News Releases and Statements

Christopher C. Hickson, 25, used bulk powders he had imported from China to manufacture anabolic steroid pills.

Actor Mark Wayne Salling pleaded guilty Monday to a federal offense of possessing child pornography and specifically admitted that he possessed approximately 25,000 images of children engaged in sexual conduct.

Of those arrested during the operation, which was spearheaded by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), 88 percent were convicted criminals and 80 percent of them had prior felony convictions.

Ralph Colamussi, 61, of East Northport, NY and Roberto Villanueva, 60, residing in the Philippines, are alleged to have forced immigrants to work without pay at The Thatched Cottage in Centerport.  Each are being charged with conspiring to engage in forced labor of immigrants and visa fraud, as well as related substantive counts, fraud in foreign labor contracting and fraudulent inducement of aliens to enter and remain in the United States in violation of law.

Ronald Feder, 30, of Skokie, Illinois, was arrested Dec. 7 after he handed an undercover agent a thumb drive containing child pornography, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Chicago.

During this operation which ended Dec. 7, ERO deportation officers made arrests in the following Kentucky cities:  Covington (9), Erlanger (1), Florence (6), Newport (4) and Walton (2).  Of those arrested, 20 are men; two are women.

Aleksey Illyuk, 28, of Ozark, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of mail fraud and one count of smuggling goods into the United States.

Criminal convictions of those arrested during the Michigan enforcement actions included, but are not limited to assault on a police officer or probation officer, larceny, assault and battery DUI, operating while intoxicated, domestic violence, disorderly person, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, public indecency, indecent exposure, retail fraud and welfare fraud.

On Thursday, Dec. 7, a series of public services announcements (PSA) aimed at raising awareness about opioids were launched throughout upstate New York.

Linzi Ladawn Shifflett, 29, from Cleburne, Texas, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 60 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release for producing child pornography.

ERO deportation officers escorted Lul Lucaj, 41, who was removed from the United States via a commercial flight. Lucaj was expected to be transferred into the custody Albanian authorities upon arrival in the capital of Tirana, however, during his layover in Rome, Italy, Lucaj was detained by Italian law enforcement authorities after it was determined he is also wanted on criminal charges in Italy.

Tonya Virtue, 33, of Mountain Grove, Missouri, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of smuggling goods into the United States.

Jose Francisco Morales Jr., from El Cenizo, Texas, is the last of 13 to be convicted in the conspiracy in which illegal aliens were smuggled past Border Patrol checkpoints between September 2015 and June 2017.

On Dec. 4, the following defendants pleaded guilty to the smuggling charges: brothers Lucio Segundo, 31, and Christopher Segundo, 23, of Giddings, Texas. On Monday, four others entered their guilty pleas: Francisco Segura, 29, also of Giddings; Alex De La Rosa, 23, of San Marcos, Texas; Jesus Perez, 24, of La Grange; and David Cedillo, 46, of Austin.

Omar Gonzalez-Herrera, 25, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, admitted during his Dec. 4 re-arraignment that he was hoping to be paid $1,500 in exchange for guiding a group of 14 persons across the Rio Grande River to illegally enter the United States.

HSI Chicago special agents began investigating Robert J. Kasanda, 59, of Darien, Illinois, after receiving a lead from WPD.  Kasanda was discovered possessing numerous explicit images of children under the age of 12 being sexually assaulted, and images and videos depicting violence being inflicted upon children.

Holston Doe, a citizen of Liberia, entered the United States legally, on Feb. 25, 2004. Since that time, he has been convicted of several criminal convictions which render him removable from the country.

Mwando Lloyd Pryce, 31, was admitted to the U.S. legally with a nonimmigrant visa in August 2009 with authorization to remain in the United States until Feb. 7, 2010. Pryce failed to depart the United States as required. In August 2015, Interpol issued a Red Notice for Pryce, for crimes committed while he was Police Constable in Jamaica.

Pedro Cruz-Rodriquez, 19, a citizen and national of El Salvador, last entered the country illegally Nov. 2, 2016.  Cruz-Rodriquez is a suspect in the aggravated murder of Jaime Roberto Loza Garay and the aggravated kidnapping of four other men in El Salvador.

Eduardo Gutierrez-Zamora, 31, of Amarillo, Texas, pleaded guilty in June 2017 to one count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Philip Goodwin, 37 of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs, one count of trafficking counterfeit drugs, one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and one count of money laundering conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Feb. 28, 2018.