News Releases and Statements

Austin Jones, 26, a Chicago-area musician, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for enticing several underage girls, some as young as 14 years old, to produce sexually explicit videos of themselves.

Following his Wednesday arrest, Angel DeJesus Torres, 27, from Mexico and residing in Donna, Texas, appeared before U.S. District Judge Scott Hacker on May 2. Judge Hacker charged Torres with receiving child pornography.

Manuel Diaz, 65, Corpus Christi, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison April 30.  Diaz was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.

The arrests included four individuals in active duty U.S. military positions, a registered sex offender with a history of child abuse, and during one arrest, the suspect drove to the meet-up location in a stolen vehicle. The ages of the individuals arrested ranged from 21 to 70 years old.

Peter Sebastian Felix, 25, had his initial appearance in federal court Monday where a magistrate ordered him detained without bond. HSI Houston initiated this case, and HSI El Paso special agents arrested Felix April 18 after executing a federal search warrant at his eastside El Paso home.

As a part of an agreement reached with federal prosecutors, Sean Timothy O’Neill, 49, of Hurricane, admitted that from around April 26, 2015, to about October 2017, he used Facebook to attempt to entice a minor identified as Girl 1 to have sex with him.

The indictment alleges, that Steven R. Iseman, 46, between 2015 and September 2018, in York County, used a minor to produce child pornography, received and distributed child pornography, and possessed child pornography involving minors under the age of 12. The three-count indictment also includes a notice of the Government’s intent to forfeit all images of child pornography and the electronic devices associated with those images. 

On April 11, Jesus Ramirez Jr., 27, was sentenced to 280 months (23 years and four months) in federal prison for producing child pornography; Julio Cesar Diaz, 31, was sentenced to 23 years (276 months) in federal prison for producing child pornography and online solicitation of a minor.

Lothar Konrad Krauth, 81, from Great Falls, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography as charged in an indictment. Krauth faces a minimum mandatory five years to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Uriel Gonzalez-Perez, 32, of Douglas, Ariz., was sentenced on April 4, 2019, by U.S. District Judge James A. Soto for separate offenses to concurrent terms of 120 months’ imprisonment and 46 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

Bill Lawrence Jr., 57, of Branson, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 15 years in federal prison without parole; he pleaded guilty to the charges on Aug. 28, 2018.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Winston-Salem and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation arrested Alyson Brooke Saunders Friday morning. Saunders faces the following state charges: four counts of indecent liberties with a minor, six counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of sexual offense with a child by an adult, and two counts of crime against nature.

Hakeem James Hughes, 30, previously pleaded guilty to using minors to produce child pornography. Hughes coerced and persuaded minors to engage in sexual acts with him, often providing them phones and electronic games in exchange, and video recorded the encounters.

Jebediah Dishman, 72, of Fredonia, Kansas, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison to be followed by 25 years of supervised release during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.

Joseph Lavern Harris, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual exploitation of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis and Special Agent in Charge Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle Field Office announced.

Thomas Goodman, 45, was arrested by detectives from the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force on May 17, 2018, after Electric Boat Security confiscated Goodman’s cell phone when he violated company policy by using the cell phone on Electric Boat property.

Jeffrey H. Ernisse, 61, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn S. Adelman to two counts of producing child pornography, one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in the Philippines, and one count of possessing child pornography.

Raymond Larry Edward Kennedy, 24, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty to sexual exploiting a child and receiving child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum 15 years to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release.

Brandon Hileman, 26, of Lebanon, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison without parole by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool.