News Releases and Statements

Shahid Hassan Muslim, aka Sharp, faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison. His conviction follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with the assistance from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Police Department.

Huntsville-based System Dynamics International (SDI), which provides high technology engineering services to American and Australian militaries, became the latest employer to be certified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) employment compliance program called IMAGE at a ceremony Monday.

Steven Christopher Montes, 25, of Visalia, was taken into custody Friday by investigators from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Montes is charged with multiple counts of producing and possessing child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made at the defendant’s plea hearing, in July 2011, Victor Manuel Contreras, 29, of Manassas, Virginia, engaged in chats via Facebook with a minor female.

John Mordecai Scott, 58, of Lake Forest, was taken into custody Friday by HSI special agents and Orange County sheriff's deputies on a state charge of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. Specifically, Scott is suspected of showing and taking lewd photographs of a minor female victim at his residence and place of employment.

Aaron Lewis Gaudinier, 50, of Madera, appeared in federal court Monday. Upon completion of the prison term, U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill ordered that Gaudinier be subject to 15 years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Jose Antonio Hernandez, 42, pleaded guilty May 19 to multiple federal courts related to copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit labels. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.

The HSI investigation revealed that Mahmoud Bazzi, 71, who is a native and citizen of Lebanon, repeatedly provided false and misleading testimony and submissions that were critical to his obtaining status in the United States.

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending Aug. 8, 2014

Jose Hernandez-Tirado, 34, of Brodheadsville, was arrested on July 2, 2013 at his residence, and charged with distributing the drugs during 2013.

Marcus Taylor, 41, of Sicklerville, pleaded guilty Thursday to distributing and possessing with intent to distribute oxycodone before U.S. District Judge Renee Marie Bumb.

James Quinn, 73, of Surrey, United Kingdom, and his two companies – one in the United Kingdom and one in Switzerland – face five felony counts in U.S. district court. They are charged with conspiracy, importation contrary to law, two counts of introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and unlicensed medical wholesaling.

Victor Jerome Reza, 53, was arrested Tuesday at his home by HSI special agents assigned to HSI's Cyber Crimes Group, who have been investigating him since January.

HSI special agents arrested Jonathan E. Clemente-Semidey, 27, after a referral from the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit led to an investigation that revealed that a person with Clemente-Semidey's computer IP address logged onto the Internet and shared child pornography on numerous occasions through Ares, a peer to peer file sharing application.

The indictment, returned late Wednesday, charges Monica Adriana Zacatlan-Ramirez, 19, of Urbana, Illinois; Eduardo Guerrero Cortez, 25, of Texas; and Jarbey Emerson Reyes-Villalobos, 18, of Champaign, Illinois, with conspiring to provide false statements to law enforcement to conceal that the reported kidnapping was actually a hoax.

The individuals arrested in Quetzaltenango were: Antonio Rolando Chavez Paxtor, Maricela Isabel Gonzalez Hernandez, Eliseo Alvarado Gonzalez, Marciano Alvarado Gonzalez, Antonio Adonias Gonzalez Hernandez, Genaro Elias Jimenez and Pablo Arnoldo Gomez-Gonzalez. Two other members of this organization were arrested in Mexican territory: Douglas Ivan Aguilar-Juarez and Milton Rocael Sebastian Cardona.

Erik Leroy Clark, 35, of Joplin, Missouri, was charged via criminal complaint with one count of attempting to entice a minor for illicit sexual activity.

Ronald Lee Blake, 45, faces a charge involving foreign or interstate travel for prostitution. Maria Blake was arrested June 24, 2014.

Leonardo Burgos Espinal, 42, most recently residing in Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Hillman to time served of 14 months.

Hayatullah Dawari, 62, an Afghanistan citizen, has alleged ties to Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, an anti-western insurgent group active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Alberto Lira-Quintero, aka Lamberto Armenta Rivera, 48, was turned over to Mexican authorities by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Paul Carter, 44, aka "Pimpin' Paul" and David Moore, 46, aka "King David," both of Milwaukee, were each previously indicted. Carter was indicted on two counts of sex trafficking and Moore was indicted for sex trafficking, conspiracy and solicitation of a crime of violence.

Juan Carlos Alvarez, 34, of Egg Harbor Township, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree distribution of child pornography and third-degree possession of more than 100 files of child pornography before Superior Court Judge Bernard E. DeLury Jr.

As of July 8, 966,333 international students were enrolled in nearly 9,000 U.S. schools using an F (academic) or M (vocational) visa. This marks a nearly five percent decrease from April, primarily due to graduation rates, but an eight percent increase when compared to July 2013.

All told, the enforcement actions resulted in the seizure of thousands of individual items bearing the names of more than 20 designer brands, including UGG boots, Michael Kors purses, Beats by Dre headphones, Otterbox and LifeProof cell phone cases and NFL jerseys.