News Releases and Statements

Counts one and two of the indictment allege that, between October 2014 and January 2015, Kandel Markie Whiting, 35, of Pensacola, knowingly received and distributed images and videos of child pornography. Count three alleges that, on or about March 24, 2015, Whiting knowingly possessed child pornography involving a prepubescent minor and a minor younger than 12.

Monica Adriana Zacatlan-Ramirez, 20, of Urbana, Illinois, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison; Eduardo Guerrero Cortez, 26, of Mexico, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison. Both have remained detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since their arrests in July 2014.

Marshall MacDonald, 20, who pleaded guilty in March to state child sexual exploitation charges, first fell under suspicion in August 2013 when HSI began investigating an Internet user who hosted an international file sharing website. The website user claimed to have images of what appeared to be a woman using the bathroom and boasted the pictures were taken with a spy camera.

Edwin Alexander Cruz Canas was charged with aggravated homicide for his alleged involvement in the Dec. 16, 2011 murder of a Jose Erick Martinez de La O. According to an Interpol warrant, Cruz Canas was present when an accomplice allegedly shot and killed Martinez de La O.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Jaime Tovar-Montoya, aka Jimmy Diaz Tovar, 57, of Colombia, South America, applied for and received a Florida identification card in 2010, claiming that he was a U.S. citizen and using the name and birth certificate of a resident of Puerto Rico.

According to court documents, Patrick Joseph Friedel, 29, of Arlington, met five young teenagers online and exchanged sexually explicit images with them. Friedel persuaded the teenagers to send him these images by sending them depictions of other minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The conference, which was the fourth of its kind, was hosted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Attaché Office in Mexico and the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training (OPDAT).

Victor Arreola-Portillo, 39, was handed over April 23 to Mexican authorities near Brownsville, Texas, to face charges for allegedly killing his wife’s lover.

Mario Arredondo-Ramos, 33, was ordered removed by an immigration judge March 4 after he was arrested by New Orleans ERO officers in May 2014. Mexican authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of Arredondo-Ramos in July 2013 charging him with aggravated kidnapping.

In addition, Jonathan Tyler Prive, 26, of West Melbourne, was ordered to serve a life term of supervision, and to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Donald Splonick, 65, of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, was sentenced April 24 by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 24 months in federal prison for illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported, which is a felony.

Carlos Funez-Ochoa, 30, was apprehended March 15, 2015, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas. The next day, he was transferred to ICE custody and taken to the Port Isabel Detention Center in Port Isabel, Texas.

In September 2014, HSI’s attaché office in Colombia received information that Dennis De Jesus, 46, of Ft. Lauderdale, intended to travel the following month from Florida to Colombia in order to engage in sexual activity with minors.

As a result of the April 23 verdict, Eduardo Rocha Sr., aka “Lalo,” 44, faces the following possible sentence: up to 20 years in prison each for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens involving serious bodily injury and conspiracy to transport illegal aliens involving serious bodily injury; up to 20 years in prison on each of three separate counts of harboring an illegal alien involving serious bodily injury; and up to life in prison on each of two counts of conspiracy to commit hostage taking.

Edwin Obdulio Milian Garcia, Maria Cecilia Ponce and Magaly Guzman Godoy allegedly ran a human smuggling and trafficking ring that charged would-be Central American “customers” the equivalent of anywhere between $7,000 and $10,000 in U.S. currency.

Sally Iriri, 32, a Nigerian national who was living in Chicago, is charged in a three-count indictment with wire fraud. The indictment alleges that from October 2013 to March 2015 she and others not named in the indictment devised a fraud scheme in which they targeted victims by creating fake profiles on Internet dating services.

On May 9, 2013, Orlando Peña-Lopez, of Fajardo, was arrested after an HSI investigation revealed that he allegedly attempted to entice one of his sixth grade students.

On Sept. 8, 2009, HSI New York recovered the nesting sarcophagus from a garage in Brooklyn, New York. One year later, on Sept. 24, 2010, following leads from the Brooklyn case, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport seized a shipment of smuggled Egyptian goods, including a funerary boat model and figurines.

According to court documents and court proceedings, Nader Abdallah, age 54, and Sharif Abdallah, age 31, both of Newport News, were arrested for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, distribution of controlled substances and controlled substance analogues (also known as Spice), and making a false statement.

As ICE’s Collection Manager Section Chief, Mr. Avery was honored as a result of his expert management and leadership of HSI’s Office of Intelligence’s requirements process.

Bruce H. Niggemann, 65, of West Dundee, Illinois, was indicted April 16 on one count of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography, all via computer. The indictment was under seal until Niggemann’s arrest Wednesday morning. He was arraigned April 22 in U.S. District Court before Charles R. Judge Norgle Sr.

Farley Afonson Figueiredo, of Brazil, was arrested in North Charleston, South Carolina, Jan. 26, 2015 following a joint ERO and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operation dubbed "Nowhere to Run." ERO officers and HSI special agents worked closely with the HSI Brasilia Attaché Office and Interpol to track him down.

Sylvestre Reyes Jr., 40, was sentenced April 22 to 290 months in federal prison and must also register as a sex offender. Additionally, he will be on supervised release for the remainder of his life. Reyes pleaded guilty to the charges in February.

HSI San Juan’s Law Enforcement Exploring Post 800 was established Sept. 11, 2013, under the by-laws of the Boys Scout of America and its Learning-for-Life program. Post 800 is now composed of 59 young men and women between the ages of 14 to 21.

Drug activity associated with the organization occurred over a wide geographic area with drug sales occurring at homes and near businesses in Seattle, Renton, Shoreline and Kent, including the Viet Wah supermarket near South Jackson Street and the parking lot of Dick’s Drive-In restaurant on NE 45th Street.