News Releases and Statements

On April 7 and 8, a combined task force of federal, state and local law enforcement arrested 18 illegal aliens working under false identities at various oil refineries, industrial plants and shipyards in the Texas counties of Jefferson, Galveston and Liberty.

Otoniel Galindo Vasquez-Lopez, 29, of Bossier City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow in Phoenix to more than 14 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for his role as the leader of an Arizona-based alien smuggling organization that illegally moved hundreds of aliens across the southern border into Arizona and then transferred them throughout the Southeast to multiple cities in Tennessee.

Andres Villarreal-Parades, 28, of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was set to begin trial Thursday, but he opted to plead guilty to the charges Wednesday.

Jose Heriberto Lopez, 42, Jose Arenas-Lucero, 51, and Miguel Angel Medina-Ortiz, 37, pleaded guilty in September, October and November 2014, respectively. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore considered relevant conduct for an incident in Oklahoma which involved the death of an alien being transported by Lopez.

Ernesto Felix, of Sinaloa, Mexico, is one of 29 individuals who were charged in February 2014 with drug trafficking offenses following a multi-agency investigation targeting drug trafficking in northwestern New Mexico. The investigation culminated Feb. 26, 2014 when 26 of the defendants were arrested during a law enforcement operation led by HSI and the HIDTA Region II Narcotics Task Force.

Jerry Wang, 34, the former Chief Executive Officer of Herguan University, admitted in court that he had submitted false documents to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

Roberto Garcia, 55, from Lubbock, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 87 months in federal prison. Garcia, who has been on bond, was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 15.

Damion Bryan Barrett, 28, was extradited from Jamaica in February based on charges that he committed fraud as part of an international lottery scheme against elderly victims in the United States.

Jason Paul Tijerina, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa to the statutory maximum of 30 years in federal prison, which is to be followed by 25 years of supervised release. Tijerina must also register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2014.

Gilder Gustavo Garcia Cuyuch was arrested following the execution of four search warrants in three residences and one travel agency. According to Guatemalan law enforcement, Cuyuch allegedly operated his document fraud business out of a travel agency in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

The City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) unit arrested the 26-year-old at his workplace in Leeds yesterday morning before taking him to a local police station for questioning.

Shawn McCormack, 31, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was found guilty of four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of kidnapping.

The sentencing hearing for Leonel Hernandez-Lopez, 36, of Bradenton, aka Jose Luis Carbajal, is scheduled for June 18. Hernandez-Lopez was indicted Sept. 5, 2013.

Jermaine Smith, 34, of East Orange, New Jersey, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon. Smith pleaded guilty in October 2014 to one count of participating in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization.

Emmett Winston Smith, a/k/a Everett Smith, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents following a lead from Canadian authorities. Smith, 66, was indicted by a federal grand jury March 24.

Rassie Cleveland Martin, 58, from Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings. Martin must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by May 15.

HSI special agents arrested Mario Lebron-Caceres, 28, after an investigation stemming from a referral from the Puerto Rico Department of Justice revealed that he allegedly used photos from a woman he met through a dating website to extort her.

Damien Oasis Winn, 34, from Port Arthur, Texas, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2014 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 86 months in federal prison April 9 by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

As part of Operation Friend Zone, HSI special agents surreptitiously infiltrated peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks to identify users in Puerto Rico who sought to acquire or distribute known or suspected images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit activities.

Joseph Lloyd White, 44, from Orange, Texas, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2014 to attempted sexual enticement of a child and was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison April 9 by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

Ralph Freeman, 54, of Falls Church, was found guilty Jan. 2, following a bench trial that concluded in November 2014. According to court documents, Freeman used the eDonkey peer-to-peer network and Usenet Newsgroup to download child pornography.

In a joint effort with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) recently hosted a 10-day Cross Border Financial Investigations Training (CBFIT) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Mehmet Karatokus, 39, of Ankara, Turkey, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

Thomas Silber pleaded guilty Dec. 18, 2014, to knowingly receiving, and attempting to receive DVD movies depicting child pornography. Between February 2007 and October 2010, Silber received 10 DVD movies using the internet, which were shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce since they were produced by a company in Canada.

Enmanuel Tejada Santos, of El Salvador, was allegedly involved in the June 15, 2000, murder of two individuals. According to El Salvadoran authorities, Santos and a group of men allegedly assaulted a vehicle transporting goods that had arrived from the United States.