News Releases and Statements

HSI Boston Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Molina and CBP Director of Field Operations for Boston Michael Denning provided an overview of the work that HSI and CBP do to combat counterfeit items and products that violate intellectual property rights.

Daniel Ontiveros, 61, of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty Nov. 25 to one count of child sexual exploitation in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Ontiveros has a prior conviction for attempted possession of child pornography in February 2013 in Missouri. As a result of this conviction, he was placed on the state’s sex offender’s registry. He also has a conviction for enticing a child in April 2013.

David Vogelpohl, 22, of Vista, California, was sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams, following a June 20, 2019, guilty plea in which he pleaded to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. At his plea hearing, Vogelpohl admitted that in 2018 he persuaded, induced, or enticed a juvenile female victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions.

According to the Department’s civil complaint, José Vilchis, a native of Mexico, sexually assaulted girls at various gymnastics training centers in the greater Chicago area over a span of decades.

Nationally, HSI arrests for child exploitation are up 19% from last year, 3,957 for FY 19 compared to 3,191 for FY 18. The number of indictments, convictions, and children rescued from child exploitation or identified as victims also increased. Locally, there was a 28.9% increase in convictions for child exploitation cases in New Jersey, from 84 in FY 18 to 107 in FY 19. In addition, six victims of child exploitation were identified and assisted by HSI Newark.

Bruno Padua-Silva entered the United States April 1, 2018, as a nonimmigrant, but did not depart in accordance with the terms of his admission. Brazil issued a warrant for Padua’s arrest Sept. 20, 2018, for the charge of homicide.

The arrestees include nationals from the Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Russia. ERO deportation officers made arrests in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Flushing, Forest Hills, Manhattan, New Rochelle, Ridgewood, and Staten Island. All of those arrested are currently detained in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge.

Notable among the released stats from FY 2019 was a surge in the number of criminal arrests made and the value of counterfeit goods seized from the previous year.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cleveland special agents and partner agencies brought charges against 47 accused child predators in 2019, as part of the agency's ongoing international effort known as Operation Predator. The arrests represented an increase of nearly 10 percent from 2018 and accounted for nearly 20 percent of all of the office’s investigative work. 

The opioid epidemic is devastating communities across the United States. Drugs such as fentanyl and others laced with unknown and dangerous substances are destroying lives at an alarming rate.

The St. Paul office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) graduated its inaugural class of Citizens Academy students this fall, including 10 metro-area community leaders from various backgrounds.

The indictment against Rolando Cifuentes-Lopez, 36, states he engaged in this conduct from November 2016 to Jan. 18, 2019. The indictment against Eri Cifuentes-Lopez, 40, states he engaged in this conduct from January 2018 to Jan. 18, 2019. Eri Cifuentes-Lopez is also charged with illegally re-entering the United States. He was removed (deported) from the country Nov. 2, 2005, and was found in the United States on Nov. 20, 2019, without the consent of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Gregory George Denny, 47, pleaded guilty in August to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

Omran Ismail, 53, of Burbank, Illinois, purchased four handguns in November 2013 from a licensed firearms dealer in Tinley Park, Illinois.  He then immediately transferred the guns to co-defendant Ola Sayed so that she could smuggle them to Egypt.  The guns were discovered in Sayed's checked luggage at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Cairo via London. 

FOD Marc J. Moore explained that the new ICE facility was actually built in 2010 by the state of Texas to house inmates for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  However, the facility has never been used. 

A Mexican national living in Colorado was sentenced to six years in federal prison Dec. 2, for possession with intent to distribute of nearly 1,400 grams of fentanyl. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $40,000 in cash.

Gerardo Fabian Ramos, 41, and of Corpus Christi, was further ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term. While on supervised release, Ramos will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Ramos pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to producing child pornography.

Kevin Kerr, 32, and Brianna Branch, 30, who pleaded guilty to the charges Aug. 29, were sentenced to 85 months and 70 months respectively. Both will also serve three years of supervised release following the completion of their sentence.