News Releases and Statements

Leroy Anthony Williams, 33, was arrested in September 2014 when the victim’s mother called the Auburn Police Department after finding a video of a sexual assault of a child on Williams’ phone.

The 16 defendants range in age from 17 to 72 with the youngest victim being only 8 months. All of them are charged under New Jersey’s strict 2013 child pornography statute, which enhanced the penalties for those who possess, distribute or manufacture child pornography.

Blake Robert Johnston, 42, of Martinez, was sentenced Tuesday and ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release. He pleaded guilty Dec. 1, 2015, to traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. According to the plea agreement, Johnston admitted flying to Oregon for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a 14-year-old victim.

Kuldip “Kelly” Singh Mahal, 47, of Surrey, British Columbia, was arrested by HSI special agents at a park in Burlington after crossing the border from Canada into the U.S.

Leobel Fuentes-Piedras, 22, of Puebla, Mexico, and living illegally in the United States, was sentenced April 1 by U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen to 84 months in federal prison. Judge Kazen also sentenced Fuentes-Piedras to a 15-year-term of supervised release.

Jody Moczara, 35, of Sabattus, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to 135 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography. Moczara had pleaded guilty to the charges on October 14, 2015.

Oscar Figueroa, 47, from Carrollton, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury July 15, 2015, and charged with coercion and enticing minors.

Joshua Dunston, 38, of Bangor, a registered sex offender, was sentenced to 121 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession of child pornography. He also received a consecutive sentenced of 24 additional months for violating the terms and conditions of his supervised release, stemming for his 2006 child pornography conviction.

The jury deliberated for about a half-hour before returning a guilty verdict against Jeffrey Parkhurst, 59, of Springfield, Illinois, for attempting to entice a minor.

Joshua Paul Crouch, 28, of San Pedro, was arrested Wednesday in San Pedro and charged Thursday with attempted sex-trafficking of a minor. This is one of the first prosecutions in Los Angeles under a recent change to the federal sex-trafficking statute.

Eduardo Pena, 33, from Palmview, Texas, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez. Judge Alvarez accepted Pena's guilty plea and set his sentencing for June 16. At that time, Pena faces a minimum of five and up to 20 years in federal prison, and a possible $250,000 fine.

John Capuano, 43, of Valley Stream, New York admits to using an Internet application to trade child pornography and posting the images on-line.

Brett Corcoran, 26, of Ava, Missouri, pleaded guilty to the charge contained in a Sept. 30, 2015, federal indictment. Corcoran has been in federal custody since his Oct. 6 arrest.

Paul L. Sipeer, 65, of Duenweg, Missouri, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography via the Internet. Sipeer has been held in federal custody without bond since his Jan. 28 arrest.

Clinton Hayden, 29, aka Showtime, admitted to recruiting, enticing, and transporting two minor females from Luzerne County to Brooklyn to engage in commercial sex acts.

Ignacio Gallegos, 27, was also ordered to be placed on supervised release for 10 years after completing his prison term. On Jan. 5, Gallegos pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography, and possessing material involving the sexual exploitation of children.

Frank Russell McCoy, of Otsego, Minnesota, was found guilty of possessing child pornography after a two-day trial that ended Dec. 8, 2015.

Eric James Mitchell, 36, was arrested on probable cause after HSI special agents executed a search warrant at his Long Beach residence and discovered sexually explicit images of minors on digital devices in the home.

Michael Bluhm, 34, of Show Low, was also sentenced March 14 to 3 ½ years in prison for attempted manufacture of a narcotic drug. According to the HSI special agents who executed the state search and arrest warrants in the case, Bluhm was in possession of tens of thousands of graphic and disturbing images of child pornography, which he was sharing via a peer-to-peer website.

According to evidence presented in open court, as well as arguments outlined in a public filing, in the course of online chats that occurred between Brandi Leonard, 18, and Richard Hennis, 40, spanning about two months, Leonard told Hennis that she had sexually abused an infant.

According to the terms of the plea agreement, Robert Steven Elliott II, 32, of Deming, New Mexico, will be sentenced to between 20 and 45 years in federal prison, which will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. The plea agreement also indicates that Elliott has agreed to pay $210,012 in restitution to the child he victimized.

According to the criminal complaint, on or about March 16, HSI San Juan received information from the Puerto Rico DOE’s Legal Division in Humacao regarding Yaria Tanies Cotto-Flores, 26, of San Lorenzo.

Shane Ryan Yoder, 37, of Fairfield, California, was arrested by HSI special agents after arriving at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport from California.

Paul Alan Shapiro, 69, of Montrose, was originally indicted April 22, 2015, on charges relating to his travel to Thailand and illicit sexual conduct with minor boys. According to the indictment, in February 2010, Shapiro traveled from Los Angeles to Thailand, where he paid minors as young as 14 small amounts of local currency to engage in various sex acts with him.

Dewayne William Barth II, 30, of Fargo, was sentenced to serve the statutory maximum of 30 years in prison on one count each of producing, possessing, and receiving and distributing child pornography.