News Releases and Statements

Following a lengthy investigation by HSI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, and the Italian Carabinieri Command for Protection of Cultural Heritage, investigators determined that, sometime in or around 1875, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy acquired a copy of the Columbus Letter-Plannck I, described above. At an unknown time between 1985 and 1988, the Columbus Letter-Plannck I was stolen from the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.

As part of the month-long awareness campaign, HSI Atlanta is speaking in several high-profile events around the southeast. Events include: conducting presentations at the 5th annual Tapestri Human Trafficking Forum in Atlanta, the 5th annual Traffick Jam event in Savannah, and the United States Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking taskforce meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.

Ana Molina, 56, owned and operated Ana Molina & Associates, a/k/a Molina Multilegal Services, on Castor Avenue in Philadelphia, PA, through which she falsely claimed to be an attorney (or at times a paralegal) who could obtain lawful immigration status for them from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

ICE uses statutorily-authorized immigration subpoenas to obtain information as part of investigations regarding potential removable aliens.

This month offers a unique opportunity to build on existing momentum to eliminate this crime and ensure all people are treated with dignity and respect. Throughout January, law enforcement works with communities across the nation to promote the work being done to prevent human trafficking and support those who have fallen victim to these crimes.

Rajesh Ramcharan, 45, Diann Ramcharan, 37, Sergeant Galima Murry, 31, and Pastor Ken Harvell, 60, were found guilty, Jan. 17, after a nine-day jury trial for conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and making false statements regarding that fraud to the government.

This outreach campaign was part of January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month and began in 2019.

The goal of the IRI is to return Mexican nationals to the interior of Mexico. ICE will continue these flights, as needed. Having this framework will reduce recidivism and border violence by returning Mexican nationals to their cities of origin, where there is a higher likelihood that they will reintegrate themselves back into their communities, rather than fall victim to human trafficking or other crimes in Mexican border towns.

On December 12, 2019, the United States District Court, District of Nevada, issued a federal arrest warrant for Joseph George Terrone, Jr. for the charges of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has released 29 criminal aliens and immigration violators since November 2019, despite written detainer requests filed with them by ICE.

ICE HSI Seattle announced that Matthew Sean Bremond, 32, of Soldotna, Alaska, was sentenced yesterday to nine years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for distributing large quantities of heroin throughout the Kenai Peninsula.

ICE HSI seized more than 700 counterfeit sports-related items worth an estimated $300,000 during a joint anti-counterfeiting operation Monday in downtown New Orleans the day of the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The stone projectile points, used primarily for hunting, were unearthed by Harrie M. Wheeler, a noted Rhode Island collector and amateur archeologist, during excavations that he conducted between 1928 and 1950 in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

Elvira Contreras, 38, of Tucson, falsely represented to undocumented alien victims that she worked for ICE or that she was an immigration attorney who could obtain U.S. immigration documents/benefits for them for a fee.

Brian Mohr, 37, a teacher at Northwest High School in Grand Island, Nebraska, was taken into custody at his residence. A 17-year-old Northwest High School student was also taken into custody.

Jesus Vargas-Melendez, 40, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer to unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously deported.

Dawn Greenwood, 39, who pleaded guilty in October to the charges, was sentenced to the statutory maximum.

John Philip Stirling, 65, a Canadian citizen, pleaded guilty in federal court today to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA).

Derek Clemens, 31, of Evansdale, Iowa, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams to 108 months’ imprisonment. His sentence follows an Aug. 5, 2019, guilty plea in which Clemens pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. 

Reeaz Khan, 21, an unlawfully present Guyanese national, was arrested Jan. 10 by the NYPD and charged with murder, sexual abuse, contact by forcible compulsion, and sexual abuse against a person incapable of consent.