News Releases and Statements

Jerry Wang, 34, the former Chief Executive Officer of Herguan University, admitted in court that he had submitted false documents to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

Roberto Garcia, 55, from Lubbock, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 87 months in federal prison. Garcia, who has been on bond, was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on May 15.

Damion Bryan Barrett, 28, was extradited from Jamaica in February based on charges that he committed fraud as part of an international lottery scheme against elderly victims in the United States.

Jason Paul Tijerina, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa to the statutory maximum of 30 years in federal prison, which is to be followed by 25 years of supervised release. Tijerina must also register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2014.

Gilder Gustavo Garcia Cuyuch was arrested following the execution of four search warrants in three residences and one travel agency. According to Guatemalan law enforcement, Cuyuch allegedly operated his document fraud business out of a travel agency in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

The City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) unit arrested the 26-year-old at his workplace in Leeds yesterday morning before taking him to a local police station for questioning.

Shawn McCormack, 31, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was found guilty of four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of kidnapping.

The sentencing hearing for Leonel Hernandez-Lopez, 36, of Bradenton, aka Jose Luis Carbajal, is scheduled for June 18. Hernandez-Lopez was indicted Sept. 5, 2013.

Jermaine Smith, 34, of East Orange, New Jersey, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon. Smith pleaded guilty in October 2014 to one count of participating in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization.

Emmett Winston Smith, a/k/a Everett Smith, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents following a lead from Canadian authorities. Smith, 66, was indicted by a federal grand jury March 24.

Rassie Cleveland Martin, 58, from Lubbock, Texas, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings. Martin must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by May 15.

HSI special agents arrested Mario Lebron-Caceres, 28, after an investigation stemming from a referral from the Puerto Rico Department of Justice revealed that he allegedly used photos from a woman he met through a dating website to extort her.

As part of Operation Friend Zone, HSI special agents surreptitiously infiltrated peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks to identify users in Puerto Rico who sought to acquire or distribute known or suspected images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit activities.

Damien Oasis Winn, 34, from Port Arthur, Texas, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2014 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to 86 months in federal prison April 9 by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

Joseph Lloyd White, 44, from Orange, Texas, pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2014 to attempted sexual enticement of a child and was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison April 9 by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

Ralph Freeman, 54, of Falls Church, was found guilty Jan. 2, following a bench trial that concluded in November 2014. According to court documents, Freeman used the eDonkey peer-to-peer network and Usenet Newsgroup to download child pornography.

In a joint effort with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) recently hosted a 10-day Cross Border Financial Investigations Training (CBFIT) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Mehmet Karatokus, 39, of Ankara, Turkey, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

Thomas Silber pleaded guilty Dec. 18, 2014, to knowingly receiving, and attempting to receive DVD movies depicting child pornography. Between February 2007 and October 2010, Silber received 10 DVD movies using the internet, which were shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce since they were produced by a company in Canada.

Enmanuel Tejada Santos, of El Salvador, was allegedly involved in the June 15, 2000, murder of two individuals. According to El Salvadoran authorities, Santos and a group of men allegedly assaulted a vehicle transporting goods that had arrived from the United States.

In a published decision March 11, the BIA dismissed the appeal of Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, 77, the former director of the National Guard (1979-1983) and Minister of Defense (1983-1989) of El Salvador.

The indictment alleges that from January to March 2015, Edward C. Brown, 35, of Rantoul, distributed and possessed images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of computers and related materials allegedly used to commit or promote the offenses.

Project Wildfire was a surge operation led by the HSI National Gang Unit and ran Feb. 23 to March 31. HSI special agents worked with 215 state, local and federal law enforcement partners, including ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), to apprehend individuals from various gangs.

In 2004, Beatrice Munyenyezi, who claimed she was a refugee from Rwanda, was living with her three daughters in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Charles Coci, 26, of Abilene, Texas, who is on bond, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing will be set at a later date.