News Releases and Statements

Vincenta Edith Peralta-Saavedra, 58, of Merrillville, Indiana, was sentenced Feb. 18 to 16 months; her son, Geovanni Ozuna-Peralta, 25, also of Merrillville, Indiana, was sentenced Jan. 22 to five years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tharp.

To the layman, world travel seems exotic, but to an IEA or DO, it means being away from family, their country and their home. It’s a sacrifice that takes a special kind of person – a person who works for something greater than himself or herself. It means missed birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and other notable milestones.

Richard Dinizo, 60, of Cortlandt Manor, New York, videotaped the sexual abuse and transported the videos depicting him engaging in sexual activity with minors to recipients outside of New York. Dinizo plead guilty in May 2014 before United States District Judge Vincent Briccetti, who also imposed Tuesday's sentence at White Plains federal court.

Jesse William Korff, 19, of LaBelle, Florida, pleaded guilty on August 12, 2014, to five counts of developing, producing, transferring and possessing toxins, five counts of smuggling toxins and one count of conspiring to kill a person in a foreign country. Federal agents arrested Korff on January 18, 2014, in Florida.

Randy Ray Wesson, 29, of Hurst, Texas pleaded guilty Feb. 18 to possessing and receiving child pornography. He faces a maximum statutory sentence on the possession charge of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.

Sergio Cobaruvias Romero, 55, of Mexico was sentenced Feb. 18 by Senior District Judge George Kazen to 120 months in federal prison. As an illegal alien, Cobaruvias Romero is expected to face deportation proceedings following his release from prison.

Sharilyn Kae Anderson, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiring with her son to engage in sex trafficking, following a joint probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD).

Rhonda R. Bridge, 42, of Overland Park, Kansas, was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for employing illegal aliens, who were paid less than other employees. In addition to her prison sentence, Bridge also agreed to forfeit her interest in two hotels and the funds derived from the crime.

Those charged so far in the ongoing investigation are John David Yoder, 43, a former teacher’s aide for the Palm Springs Unified School District; Erick Alan Monsivais, 29, of Los Angeles; and William Clyde Thompson, 54, of Las Vegas. The men are named in a five-count federal indictment filed in the District of Nevada last week and in three separate criminal complaints filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

John “Johnny” Anthony Sassine, 53, was sentenced Feb. 17 to 78 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark. He pleaded guilty to the charge Nov. 4.

Dustin Coleman, 22, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, was sentenced to 384 months in prison on three counts of producing child pornography, two counts of extorting sexually explicit images and videos from a child by threat of injury and damage to reputation, and three counts of possessing child pornography. "Sextortion" involves the coercion of an individual to commit sexually explicit acts.

Mustasim Abdulaziz Alati, 24, was escorted by ERO officers and turned over to officials with the Saudi Arabia Ministry of the Interior (MOI) Feb. 12. Alati last entered the United States as a student Aug. 12, 2014 to attend the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

Irfan Ul Haq pleaded guilty in 2011 to providing material support to the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a designated foreign terrorist organization. As part of the guilty plea, Haq agreed to a stipulated order of removal upon the completion of his criminal sentence.

Dubbed “Operation Roundtable,” the case against Johnson has thus far resulted in ten additional individuals being criminally charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans. To date, all ten defendants have pleaded guilty to crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children.

Kieron Mann, 45, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, to continue to register as a sex offender and to pay $50,000 as restitution to his victims.

Damion Bryan Barrett, 28, was charged in a 38-count indictment with conspiracy and 37 counts of wire fraud and committing these offenses via telemarketing. Barrett is the first Jamaican citizen to be extradited from that country to the United States based on charges of defrauding Americans in connection with a lottery scheme.

Bonnie Monique Youn, 45, has been charged in a superseding indictment with two new counts of visa fraud, two new counts of alien harboring, and two new counts of witness tampering.

U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered Christopher Wayne Howard, 26, of Joshua, Texas, to surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to commence his sentence on March 20.

Ronald Carey Shirley, 64, was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport as he boarded a Philippines Air flight. The former accountant is charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to produce and attempting to receive child pornography. The charges stem from online communications of a sexual nature the defendant had with underage females in the Philippines and Vietnam, including some messages in which he allegedly solicited sexually explicit images of the victims.

Three members of the street gang known as Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, were sentenced Friday for violent crimes they committed in the Atlanta metropolitan area, including the murder of one man and the shootings of two others, one of whom was a 14-year-old boy.

Jesus Roldan Rubio, of Puebla, Mexico, was charged by criminal complaint Jan. 20. He was indicted Feb. 3 and on Feb. 12 he made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.

Joel Aguirre-Lara, 35, of Greenville, Texas, was convicted Oct. 15, 2014, of transporting a minor to engage in sexual activity and aggravated sexual abuse of a child under 12 years of age.

Gregory Zimmerman, 43, of Oswego, Illinois, was charged with possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance in a criminal complaint that was filed Feb. 4 in federal court and unsealed Tuesday. Zimmerman, a licensed chiropractor, self-surrendered to authorities Feb. 9 and was released on a $25,000 bond.

The charges against Darius X. Johnson are the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Inspector General for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Johnson made an initial appearance Wednesday in Atlanta federal court.

Joel Sesma-Garcia, 40, was sentenced Feb. 10 and Gerald Fidel Herrera, 41, was sentenced Jan. 30 by U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps. Judge Zipps ordered Sesma-Garcia to serve a term of 25 years, while Herrera received a 15-year sentence. According to investigators, the cocaine trafficking ring operated from 2008 to 2012.