News Releases and Statements

Donald Strickland, of Hammond, Ind., was sentenced April 19 by U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, Northern District of Illinois, to 75 months in federal prison without parole.

Michael Lynn Wieland was sentenced Friday in federal court to 24 years in federal prison for possessing and receiving child pornography, the longest sentence in the state's history for this type of crime. Examination of Wieland's seized electronic media revealed more than 315,000 images depicting the graphic sexual abuse of children.

Clifford Ralph Blair was sentenced Friday to 12 years and seven months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in January 2012 to one count of receiving child pornography.

Brian David Clayworth has been sentenced to four years in prison for possession of child pornography following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Approximately 7,000 images and 200 videos were found on Clayworth's desktop computer, and another 600 images and 25 videos were found on his laptop computer.

Kenneth Kassab of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., was taken into custody without incident Thursday on charges related to the unlawful transportation of explosives and possession of explosives by a convicted felon. He is suspected of possessing more than two tons of bomb-making materials.

On April 16, Jesus Blas-Perea of Riverdale, Md., was arrested by HSI Baltimore special agents and PGPD officers and detectives on a state felony arrest warrant issued by Harris County, Texas for first degree murder.

An indictment was unsealed Thursday against five members or associates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang on racketeering, drug trafficking and firearms violations.

"Mahendar ""Mike"" Singh was sentenced Thursday to nine years in federal prison on charges stemming from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI that linked him to a scheme to sex traffic teenage girls. Singh admitted to recruiting teenage girls to provide sex services in exchange for money and drugs..."

Juan Arrazolo of St. Peter, Minn., made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday to answer charges of transporting and harboring illegal aliens for a scheme to supply cheap labor to large local food-producing farms.

Larry Murphy of Antioch, Tenn., was charged in a federal complaint Thursday with accepting bribes in relation to his employment as a Tennessee driver's license examiner. The federal bribery charges follow a joint investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

An antiquities dealer, Mousa Khouli, pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling Egyptian cultural property into the United States and making a false statement to law enforcement authorities.

Christopher David Johnson of Winter Haven, Fla., was sentenced in federal court Thursday for his participation in an interstate cocaine distribution operation following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Two defendants were charged Wednesday with smuggling a group of illegal aliens from Houston to Los Angeles that left one of the aliens dead of lobar pneumonia in a ditch at a rest stop outside Vega, Texas.

Xiang Li, 35, and Chun Yan Li, 33, of Chengdu, China, have been charged by a federal grand jury. Xiang Li was arrested by HSI special agents June 7, 2011, in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. Chun Yan Li remains an at-large fugitive in Chengdu.

A 400-year-old masterpiece work of art taken illegally from its owners in Nazi-occupied France during World War II was returned today to the family from which it was stolen more than 70 years ago.

A Texas man was sentenced to 40 months in prison Wednesday following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Gulf Coast Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST), the FBI and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department in Mississippi.

Five of the six people arrested last week following the fatal rollover in Palmview, Texas, made their initial court appearances Tuesday and were ordered detained pending further criminal proceedings, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Nine individuals are facing federal charges involving conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance following an investigation by ICE's HSI, MBN, the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Hancock County Sheriff's Office.

HSI Executive Associate Director James A. Dinkins was elected chair of the World Customs Organization's enforcement committee at its four-day meeting last month in Brussels, Belgium. The committee was established in 1983 to develop strategies to combat customs offenses.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested Victor M. Rivera-Morales in San Juan Friday for production of child pornography after he harassed a 15-year-old female to send him naked photos of herself via text messages. Rivera-Morales' wife discovered the photos on his cell phone and recognized the female in the pictures.

The co-owners and three employees of a Los Angeles toy company are expected to make their initial appearances in federal court Monday afternoon following their indictment for allegedly orchestrating an elaborate financial scheme to launder millions of dollars for drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and Colombia.

A Silver Spring, Md., man, Carlton Williams, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography, following an investigation by ICE's HSI and the NCIS.

A jury convicted a southeast Texas man Monday for possessing with intent to distribute 637 kilograms (1,401 pounds) of marijuana, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

A local man was sentenced to 24 years and five months in federal prison April 13 for his leadership role in an El Paso-based narcotics trafficking organization that imported tons of marijuana from Mexico.

A south Texas man was sentenced Monday to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison for smuggling tons of marijuana into the United States from Mexico, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.