News Releases and Statements

Houcine Ghoul departed the U.S. from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York Wednesday evening, escorted by ERO officers. He was turned over to Tunisian authorities Thursday, upon his arrival in his home country.

A combined 15,582 bricks, totaling more than 35,000 pounds of a white, powdery substance testing positive for cocaine were discovered during the multi-agency enforcement operation. Authorities seized the cocaine as well as $56,330 found on the vessel believed to be proceeds from illegal smuggling activities.

After a two-week trial, David John Telles Jr., was sentenced Tuesday to serve 302 months in prison by a U.S. District Judge for sex crimes involving a minor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Friday a 10-month contract for technical equipment and supplies to continue identifying fraudulent familial relationship claims made by individuals entering or attempting to enter the United States using rapid DNA testing.

Evan H. Vollerthum, 35, of Naples, Florida, was arrested Monday for aggravated human trafficking and attempted commercial sexual exploitation of a child.

There is an inherent increase in risk to personnel and bystanders when ICE officers and agents must go out into the community to proactively locate these previously detained criminal aliens. ICE commends our local law enforcement colleagues who work to minimize that risk by cooperating with ICE to apprehend criminal aliens at the time of their release from local custody.

William Thomas Glarner IV, a.k.a. “Billy,” 34, pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has scheduled a September 23 sentencing hearing, where Glarner will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison.

Five New York based employers have partnered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York on Wednesday, May 15 by joining the agency's employment compliance program IMAGE, or "ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers."

Operation Limelight USA is a program designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit to bring awareness to FGM and deter its practice through the education of the public about the relevant risks

HSI’s preliminary numbers reflect that nearly 1600 counterfeit items were seized June 7th and June 13th during their investigative efforts. These items included but were not limited to t-shirts, hats, jerseys, cell phones cases, cell phone ‘pop sockets’, event passes, and tickets.

Marquis Holmes, 28, from Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty June 13 to one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by means of force, fraud and coercion; two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution; and two counts of enticing and coercing another to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution.

Leng Lee, 35, of Sarcoxie, Missouri, was charged in a three-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield. The superseding indictment replaces an initial indictment returned on May 7, which charged Lee with being a felon illegally possessing firearms and ammunition.

According to court records, while living in California, Gloudina and Chantelle Robbertse devised and executed a scheme to defraud the CEDD. They continued the scheme when they moved to Idaho in April 2017.

Aliens arrested during this operation are from the following 14 countries:  Benin (1), Cuba (1), Ecuador (3), El Salvador (3), Guatemala (26), Honduras (7), Jordan (1), Mexico (92), Micronesia (1), Moldova (1), Nicaragua (1), Poland (1), Saudi Arabia (1) and South Korea (1).

The IPR Center conducted 339 foreign and domestic intellectual property rights and commercial fraud training events in FY 2017, reaching 14,258 participants. Domestic training events included the IPR Center’s Counterfeit Awareness, Mitigation, Identification, and Reporting Training.

Alfredo Aguilar Jr, 30, and co-defendants Cristen Nicole Cano, 29, and Cristal Hernandez, 23, were sentenced June 11 by U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle. Judge Tagle sentenced Aguilar to 240 months in federal prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Cano and Hernandez were each sentenced to 60 months. Cano and Hernandez must serve two and five years of supervised release, respectively. Aguilar, Cano and Hernandez are from the Texas towns of Harlingen, Combes and San Benito, respectively.

Claudius English, 45, was convicted June 10 in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for multiple counts of sex trafficking minors, attempted sex trafficking of minors as young as 8 years old, kidnapping of a minor, and using a firearm to commit the kidnapping.

Ty Lee Treddenbarger, 54, of Burien, Washington, pleaded guilty in October 2018, admitting he photographed and saved images of his molestation of minor victims between the ages of 13 and 16.

Raymond Luis Peltier, 43, of Surprise, will also serve a consecutive term of lifetime probation upon his release from prison, and will have to register as a sex offender.

On Nov. 15, 2000, the Criminal Judicial Branch in Sinaloa, Mexico, issued a warrant against Arturo Lopez-Mendez (a.k.a. “El Mocho”), 45, for the offense of rape. On June 18, 2018, Mexican authorities notified ERO Phoenix that Lopez-Mendez was subject to an outstanding arrest warrant on rape charges.

Samuel Vasquez-Morales, 18, from Mexico,  pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to transport illegal aliens from China and Brazil within the United States.

Yassin Muhiddin Aref, 38, was sentenced to 180 months imprisonment for seven counts relating to material support of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

Christopher Clay Roman-Tuttle, 33, now of Spokane, Washington, who also uses the name Christopher Clay Tuttle, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson. Once he completes the prison sentence, Tuttle will be required to register as a sex offender and will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.