploitation investigators are calling a disturbing and growing trend known as "sextortion."

A federal judge Monday sentenced heroin trafficker Steven Michael Carrasco to 57 months in federal prison, following an investigation by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Chad Salvatore of Alden, N.Y., was sentenced to 20 years in prison for distribution and receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice. At the time of his arrest, Salvatore was a foster parent to a young teenage child, despite having been convicted of molesting three children when Salvatore himself was a teenager.

A Maryland attorney, Aaron G. Seltzer, was arrested Tuesday by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI. Seltzer was indicted by a federal grand jury March 14 on nine counts of wire fraud in connection with a scheme in which he converted funds intended for real estate investments to his personal use.

Salvador Vera-Olmeda, a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Mexico City, was deported Monday by ICE and turned over to Mexican officials for prosecution. Vera was arrested by ERO Fugitive Operations officers in Raleigh, N.C., in February.

Members of a nationwide Chinese marijuana and contraband cigarette trafficking organization were arrested and charged today. These arrests follow an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Luis Baena-Olivares, a Mexican criminal alien with a prior felony conviction for evading police with a motor vehicle, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of illegally re-entering the United States following a prior removal.

Paul Kalash, 37, of Plymouth, Minn., pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling goods from the United States. He was charged Feb. 11.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested four men in connection with a scheme to allegedly distribute large amounts of methylenedioxypryovalerone (MDPV) - a controlled substance commonly referred to as bath salts - in New Jersey and New York.

A Central African Republic citizen was convicted in federal court Tuesday on two felony charges of obstructing his removal from the United States. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations attempted to deport the man on two separate occasions, Nov. 14, 2011 and March 13, 2012, but each time he resisted ICE officers with physical force.

A former Fresno resident, Kwan Yong Choi, is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday on federal money laundering charges for his alleged role in a fraud scheme that bilked investors out of several million dollars.

Following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Dr. Wronald Best, the chief scientist of a government contractor working on components for use in military helicopters and the presidential helicopter fleet, was sentenced Monday for conspiring to obtain pirated software from Chinese and Russian cyber criminals.

Eleven people were charged March 14 in a conspiracy that involved secreting packets of heroin inside the body, in order to smuggle the drugs into the United States from the Dominican Republic. Also, as a result of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) probe, all 11 face drug and kidnapping charges.

Ten years ago in March, the Homeland Security Act set into motion what would be the single-largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. One of the agencies in the new Department of Homeland Security was the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Jehad Shalabi, 44, of Blue Springs, Mo., is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit trademark goods.

Michael Allen Dreyer, a retired Air Force technical sergeant convicted last September by a federal jury of possession and distribution of child pornography, was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison.

Melvin Noe Sanchez-Izaguirre, a citizen of El Salvador and Honduras who was previously removed from the United States and is wanted in El Salvador for kidnapping and attempted murder, was arrested today by officers from ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).

Nassar Issa Ibrahim Nassar, a Jordanian citizen with more than a dozen criminal convictions in Illinois ranging from felony sexual assault to unlawfully carrying a weapon, was removed from the United States to Jordan Tuesday by officers with ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).

More than a dozen members of an international money laundering scheme were indicted today in federal court in Brooklyn. The indictment reveals 19 people conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars in narcotic proceeds from the United States to Colombia between 2006 and 2013.

Lindsey Joe Brown pleaded guilty Thursday to methamphetamine trafficking and firearms charges that resulted from an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The plea agreement requires him to serve 17 years in federal prison.

Billy Ray Doyle, 59, of San Angelo, Texas, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and a lifetime of supervised release.

Frank Charles Reddell, a previously convicted sex offender from the Fresno area who worked as a handyman, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for sexual exploitation of a minor and receiving or distributing material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.