News Releases and Statements

There were roughly 15,000 illegal websites seized and 48,000 erroneous ecommerce links removed over the past year as part of Operation In Our Sites VII, an effort conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Europol, Interpol and members of industry to crackdown on individuals using the Internet to peddle bogus goods and other copyright-protected material that threaten the health and safety of shoppers.

Nicholas Pagliuca, 65, of Mamaroneck, New York, allegedly downloaded hundreds of files containing images and videos of child pornography.

On June 30, 2015, HSI agents, Providence Police detectives and members of the Human Trafficking Task Force located the victim in Harris’ apartment in Providence and rescued her. Investigators discovered numerous nude photographs of the 17-year-old victim on Harris’ cell phone.

In 2015, the number of seizures made nationally due to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations increased 25 percent from the previous year, totaling more than 28,000 seizures with an estimated value of more than $1.3 billion.

According to Honduran officials, Marco Antonio Argueta-Rubio, 23, allegedly forced a 13-year-old girl into his vehicle, transported her to a motel and raped her. In June 2016, Argueta-Rubio was apprehended in the Texas Rio Grande Valley while attempting to illegally enter the United States. In July, Honduran officials issued a warrant of arrest for Argueta-Rubio after he failed to report for court proceedings.

Nathan R. Tauck, 25, of Rockford, was charged with one count of enticing and coercing a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct, exhibiting the minor’s genitals and pubic area for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the sexually explicit conduct; and four counts of transporting child pornography via the Internet.

Winston Enrique Perez Pilarte aka Josue Duran-Cortes, 40, was arrested and charged by the Philadelphia Police Department with attempted rape, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, indecent assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Paul Carter, 46, of Milwaukee, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Wisconsin Nov. 21 to eight counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

“Although operations and mission planning are guided by the main field office, the sub-offices operate with a certain degree of autonomy because of the great distances between locations,” said Acting Field Office Director (Acting FOD) Todd McWhorter.

Lucas Aronson, 31, of Alexandria, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, register as a sex offender upon release from prison and pay a total of $20,000 in restitution to his victims.

The purpose of the Teach-In is to encourage employees, businesses, community leaders, sports figures, local personalities, retirees, community volunteers and parents to become involved in education by sharing what they know with a new generation.

Xiuzhu Yang, 70, was escorted by ERO officers to Beijing, China where she was turned over to Chinese authorities.

Robert Ruben Ornelas, 65, of Santa Ana, a onetime school teacher and girls’ softball coach, was found guilty Thursday of seven counts – two counts of engaging in sexual conduct in a foreign place, three counts of producing child pornography, and two counts of possessing child pornography.

If convicted, Grant Harris, age 34, Harris faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

Allan Ebel, 63, pleaded guilty in August admitting to downloading images of child pornography from a Switzerland-based website on at least six occasions in August 2014. 

Renan Hernandez-Navarro, 50, is wanted in Honduras for a warrant for culpable homicide issued Aug. 18, 2000.  

Jose Martin Cruz-Martinez, 26, was flown to El Salvador Nov. 15 and turned over to Salvadoran officials. The El Salvador arrest warrant states that on Aug. 8, 2014, Cruz-Martinez shot and killed a man who was a passenger riding in a motorcycle taxi. 

Albert Lee Mitchell appeared before U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. The case stems from a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jason Michael Ehret, 44, an active-duty Marine Corps major serving as an aviation flight instructor, pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 15.

Marc Misko, 62, pleaded guilty in Adams County to solicitation to commit money laundering and was fined $7,500. Mitchell Misko, 62, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and was fined $5,000.

Victor Larry Lee Wright, 33, pleaded guilty in August admitting he videotaped his molestation of a 7-year-old child. According to court records, Wright then distributed those images to an undercover HSI special agent via a peer-to-peer file sharing program. 

Criminal complaints filed in Southern District of New York named the following individuals:  Carlos Djemal, Isidoro Haiat, Braulio Lopez, Max Fraenkel, Daniel Blitzer and Robert Moreno.