News Releases and Statements

Criminal organizations continue to try to smuggle fraudulent, mislabeled, and unauthorized COVID-19 related products, such as purported anti-viral products, personal protective equipment (PPE), and test kits across the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border.

Michael Diaz-Calderon, 51, from Washington State, was charged May 6, 2020, by a U.S. District Judge.

Leonel Campos-Valdez and Francisco Vasquez-Cruz are both citizens of Mexico and in the United States illegally. Both men were charged with unlawful delivery of methamphetamine, laundering a monetary instrument and unlawful possession of methamphetamine and booked into the Jackson County Jail in Medford, Oregon.

Since the start of the pandemic, HSI and other law enforcement agencies have seen a significant increase in criminals attempting to capitalize and profit from the fear and anxiety surrounding the virus, including the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and illicit online sales and trade importation violations of products claiming to be treatment options.

Following an investigation by ICE’s HSI in New York, Melvin Martinez, 38, was arraigned Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York on an international cocaine distribution conspiracy charge.

Seven leaders of a drug trafficking organization distributing crack cocaine and methamphetamine throughout Indiana County, Pennsylvania were arrested and charged federally with drug trafficking, following an investigation by the FBI, ICE's HSI, Indiana County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force, Southwest Pennsylvania Safe Streets Task Force, Indiana Borough Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

Amir Dianat, 55, and Kamran Lajmiri, 42, both Iranian nationals, were charged with violating U.S. export laws and sanctions against Iran in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Special Agents from ICE's HSI in Detroit, seized approximately 48 kilograms of cocaine on April 29.

In March and April 2020, CBP officers at the Port of Nogales Mariposa Crossing observed an increase of imported products in demand due to the current COVID-19 related shortages. Special agents began investigating how and where these products we attempting to make their way into the United States.

Jerry James Kendall Ritchie, 32, was indicted federally Nov. 13, 2018, with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and felon in possession of a firearm. These charges stemmed from his Oct. 19, 2018, arrest by the Enid Police Department.

Edgar Sargsyan, 39, an attorney with law offices in Beverly Hills, was charged today with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, two counts of bribing a public official, and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

ICE's HSI launched a dedicated “Operation Stolen Promise” web page Monday to provide information to the public on COVID-19-related fraud schemes.

Lorenzo Sanchez, 39, appeared in federal court April 27 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for an initial appearance on a criminal complaint charging him with conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Aggravated felon Julio Garcia-Castellano, also known as Victor Garcia Ignacio, 33, is an unlawfully present Guatemalan national and was convicted of second-degree rape by the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Lane County, Feb. 1, 2010.

HSI recently launched Operation Stolen Promise to protect the homeland and global supply-chain from the increasing and evolving threat posed by COVID-19-related fraud and criminal activity by combining HSI’s expertise in global trade investigations, financial fraud, and cyber investigations with robust private and public partnerships.

Takila Shauntel Carpenter, 34, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Edgardo Serrano, 51, from New Boston, Michigan was charged April 24, 2020 by U.S. District Judge Ignacio Torteva III.

Upon his arrest, the FAR Task Force served Jose Luis Rodriguez-Vasquez with a Notice to Appear, Form I-862, pursuant to Section 212(a)(6)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as an alien present in the United States without admission or parole. Rodriguez-Vasquez is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Alfredo Medina-Martinez, 29, Guillermo Vazquez-Saenz, 51, and Eduardo Antonio Perez Don Juan, 53, all citizens of Mexico, were escorted to the Laredo, Texas, Port of Entry where they were presented to Mexican law enforcement authorities.