News Releases and Statements

Cecilio Mercedes de la Cruz, Victor Manuel Carela and Manuel Guzman de los Santos, all citizens of the Dominican Republic, were sentenced Wednesday to a collective sentence of 49 years for trafficking 918 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated value of $22 million.

Parminder Sidhu from Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to export from the United States five kilograms or more of cocaine following a joint investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Peel Regional Police Service.

Four individuals were sentenced this week for their respective roles in trafficking the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens.

HSI special agents arrested Lorena Gomez, 33, a U.S. citizen, and 13 aliens Friday in Laurel. MBI investigators simultaneously arrested two Mississippi Department of Public Safety employees on forgery-related charges.

A new international agreement was signed Wednesday by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Paraguayan Attorney General's Office to streamline information sharing regarding suspected child pornography.

Travis James McReynolds, 32, from Pearland, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa to 351 months and 60 months in federal prison for the producing and distributing convictions, respectively; these sentences will run concurrently.

Highland Engineering Inc. and Ultra Aluminum, both of Howell, have pledged to protect the integrity of their workforce by joining IMAGE.

Parker Antron Coleman, 28, of Charlotte was sentenced to 30 years in prison for marijuana trafficking and money laundering, plus a consecutive 30 years for firearms offenses, announced US Attorney Anne M. Tompkins.

Timothy McCullouch Jr., 28, an El Paso County juvenile probation officer, was arrested Friday by HSI and FBI special agents.

Clark Alan Tyler, 53, of Rosamond, and Daniel Oluwa Sesan Leitch, 31, of Fresno, received sentences of 12 years and seven months and six and one half years, respectively, in prison for distributing child pornography.

Agustin Ramiro Ocampo-Tobar, 33, is charged with murdering four people in October 2011 in Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

Roman Georgiyevich Kvinikadze, a citizen of Russia, was sentenced Friday to almost five months in federal prison (time served) for conspiracy to illegally export military-grade thermal imaging scopes to his home country.

According to court documents, law enforcement found $304,050 hidden within the tires of a salvaged G-35 Infiniti that was being transported on I-75.

A Camden woman, Iveliza Perez, pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to smuggle approximately two kilograms of cocaine into the United States following an investigation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Philadelphia Police Department and ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

HSI Boston Special Agent in Charge Bruce Foucart and Thomas W. Lentz, director of Harvard Art Museums, concluded a ceremony Tuesday at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., to mark the return of a $1.5 million jade censer stolen from the university more than 35 years ago.

James Terry Henrikson is charged with being a felon in possession of several firearms.

Chi Ahn Nguyen, 45, formerly of Seattle, admitted in a plea agreement last August that he defrauded banks by exploiting the 'float time' from when a credit card bill is considered paid and when the actual payment is received.

HSI special agents assigned to the Delaware Child Predator Task Force became aware of William Zimmerman during an investigation into another registered child sex offender.

The new initiative from HSI Cartagena enhances the ability of local law enforcement to target child pornography and child sex tourism in Colombia.

Corey Dean Farmer, 37, will serve 151 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possessing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Robert A. Junell also ordered that Farmer pay $157,143.23 restitution to his victims.

Eladio G. Ramirez Tizoc, 22, was arrested by the Turlock Police Department in Stanislaus County, Calif., on two counts of sodomy, two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, penetration with a foreign object and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

Raymond Camacho, aka Jesus Mendoza-Nunez, 58, pleaded guilty last January to possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.

On Jan. 4, 2013, HSI special agents arrested Jimmy Caraballo-Colon, 25, at his place of residence. The Greenwood Village Police Department determined he was blackmailing a 17-year-old female from Colorado who he met in an anonymous Internet video chat website.

Law enforcement seized electronic media during a search of John Dewey Todd's residence, and a preliminary examination of some of the seized materials revealed they contained at least 12,000 files of child pornography.