News Releases and Statements

Simon Chu, 63, of Chino Hills, and Charley Loh, 60, of Arcadia, were charged with a multiple-object conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to fail to furnish information under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), and to defraud the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The group consisted of 45 adult males, five adult females, two accompanied teenagers, and two teenagers traveling alone from the following five nations: Belize, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

Qifeng Li, 41, his wife Xiamin Huang, 38, and brother Qiwei Li, 45, all face a mandatory minimum five years in prison and up to 40 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on June 18, 2019.

DFS Group and Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) recently signed agreements to participate in IMAGE (ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers), a voluntary program in which HSI partners with businesses to reduce unauthorized employment and the use of fraudulent identity documents. Both companies received their certificates last week, formally marking their companies’ entry into the program.

ICE previously removed Acosta-Euceda to El Salvador on June 6, 2018, following a July 2017 felony conviction, for Rape 3rd Degree: victim less than 17 years, perpetrator 21 years or more, in Suffolk County (NY) Superior Court.

Joseph Lavern Harris, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual exploitation of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis and Special Agent in Charge Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle Field Office announced.

As a result of Operation SaboTor, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies made 61 arrests and shut down 50 Darknet accounts used for illegal activity. Law enforcement executed 65 search warrants, seizing 299.5 kilograms of drugs, 51 firearms, and more than $7 million ($4.5 million in cryptocurrency, $2.48 million in cash, and $40,000 in gold).

On March 3, 2015, German Dario Brand-Piedrahita, 53, was sentenced to 144 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine for the purpose of importation into the United States.

Ali Caby, aka “Alex Caby”, 41, entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without admission or parole by an immigration officer.

David Russell Levick, 57, of Cherrybrook NSW, Australia, who previously pled guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Feb. 1, 2019, was sentenced by the Honorable James E. Boasberg.

Thomas Goodman, 45, was arrested by detectives from the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force on May 17, 2018, after Electric Boat Security confiscated Goodman’s cell phone when he violated company policy by using the cell phone on Electric Boat property.

ERO Philadelphia issued Jose Miguel Hernandez-Garcia, 35, a final administrative removal order March 29, 2016, while he was in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections serving a sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Seven members of a drug trafficking organization that distributed large quantities of crack cocaine, as well as heroin laced with fentanyl, over a two-year period, in and around the Village of Ellenville in Ulster County, New York were indicted federally following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York with the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, the New York State Police and the Village of Ellenville Police.

According to the investigation, David Saul Salazar, 49, Packwood, Washington, was traveling with Gregorio Capetillo and Luis Parra Magana from Washington state to Minot, North Dakota.  During that trip, Berthold police chief stopped the car and discovered about 10 pounds of methamphetamine and multiple firearms.

Carlos Juarez-Sanchez, a 33 year old Honduran national, has a history of illegal entry and arrests for multiple criminal offenses in the U.S. dating back to 2003. He was removed to Honduras by ICE in 2008, 2013, and 2014, and illegally re-entered the U.S. after each removal.

Rene Flores-Calderon, 35, from Mexico, appeared in federal court before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey who accepted his guilty plea.

Law enforcement authorities arrested 43 people Tuesday and Wednesday as part of a federal drug investigation dubbed “Operation Wrecking Ball” into alleged drug trafficking and related crimes that spanned multiple jurisdictions and states.

Yermin Alexander Diaz-Chavarria, a Salvadoran national, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol August 23, 2015, at Hidalgo Texas, for entering the country illegally. In 2017,  El Salvador issued a warrant of arrest for Diaz for aggravated murder and affiliation with criminal organizations. On Feb. 13, 2018, Diaz did not appear for his immigration court hearing, and an immigration judge in Newark ordered him removed to El Salvador. On Feb. 11, 2019, ERO officers arrested Diaz in Newark. ERO officers removed him from the U.S. on March 8, 2019, and turned him over to Salvadoran authorities.

Sarah M. Wiley, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts before a United States District Judge.

Jeffrey H. Ernisse, 61, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn S. Adelman to two counts of producing child pornography, one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in the Philippines, and one count of possessing child pornography.

Willis DeLaRosa-Baez, 34, was sentenced March 14, on the aforementioned charges. DeLaRosa-Baez, his co-defendant, Daniel Silvestre-Ubri, and other individuals conspired to distribute heroin and crystal methamphetamine in Pennsylvania between February 4, 2016, and April 6, 2016.

Raymond Larry Edward Kennedy, 24, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty to sexual exploiting a child and receiving child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum 15 years to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release.

Xiangyu Zhang, an illegal alien from China residing in La Marque, Texas, was sentenced to 61 months in federal prison on March 14; he received 37 months for the firearms conviction, and a mandatory consecutive 24 months for identity theft.

Following an investigation by ICE's HSI in New York with the NYPD, a federal indictment was unsealed Wednesday charging Jamal Brissett, aka “Trigger” with murdering Leshaun Gordon, 19, in the Bronx, New York, on June 30, 2009.