News Releases and Statements

Conrad Gallant has been charged in federal court with engaging in sex with a minor in the Dominican Republic. Gallant engaged in a sexual relationship with a then 14-year-old girl, promised and paid her money, and took photographs of her.

A former Korean law enforcement officer was interdicted at Los Angeles International Airport with $700,000 worth of counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills.

Moises Velazquez-Jacobo, 36, an illegal alien from Mexico, who had been previously removed from the United States in 2007 and 2008, sold fraudulent identification documents, which included U.S. legal permanent resident cards and U.S. social security cards.

ICE today announced the opening of a multi-agency center established to coordinate and enhance federal export enforcement efforts, the Export Enforcement Coordination Center, or E2C2.

Timothy Wilson of Toms River, N.J., was sentenced to 10 years in prison for cocaine possession and distribution related charges after he was arrested and convicted in Maryland while attempting to drive through Maryland with cocaine base hidden in a rental car.

Timothy Brehmer, 35, of Broadalbin, N.Y., was indicted earlier today. On or about Dec. 6, 2011, Brehmer knowingly possessed images of child pornography, and received these images between April 2007 and Dec. 5, 2011. If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A Colombian man, Marcos Salazar Obregon, was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in federal prison for his role as a crew member of a vessel that smuggled approximately 6,700 kilograms of cocaine in the Caribbean Sea. An investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force's (OCDETF's) Panama Express Strike Force...

Officers with ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) arrested Cuban national Edilberto Verane last Thursday at a gas station on Kercheval Street on the city's east side. The man is an aggravated felon having been convicted of murder in the second degree, manslaughter and various other crimes in Arkansas, Michigan and California.

Servando Calvillo-Armenta, a Mexican national wanted in his native country for allegedly murdering his girlfriend, was turned over to Mexican law enforcement authorities Tuesday at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

William Lee Allen Jr., of Cincinnati was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 240 months in prison and ordered to be placed under court supervision for the rest of his life for possessing more than 600 images of child pornography and sharing them over the internet.

A federal magistrate on Monday ordered that British businessman Christopher Tappin, facing charges in connection with a scheme to illegally export parts used in Hawk surface-to-air missile systems to Iran, remain detained pending trial.

Eric Daniel Griffith of Elkton, Md., was sentenced to five years in federal prison for distributing child pornography following an investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Mexican citizen pleaded guilty Tuesday to unauthorized re-entry of a previously deported aggravated felon, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Warren County Sheriff's Department.

Two married couples and a licensed real estate appraiser have admitted to participating in a countywide mortgage fraud conspiracy to obtain millions of dollars in fraudulent mortgage loans.

Lorena Martinez, the leader of a large-scale human smuggling organization based in Corpus Christi and Portland, Texas, that specialized in smuggling Brazilian nationals into the United States, was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in prison. The investigation was led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police...

A Guatemalan man, Rafael Quinonez Jimenez, was arrested Friday for possession of heroin with intent to distribute following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Officers discovered that Jimenez had used the candy shells of lollipops to conceal large balls of heroin.

Loxly Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to import heroin and cocaine following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Johnson organized the importation of cocaine and heroin from the Dominican Republic using crew members from a cruise ship to transport the drugs to Baltimore.

A retired Marine Corps staff sergeant, who until recently worked in the Marine Aviation Supply Office at Edwards Air Force Base, was arrested by federal agents Monday morning following an undercover probe that allegedly revealed he lied to the government as part of a scheme to sell sensitive military equipment to buyers around the globe.

Shawn Pound, 41, of Gowanda, N.Y., who was convicted of possession of child pornography, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

A Mexican national in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) passed away Sunday morning at Victor Valley Community Hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for pneumonia.

The leader of an alien smuggling organization and six others have pleaded guilty for their involvement in a conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens.

Successful investigations stem from partnerships between law enforcement agencies at all levels of government. That was the case when a Redondo Beach police detective rang a Los Angeles-based Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent on Feb. 28.

Jose Garza from Sullivan City, Texas, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. The investigation was conducted in Corpus Christi by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations...

Minneapolis resident Fabian Patricio Lojano-Lojano was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday for smuggling AK-47 assault rifle components to Paraguay. Lojano-Lojano admitted that on June 23, 2010, he dropped off a package at a UPS station in Minneapolis. He said the package contained t-shirts, but it actually contained parts for AK-47s.

Three other individuals have also pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme