News Releases and Statements

Foreign national indicted for illegal import of unmanned aerial vehicle

Mark Platt, 52, of Boca Raton, Fla.; Shifco, Inc., of Hialeah, Fla.; and Northern Fisheries, Ltd., of Rhode Island, were sentenced Friday based on their earlier pleas to conspiring to mislabel seafood in a scheme through which Platt oversaw the false repackaging and labeling of 1,500 pounds of frozen chum Salmon fillets from China as from Russia...

The NFTTU supplies tactical gear and ordnance support to more than 60,000 federal law enforcement officers and agents across the world.

The last two men involved in the Ayala drug trafficking organization, which was alleged to be distributing significant amounts of heroin throughout South Florida, were sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

A federal jury convicted a Guatemalan national Thursday on charges related to alien smuggling and transporting a minor for sex, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A local man pleaded guilty Tuesday to hatching a scheme to put poison in salsa served to patrons at Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa, Kan.

Gary J. Hibler, 46, of Pierceville, Kan., was sentenced March 25 in the District of Kansas to 262 months in federal prison without parole. Hibler pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. He initially was charged in a criminal complaint filed Aug. 26, 2010.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) opened a new permanent local facility on Friday that will enhance the agency's capabilities and coverage in northern Michigan.

A precast concrete manufacturer and a precast concrete storm-water management system provider are the latest Illinois companies to sign an IMAGE agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A criminal complaint filed March 24 alleges that Jose Luis Ramirez-Rico, 31, of Wichita, picked up a box cutter and lunged at an ICE ERO officer on March 17 while the officer was looking for another man thought to live at the same address.

A Honduran man who attempted to distribute cocaine and smuggle firearms was sentenced yesterday to serve 78 months in prison, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.

The last of five defendants charged following a drug bust at a Mexican restaurant in Fowler, Calif., pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to charges stemming from a multi-agency investigation by the Fresno County Sheriff's Office, U.S. ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) the Drug Enforcement Administration,and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol...

A local resident, who stole the identity of his deceased nephew pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday for falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and filing a false Social Security application. The case was investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A man from Mexico, who was the leader of a local sex trafficking ring that tricked and forced young girls into prostitution, was sentenced Thursday to serve 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking minors, and various other related criminal convictions.

Law enforcement located Buddy Anderson, 39, and his wife, Sharon Lee Anderson, 38, early this month at a homeless shelter in Las Vegas where they had absconded to after leaving their apartment in Ennis in February. They were arrested on related state charges and returned to Ennis.

Kenneth Robert McVicker III, 46, entered a not-guilty plea, and was detained pending trial on May 24 before U.S. District Judge James A. Redden. ICE HSI agents took custody of McVicker Wednesday in the Central American country of Belize.

Eric Wayne Tindall, 51, originally came to the attention of ICE HSI in the summer of 2010 while agents investigated a commercial child pornography website. Tindall later responded to a fake advertisement created by law enforcement agents, which offered to sell child pornography movies.

Kevin Weiner, 42, was arrested March 23 and charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to sexually coerce and entice a minor by computer. The complaint alleges that Weiner placed a craigslist ad entitled "Older looking to suck younger." Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) officers responded to the ad and scheduled a face-to-face meeting with Weiner.

Donald Means has been in custody since his arrest in November 2009 on a related federal criminal complaint. He is a registered sex offender, having been convicted in the Eastern District of Texas in December 2002 on one count each of possessing and receiving child pornography.

"Four family members from Bogota, Columbia, were indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury on various counts of illegally attempting to export 22 F-5 jet fighter engines to Iran. According to the complaint affidavit, Iran produces an aircraft named ""Saegeh,"" which is compatible with F-5 fighter engines."

Following an enforcement surge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Virginia State Police, and U.S. Marshals Service along with 10 local law enforcement agencies, ICE arrested 131 foreign nationals with criminal records and eight fugitives in the Northern Virginia area.

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., returned a two-count indictment against three Chinese nationals for trafficking in counterfeit goods and conspiracy, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A U.S. Army Reserve soldier, who was assigned as an assistant to a U.S. Army chaplain, was arrested Monday on child pornography charges.

A Brazilian national, who is wanted for a 1991 murder, was deported on Tuesday by local officers with U.S. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Joao de Oliveira, 51, was charged in January 1997 for the murder of Absolon Ferreira de Souza. On April 15, 1991, De Oliveira and the victim had an altercation outside a bar...

Frank L. Burdick, 51, was sentenced to 135 months in prison on March 22 by U.S. District Court Judge John D. Rainey. Burdick's prison time will be followed by a 10-year-term of supervised release, with a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the Internet.