News Releases and Statements

Federal criminal charges have been filed against nine individuals connected to three separate maritime smuggling incidents here in the Southland within the last week, including a failed human smuggling attempt that ended Tuesday morning when a boat capsized while coming ashore at Crystal Cove State Park.

Rommel Cintron-Pons aka Peluquín was charged by criminal complaint, alleging that he was an alleged coordinator of a prostitution ring involving young girls serving as prostitutes to adult males for $1,500 dollars each.

A man from Mexico, who admitted to taking hostages, was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years and eight months in federal prison for his role in a May 2010 hostage-taking case, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

All Around Landscaping (AAL), a Fayetteville corporation, was sentenced today to three years probation for harboring illegal aliens for financial gain, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's HSI special agents, with the assistance of the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Springdale and Rogers police departments.

A Mexican citizen tracked down by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents Thursday is facing multiple federal counts related to human smuggling resulting in death following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Alejandro Enrique Young-Hernandez of Hyde Park, Vt., has been charged with transporting women from New York to Vermont to engage in prostitution. The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Four men convicted of taking 10 aliens hostage, including one man who accidently shot himself, were sentenced on Monday to 11 to 20 years in prison for threatening their hostages. The investigation was conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) with the assistance of Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office.

A fugitive, who was captured after an international manhunt led by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), was sentenced Wednesday to three years and one month in federal prison after pleading guilty to alien smuggling charges.

A federal jury on Wednesday convicted three men on all counts charged arising from a conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens to engage in prostitution.

3 sentenced in Tucson hostage investigation

Six alleged members of an international alien smuggling scheme were charged in federal court Tuesday with smuggling hundreds of aliens from Brazil, India and elsewhere into the United States following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Bidemi Bello, 41, a former resident of Suwanee, Ga., and a citizen of Nigeria, was convicted on 8 counts by a federal jury late Friday night on charges of 2 counts of forced labor, 2 counts of trafficking for forced labor, 1 count of document servitude, 1 count of alien harboring, and 2 counts of making false statements in an application.

Joseph Yannai was found guilty of forced labor and attempted forced labor on Friday following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He enticed women to travel to the United States from abroad so that he could commit sex crimes against them.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) discovered 108 illegal aliens at a drop house in west Phoenix Wednesday.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging five individuals with operating a multi-state prostitution network in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The indictment is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The defendants conspired to induce women...

The last member a large alien smuggling organization, whose operation resulted in injury to 17 aliens following a single-vehicle accident, was sentenced on Tuesday to more than eight years in federal prison following an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP).

A husband and wife from Brooklyn, N.Y., were sentenced Thursday to federal prison on charges of sex trafficking a minor, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Domingo Salazar and Norma Mendez used physical violence and intimidation to force a 17-year-old woman to work as a prostitute around New York City.

A key figure in a large-scale maritime human smuggling organization and three alleged accomplices made their initial appearances in federal court here Monday to face charges after a multi-agency law enforcement operation Friday, that began with the discovery of an abandoned vessel on a San Diego County beach and culminated with the arrest...

A local man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to five years in federal prison for his role in a criminal enterprise involving illegal aliens working in 14 states.

The phone rings at 1:32 a.m. At that hour, the news can't be good. The agent on the line received a referral from a local law enforcement partner who encountered an abused and exploited individual, potentially someone who has been trafficked for sex or labor. Luckily, a victim assistance specialist is from U.S. ICE.

Two local men were sentenced on Monday to lengthy federal prison terms for holding smuggled aliens hostage for ransom payments, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

Alexander Litt, 47, the owner of a company that provided illegal workers to hotels and restaurants in Pittsburgh and three other cities, was sentenced Monday to 56 months in federal prison following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Litt was one of six people indicted in a December 2008 investigation...

Federal authorities unsealed an indictment Monday charging an Oceanside, Calif., motel and 38 individuals, mostly members and associates of the Oceanside Crips street gang, with racketeering and other charges related to the sex trafficking of underage girls and women.

Sheren Nguyen, 47, of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to transporting illegal aliens through Mississippi for profit following an ICE HSI and PCSO investigation.