News Releases and Statements

The newly formed HSI-led task force has been awarded a grant by the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime to combat both labor and sex trafficking in the region.

“I am going to miss you all,” Director Saldaña said, becoming emotional at several points during her remarks when talking about the men and women of ICE. “Keep your heads high; we have so much to be proud of in this agency.”

Scott Mitchell Cohen, 52, of Seattle, was arrested Jan. 16 after being identified as the user of an email account that had received images of child pornography. According to court records, the investigation began when Google alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about images of child sexual abuse that had been uploaded via a Google email account.

The team at HSI Massena consists of special agents, intelligence research specialists and mission support specialists. In 2012, the office created a Border Enforcement Security Task Force that now employs full-time and part time personnel from 23 state, local, and federal U.S. and Canadian agencies.

The jury returned its verdict against Galdino Jose Ruiz-Hernandez Jan. 11 after a two-day trial. Ruiz-Hernandez was initially arrested for illegally re-entering the United States after having been previously deported; he was later charged with alien smuggling as well.

Pierre D. Hayes, 27, of Rockford, was charged Jan. 10 with three counts of transporting child pornography over the internet in 2015.

Adrian Jaimes, 22, of Nekoosa, Wisconsin, was sentenced Jan. 11 by U.S. District Judge James Peterson to 97 months (eight years and one month) in federal prison, to be followed by 20 years of supervised release.

Shilan Zhao, 53, of Newcastle, Washington, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiring with her ex-husband Jianjun Qiao, also known as Feng Li, 53, to commit immigration fraud by submitting false documents to federal authorities.

John C. Vastis, 54, of Lakemoor, Illinois, began communicating online with one of his victims in 2013. From the outset, the chats were sexually charged. For nearly a year Vastis encouraged the victim to record sexually explicit photos and videos of himself and transmit the images over the internet to Vastis.

As part of that effort, personnel from the technical operations divisions with HSI headquarters and HSI Los Angeles worked jointly to strategically place additional technical and human resources in order to provide comprehensive visibility throughout the event.

Juan Jose Hernandez Comerma (Hernandez), 51, of Weston, Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and one count of violating the FCPA. Charles Quintard Beech III, 46, of Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

A critical part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mission is to increase local and national understanding of the agency and foster trust and collaboration in communities across the United States. To that end, community relations officers are hard at work promoting ICE’s mission across the country by working with state and local law enforcement partners, community groups and other organizations to raise awareness and provide information about ICE and its activities.

Theodore Allen Leleaux, 34, appeared for his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court Friday.

Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, a Brazilian national living in Westborough, Massachusetts, was charged via criminal complaint with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.  Rocha was ordered detained following an appearance Thursday before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein.

William Allen Patterson, 34, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, will be sentenced to 78 months in prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he will also be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his sentence.

Luis Rangel Arce and his co-defendants Miguel Rangel Arce, 36, and Rogelio Santiago Quiroa-Valdez, also Mexican nationals, were among eight San Juan County, New Mexico, residents charged with federal narcotics trafficking.

Massiel Segoviano-Fierro and his co-defendant Juan Carlos Nieblas-Ruelas, 28, also a Mexican national illegally residing in the United States, were arrested in November 2015.  Both were charged Nov. 23, 2015, by criminal complaint with conspiracy and possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. 

Troy A. Paul, 48, pleaded guilty Aug. 16 admitting to viewing images of child pornography on a Russian photo sharing website several times between January and June 2014. Paul further confessed to viewing child pornography emailed to him approximately 100 times using the iPhone assigned by his employer.

Fernando Morales, 50, was initially contacted Aug. 23 at his residence by the Nampa Police Department after a 16-year-old called 911.

On Dec. 30, 2016, U.S. District Judge John McBryde sentenced Robert Eugene Sanders, 74, of Hood County, Texas, to 360 months in federal prison, fined him $10,000, and ordered him to pay nearly $65,000 in restitution. Sanders pleaded guilty in July 2016 to one count of producing child pornography.

Goran Sabah Ghafour, 35, who had been living in Lawrence, Kansas, pleaded guilty to one count of visa fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.