News Releases and Statements

The HERO Corps program recruits and trains wounded, ill, or injured active-duty service members, transitioning active-duty service members and military veterans for employment to support law enforcement in the areas of child exploitation investigations, child victim identification, traveling child sex offenders, and digital forensics. This program is a one-year internship, which includes a three-month initial training followed by a nine-month hands-on training in ICE field offices nationwide.

Jon Anthony Terry, 30, in Rockwall, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in federal prison for producing and possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, Northern District of Texas.

Matthew Laver, 38, was indicted in March 2019 after an investigation into the defendant’s collection of almost 4,000 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children that he downloaded and distributed to other users on the internet over approximately ten years.

After years of contentious litigation and attempts to obstruct justice, Andrew Franklin Kowalczyk, 44, formerly of Portland, was sentenced today to 270 years in federal prison followed by a life term of supervised release for the repeated sexual abuse, exploitation and torture of three young children.

Sean David Sigler, 55, of Burbank, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of production of child pornography. Sigler, whom a federal grand jury indicted in May 2018, previously taught fifth-grade students at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank and at Gardner Street Elementary School in Hollywood.

Jeffrey Clinton Michalik, 44, from San Antonio, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9 by Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra.

Joshua David LeCompte, 34, pleaded guilty on Feb. 21, 2019, to distributing child pornography and was sentenced Aug. 28 to 151 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.

Jordan Monroe, 54, has been detained in federal custody since his arrest by HSI special agents and members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on May 12, 2016, when, during a court-authorized search of his residence, he was found to be in possession of tens of thousands of images and nearly a thousand videos containing child pornography.

Joseph Lavern Harris, 32, of Rigby, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to 300 months in prison, for sexual exploitation of a minor child, Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle field office and U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.

In addition to the 160-month sentence, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm, Central District of Illinois, also ordered that Eric Ingram, 31, of Washington, Illinois, remain on supervised release for eight years following his release from incarceration.

Martin Mejia Ramos, aka Ricardo Morales Rodriguez and Martin Jose Romes-Ramirez, pleaded guilty May 10, 2019, to illegally reentering the United States following an aggravated felony conviction.

Ronald Feder, 32, of Skokie, Illinois, offered to give child pornography to an individual he met online in exchange for what Feder thought would be access to molest the individual’s nephew and niece. 

The trainings, which took place between June 17-21 and June 24-28, 2019, were designed to help participating law enforcement officers, agents, prosecutors, and judges understand the crimes of sex trafficking/forced labor and child exploitation/sexual child abuse and how to work these types of cases. The ICE HSI delegations not only provided insight into each crime, but also discussed the challenges they face when investigating and prosecuting human trafficking and child exploitation cases in the United States.

Elizabeth Dawn Evans, 28, of Rigby, Idaho, was sentenced last Friday in U.S. District Court to 15 years in prison for possessing sexually explicit images of minors.

Recording artist Robert Sylvester Kelly, also known as “R. Kelly,” was arrested Thursday following his indictment on federal child pornography and obstruction charges.