News Releases and Statements

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen sentenced Anthony Dane Roberty, 54, of Bozeman, Montana, following a July 16 hearing in which Roberty pleaded guilty to the offense. The sentence will run concurrently with state sentences Roberty is also serving for felony DUI.

Normann Pittelkow, 42, and Nicole Jacob, 35, were charged by criminal complaint Oct. 23 for producing and conspiring to produce child pornography. Following a Sept. 27 search of the pair’s Albion, Michigan, residence in connection with the probe, officers seized several computers and mobile devices.

Curtis Billups, 35, of San Antonio, was sentenced Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo to 151 months in federal prison.

Gary Williamson, 54, of Lynchburg, previously waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty to a one-count Information charging him with knowingly receiving and distributing child pornography. Williamson was sentenced to 120 months of federal incarceration.

Charles Goswitz, 59, of Torrance, appeared Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell. The case marks the first federal prosecution in the Los Angeles area of a so-called “John” in a teen sex-trafficking investigation and only the second such federal prosecution nationwide.

According to court documents, Mark Joseph Unrein, 62, of New Port Richey, communicated online with an undercover officer who was posing as the mother of a 12-year-old girl.

Chelese Penn, 25, of Hartville, Missouri, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Penn to a lifetime of supervised release following incarceration.

Frank Edwin Ness, 45, of Joplin, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Ness to a lifetime of supervised release following incarceration, and ordered him to pay $5,000 in restitution to one of his victims.

Alexandro Silva, 45, received and distributed more than 93,000 images of child pornography, according to court documents. In addition to his prison term, Silva was also ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to his victims, and will be placed on supervised release for 10 years after he completes his prison term.

Xzavion Dayshaun Ragsdale, aka “Yung Billy,” 19, formerly of Amarillo, Texas, and most recently Dallas, made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Clinton E. Averitte who ordered Ragsdale to remain in federal custody, pending a detention hearing set for Monday.

According to the plea agreement, in October 2012 law enforcement officers received information on Kavin Carter, 40, of Lake City, related to human trafficking activities in Lakeland and Lake City. Law enforcement identified another man, Michael Gallon, 50, of Lakeland, as a “pimp” who was operating in Florida and the southeastern United States.

Trenton McLemore, 29, a documented Webb Chapel Crip gang member, has been in custody since his arrest by officers with the Irving Police Department in September 2013. He pleaded guilty in July 2015 to one count of sex trafficking children.

Keith Joseph Banning, 59, of Magalia, pleaded guilty in April to receiving and distributing child pornography. According to court documents, an HSI undercover investigation revealed that during a three-month period beginning in June 2012, an Internet user at Banning’s home was employing a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to share pictures and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including videos involving children under the age of 10.

Shawn McCormack, 31, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was found guilty in April 2015 by a federal jury of kidnapping and producing child pornography involving two toddlers.

Meghan Breanna Alt, 25, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon in San Diego County by investigators assigned to the multi-agency Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force (OCCETF).

George Alexander Martinez, 31, from San Antonio, was sentenced to 262 months in prison – to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release – for transporting a minor for the purpose of engaging in sexual.

Brett Corcoran, 25, of Ava, Missouri, was charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Springfield Sept. 30. That indictment was unsealed and made public Tuesday upon Corcoran’s arrest and initial court appearance. Corcoran remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing Oct. 8.

Josh T. Archer, 33, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to traveling to an Aurora hotel to engage in a sexual encounter with a minor girl. Archer agreed to a three-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea of traveling to meet a minor, a Class 3 felony. Kane County Associate Judge Clint Hull accepted Archer's guilty plea.

Gerald Dean Campbell, 65, from Odessa, Texas, was arrested Sept. 28 by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) based on a federal criminal complaint charging him with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. The federal charge stems from his alleged activity in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he was general manager at an orphanage in Malawi.

According to the information in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Joseph Neil Bronson, 35, responded to an advertisement on an Internet-based website Sept. 30.

Gerald Dean Campbell, 65, from Odessa, Texas, was arrested Sept. 28 by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) based on a federal criminal complaint charging him with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

According to the information in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Joseph Neil Bronson, 35, responded to an advertisement on an Internet-based website Sept. 30. The advertisement was listed as an escort service specializing in young girls in Puerto Rico.

Secretary May toured C3 and met with HSI Deputy Executive Associate Director Derek Benner, who said, “It was an honor and pleasure to meet with Secretary May. ICE welcomes dignitaries and visitors who share our interest in protecting not only our own people, but all victims or potential victims of predators and thieves who do their dirty work from cyberspace.

Brian Sze, 34, of Seattle, was arrested Sept. 29 without incident at his residence. He is also facing related state charges in Ohio.