News Releases and Statements

Tony Alvarez, A 19-year-old local man, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of possessing child pornography. Alvarez admitted using his computer to search for and download images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He also saved several of these images on his laptop computer and on a memory stick.

Randall V. Roberts pleaded guilty Friday to charges he enticed a minor into illegal sexual activity. The plea follows an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Scott Tartan was sentenced Friday to 17 ½ years in federal prison following his February guilty plea to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography, after child pornography was discovered on a cell phone that he left at a gas station.

John Harlan Mullins, a former Henrico County sheriff's deputy, was sentenced on June 29 to seven years and 11 months in prison for possessing hundreds of child pornography images stored on his computer, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Abimael Cardenales was sentenced to 60 years in prison for producing child pornography, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Virginia Beach Police Department. Cardenales produced child pornography involving two different special needs minors, ages 13 and 15.

Johnny Soza has been indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of enticing a 15-year-old girl in Canada to engage in sexually explicit conduct for him online, following an investigation led ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Carl George, 50, of New Castle, Pa., was also sentenced by United States District Judge Terrence F. McVerry to six years of supervised release following the prison term. According to court documents, George possessed videos and still images in computer graphics files involving the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Jesse Osmun, 32, of Milford, Conn., has admitted that he sexually abused four minor girls, all under the age of 6, while he was a volunteer with the Peace Corps in South Africa.

Paul Henry Brown was sentenced June 27 by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. to 262 months in prison followed by lifetime supervised release.

Trevor J. Arias appeared in federal court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. He admitted that in August 2011, he knowingly received a file, via the Internet, that depicted a female child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Larry Bean of Gerrardstown, W. Va., pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of possession of child pornography, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Bean had more than 17,000 images of child pornography found on a seized computer, media, floppy discs and cell phone.

A Bronx couple, Inocencia Ortega and Luciano Mendez-Roja, pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct that led to the sexual exploitation of a child. This was the result of an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Ortega and Mendez-Rojas engaged in sexually explicit conduct while their minor child filmed videos of the conduct...

Ruben Cuellar, 42, of Shallowater, Texas, faces a statutory sentence of not less than five or more than 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the report is completed.

According to documents filed in the case, Amber Schmidt, of Garland, Texas, used cell phones and text messages to send child pornography images to others. One of the individuals to whom she sent child pornography was Gary Lee Jackson, 26, also of Garland.

A convicted sex offender, Gregory Sean O'Neall, was arrested on federal child pornography charges Thursday by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He allegedly secretly photographed young girls shopping while he was working as a Costco food demonstrator and posted the pictures online.

Brian Weiss was sentenced June 19 to 10 years and one month in federal prison for using a cell phone and computer to arrange for sex with a person he believed was a 14-year-old child. The sentence resulted from an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Two men from Cabo Rojo and Lares, Puerto Rico, were arrested at their places of residence on child pornography charges during separate law enforcement actions Tuesday, following investigations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Gary K. Schatz was arrested in Boynton Beach, Fla., June 14 for sexually enticing a person he believed was a minor over the Internet. The charges resulted from an investigation by by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Jonathan Binns of Shenandoah, Pa., was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for production of child pornography. This case was investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Binns admitted that he took sexually explicit photographs and videos of two minor children in 2010, uploaded the child pornography to a computer...

Brian Robinson was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison for the creation, distribution and possession of child pornography, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Robinson admitted creating child pornography with his then 5- and 6-year-old son and distributing it to others both inside and outside of the U.S.

Roberto Cruz-Melendez had his initial appearance in federal court Friday, following his arrest by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents for production of child pornography. Cruz-Melendez induced an 8-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct and recorded it with his camera phone.

Leo Aragon Evans was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for producing and possessing child pornography. On Jan. 10, 2011, a 9-year-old female reported to Baltimore County Police that Evans had repeatedly sexually abused her over the past year. Law enforcement search of his residence found a camcorder and tapes depicting images of minors...

Domingo Castellon was sentenced Friday to 19 years and seven months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in March to one count of possessing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Castellon had child pornography on thumb drives in his pocket when he was arrested for possessing drug paraphernalia.

Connell Wilson Cook was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison following his November 2011 guilty plea to one count of transporting child pornography. Cook admitted downloading several child pornography images from the Internet, planning to later sell them on the Internet.

Charles Linwood Heard was sentenced Wednesday to 26 months in federal prison, following his March 2012 guilty plea to one count of attempting to transfer obscene material to a minor.