News Releases and Statements

Jesus Ochoa, 26, of Laredo, and Luis Armando Garcia, 29, of Mexico, appeared before U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo to admit their guilt for the Feb. 28 criminal scheme.

Justin Treanton, age 37, of Bettendorf, was sentenced on Monday, to 30 years in federal prison for the production of child pornography and 20 years in prison for the possession of child pornography, with the sentences run consecutively for a total of 50 years in federal prison following an ICE HSI, law enforcement partner, investigation.

The artifacts were transferred from HSI to Honorable Phillippe Etienne, Ambassador of France to the United States, during a repatriation ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Among the repatriated artifacts were a gold coin (3rd century) and five gold ingots (18th century), recovered from the ocean floor where they had remained for centuries, and a human skull (18th century) that was stolen from Paris’ catacombs.

Edward Sanchez, 59, a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, was sentenced to life in federal prison March 1 in the Southern District of Texas. A federal jury convicted Sanchez July 26, 2021, following a week-long trial and approximately 10 hours of deliberation. Sanchez will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

On Thursday, ICE HSI officially opened a permanent HSI office at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, expanding HSI’s international presence around the world.

Victor Manuel Monsivais, 67, was sentenced March 1 in federal court to 33 months in federal prison. Monsivais was found guilty by a jury trial Aug. 19, 2021.

Johnny E. Gutierrez, 21, from Melvin, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 21, 2021, guilty plea to two counts of possession of child pornography.

Amalia Gonzalez-Lara, 43, of Oaxaca, Mexico, pleaded guilty on Nov. 18, 2021, to one count of conspiring to transport and harbor over 100 illegal aliens for profit. Gonzalez-Lara managed, supervised, and coordinated smuggling operations for a stash house located in Avondale, Arizona.

Charged was Timothy Raymond Milley, 68, who was a Minister at the Cataraqui Church in Deseronto, Ontario, Canada.

There were 28 suspected Pre-Columbian stones and one piece of wooden art identified after a CBP inspection of an incoming ferry boat. Experts from the Puerto Rico Archeological Department indicated that some of the artifacts belonged to the Taino Indian culture and were considered archaeological objects.

On Feb. 16, Mexican national Karen Fabiola Cardenas Lerma, 32, was removed from the United States to Mexico at the international boundary on top of the Stanton Street Bridge, where she was turned over to Mexican authorities.

Vincent Dominy, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 35 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Dominy to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration and ordered him to pay $5,000 in victim restitution.

Adam Dziak, 46, was wanted by law enforcement authorities in his native country for money laundering, fraud, and forgery.

The multi-agency awareness campaign runs Feb. 7 to Mar. 11, to help individuals protect their heart and their wallet and illustrates to the public how to recognize the scams before they give any money or assets and provides steps to take if they are victimized.

The task force, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Diego special agents, determined that Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield, 31, sold the lethal pills that resulted in the Feb. 5, 2019, overdose death of James Gallagher, a U.S. Army veteran.

This joint operation was conducted in Scottsdale and Phoenix and resulted in 118 arrests related to prostitution, luring, pandering, escort service violations, and warrants.

Alejandro Valles, 27, of Aguila, Arizona, joins his co-conspirator David Alberto Duarte-Marquez, 21, a Mexican citizen was previously sentenced to 33 months in prison – both men pleaded guilty to their offenses.

A superseding indictment returned in the Middle District of Pennsylvania charges Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, with suffocating the victim with a belt, threatening to cut off one of the victim’s fingers, and directing Kurdish soldiers to inflict other severe physical and mental pain and suffering on the victim.

Rayshawn Boyce, 26, will remain in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Feb. 22.

After pleading guilty to production of child pornography, Moctezuma Lopez, 28, of Paris, Kentucky, was sentenced in federal court to serve 180 months in prison.

Eugene Charles McGrath, 55, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was recently sentenced to serve 300 months in federal prison for producing child exploitation materials.

Zachery McCuen, age 29, of Carter Lake, was sentenced on Monday, to 96 months in prison for accessing child pornography. McCuen’s term of imprisonment will be followed by five years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Efrain Gonzalez-Pargas, aka Efrain Gonzalez-Vargas, 39, of Zacatecas, Mexico, was encountered near Big Bend National Park on Aug. 24, 2021.

Steven Lopez, 31, a resident of Corpus Christi, was also ordered to pay restitution to his identified victim, to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term. Lopez pleaded guilty to charges Nov. 8, 2021.

Thomas Wallin, 23, of South Jordan, pleaded guilty to the production and dissemination of child exploitation materials. In the plea agreement, Wallin admitted to sexually abusing a minor in 2019, and to producing and distributing a sexually explicit depiction of the abuse using the internet.