News Releases and Statements

Daniel Furrow, 40, of Piqua, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to a year and one day in prison for having approximately 130 visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on his personal computer.

A former New York City police officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday for participating in a violent robbery crew.

Law enforcement authorities made six arrests and seized illegal weapons and drugs this week in Puerto Rico as part of Operation Caribbean Resilience, a joint initiative led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that includes the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) and the San Juan Police Department (SJPD).

Okey F. Nwagbara of Plano, Texas, was sentenced to three years in prison for his involvement in a health care fraud conspiracy and providing false information to obtain citizenship. The immigration case was investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

An interstate prostitution ring based in Indianapolis that was operated by three brothers - all illegal aliens - that transported dozens of women on a weekly basis has been dismantled and the brothers sentenced.

Roland J. Flath pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee to traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in and attempting to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Flath, of Fond du Lac, Wis., traveled to Belize in July 2006, and subsequently sexually molested a minor girl from Belize.

Hau Phuc Nguyen, the owner of a local boutique that sells women's clothing and handbags, was arrested Tuesday on federal charges for trafficking in counterfeit goods, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

Michael Strausbaugh, 31, was sentenced to 45 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He was also fined $3,500. His wife, Rebecca Strausbaugh, 33, was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised releases. She was fined $1,200.

Lynn Lavigne was sentenced in federal court Tuesday on charges of trafficking in counterfeit M-A-C cosmetics and accessory items after an investigation conducted by ICE's HSI.

Rafael Ortiz-Cedra, a 32-year-old Puerto Rican fugitive wanted by the Puerto Rico Police Department for drug trafficking, was arrested Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at the Monte Hatillo public housing project in San Juan.

The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center), led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, has joined together with the FBI and six major American movie studios to launch an updated anti-piracy warning to be displayed on new releases.

Ricardo Del Valle-Diaz was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 17 years in federal prison for production of a video and audio recording of a special education student engaged in sexually explicit conduct while on the school bus, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

ICE's partnerships with local law enforcement agencies in northern San Diego Country have resulted in the arrest of more than 1,000 criminal aliens and immigration violators over the last two years. The majority of these arrests occurred in Escondido, Ca...

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations special agents, working jointly with Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) officers, seized 154 kilograms of cocaine Friday with an approximate street value of $12 million. Two individuals were detained in connection with the seizure, which occurred north of Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Joseph Earl Ebenhoeh pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to two counts of possessing sexually explicit images of minors in a case investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. Ebenhoeh admitted to downloading sexually explicit images of minors between November 2010 and July 2011.

Mauro Rodrigo Hernandez of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was sentenced May 6, 2012. He was also fined $15,755 (207,900 pesos). The investigation that discovered Hernandez was conducted by a bilateral cyber task force with members from SSP, PGR and HSI.

Christina Michelle Gonzalez pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to her role in a more than $5 million conspiracy that utilized the Missouri Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph to provide more than 3,500 fraudulent identity documents to illegal aliens across the United States.

Prudence Kantengwa, aka Prudentienne, 47, of Boston, who is a native and citizen of Rwanda, was convicted of fraud in immigration documents, visa fraud, perjury during testimony before an immigration judge and obstruction of administrative proceedings. Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 31, 2012.

"Herculano Albarran-Martinez, also known as ""El Nene,"" has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for trafficking cocaine, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI)."

Adam Joshua Cortez, 31, of Justin, Texas, was convicted by a jury after a two day trial. Cortez faces a statutory sentence of not less than 20 years and up to life in prison on the enticement charge. He faces an additional mandatory 10-year sentence, which must run consecutive to any other sentence, for committing this offense while registered as a sex offender.

A member of the West Coast Crips gang, Jonathan Jamar Sanders, was sentenced Thursday to 236 months in federal prison on charges stemming from a joint sex trafficking probe that linked him to a scheme involving a 15-year-old girl he recruited to work as a prostitute.

Samuel William Maines has been charged with possessing child pornography, after law enforcement, conducting an undercover operation using file-sharing software, downloaded files containing images and videos of child pornography from an IP address assigned to Maines' mother in Mesquite, Texas.

Kenneth Oray Wagner, of Tacoma, pleaded guilty to the charge in February. He admitted to sharing child pornography in online chat rooms with the username "Lusting4lil1s" (lusting for little ones).

According to court documents, in February, Patrick Mahoney, 34, of Columbus, Ohio, arranged an online sexual encounter with an undercover officer whom he thought was a 15-year-old girl. Mahoney allegedly intended to photograph the encounter with his cell phone.