News Releases and Statements

Angel Gomez, 46, a native of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for his role in smuggling cocaine and heroin through the Port of Savannah. In March of 2010, Georgia Ports Authority Police became aware of three men, disguised as longshoremen who had disembarked the M/V Cosco Boston, a Chinese merchant vessel.

Joseph Yannai was found guilty of forced labor and attempted forced labor on Friday following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He enticed women to travel to the United States from abroad so that he could commit sex crimes against them.

Robert Wesley Harden, 22, of Ft. Pierce, Fla., was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for production of child pornography and sexually enticing minors, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Martin County Sheriff's Office (MCSO).

Akeem R. Gumbs was charged on Thursday for possession and production of child pornography and with 24 local counts of aggravated first degree rape of a person under 13 years old, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents protect the United States against terrorists and criminal organizations.

Wesley William Brandt, 46, of Davenport, Fla., pleaded guilty today in federal court to three counts of production of child pornography, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Tampa.

Randall J. Weitzel, Edwood Brodtmann, Jr., and Agustin Arcadia pled guilty in federal court Friday to charges related to employing illegal aliens at federal and private projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. One of the locations where Illegal alien laborers associated with Weitzel worked included the courthouse where the guilty pleas were entered.

More than 150 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers served search and arrest warrants Thursday morning at locations in the Southern California communities of Riverside and Fontana as part of a two-year multi-agency investigation focusing on members of two violent street gangs with ties to firearms and narcotics trafficking.

Mohammad Reza Vaghari was sentenced Friday in a scheme to ship items from the United States to Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on that country. Vaghari operated in the United States through a Pennsylvania corporation called Saamen Company, purchasing items from other American companies and exporting the items to co-conspirators...

A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed Friday in New Haven charging Thomas E. Stickle, 39, formerly of Torrington, Conn., and Hartford, Conn., with receiving, possessing and distributing child pornography in a case investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Connecticut State Police.

Darwin Melgar Escobar, 23, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for participating in the affairs of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) through a pattern of racketeering activity (RICO), and for possessing a firearm as an illegal alien. This sentence follows an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Two alleged members of the violent transnational street gang MS-13 were indicted on federal gun charges Friday following their arrest in a case being investigated jointly by the Lynn Police Department, U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Bureau of ATF and other law enforcement partners.

Paid a woman to marry him in order to get status as permanent resident alien.

ICE seizes 1,100 pounds of marijuana from bunker under south Texas garage

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents seized 2,608 pounds of marijuana in a coordinated enforcement effort with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol (BP) and the CBP Office of Air and Marine (OAM) Friday morning west of Nogales, Ariz.

Anashe Ufumaka, 39, of New Haven, Conn., was sentenced Thursday to two years and three months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for dealing counterfeit currency and narcotics in a case investigated cooperatively with ICE's HSI.

Two current managers and three former managers or supervisors of Mambo Seafood were indicted on Wednesday on various charges related to harboring illegal aliens.

"U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) shared over 470,000 dollars in ""asset sharing"" funds with the Anne Arundel County Police Department which were seized during an investigation into illegal gambling businesses. The investigation was led by ICE HSI, with the assistance of the Anne Arundel County Police Department."

Richard Lee Lewis, 50, of Slaton, Texas, voluntarily surrendered to law enforcement last week on charges outlined in a related federal criminal complaint and was released on a personal recognizance bond.

"A Fairfield, Calif., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for illegally importing Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), a chemical used to produce the so-called ""date rape"" drug that produces many of the same effects."

Zeljko Zekic, 48, of Lawrenceville, Ga., pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to lying to federal immigration officials about his place of residence and employment during the Bosnian War of 1992 to 1995.

Larry James Kramer is accused of distributing child pornography images on March 09, 2009 and Dec. 14-15, 2009; and possessing child pornography on Jan. 21, 2010 on a home computer and other storage devices.

Eleven people were arrested on outstanding warrants on Wednesday after they were indicted on state criminal charges of criminal impersonation and possessing fraudulent documents after an investigation being conducted by one of the 18 Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces (DBFTFs) nationwide led by ICE.

A six-member team received the 2011 U.S. Attorney's Award for increasing federal prosecutions and subsequent removal orders for violent criminal aliens.