News Releases and Statements

Matthew Ray Lawson, 34, was sentenced Jan. 19 to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for three counts of possession of child pornography, four counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian Country, one count of lewd acts with a child in Indian Country, and one count of production of child pornography.

Nathan Nosley, age 30, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the sentence after a June 9, 2021 jury verdict finding him guilty of sexual exploitation of children, distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, three counts of possession of child pornography, and accessing child pornography.

Douglas James Schneider, 51 of Rhame, North Dakota, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Daniel M. Traynor to life in federal prison on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Astro Rey De Leon, 34, of McAllen, was convicted in federal court. During that hearing, he admitted to possessing child pornography with the intent to sell it on the internet

A Philippine man was sentenced Monday in federal court to three years in prison for possession of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and false swearing in immigration matters.

Breanna Cierra Sluder, 27, previously pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. Documents on file with the court show that a federal search warrant was executed in January 2020 at Sluder’s home after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided information to the KPD-ICAC about images of child pornography being produced in Knoxville.

According to court documents and evidence presented during trial, Joshua James Duggar, 33, of Springdale, Ark., repeatedly downloaded and viewed images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including images of prepubescent children and depictions of sadistic abuse.

According to court documents, on Aug. 25, Eduardo Lara Jr., 24, pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. By pleading guilty, Lara admitted that he engaged in sexual activity with a 13-year-old on at least two occasions in February 2020 and March 2020 in El Paso.

Jose Alfredo Fernandez-Martinez, 38, of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced Dec. 8 in federal court to 360 months in federal prison. He was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release and comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.

According to court documents, Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah, 53, laundered at least $2.3 million for the Newstar Enterprise, an Internet-based business aimed at for-profit sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of child modeling.

William Read, 71, of Del Rio, was sentenced to 120 months to be followed by five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $105,051 in restitution. Read pleaded guilty Aug. 26, 2019, to one count of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, in 2017 and 2019, Shaun Douglas Dickson, 26, of Louisville, Kentucky, engaged in conversations with children on the Internet while posing as both an 11-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy. During these conversations, Dickson sent images of child pornography to children he met online, including young girls in Greece and Australia that he attempted to and successfully induced and coerced into creating images of sexually explicit conduct to send to him.

Jordan Charles Opdahl, 29, was indicted Nov. 9. He pleaded not guilty Nov. 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy.

Last month, several law enforcement agencies to include ICE HSI participated in a child sex operation known as “Deja Boo” netting 30 suspects.

Stephen Shipps, 68, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a former violin professor and Director of the Strings Preparatory Program at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance pled guilty to one count of transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual relations.

ICE HSI announced that twenty-three military veterans have graduated from the eleventh class of the HERO Corps internship program. The program recruits, trains, and hires wounded, ill, or injured transitioning active-duty service members and military veterans for employment as computer forensic analysts.

According to allegations in the indictment, James Patrick Burns, 53, threatened two children on social media applications to coerce them into producing multiple images and videos of child pornography.

Upon his release from prison, James Ellison Catoe, 48, will serve a lifetime supervised release, be required to register with the state sex offender registry and comply with special sex offender conditions during his supervised release.

Christopher Truax, 34, of Rapid City, was found guilty by a federal jury, in a trial that culminated Nov. 3, of attempted enticement of a minor using the internet.

Brennan John Hauk, 42, was arrested and federally indicted as a result of an undercover sex trafficking operation conducted during the 2019 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, targeting online predators.

Upon his release from prison, Nikolas John Larson, 41, will also serve five years of supervised release. 

William Jacob Stone, 72, appeared in federal court on Oct. 22 and pleaded not guilty.

As the result of an investigation by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles, Albert Pinedo, 78, of Alhambra, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu.

Charles William Dexter III, 40, of Minneapolis, turned himself in to local authorities in Atlanta. He was previously charged by federal indictment with sex trafficking a minor.

William David Brice, 42, was arrested on October 3, and charged with ten felony counts, including one count of causing or allowing child sexually abusive material; three counts of attempting to produce child sexually abusive material; one count of distributing child sexually abusive material; three counts of possessing child sexually abusive material; and finally, one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes.