News Releases and Statements

On December 12, 2019, the United States District Court, District of Nevada, issued a federal arrest warrant for Joseph George Terrone, Jr. for the charges of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Brian Mohr, 37, a teacher at Northwest High School in Grand Island, Nebraska, was taken into custody at his residence. A 17-year-old Northwest High School student was also taken into custody.

Dawn Greenwood, 39, who pleaded guilty in October to the charges, was sentenced to the statutory maximum.

Derek Clemens, 31, of Evansdale, Iowa, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams to 108 months’ imprisonment. His sentence follows an Aug. 5, 2019, guilty plea in which Clemens pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. 

Jeffrey Esposito, of Shelbyville, Indiana, who was charged by indictment with twenty counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography on April 11, 2018, received the sentence in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Dassahed Marines, 29, from McAllen, Texas, was also sentenced to 20 years of supervised release to be served immediately following his release from prison, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He must also register as a sex offender.

Alexander Nathan Barter, 23, from Joaquin, Texas, pleaded guilty Friday to federal child exploitation violations, which included repeated interest in raping, killing and cannibalizing a 13-year-old girl as part of an undercover sting operation.

Don Edward Pannell II, 32, of Harvey, Louisiana, previously pleaded guilty in August to receiving child pornography between October 2017 and April 2018.

John Henry Bevel Jr., 44, from Las Cruces, was also ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to one of his victims.

Daniel Ontiveros, 61, of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty Nov. 25 to one count of child sexual exploitation in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Ontiveros has a prior conviction for attempted possession of child pornography in February 2013 in Missouri. As a result of this conviction, he was placed on the state’s sex offender’s registry. He also has a conviction for enticing a child in April 2013.

David Vogelpohl, 22, of Vista, California, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams, following a June 20, 2019, guilty plea in which he pleaded to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. At his plea hearing, Vogelpohl admitted that in 2018 he persuaded, induced, or enticed a juvenile female victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions.

According to the Department’s civil complaint, José Vilchis, a native of Mexico, sexually assaulted girls at various gymnastics training centers in the greater Chicago area over a span of decades.

Nationally, HSI arrests for child exploitation are up 19% from last year, 3,957 for FY 19 compared to 3,191 for FY 18. The number of indictments, convictions, and children rescued from child exploitation or identified as victims also increased. Locally, there was a 28.9% increase in convictions for child exploitation cases in New Jersey, from 84 in FY 18 to 107 in FY 19. In addition, six victims of child exploitation were identified and assisted by HSI Newark.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cleveland special agents and partner agencies brought charges against 47 accused child predators in 2019, as part of the agency's ongoing international effort known as Operation Predator. The arrests represented an increase of nearly 10 percent from 2018 and accounted for nearly 20 percent of all of the office’s investigative work. 

The indictment against Rolando Cifuentes-Lopez, 36, states he engaged in this conduct from November 2016 to Jan. 18, 2019. The indictment against Eri Cifuentes-Lopez, 40, states he engaged in this conduct from January 2018 to Jan. 18, 2019. Eri Cifuentes-Lopez is also charged with illegally re-entering the United States. He was removed (deported) from the country Nov. 2, 2005, and was found in the United States on Nov. 20, 2019, without the consent of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Gerardo Fabian Ramos, 41, and of Corpus Christi, was further ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term. While on supervised release, Ramos will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Ramos pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to producing child pornography.

Larry James Cline, 31, of Buhl, Idaho, was sentenced on Nov. 19, 2019 in U.S. District Court to 60 months in federal prison followed by five years’ supervised release, for attempted use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Cline pleaded guilty on August 22, 2019.

The Friday, Saturday and Sunday operation resulted in the arrests of nine people. Five face prosecution for state charges and four have been referred for federal charges. Suspects were booked into the Ada County Jail.