News Releases and Statements

Federal authorities Wednesday shut down a just-completed, cross-border drug smuggling tunnel and seized more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana.

Michael D. Arnett, 38, of Roeland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Juan Francisco Reyes-Ramos, 31, was sentenced Feb. 12 by U.S. Senior District Judge Joseph M. Hood in the Eastern District of Kentucky for distributing child pornography.

A U.S. District Court judge sentenced a San Diego man Monday to serve 150 months in federal prison for the trafficking of a 14-year-old girl he prostituted over the course of several days at various motels and hotels in Southern California.

Nelson Santiago-Colon, 47, pastor of the Peniel Christian Church located in Santa Isabel, was arrested at his place of residence in Ponce after a referral from the Puerto Rico Department of Justice to HSI revealed the violation of federal child exploitation statutes by Santiago-Colon.

James Amato, 50, of Oxford, Mich., was arrested without incident at his residence after being charged in a federal arrest warrant with making false statements, transportation of stolen goods and for the sale or receipt of stolen goods.

Jose Mario Carrera-Marrufo, a Mexican national who lived locally, has been charged with defrauding people who paid him to adjust their immigration status.

Michael A. Stahlnecker was arrested Wednesday morning at a New York airport after a warrant was issued charging him with the murder of a Frederick County, Md. man, whose body was found in the trunk of his car last December by a special agent of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A U.S. Virgin Islands man, Ashu Bhandari, was ordered in federal court in St. Thomas Thursday to pay $1.1 million in fines and to perform community service for his role in the illegal trade of protected black coral.

A Salvadoran man, Jose Mauricio Huezo-Ortega, was returned to his native country earlier today by ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) to face charges for sexually assaulting five minor children, who were under his care at a children's home he managed.

Jose Miranda, 46, a former mechanic with the El Paso Independent School District, was sentenced Friday to six years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release for receiving and possessing child pornography.

Suspects allegedly arranged at least four fraudulent marriages and attempted to arrange a fifth between a foreign national and an undercover special agent.

A Canadian woman, Dung Ngoc Nguyen, pleaded guilty Monday to drug trafficking and money laundering charges following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Nguyen admitted that she arranged to smuggle between 700 and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana into the United States.

Carl Campbell was found guilty in federal court Monday on multiple counts of sex trafficking, including selling children for sex. Campbell assaulted one victim repeatedly over the course of about eight months in which he forced her to perform commercial sex acts in South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

A superseding indictment, returned Thursday in federal court, has added 13 more defendants for their roles in an alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring operating in Mexico, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and elsewhere.

Marissa Tadeo Lapid, the wife of a sitting senator in the Philippines, has been sentenced to five months of home confinement and 36 months' probation after pleading guilty to charges of bulk cash smuggling resulting from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Pablo Ortiz-Matamoros, a Honduran national who has been in the custody of U.S. ICE since Nov. 5, 2012, passed away Feb. 8 at Conroe Regional Medical Center (CRMC) due to lymphoma and related complications.

According to the indictment, on Oct. 11 and Oct. 12, Dr. John Francis Williams, 66, of Blythewood, S.C., used the Internet to attempt to persuade, induce and entice a minor to engage in a sexual activity.

Kujtim Lika, a former Passaic County man who has been a fugitive since 2009, made his initial court appearance Friday to face numerous charges, including narcotics and firearms trafficking, money laundering, interstate transportation of stolen property, and criminal conspiracy.

Nir Giist pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to trafficking in counterfeit goods.

Michelle Matney of Greensboro, N.C., pleaded guilty today for her role as the leader of an interstate prostitution organization and to conspiracy to persuade others to travel to engage in prostitution.

Stephen Keating, who was arrested as part of a nationwide operation targeting child predators, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in relation to the production of child pornography.

Troy Lee Curtis has been sentenced to 30 years in state prison after pleading guilty to charges that he received and shared child pornography, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

If convicted, suspect faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

Two Mexican drug traffickers, Genaro Torres and Maria E. Garcia, were sentenced Friday for their roles in a cocaine conspiracy.