News Releases and Statements

John Paul Gamage was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 24 years and five months in federal prison for traveling across state lines into Missouri to engage in illicit sexual contact with an 11-year-old victim.

A 40-year-old man was convicted on multiple charges in federal court Wednesday related to running a prostitution operation in the Twin Cities area using minors.

An Isabela, Puerto Rico, man, Luis Montalvo-Cruz, was sentenced to 17 years in prison Friday for production of child pornography.

The operation was titled Operation Volusia Broadband, and it was spearheaded by Florida's Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

A retired New Mexico teacher, Joseph F. Zinkiewicz, pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico. This case was investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) offices in Albuquerque and Greeley, Colo.

As a thank you for their investigative work and dedication to an international child predator case with a nexus to Kentucky, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear recently commissioned ICE's HSI Special Agent Michael Romagnoli and Detective Sergeant Nathan Coutts of the London Metropolitan Police's International Assistance Unit, as Kentucky Colonels.

A St. Petersburg, Fla. registered sex offender, Richard Sikorski, was charged via criminal complaint with receipt and possession of child pornography Thursday. The charges resulted from an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A North Carolina man was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison following his guilty plea to sexually exploiting children, announced U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter, District of Montana.

Samuel Barnette was charged in federal court Thursday with distributing child pornography. The charges resulted from an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Hamilton County Metro Child Exploitation Task Force, Carmel Police Department, Noblesville Police Department, and other state and local partners.

American tourists, with twisted overseas travel plans to engage in child sex tourism, may think they are beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. However, they should know that it is a priority for ICE's HSI to apprehend and prosecute U.S. citizens who engage in sexual acts with minors in foreign countries.

Jeffrey Dale Wiederholt, 34, of Stanberry, Mo., pleaded guilty to producing, transporting and receiving child pornography.

Two Fresno-area men have received significant prison terms after pleading guilty to child pornography charges stemming from investigations conducted by ICE 's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the other agencies on the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

David Gould, of Annapolis, Md., was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for possession of child pornography after an investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Gould admitted that he has been trading and collecting child pornography for more than 10 years.

Larry G. Young, 60, of New Castle, was indicted on charges he produced sexually explicit material involving a 6-year-old child.

Marcos A. Flores was sentenced Friday to eight years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release following his June guilty plea to possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana of the Northern District of Texas.

Jesse Osmun, 33, was sentenced yesterday in Hartford, Conn., to 180 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for sexually abusing four minor girls, all under the age of 6, while he was a volunteer in South Africa.

According to the indictment, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, Betsian Carrasquillo-Peñaloza, 34, of Loiza, Puerto Rico, recruited, enticed, harbored and transported a 14-year-old female identified as N.M.C.C. to engage in commercial sex acts.

Niyaz Sainudeen, 41, of Bethlehem, Pa., pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of distributing child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

David Gellad, 44, of Rosemere, Quebec, pleaded guilty at a hearing in the United States District Court, District of Delaware. Charles M. Oberly, III, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced Gellad's guilty plea.

According to court documents, in February, Patrick Mahoney, 35, of Columbus, Ohio, arranged an online sexual encounter with an undercover officer whom he thought was a 15-year-old girl. The investigation revealed he intended to photograph the encounter with his cell phone.

Blayne T. Hulbert was sentenced Friday to 100 months in federal prison for distribution of child pornography following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Seattle Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. A forensic exam of Hulbert's computer equipment found thousands of images of child exploitation.

U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett ordered that upon his release from prison, Hudson must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student.

A Georgia man, David Crossman, who traveled to Detroit to allegedly have sex with a 14-year-old boy, was arrested Friday afternoon following a sting operation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Indictments were returned against the following Illinois defendants: Erik Barthelemy, 27, of Champaign; Danny L. Smith, of Georgetown; and Dustin R. Underwood, 19, of Clinton. The men, previously charged by criminal complaint, have each been charged in separate cases with distributing and possessing child pornography.

According to court documents, Eugene Robert Otting, 41, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., used the Internet to locate and download child pornography. On April 19, HSI special agents executed a search warrant at Otting's residence. During the interview with HSI special agents, Otting admitted to using online peer-to-peer file sharing programs to access child pornography and to creating Facebook accounts and an email account for the purposes of sharing child pornography.