News Releases and Statements

ICE's 'Operation Interception' sacks vendors for more than 3.56 million dollars in fake merchandise

John Charles Ware, 47, of Oxford, Pa., is charged with child sex tourism in a case being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Philadelphia.

Twenty-eight previously deported aliens and three immigration violators are facing deportation following a one week long enforcement operation spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers in New Jersey.

Six men were sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from 60 to 170 months for trafficking narcotics announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno.

A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment Wednesday charging, Steven Neal Greenoe, 37, a U.S. citizen from Raleigh, with the illegal export of firearms from the United States to the United Kingdom.

A man who conspired to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States by concealing the drugs in commercial airlines was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to the first indictment, beginning on January 2007 and ending in or about January 2008, Ricardo Betancourt-Muñoz, José Ramon Parra-Botero, William Garzon, Carlos Maestre-Astacio, Manuel De Jesús Cedeño-Vilorio, Miguel Ángel Builes-Mejías, José Gómez-Cubero, and José I. Valentin-López, conspired and engaged in financial transactions with proceeds generated by drug trafficking activities in order to repatriate drug proceeds in the United States to Colombia, the source country of the narcotics, all for financial gain and profit. The forfeiture allegation involving the laundered drug proceeds in this case is in the amount of more than $877, 0000.

Suleiman Ahmed Zakaria, 27, of Pikesville, Md., was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for importing heroin into the United States from Ghana as the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Nine South Florida residents were arrested on federal criminal charges in a $12 million bank fraud scheme, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Secret Service, and the City of Miami Police Department.

A leader of the Gangsters Locos Salvatrucha (GLS) clique of MS-13 pled guilty today to participating in a racketeering organization that attempted to murder two rival gang members and extorted pimps trafficking prostitutes from Maryland into Virginia.

Seizure warrants have been executed against 10 websites that illegally streamed live sporting telecasts and pay-per-view events over the Internet, as part of an ongoing investigation by ICE's HSI.

Jason Haldeman, 37, of Landenberg, Pa., was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 1, 2011, on one count of transportation of child pornography. Haldeman was identified by ICE HSI agents in Delaware during an online investigation into a computer network devoted to trading images of child pornography.

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a federal information sharing capability in Ashtabula and Jefferson counties that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

Ruben A. Santos-Rodriguez was arrested at his residence in Condominio El Monte for allegedly sending inappropriate messages via e-mail and Facebook to a 13-year-old female minor. Santos-Rodriguez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, if found guilty.

A Honduran national in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since Jan. 12 passed away on Jan. 31 due to cardiac arrest at the University of California Irvine (UCI) Medical Center.

ICE began using a federal information sharing capability in Dorchester and Talbot counties that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

On Tuesday, six northern California counties-including Inyo, Amador, Calaveras, Glenn, Modoc and San Benito-became the latest in the state to benefit from a U.S. ICE federal information-sharing capability that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States...

Hector Hugo Tovar-Sanchez, 25, of Cleveland, Texas, was convicted last night by a federal jury of a drug conspiracy that involved smuggling cocaine into the United States from Mexico.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office in Philadelphia arrested 44 foreign nationals, 21 with criminal convictions, during a five-day enforcement action throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware targeting convicted criminal aliens who have violated U.S. immigration law.

Following a joint investigation led by ICE's HSI, Christopher A. Pearson, 29, of Roanoke was sentenced today to 84 months of federal incarceration and 10 years of supervised release on charges related to his possession of child pornography.

Majdi Juma, 29, Hikmat Juma, 38, and Nidal Juma, 40, owners and operators of the Super Corner Food Mart in Bradenton, Fla., were arrested and charged Thursday in federal court for conspiracy and various charges of fraud, including food stamp and wire fraud.

Federal law enforcement agencies came together in Buffalo to discuss unified enforcement efforts to attack criminal organizations who attempt to enslave innocent victims at a public event hosted by U.S. ICE and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York at Buffalo State College.

Stephen Sims of Palm Springs, Calif., was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Gustave Diamond in the Western District of Pennsylvania to 17 years in prison for engaging in a child exploitation enterprise.

Two Mexican citizens appeared in federal court to face human smuggling charges Monday following the discovery of a Phoenix drop house by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations Friday where agents detained 53 illegal aliens.

John Wrenshall, 64, was sentenced to 300 months in prison for inviting men to travel from around the world to his home in Thailand in order to sexually abuse young boys.