News Releases and Statements

Roy Palomera, 24, was sentenced Monday by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. In addition to the prison term, Ishii ordered Palomera to pay $5,000 in restitution to one victim whose images he possessed.

According to court documents, Cassandra Hamilton, 55, of Tampa, engaged in a marriage fraud conspiracy spanning several years and in excess of ten marriages.

Richard Anthony Davis, 43, of Jamaica, was also ordered to forfeit $2,926, which is traceable to proceeds of the offenses. Davis pleaded guilty to these offenses April 30.

According to court documents, in November 2013, Kenneth A. Brauckmann used a social networking website to contact a user he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but in actuality, was an undercover Fairfax County police detective. Through online chats and text messages with the user, Brauckmann made arrangements to engage in sexual activity with her and her 13-year-old friend in his car.

The 14 new arrests, made from Feb. 10 through July 22, include two school bus drivers who drove children in the community of Mays Landing and a Salem County man, Michael Van Culin, who allegedly hacked into the email account of a 16-year-old Canadian girl and used personal information he obtained to blackmail her into stripping naked on a webcam while he recorded her.

Marvin Ernesto Escalante-Roque, 33, first came into ERO custody in August 2010 after he was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas. ERO officers removed him from the United States in September 2010.

The following three individuals arrested July 25 had initial court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal in federal court in Urbana: Monica Adriana Zacatlan-Ramirez, 19, of Urbana; Eduardo Guerrero-Cortez, 25, of Texas; and Jarbey Emerson Reyes-Villalobos, 18, of Champaign, Illinois. All three remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Mildred Betzaida Giron-Acebedo, 27, was transferred to the custody of the Guatemalan National Police in Guatemala City.

Monica Mason, 49, of Lilburn, Georgia was involved in the scam along with her coconspirator, Shawn Foote, who knowingly prepared and addressed fraudulent mail containing counterfeit instruments to victims, who believed they were acting as mystery shoppers.

Clare Rose Inc. is strengthening its hiring practices to ensure it is employing a legal workforce. IMAGE is a voluntary program that allows private sector businesses to partner with the agency to reduce unauthorized employment and the use of fraudulent identity documents. As a result, a participating employer is able to maintain a more secure, stable workforce.

Nerene Erica Harrison, 32, of St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23. Harrison was indicted Nov. 13, 2013, along with Robert Kenneth Scott Cruz.

Dorn Vacklyn Webster, 53, a citizen of Anguilla, was arrested Thursday morning after ERO and local police identified a vehicle and found Webster inside. Webster is a convicted felon, with a 1985 second-degree murder conviction in the U.S. Virgin Islands and two convictions in Florida – one in 2001 for fraud and one in 2002 for burglary. Webster had been on the ERO most wanted fugitives list since January.

A federal grand jury in Peoria, Illinois, returned an indictment July 22 charging Shannon Logan, 35, of Urbana, with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that from March 5 to May 30, Logan traded images on the Internet of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

HSI International Operations Deputy Director David A. Thompson and Migración Colombia Director Sergio Bueno Aguirre signed the MOU at a ceremony held at Migración Colombia headquarters in Bogota.

Frank Edwin Ness, 44, of Joplin, Missouri, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury. Ness' indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against him on July 17.

A ceremony was held at ICE headquarters in Washington to commemorate the MOU signing, the first of its kind between a U.S. agency and an agency from the Republic of Korea. The MOU was signed by ICE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas S. Winkowski and CHA Administrator Sun-hwa Rha.

On June 23, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surged personnel to the RGV as part of HSI's efforts to target and dismantle human smuggling operations across the southwest border. Less than a month into this operation, 192 smugglers and their associates have already been arrested on criminal charges, more than 501 undocumented immigrants have been taken into custody and more than $625,000 in illicit profits have been seized from 288 bank accounts held by human smuggling and drug trafficking organizations.

Luis Fernando Quintero-Heras, 44, and Jose Adrian Mendoza Del Muro, 33, were transferred to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General's Office. The two men are charged in connection with separate slayings in Mexico.

Christopher James Swicegood, 22, was found by HSI special agents to be a user of a foreign website used extensively by traders of child pornography. A lead from foreign law enforcement initiated the investigation in January 2013, which uncovered evidence of not only child pornography but actual sexual conduct with children, according to court records.

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending July 18, 2014

The Northland crew seized the marijuana; detained the crew composed of Michael Dacosta, Shawn A. Ally, Nolan E. Connelly, Ron D. Griffith and Owen K. Drakes; and transferred the illegal drug shipment to CCSF special agents who will be leading a criminal investigation into the case.

Jesse Edgardo Herrera's arrest came after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers observed irregularities in the surfboard he had checked with his baggage on an outbound Qantas Airlines flight destined for Sydney, Australia.

During the course of an ongoing drug smuggling investigation, HSI Douglas special agents developed information about a possible drug stash house located in Whetstone, Arizona. Agents initiated surveillance on the property and observed a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer pull up to the house. Subsequently, several individuals were seen loading it with bales of marijuana. Agents then alerted Sierra Vista police.

Michael Brian Grzybowicz, 30, of Cocoa, was also sentenced to a lifetime term of supervision following his release. A federal jury found Grzybowicz guilty of producing, distributing and possessing child pornography. He was also sentenced to another 10-year prison term to run concurrent to the 30-year sentence.

Justin Stevens, 31, was also ordered to serve 25 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender.