News Releases and Statements

Michael Quinn, 33, of Melbourne, appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for the defendant Oct. 3

Kelly James Morrow, 49, who has a U.S. residence in Surprise, Arizona, but been living in China prior to his arrest last June, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero. The case resulted from a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which provided the initial lead that led to the investigation.

Alex Alexidze, 41, was repatriated to Canada via ground transportation under ICE escort July 19, from York County Prison and turned over without incident to the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency at the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge.

Marciano Millan Vasquez (aka “Chano”), 33, was convicted after a two-week trial. A federal jury convicted him on multiple drug trafficking charges, weapons charges, making a false statement to a federal official and killing while engaged in drug trafficking.

According to his plea agreement and court documents, from 2012 through at least 2014, Navarette-Mejia, known as Violento, was a member of the Normandie clique of MS-13. Navarette-Mejia and MS-13 members committed crimes to further the interests of the gang, including murder, assault, robbery, extortion by threat of violence, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and witness retaliation.

Gregory Witte, 55, was charged in a four count grand jury indictment on July 7, 2015, and pleaded guilty to two of the counts on March 29, 2016.  The United States agreed to dismiss the remaining two counts during sentencing.

Carter’s “conduct in this case spanned a decade as he prostituted the seven minor victims from 2003 to 2013” and transported them from California to Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington DC and Nevada, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

Alexander Vladimir McMillin, aka “Shasha,” 32, of Columbia, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to participating in a conspiracy to commit mail fraud between March 1, 2011 and Oct. 2, 2013.

In April, a federal jury convicted Kay Tee, 51, of Wichita, on one count of attempting to entice a person to cross state lines to engage in prostitution, one count of using a telephone in furtherance of prostitution, and one count of money laundering.

Aria Maleki, 33, of Santa Ana, California, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 112 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

Juan Otero-Navarro, 36, entered ERO custody Oct. 23 following his release from federal prison and was transferred to the Stewart County Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Otero was convicted in September 2015 on a felony charge of illegally reentering the United States after a prior removal in May 2011. Otero was also convicted on felony forgery charges in Fairfax County, Virginia, in February 2011

Phillip Carnevale, 56, was convicted in state court of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in an investigation lead by HSI that began three years ago. After receiving a tip in August 2013, HSI special agents determined the defendant had emailed more than 70 images of child sexual abuse to numerous individuals.

Anthony Rutten, 26, of Joliet, Illinois, was charged July 14 in Will County Circuit Court with two counts of possessing child pornography, a class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Motives Far East and Motives China Limited admitted to and accepted responsibility for under-reporting the value of its imported merchandise and agreed to pay nearly $13.4 million to the United States under the False Claims Act.

Gaurav Mehta, 36, and Isha Mehta, 33, both citizens of India, were sentenced Wednesday to three  years of probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine, following jury convictions for marriage and immigration fraud.

The show features the agency’s efforts to bring down a Jamaican lottery scam, in which perpetrators call U.S. citizens and inform them that they have won the lottery. Through this deception, the perpetrators attempt to convince the victims — most often the elderly — that they must first pay a fee in order to receive their winnings.

As the special agent in charge, Melendez supervises a cadre of special agents responsible for investigating and enforcing more than 400 customs and immigration laws, including conducting major narcotics, financial and trade, gang, and intellectual property rights, human smuggling, and child porn investigations. Melendez was born in Manhattan and at 12 years-old moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Jermaine McClary, 40, of Reading, Pa., was sentenced to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release. McClary was arrested by HSI special agents in April 2015 during the HSI-led Project Wildfire, an enforcement effort targeting gang activity.

A former police officer from southwest Texas was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in federal prison for trafficking cocaine through his auto body shop. 

Carlos Geovanni Martinez-Aguilar, 38, originally of Mesquite, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to three years in prison and two years of supervised release.  In April 2016, Martinez-Aguilar pleaded guilty to unlawful re-entry of a deported alien.

Robert William Beattie, 56, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson to serve 12 years in federal prison, and to 10 years of supervised release. Judge Erickson also sentenced Beattie to pay a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victims' Fund, plus an additional $5,000 special assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

“Operation Mesoamerica” was a 15-month multinational investigation that began with a tip from the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Assistant Attaché Office in Merida, Mexico, and ended Tuesday, June 28, with the arrest of 27 individuals throughout Central America. A second human smuggling investigation yielded 14 arrests on Monday, June 27, in Colombia.

According to the civil forfeiture complaints filed in this case, Yuanta Securities Co. Ltd. paid a bribe of 200 million New Taiwan dollars (equivalent to approximately $6 million U.S. dollars) to former First Lady Wu Shu-Jen in 2004, during former President Chen Shui-Bian’s administration.