News Releases and Statements

Douglas Bruce Parsons pleaded guilty this week to receiving child pornography, after an investigation conducted by ICE's HSI. Agents that executed a search warrant discovered more than 58 hours of videos containing child pornography on hard drives in Parson's home.

Ronald Alan Seiver of Roseville, Ill., was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting children and possessing child pornography. During the execution of a search warrant, ICE HSI agents recovered 119 images and 34 video files of child pornography, including images of children in bondage and children under the age of 12.

Matthew R. Fisher, a former Columbus-area high school teacher and eighth-grade girls' basketball team coach, was sentenced Wednesday to 36 months in prison for possessing 600 images of child pornography following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Thomas Jacob Weldon pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to identity theft and possessing child pornography. Weldon admitted using personal information of three Jamestown, N.D., residents to purchase items for his own use, and admitted possessing videos on his computer which depict children involved in sexually explicit conduct.

On March 9, 2010, Shawn Pound, 40, of Gowanda, N.Y., a New York State corrections officer at the time, possessed 190 images of child pornography stored on two computers at his residence in Gowanda. The two computers were seized by law enforcement agents during the execution of a federally authorized search warrant, and a subsequent search of the computers revealed the images.

Adolfo Payan Chavez of San Diego was taken into custody Sept. 18 at the San Ysidro border crossing, after federal agents discovered images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on his laptop. Prior to his arrest, Chavez worked at Whittier Elementary School's Learning Center, providing one-on-one instruction to students with special needs.

Connell Wilson Cook admitted downloading several images of child pornography from the Internet, planning to later sell them online.

Peter Beichl was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty to charges related to the sexual exploitation of a child. Beichl was arrested in Cleveland by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in March 2011 after he flew from Germany to have sex with an 11-year-old girl.

Michael Karolus was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography. In March 2010, an ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent received a tip from the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children regarding a sexually explicit posting made on Craigslist. The post was traced to Karolus' home in Portland.

In addition, Christopher T. King, 34, of Fort Worth, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in mid-July 2011, was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison. This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana of the Northern District of Texas.

Chad Salvatore, 38, of Alden, N.Y., is charged in the first five counts of the indictment with distributing child pornography on five separate occasions between Dec. 2, 2010, and Dec. 15, 2010. The next two counts of the indictment charge the defendant with receipt of child pornography between June 1, 2010 and July 11, 2010.

Kent Oman of Des Moines, Iowa, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Oman admitted that between Jan. 31, 2009 and Nov. 7, 2010, he knowingly and intentionally used a hidden camera to produce videos of a minor male using a bathroom on 15 to 20 separate occasions.

The investigation began when the Beaumont Police Department, using peer-2-peer software, discovered an IP address registered to Donald Wayne Waters, 44, of Winnie, Texas, sharing images and videos of child pornography.

Timothy Weirich, a Boy Scout den leader from Arlington, Texas, was arrested Thursday on a federal child pornography charge. While the investigation is ongoing, at this time ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) notes that it is unaware of any child molestation.

As part of his plea agreement, Thomas Leroy Griffin, Jr., 32, must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Michael S. Starowicz, 39, faces a statutory maximum statutory sentence of not less than five years or more than 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine per count. Starowicz, who remains in custody, could also be sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing is set for March 2 before Judge McBryde.

Johnathon Caudill responded to a posting by an undercover Fort Worth Police officer on Dallas' Craigslist advertising his girlfriend's minor daughters. Caudill informed the undercover officer that he wanted the girls to wear diapers during sessions of deviant sexual intercourse. After his arrest, condoms, diapers and a $100 bill were in his car.

Gary Mack Johnson, who pleaded guilty in April to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography, was sentenced Thursday to 210 months in federal prison. Law enforcement investigations showed Johnson had chatted online about molesting children dating back to 2004, and had distributed child pornography on the Web using several methods.

Dustin Anthony Axelrod, 27, of Salisbury, Md., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr., who ordered that upon his release from prison, Axelrod must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Robert Diduca, 47 was convicted Thursday of production, distribution and possession of child pornography in a case investigated cooperatively with ICE's HSI.

A Maryland man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to transport child pornography in connection with his role as a lead administrator of an online child pornography bulletin board.

Jeremy Hogenkamp, 35, is charged with two counts of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. A federal grand jury returned the indictments Nov. 16.

An upstate New York man, Christopher Morin, was sentenced to 188 months in prison for attempting to sexually entice a minor. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Morin exchanged more than 1,000 text messages with an undercover agent posing as a 15-year-old girl.

In or about August 2010, Lisandro Ortiz-Ramos, of San Juan, induced a female minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, including the lascivious exhibition of the genital areas, for the production of still images using a digital camera and computer which had been mailed, shipped, or transported in interstate foreign commerce.

Louis E. Gray, 40, has been in custody since his July 6 arrest when law enforcement executed a search warrant at his Fort Worth residence.