News Releases and Statements

ICE HSI, Fresno Police Department Vice Unit, and Fresno County District Attorney’s Investigators conducted a multi-day operation to combat child exploitation and human trafficking in the Fresno area, June 23. During the operation, 10 women and girls were rescued from the sex trade while 21 arrests were made for multiple child exploitation related charges including: contacting a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, aiding prostitution, arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purposes and solicitation of acts of prostitution.

Benny l. Butler, 36, possessed more than 2,800 videos and more than 7,600 images of child pornography on multiple electronic devices.  Butler in 2017 shared several videos and images with users of Chatstep, an anonymous online chat room service.

Alvaro Vega-Rodriguez, 27, from Brownsville, was sentenced June 23, in federal court to 78 months in federal prison. He was also ordered to serve 20 years of supervised release and comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. And he will have to register as a sex offender. Vega-Rodriguez pleaded guilty Feb. 4, 2020.

The week-long operation conducted in mid-May is ongoing. The Paseo Del Norte Center of Hope, the El Paso Center for Children Youth Outreach & Housing Division and Drop-in Center also assisted.

ICE HSI in collaboration with Brazil Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) Secretariat for Integrated Operations (SEOPI) Cyber Laboratory, executed phase eight of Operation Protected Childhood (OPC) resulting in the arrest of approximately 88 alleged child predators. This large-scale simultaneous enforcement action was executed between June 8 and June 11.

Michael David Mathisen, who pleaded guilty in October 2020, has past convictions in 1984 and 1994 for sexually molesting children under the age of nine.

According to documents on file with the court, Preston Andrew Watson, 30, of Scott County, Tennessee, duped, extorted and threatened minors located in the United States and abroad to obtain sexually explicit images from them.

Leon B. Hensley, 40, formerly of Clarksville and currently living in Lake Whales, Florida, was arrested this morning near his home in Florida. He will appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Tampa, Florida, later today.

Justin Hansing, 36, of Mesa, was arrested by HSI special agents and MPD officers, May 13 based on a referral from the HSI Pretoria office who detected explicit sexual conversations traced to Hansing’s residence.

According to an April 2021, criminal complaint, law enforcement officials opened an investigation into Kenneth Swartz, 63, of Eddyville, Kentucky, after receiving a complaint alleging that he attempted to photograph a minor while shopping at a local store in May 2020.

Jerome Evard, 32, of Phoenix was arrested by HSI special agents April 26, based on a referral from the HSI Ottawa office who detected explicit sexual conversations in a parent control application downloaded on two smart phones. Following the tip of an additional alleged child predator, HSI special agents executed a search warrant April 29, which subsequently lead to the arrest of Jarrod Harrington, 32, of Mesa, Arizona, and the discovery of another child victim.

Sean David Sigler, 56, of Burbank, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who described Sigler’s conduct as “inexcusable,” and further said, “Ruining the lives of minors is unspeakable.”

HSI worked in cooperation with Hawaiʻi County Police to bust five men who intended to have sex with children, over the weekend. Nolan Okalani Tallett (46), Sonny Eugenio Puerto (29), Kanani Ikaika Perreir Yurong (31), Joseph Michael Powell (37), and Marshall Kawailani Baji (32) have been charged with electronic enticement of a child in the 1st degree.

Thomas Bowden, 41, was sentenced March 8, to 19 years in prison followed by lifetime probation; upon his release he will also be required to register as a sex offender. He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of child exploitation on March 8.

Paul Torres Jimenez De La Cuesta, 29, of Imperial Beach, California, pleaded guilty April 5 to distribution of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Scott James Wells, 55, withdrew his plea of not guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool in order to enter a nolo contendere, or “no contest,” plea, neither admitting nor disputing the federal charges against him, but acknowledging the government had sufficient evidence to convict him of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

Law enforcement served a search warrant at Scott’s residence in August 2019, seizing two computers and his mobile devices. An examination of a device revealed that he had taken sexually explicit photos of a minor child in his residence in July 2019.

Jeremy Lee Barrera, 36, former firefighter with the Odessa Fire Department (OFD), admitted in federal court he used his cell phone on the OFD network to access an online chat room where several videos, which depicted child pornography, were posted. He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

Jose Ramon Aguilar-Moreno, 52, of Fontana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

Alvaro Castillo, 64, a retired telecommunications network engineer of Englewood, Colorado, was convicted by a federal jury Nov. 18, 2020, of three counts of production of child pornography; one count of attempted production of child pornography; one count of transportation of child pornography; and one count of possession of child pornography.

The suspect, Sergio Donizetti Luciano, 59, who is currently in federal custody, is a fugitive from justice in Brazil with a prior conviction for rape of a minor.

Jorge Rosales, 25, of Beaverton, Oregon, has been charged by criminal complaint with sexually exploiting children, distributing and possessing child pornography, cyberstalking, and enticing a minor online.

Timothy Lynn Vandeventer, 55, was sentenced in the Northern District of Texas for receipt of Child Pornography on Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade. He pled guilty in Nov. 2020.

“Operation Keiki Shield,” was conducted as part of the Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and included personnel from HSI Honolulu, NCIS, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service.

According to court documents, beginning on or about April 24, 2018, Ryan Thomas Eley, 24, received and possessed USB flash drives, an external hard drive, and a cell phone that contained images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.