News Releases and Statements

A Mexican national in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) passed away Tuesday evening at Desert Springs Hospital just hours after he was turned over to ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).

Louis Kevin Wieprecht, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of receiving such material.

A human smuggling ring was underway in Austin, Texas. The victims were illegal aliens, taken from their home country without their consent. Human smugglers were holding them ransom until family members paid exorbitant smuggling fees.

David Arturo Martinez, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography on Oct. 6, 2011. In July 2010, a detective with CCPD's Internet Crimes against Children Task Force downloaded two images of child pornography from a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on the Interne, later determined to have been sent by Martinez.

A contractor who previously conducted work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), pleaded guilty to taking part in a scheme in which he fraudulently received more than $50,000 in government money.

J & J Industrial Supply Inc. was sentenced Tuesday on charges of employing illegal aliens after pleading guilty in October. The sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department.

The owner of a south Texas grocery store was sentenced Tuesday to nearly four years in federal prison for defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamp fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

A manufacturing firm and a major transportation company have become the latest Los Angeles-area employers to join a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program designed to strengthen hiring practices and combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens.

A Baltimore registered sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison - followed by supervised release for life - for possessing child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Baltimore County Police Department.

Mohamed Farooq Husain, a former resident of Alamogordo, N.M., is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens within the United States. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated a scheme that involved a conspiracy to assist illegal aliens of Middle Eastern decent to obtain...

Larry Warner, Jr. of Joppa, Md, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI and the Baltimore County Police Department. Warner posted advertisements on an online website seeking girls' underwear to use in an act...

Brian David Clayworth of Roseville, Calif., faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography charges stemming from an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). A forensic examination of Clayworth's computers and external hard drive found over 17,600 images of child pornography.

Clyde Pontefract of Elizabeth, La., was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography involving his own daughter, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Allen Parish Sheriff's Office.

Frank Robert Tucker, Jr., of Halethorpe, Md., was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for distributing child pornography.

A federal jury convicted Dong Qun Lin on Friday on federal charges related to the trafficking of more than 30,000 DVDs with the counterfeit trademarks of Dolby Laboratory Licensing Corporation, a company responsible for sound quality for DVDs and movies.

A federal grand jury has indicted the owner and seven other individuals linked to a local Korean nightclub, The Blue Moon, for allegedly operating an interstate prostitution scheme involving Asian women, many recruited overseas, who worked as "hostesses" at the club to repay their travel and living expenses.

Maria F. Cruz, formerly of Chicago, was sentenced Thursday to federal prison for arranging sham marriages to evade immigration laws, and enabling foreign nationals to illegally become U.S. citizens. This sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Seven members of an identity theft ring were arrested and charged for allegedly using stolen identities of more than 180 people with active store credit accounts at Home Depot, Sears, Kmart, Kohl's, and other retail stores to charge merchandise and gift cards and obtain store credit.

Mahendar "Mike" Singh pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to violate the federal sex trafficking laws following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI. Singh admitted recruiting teenage girls to provide sex services throughout Sacramento and the Bay Area in exchange for money and drugs.

Joe Frank Rios, 45, admitted he possessed multiple videos and images of child pornography on Nov. 23, 2010, which consisted of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Senior U.S. District Judge Hayden Head presided over the hearing.

ICE's HSI - working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners including the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont - had numerous prosecutions throughout Vermont in 2011.

Fourteen people have been indicted by a federal grand jury for participating in a $5 million conspiracy to provide more than 3,500 fraudulent identity documents to illegal aliens across the United States.

The Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center's (HSTC) reach is vast. This past spring, the Center played an integral role in an INTERPOL-sponsored anti-human trafficking initiative in Accra, Ghana, called Operation Bia II. This operation resulted in the rescue of 116 children, all of whom were forced to work in the country's fishing industry...

Santos Elenilson Gonzalez-Rivas, 24, a citizen of El Salvador, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 24 months imprisonment, following an investigation by ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).