News Releases and Statements

Sanderlei Alves DaCruz, a manager and supervisor of an international scheme responsible for smuggling into the United States hundreds of illegal aliens from Brazil, India, and elsewhere from January 2008 through June 2011, was sentenced Wednesday to 51 months in prison.

Rigel Colon-Cruzado, 54, of Bayamon, who is a physical education teacher in a public housing project in San Juan, was arrested at his place of residence Monday after an HSI investigation revealed that he engaged in sexually explicit conversations with one of his seventh grade students, a 12-year-old female.

Three Mexican citizens are in federal custody on sex trafficking charges in Atlanta following a joint investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.

A federal grand jury has indicted immigration attorney Kiran Dewan and four of his clients in connection with a conspiracy to bribe an immigration official in order to obtain lawful permanent residence, employment authorization documents and green cards.

Patrick T. Deck was charged May 22 with possession of child pornography following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

HSI special agents were first alerted to the case Sunday evening after local law enforcement agencies requested federal assistance.

Both men pleaded guilty Dec. 27.

"Jose Armando Bran, aka ""Pantro,"" was convicted yesterday by a federal jury on murder and maiming in aid of racketeering, among other charges, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington office, FBI Richmond field office and the Richmond Police Department. "

A southwestern Missouri man, Rodney Russell, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to receiving and distributing child pornography.

David Olmsted pleaded guilty to evading reporting requirements for foreign currency transactions and will forfeit assets and currency worth at least $1.2 million, including about 449,000,000 Iraqi dinars (valued at $404,000).

At a ceremony today at the Bulgarian Consulate in New York, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) returned 546 ancient coins to Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova.

"Rosemary Fierros, a Fresno-area woman convicted of serving as the ""recruiter "" in a far-reaching scheme to sell California driver's licenses to ineligible individuals was sentenced Monday to four years in prison, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)."

Each spring, the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) rolls into Tampa, Fla. Representatives from a variety of companies, ranging from those that manufacture sensitive military technologies to suppliers of tactical gear, peddle their wares for conference attendees.

Two men from India and Brazil were each sentenced Friday to serve 36 months in federal prison for their roles in smuggling illegal aliens into the United States for private financial gain.

Vitality Yaremkiv, of Vancouver, Wash., sold more than 900 illegally imported counterfeit air bags between June 2011 and June 2012, earning nearly $140,000.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents seized 125 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of approximately $3 million on Wednesday at a residence in Villa Rica, Bayamon.

A woman from Mexico, Yessica Chanel Cabanillas-Torres, was sentenced Friday to 36 months in federal prison after she was convicted for smuggling nearly two kilograms of heroin in her luggage as she arrived from Ecuador at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

A Camden County man, Alexander D. Vargas, was charged May 16 with stealing more than $1 million in food stamp benefits. These charges are the result of an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation.

According to the indictment, the defendants sought to defraud the United States by conducting financial transactions in a manner that would conceal their true nature.

Timothy James Hensley, 38, of San Diego, appeared in court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal. Hensley, who will be sentenced Aug. 12, faces up to 20 years in prison for each count and a maximum fine of $250,000.

HSI's Trade Transparency Unit, in coordination with HSI Assistant Attache Guayaquil, Ecuador, successfully transitioned Ecuadorian Customs May 7-9 to the new Data Analysis and Research for Trade Transparency System World, an Internet-based platform hosted in a secure environment in the United States.

Three Mexican men face federal hostage-taking charges following their arrest Tuesday at a West Valley human smuggling drop house discovered by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Richard A. Lewis, 49, of Dingmans Ferry, Pa., was indicted by a federal grand jury with committing the offense. The HSI investigation revealed that Lewis used a computer between January and May 2013 to receive and distribute child pornography.

Fazliddin Kurbanov, an Uzbek national living in Boise, was arrested Thursday and now faces federal terrorism charges in Utah and Idaho as a result of an investigation by the FBI's JTTF, including ICE's HSI.

Henry Estrella-Cordova, 31, was arrested May 15 in Silver Spring, Md.