News Releases and Statements

Minh Thong, 32, of Denver, was first charged by Criminal Complaint Jan. 20, 2014. He was then indicted by a federal grand jury Jan. 27, 2014. He pleaded guilty before Judge Robert E. Blackburn Aug. 14, 2015.

The indictment charges Donald C. Fritz, Jr., 43, with distribution of and possession with intent to distribute crystal methamphetamine.

A grand jury in Scranton indicted Wyatt Robert Yanney, 24, for allegedly ordering and obtaining shipments of the synthetic misbranded drugs, commonly referred to as “bath salts” by mail from China in August 2015 for use and distribution in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and in New York.

The bataar skull, a fossil from the Cretaceous period, which ended approximately 65 million years ago, had been auctioned in Manhattan in 2007 after being unlawfully brought into the United States. The current owner of the bataar skull, having been informed of its origins and the circumstances of its importation into the United States, has consented to its forfeiture.

According to the charges, Clinton Hayden, aka Showtime, 28, recruited, enticed and transported two minors from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to New York to engage in commercial sex acts between May and December of this year. Hayden was taken into custody on Dec. 3, 2015 in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Randy Lynn Hastings, 59, is charged with two counts of tax violation, two counts of tax evasion and five counts of trademark counterfeiting.

Angel David Acevedo-Sandoval, 34, a former math teacher of seventh and 10th grade students at a private school in Toa Baja was arrested at his place of residence following a federal search warrant that revealed the presence of child pornography in his computer.

According to court documents, beginning as early as 2005, William Henry Keehn, II, 52, of Eustis, hid video cameras in the bathrooms of his former residence in order to obtain naked images of four minors in his custody.

Lucione Nonato Barros, who was wanted on an Interpol red notice, arrived at the Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport without incident. Upon her arrival, she was immediately transferred to the custody of the Brazilian Federal Police.

ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña swore in members of ICE’s new Advisory Committee on Family Residential Centers (ACFRC) at today’s inaugural meeting.

The joint guidance was developed by the two agencies with significant input from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and stakeholders around the country.

Hasan R. Edmonds, 23, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty to two charges: one count of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIL.

With the new class, SEVP now has 58 field representatives. Field representatives manage territories in one of three U.S. regions – eastern, central and western. Once fully staffed, each region will have 20 field representatives, for a nationwide total of 60.

Alan Douglas Eslinger, 44, of Grand Forks, was sentenced to 192 months in federal prison following his convictions on one count of receiving child pornography and three counts of possessing child pornography.

According to the indictment, the conspiracy existed from March 2014 to October 2015 and was led by Jorge Balbuena, who supplied wholesale amounts of heroin, cocaine, crack, and other controlled substances to other wholesale drug distributors, and street dealers.

Princehakeem Awolesi, 48, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining U.S. citizenship, a U.S. passport and using a false Social Security number. Awolesi was arrested in August 2015 and charged with violating various federal immigration and social security laws. His sentencing is scheduled for March 17, 2016.

Nader Saadeh, 20, of Rutherford, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to information charging him with one count of conspiring with others to provide material support to ISIL. He is being held without bail.

HSI Cleveland and HSI New York worked jointly to investigate Eric Prokopi, of Florida, who later pleaded guilty to engaging in a scheme to illegally import dinosaur fossils. According to court documents and statements made in Manhattan federal court, Prokopi owned and ran a business out of his Florida home and is a self-described commercial paleontologist.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrates the proposition that freedom, justice and peace in the world are fundamental rights that all individuals are entitled to equally. This year, Human Rights Day highlights the four freedoms that underlie the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

A south Texas man was sentenced Thursday to 17 years in federal prison following his conviction for receiving child pornography.

Frank Russell McCoy, 72, of Otsego, Minnesota, was found guilty by a jury of possessing child pornography, following a two-day trial.

Paul Joseph Koestle, 33, of Abilene, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.

Charles Heath Stewart, 43, of Grand Ridge, was convicted Aug. 21, 2015, after the government presented evidence that, on three occasions, in September, October and November 2013, Stewart knowingly produced child pornography when he coerced a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct with Stewart for the purpose of creating a visual depiction.

Jonas M. Edmonds, 30, of Aurora, Illinois, pleaded guilty to two charges: one count of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and one count of making a materially false statement to a law enforcement officer regarding an offense involving international terrorism.