News Releases and Statements

Daniel Fitzgibbon, 47, admitted to agreeing with others to distribute the drug to customers in the Luzerne County area during 2014 and 2015. The members of the conspiracy obtained the alpha-pvp from suppliers in China.

Shawn Shannon, 45, from Muncie, Indiana, was also ordered to pay $1,387 in restitution to the victim and must serve a lifetime of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence.

Victor James Sporman, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna. Once he completes the prison sentence, Sporman will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.

LezFrank Vargas-Herrera, aka Christian Rivera Rios, 25, citizen of the Dominican Republic and unlawfully present in the United States, was sentenced on Sept. 11, 2017, to 181 months.

Esteban Rodriguez-Olivera, 52, departed from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and arrived in Mexico without incident.

Sean Gerson, 49, the owner Vaccination Services, Inc. in Lake Forest, pleaded guilty in a scheme that netted him at least $2.5 million over the past 15 years.

Dewitt Donnell Bailey, 33, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to one count of possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base. Charlene Denise Davis, 47, Bailey’s half-sister, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Vincent Didler Jean-Marie Gilbert Simonon, 32, is wanted in Belgium, for alleged intentional manslaughter in connection with the brutal slaying of his neighbor, Christiane Darimont, and the concealment of her body, sometime in late July or early August 2017.  

Felix Restitullo, 42, of Jersey City, was convicted in May 2017 of one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography following a two-week trial.

Markell Quashan Sweargin, 19, of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested in June on a criminal complaint charging him with transporting a person in interstate commerce for the purpose of forcing the person to engage in a commercial sex act. The complaint alleged that on June 14, officers of the Hobbs (New Mexico) Police Department arrested Sweargin on state charges after responding to a domestic disturbance call from a woman, who claimed that Sweargin strangled and assaulted her during an altercation arising from her refusal to engage in a sexual act with another man for money.

In August 1988, Morales entered the United States by crossing the international border from Mexico into Texas illegally. He traveled to the Washington, D.C. metro-area, where he resided and legally worked for many years. He applied for and was granted lawful permanent resident status in 1990.

All of those charged in the federal criminal complaint are Fresno residents. They include: Carlos Montano, 27; Filibert Chavez, 35; Robin Gill, 31; Gabriel Gomez, 26; Juan Carlos Briceno, 36; Nicholas Bolanos, 25; Daniel Villanueva, 19; Gerrick Travis Tyrell Franklin, 27; Amina Padilla, 34; Robert Lockhart, 52; Idelfonso Soto, 19; Carlos Melgar, 36; Jeni Fries, 23; Cisco Hernandez, 23; Miguel Murrillo, 22; Adolfo Jesus Mendoza, 23; Jesus Melgarejo Jr., 26; and Cesar Gutierrez, 24.

Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, aka Track2, aka Bulba, aka Ncux, 33, entered guilty pleas in two separate criminal cases at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones of the Northern District of Georgia. Seleznev pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering enterprise related to an indictment returned in the District of Nevada, and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud as part of an indictment returned in the Northern District of Georgia.

Through a diligent investigation, USMS located Juan Carlos Marin-Cardona, 47, a citizen and national of Colombia, living in a foreign county under the name Alexander Rey Marin Cardona.  In March 2017, USMS deputies apprehended Marin-Cardona in Houston, Texas, at the airport.

Cory Werito, 33, from Farmington, New Mexico, and his co-defendant, Rosita Toledo, 48, of Kirtland, New Mexico, were charged in a 10-count indictment filed June 15, 2016. The indictment included nine health care fraud charges against Werito and Toledo, and an aggravated currency structuring charge against Werito.

Alex Bernard Fletcher, 41, of Albuquerque, must also serve five years on supervised release after he completes his prison sentence, and must perform 50 hours of community service.

As Hurricane Irma approaches the United States and its territories, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) highest priorities – as they were with Hurricane Harvey – are to promote life-saving and life-sustaining activities, the safe evacuation of people who are leaving the impacted area, the maintenance of public order, the prevention of the loss of property to the extent possible, and the speedy recovery of the region. Anyone in the path of this storm should follow instructions from their local officials and heed any warnings as this dangerous storm approaches.

Philadelphia’s HSI-led Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) headed the investigation into Luis A. Perez-Santiago, 38, who, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, lifetime supervised release, at least five years supervised release, a fine of $10,000,000 and a $100 special assessment. 

Paul Leighton, 32, was sentenced to 264 months in the United Kingdom (UK), for 21 counts relating to child sex crimes.  The man committed child sex crimes in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Twelve of the defendants named in the indictment were arrested Wednesday morning during a carefully coordinated operation in the San Diego area involving more than 250 federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel. Three of those charged in the cases were already in custody. The other seven individuals named in the indictment remained at large as of early Wednesday afternoon. The defendants who are in custody are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court Thursday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Lynn Major.

Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate state health and local law enforcement agencies have been notified about the death, as have the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility. Additionally, ICE has advised Cuban Embassy representatives.

“Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies” is a CNN Original Series hosted by former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. Each week, the series highlights true stories of America’s covert operations with first-person accounts told by the agents who lived it.

Luis Aguilar Jr., 19; brothers Alhan Sanchez, 20, and Aaron Sanchez, 21, and Ricardo Renteria, 26, all of Mission; and Renteria’s nephew Ricardo Renteria-Rivera, 23, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, were sentenced Sept. 5 by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez.