News Releases and Statements

HSI Public Safety Group encountered the illegal immigrants during a routine Form I-9 audit.

Jonathan Kearn, 38 of Topeka, was charged with one count each of producing, distributing and possessing child pornography.

An Argentine man, Felix Gabriel Alderete, has been sentenced for trafficking in prescription drugs, including Lorazepam, Diazepam, Alprazolam, Ketamine, and Sibutramine, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Efrain Rivera-Rico, 32, was deported via an ICE AIR Operations charter flight May 10 and turned over to the Mexican authorities at the Brownsville Port of Entry in Texas.

Paul Graham Fry, 55, of Ontario, Canada, admitted in his guilty plea that he joined Dreamboard in December 2009 and that he posted more than 2,700 videos containing child pornography. Kevin Casey, 40, of Palos Verdes, Calif., admitted in his guilty plea that he joined Dreamboard in April 2010 and he posted ads offering to distribute child pornography to other members of the board.

An elementary school teacher in Luquillo, Orlando Pena-Lopez, was arrested Thursday following an HSI investigation that revealed he has been engaging in attempted sexual enticement of one of his sixth grade students.

Law enforcement officers arrested Peter D. Kitt and Shawn D. Franklin Friday morning for their roles in the ring.

James Raymond Schimmel met the minor victim through the Internet and convinced the victim to meet in person for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual activity, which Schimmel then video recorded without the victim's knowledge.

Yanira del Carmen Guerrero Andrade, an illegal alien from El Salvador who was residing in Adelphi, Md., was sentenced Friday to 132 months in federal prison for recruiting a 15-year-old, pregnant runaway to engage in commercial sex acts for a trafficking ring with ties to the notorious street gang Mara Salvatrucha Thirteen (MS-13).

Reinaldo Diaz-Camacho, 48, of Moca, was arrested at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Caguas. On May 6, the Puerto Rico Police Department made a referral to HSI regarding an adult male who was engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 16-year-old male identified as John Doe via Facebook.

In addition to a Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton previously forfeited to the United States and successfully repatriated by ICE to the Mongolian government May 6 by ICE Director John Morton, ICE has recovered additional dinosaur fossils the agency plans to return to the Government of Mongolia.

A four-count federal indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn May 9 charging eight defendants with participating in two worldwide cyberattacks that inflicted $45 million in losses on the global financial system in a matter of hours.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday against Carlos Alberto Torres-Eufracio, a Mexican national who attempted to smuggle more than 15 pounds of methamphetamine into the U.S. through Sacramento International Airport concealed inside two decorative wooden carts.

Muhammed Farooq, 49, of Somerset, N.J., was arrested May 8 and charged with money laundering, theft by deception and food stamp fraud.

The defendants allegedly made false representations, failed to pay dividends to investors since October 2012 and allocated investor money for their personal expenses instead of purchasing commodities or paying interest promised to over 50 individual investors who had invested a total of at least $4 million.

Paul Bauer of Dallas, Texas, was sentenced May 8 to three years in federal prison in a fraud conspiracy scheme that stole approximately $4 million from a Venezuelan fishing company.

Michael S. Mackay was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of mail fraud for his role in a scheme where victims applied to work-at-home ads on the Internet believing they would work as "secret shoppers" or payment processors.

Fredy Marcelo Arbito was detained by Panamanian law enforcement at a police checkpoint April 5 based on an Interpol Red Notice and arrest warrant issued in the District of New Jersey for possession of child pornography. HSI Newark had issued a public appeal in March 2013 for assistance in locating Arbito.

HSI special agents executed a federal search warrant at the residence of Jonathan Gamson which permitted them to preview a computer at the residence, but not seize it. The Internet history on the computer revealed that it had been used to view multiple websites containing child pornography.

Ruth Saenz, 30, of Sunland Park, N.M., and Janeth Flores, 33, of the 1700 block of Lee Trevino Drive, are charged with making a false statement in applications for passports. They are both scheduled to have their detention hearings May 9 in federal court.

Anthony Maurice Cottle, a former firefighter with the Baltimore County Fire Department, engaged in sexually explicit conduct with two minor males in order to produce visual depictions of the abuse, including two videos.

The conspiracy was allegedly orchestrated by a Los Angeles attorney who paid bribes as high as $10,000 to officials with several agencies in DHS to help secure immigration benefits for aliens he represented.

Norberto Rivera Aguilar, 26, of Mexico, pleaded guilty one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Jason Barry was recognized in Washington, D.C., May 8, by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for his work combating child sexual exploitation and rescuing child victims in Mexico.

A Canadian man was sentenced Monday to time served (176 days) in federal prison following his guilty plea to illegally possessing fraudulent U.S. government identity documents.