News Releases and Statements

Diego Antonio Ayala-Benitez, 24, is a known or suspected member of the transnational criminal street organization known as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). He is wanted in El Salvador on gang participation charges related to extortion, purchasing firearms and for involvement in armed robbery.

Richard Neils Dutton, 52, of Idaho Falls, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 200 months in federal prison for sexual exploitation of children, HSI Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer and Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr. announced today. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Dutton serve the remainder of his life on supervised release, following his prison sentence. Dutton pleaded guilty to the charge on November 4, 2020.

Gomes Muriel Baez-Salazar, 52, is a citizen of Mexico who was in the United States illegally.

Sebastian Tovar, 24, was indicted on multiple counts, which included conspiracy to transport noncitizens resulting in death and conspiracy to transport noncitizens resulting in serious bodily injury.

Cornell D.A. Johnson, 24, of Chicago was described by Senior U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm as a “ringmaster,” who engaged in an “exercise of power,” to prey on victims of a vulnerable age for his pleasure and satisfaction.

Rudy Kurniawan, 44, unlawfully present in the United States, was removed to his home country on a commercial flight. ICE deportation officers witnessed his departure from the country on a flight that departed the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. He arrived at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang City, Bann, Indonesia, on Friday.

According to court documents, Elvis Harold Reyes, 56, of Brandon, who owned and operated EHR Ministries Inc., portrayed himself as an immigration attorney. He is not and has never been a licensed attorney.

HSI special agents arrested Oscar Luis Mendoza-Flores, 26, of Cayey, in November 2015, during the execution of Operation Family Feud, an HSI operation launched to dismantle a criminal organization operating in the Luis Muñoz Marín and Brisas de Cayey public housing projects and the San Tomás and Canteras wards, all in the municipality of Cayey.

Luis Guzman-Rincon, 29, is an unlawfully present, citizen of Mexico who has been convicted of attempted manslaughter and is a current ERO Top 10 Most Wanted case.

On April 8, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations and the Puerto Rico Police Department’s (PRPD) Joint Forces for Rapid Action interdicted a 32-feet, open hull vessel, navigating towards Puerto Rico. The vessel beached on a Yabucoa shore where the crew absconded into the adjoining woodlands.

Carlos Elias Henriquez-Torres, a 20-year-old Salvadoran national who illegally resided in Houston, was indicted on March 31, for conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering.

Special Agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Caribbean Anti-Money Laundering Alliance (CMLA) seized Thursday $1.28 million in cash from an abandoned vehicle in the Stumpy Beach-area on the west end of St. Thomas, USVI and arrested four men.

Brandon Scott Parsons, 28, of Bay City, Michigan, was also five years of supervised release by United States District Judge Thomas L. Ludington. Parsons pleaded guilty Dec. 23, 2020.

Freddy Gutierrez, 29, of Chicago, was found guilty of delivery of a controlled substance of more than 900 grams, a Class X felony. Gutierrez was sentenced to 15 years in prison and immediately remanded into custody by Kane County Circuit Court Judge Salvatore LoPiccolo Jr.

Duane Richard Forrest, 48, of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was sentenced to a total of fifty years for photographing and videotaping his sexual exploitation of two boys in their early teens. He was also ordered to pay $10,200 in special assessments.

Johnathan Scott Mason, 27, of Paris, Kentucky, pleaded guilty in January 2021.  According to his plea agreement, in March 2020, law enforcement officers discovered Mason’s activity on the social media application (app), Kik.

Anthony Brett Banks, 30, formerly of Kannapolis, North Carolina, previously pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging him with transportation of child pornography and causing another person to transport and ship child pornography in interstate commerce.

Juan Jose Bernabe Ramirez, 62, a Mexican citizen, was turned over to Mexican immigration officials on the international boundary at the Paso Del Norte Bridge in downtown El Paso, Texas. Bernabe is considered a threat to public safety due to his criminal convictions.

Juan Cortez-Magdaleno, 53, is a Mexican citizen who was granted legal status in the United States in 1991.

According to the affidavits filed in support of these seizures, these investigations began in March 2021. Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Center received notification of two fraudulent websites, “genobioscience.com” and “healthbridgescience.com.” The third site, “global-pandemic-vaccines.com,” was discovered by Homeland Security Investigations’ Cyber Crimes Center (C3) during ongoing investigations for malicious websites. The cases were referred to HSI Baltimore for investigation.

Jason Christopher Davis, 48, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty Oct. 3, 2018, to production of child pornography.

Brodrick Keith Rhodes, 32, from Houston, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court.

Twenty-one people were arrested today on indictments and criminal complaints charging an extensive drug dealing conspiracy by those who often illegally possessed firearms. Federal, state and local law enforcement teams from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), FBI, DEA, Washington State Patrol, Seattle Police Department and other public safety organizations executed nearly 90 search warrants across the Puget Sound region.

Victor Argueta-Linares, 46, is a citizen of El Salvador who was in the United States illegally. In 1997, Argueta-Linares was convicted of both lewd or lascivious acts with a minor and sex offenses against a child, and on Oct. 22, of the same year he was ordered to be removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge.

Over 1,000 items were confiscated, including several boxes of luxury designer goods such as high-end purses, caps, shoes and sunglasses.