News Releases and Statements

Reuben Rankin, 36, of Cleveland, Ohio, was convicted of assaulting a federal agent with a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, sex trafficking of a minor, production of child pornography and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The seized website was purporting to be a resource for responding to COVID-19 from the Department of Labor. It also listed several fraudulent commercial contracts that individuals could bid on in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fraudulent domain purported to allow users to sign in with their business email and password in an attempt to steal business credentials that could have been utilized to illegally/surreptitiously access protected data.

Fernando Martinez, 44, Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty today to the conspiracy which spanned from Sept. 6, 2020, to Aug. 26, 2021. Three others - Jayden Wandell Coleman, 18, Carlos Acosta, 38, and Ricky Reyna, 34, all of Corpus Christi - previously admitted to the their roles in the conspiracy. All are identified members of the La Quarenta gang.

Derrick Stephen Walker, 46, of Minot, North Dakota, was found guilty by jury trial of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, involving six separate minor victims, and one count of receipt of images depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor.

Rene Garcia, a resident of San Benito, Texas, was sentenced Jan. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 41 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. Garcia pleaded guilty to the charges Aug. 5, 2021.

Matthew Carter, 31, of Yankton, South Dakota, was found guilty on one count of possession of child pornography by a federal jury in Sioux Falls, Jan. 26.

Evan Marshall, 24, and Camren Davis, 24, both of Rogersville, and Cody Ryder, 30, Leslie Ice, 37, his wife, Danielle Ice, 33, Eric Kaltenbach, 37, and Enx Khoshaba, 29, all of Springfield, were charged in a four-count superseding indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The superseding indictment replaces the indictment returned against Marshall on Nov. 17, 2021, and includes additional charges and defendants.

HSI SAC Kansas City and United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Krystal Smith, 30, formerly of Bruning, Nebraska, was sentenced Jan. 26, 2022 in Lincoln by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for distribution of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Following an investigation by ICE HSI, Joshua Marc Hendon, 36, and his wife, Lori Hendon, both of Minor Hill, Tennessee, were indicted in October 2017 on charges of conspiracy to produce child pornography, nine counts of production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Special agents with ICE HSI assigned to the Austin office deployed its members of the LSFTF Austin Division to assist on the arrest of Donald Paul Carrillo, 24. On Jan. 23, Carrillo was involved in a deadly stabbing that took place in the entertainment district of 6th street.

The undercover investigation, aimed at addressing human trafficking in the Memphis area, began on January 21. Undercover officers placed decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex. The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors. As a result, the following nine men were arrested and booked into the Shelby County Jail.

According to court documents, on January 19, 2022, law enforcement agents with ICE HSI responded to a request for assistance from the USBP based out of Pembina, North Dakota. USBP initiated a traffic stop on a white-colored, fifteen passenger van less than one mile south of the U.S./Canadian border in a rural area between the official ports of entry located at Lancaster, Minnesota and Pembina, North Dakota. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Steve Shand, 47, a U.S. citizen.

41-year-old Geoffrey Eldridge Hull, of Los Angeles, California pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud Thursday after a probe by ICE HSI.

Matthew Ray Lawson, 34, was sentenced Jan. 19 to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for three counts of possession of child pornography, four counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian Country, one count of lewd acts with a child in Indian Country, and one count of production of child pornography.

One of the artifacts is a partial cuneiform stone tablet. Experts say it is thousands of years old and may have left the country during looting at the start of the 20th century.

Based on information provided DRPD applied for the arrests warrants of Aldo Esquivel, 18, and Victor Garcia, 17, both from Del Rio.

Nathan Nosley, age 30, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the sentence after a June 9, 2021 jury verdict finding him guilty of sexual exploitation of children, distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, three counts of possession of child pornography, and accessing child pornography.

After four hours of jury deliberation, Yun Zheng, aka Wendy, 50, and Yan Qui Wu, aka Jason, 48, were found guilty of four counts of concealing, harboring, or shielding a person, whom they knew to be undocumented residents of the United States, for commercial advantage and private financial gain.

According to the federal indictment and the state of Tulsa’s probable cause affidavit, defendant Linda Been led a criminal enterprise of “Boosters” netting more than $4.5 million from the sale of stolen merchandise and over-the-counter products to fencing organizations outside of Oklahoma. The “Fences” then sold the stolen products through e-commerce sites, like eBay and Amazon.

Matthew “Stacks” Woods, 32, and his co-conspirators, Cornelius “Chip” Galloway and Marcus “Taylor Made” Taylor, were charged in a superseding indictment on Dec. 3, 2019, with seven counts of sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking.

For his role in supervising and managing couriers who helped smuggle bulk cash across the U.S.-Mexico border, Roberto Gallegos-Lechuga, 39, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit international money laundering in July 2021.

In fiscal year 2021, HSI human trafficking arrests across the country increased to 2,360 from 1,746 in the previous year, with 728 victims identified and assisted.

In fiscal year 2021, HSI human trafficking arrests across the country increased nearly 30%, from to 2,360 from 1,746 in the previous year, with 728 victims identified and assisted.

Jamshid Muhtorov, 45, was removed by ERO’s Philadelphia Field Office via a commercial flight without incident. Once in Uzbekistan, ICE officers transferred him to the custody of local authorities.

Douglas James Schneider, 51 of Rhame, North Dakota, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor to life in federal prison on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.