News Releases and Statements

A fourth person charged in a firearms-trafficking case pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday following a multi-agency investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jesus Francisco Lopez, 35, was convicted following a jury trial April 21. Evidence at the trial showed that between October 2009 and December 2010, Lopez purchased several hundred thousand rounds of various calibers of ammunition.

Manu Panatkul, 51, was taken into custody Friday night by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) shortly after arriving on a Korean Airlines flight from his native country.

A Croatian national wanted for fleeing a murder sentence in his native country was deported on Monday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Following the arrest of those charged, an indictment was unsealed on Tuesday which charges seven area residents with operating an interstate over-the-counter (OTC) drug theft and fencing ring, structuring and money laundering.

Robert Hedrick, 60, is president of the Brownsville-based Pan American Airways which provides cargo air service between the United States and Mexico. Hedrick is expected to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio on July 19. The United States expects to request that the court detain Hendricks in federal custody without bond pending further criminal proceedings.

Branden M. Scott, 29, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison to be followed by 20 years of supervised release. Scott will also have to register as a sex offender.

Federal criminal charges have been filed against nine individuals connected to three separate maritime smuggling incidents here in the Southland within the last week, including a failed human smuggling attempt that ended Tuesday morning when a boat capsized while coming ashore at Crystal Cove State Park.

Rommel Cintron-Pons aka Peluquín was charged by criminal complaint, alleging that he was an alleged coordinator of a prostitution ring involving young girls serving as prostitutes to adult males for $1,500 dollars each.

A Mexican national, who was convicted of harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage, was sentenced to 46 months in prison.

Three individuals are in the custody of ICE HSI for their involvement in an international smuggling ring that imported cultural artifacts into the United States.

A former Peruvian Army major was successfully extradited from Miami to Lima, Peru, for his role in the 1985 murders of 69 unarmed men, women and children in Accomarca, located in the southern province of Ayacucho, Peru.

Antiquity dealers and collectors from Michigan, New York, Virginia and the UAE were charged today in connection with a scheme to smuggle illicit cultural property into the United States.

The leader and members of an international heroin trafficking ring have been charged with using couriers to smuggle heroin from Ghana into the United States, a sign of the growth of West Africa as a major hub for international drug trafficking.

Dieter David Palmer, 42, of Houston, was arrested on July 12 following the return of a five-count indictment on June 22. In custody since his arrest, Palmer was ordered released on a $50,000 bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen W. Smith following a hearing.

Adrian Alvarado, 25, pleaded guilty on Feb. 22 to receiving child pornography on Oct. 29, 2010. The images and videos consisted of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack handed down the 170-month sentence.

Robert J. Kloss, Jr., 37, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Michael J. Marceau, 43, and Lisa A. Ford, 35, both pleaded guilty this spring in federal court to 12 counts of producing child pornography and 12 counts of being a parent or guardian and allowing a child to be used to produce child pornography.

A man from Mexico, who admitted to taking hostages, was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years and eight months in federal prison for his role in a May 2010 hostage-taking case, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

Darlene Mathis-Gardner was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She must also pay $389,738 in restitution to ICE. Mathis-Gardner was charged with the conspiracy in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Apr. 8, 2011, and she pleaded guilty on Apr. 18, 2011.

Thirty-seven members and associates of an international ethnic-Albanian organized crime group were arrested for trafficking cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy (MDMA) and prescription drugs.

A convicted ammunition smuggler was sentenced on Wednesday to more than 11 years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition, and attempting to export ammunition into Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents on Tuesday seized 2,300 pounds of marijuana from a tractor trailer parked on Interstate 44 near St. Louis.

A Mexican man was indicted on Tuesday for passport fraud and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, announced U.S Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

Geraldo Ricardo Miranda, a Brazilian national wanted by law enforcement authorities in his native country for murder, was turned over to Brazilian law enforcement authorities today by officers with U.S. ICE 's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) in Miami.