News Releases and Statements

Cristian Garcia, 21, of Providence, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for sex trafficking children and was also ordered to serve 5 years supervised release upon completion of his prison term. A co-defendant in this matter, Mackenzy Scott, 20, of Providence, pleaded guilty on September 20, 2016, to conspiracy to sex trafficking children. 

Mansour Moghtaderi Zadeh, 56, pleaded to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods, technology, and services to Iran without the required license, and to defraud the United States. 

Olubunmi Toyin Joshua, 54, had been detained at the Rolling Plains Detention Center in Haskell, Texas.

As home to one of the largest commercial ports of entry on the United States-Canada border, Blaine and its surrounding region is a picturesque blend of land and sea where citizens of both countries have the option to move around by car, boat, plane and train. Because of that, the area presents a unique challenge to HSI Blaine special agents and border patrol counterparts as they work to combat criminal activity.

The jackets, seized by HSI in 2015, will eventually end up at nearly 100 local charities. In an event held Tuesday by the NCDA’s office, representatives from the charitable organizations, including The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Long Island, arrived with their empty trucks ready to be filled. Special agents from HSI New York were on hand to deliver the goods.

Joshua Craig Rowling, 18, of Richmondville, New York, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, one count of possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon and one count of possession of a silencer.

Ahmad Feras Diri, age 43, of London, was sentenced to a 37-month term of imprisonment, a $100 special assessment, and ordered to forfeit $45,698 to the government. Diri was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London on March 14, 2013, and extradited to the United States on charges filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Mathieu Baaklini, 21, Safwan Bensalma, 21, and Brandon Lo, 24, all of Laval, Quebec, and Nicolau Manfredi, 21, of Montreal, were each charged with conspiracy to fraudulently use access devices resulting in the receipt of more than $1,000 in cash.

If convicted, Jeffrey Curtis Drexler, 27, faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, with a 10-year minimum mandatory term of incarceration, a $250,000 fine, five years up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.

David Nguyen, 40, of Toronto, Canada, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute MDMA (aka “ecstasy” or “mollie”) and marijuana; and one count of conspiracy to launder money. Nguyen was indicted in January 2014, arrested in Canada in May 2014 and extradited to the United States in October 2016 after he temporarily surrendered to the United States.

Overall, the nearly two million people who participated in TelexFree made 96% of their compensation, not from selling the company’s VOIP service, but from ad-posting and recruiting others to join.

With Halloween rapidly approaching, federal law-enforcement authorities are issuing a consumer warning against dangerous counterfeit contact lenses and unapproved decorative contact lenses illegally sold at retail outlets and online that can cause eye infections, conjunctivitis and impaired vision.

Alexander Smirnoff, who also went by the name “Alex Scott,” 48, and his “legal assistants” – Ekaterina Vladimirovna Zamurueva, 28, and Anna Kirillovna Solodovnikova, 29 – were arrested late last week by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at the residence they share in Corona.

Tomas Lopez Meza, 48, is wanted in Honduras for a warrant issued on Dec. 29, 1997, for attempted homicide.

Bertin Emeterio-Tinoco, 48, and Crispin Rizo-Mendoza, 55, were transferred to the custody of representatives from Mexico’s Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) and Mexican immigration officials by ERO’s Special Response Team at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Latonya Carson, 42, of Dallas, was convicted of the following charges: one count of conspiracy to commit theft of public funds, access device fraud and wire fraud; three counts of aggravated identity theft; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; four counts of money laundering; and four counts of wire fraud.

With much of the timber bound for processing plants and consumer markets in Mexico and the United States, INTERPOL’s Project Leaf has been working to strengthen law enforcement responses in the region through increased intelligence sharing and support for transnational investigations.

Chae Sun Kim, 62, of Oregon, pleaded guilty to the charges in March 2016. According to court documents, between April and May 2015, Kim and an associate created a Republic of Korea passport using a fictitious name to open numerous bank accounts in the Portland metropolitan area.

Cosmin Diamant, 28, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to the custody of the Romanian police. Diamant’s repatriation follows his arrest at his Phoenix residence in April by officers with ERO and ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

DeJohn took charge of the situation and instructed one of the assisting individuals to call 911 and asked another individual to retrieve a fire extinguisher from his work truck while DeJohn and others tried to free the girl from underneath the vehicle. 

HSI special agents in the United States traced this Kik screen name to Jason Marc Janatsch, 26, of Oklahoma City, who worked at a local daycare center.

Muhanad Elfatih M.A. Badawi, 25, of Anaheim, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who called the defendant “extraordinarily dangerous.”