News Releases and Statements

Steven Mazer, 27, of Philadelphia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois. Mazer was a teacher at a karate school offering classes to children in the Bustleton section of Philadelphia. He pleaded guilty June 24, 2013 to two counts of production of child pornography.

Maury Croussett-Garcia, 22, was convicted in July 2013 of felony aggravated assault in Pennsylvania in 2010. According to the criminal complaint, he struck a man in the head with a bottle causing bleeding to the brain.

ConnectZone.com, LLC, of Lynnwood, was sentenced to five years' organizational probation. Its owner, Daniel Oberholtzer, will serve 37 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones also ordered the forfeiture the proceeds from the counterfeit sales amounting to nearly $717,000.

Andrew McMahon, 37, was sentenced July 10 by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O'Connor to 15 years in federal prison to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. McMahon pleaded guilty to an information charging one count of transporting child pornography; he has been in custody since his guilty plea.

Vaiaoga Leatuvao, 37, was located in the Seattle area by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) after the Samoan government notified U.S. authorities about the allegations against him. According to a July 2013 arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court of Samoa, Leatuvao is charged with child rape. Samoan prosecutors allege Leatuvao raped four female students at a school for disabled children where he worked as a teacher.

The repatriation ceremony was conducted by James T. Hayes, special agent in charge of HSI New York; Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York; and Od Och, ambassador, permanent representative of Mongolia to the United Nations.

Dmitry Ustinov, 48, of Moscow, pleaded guilty in the District of Delaware federal court to conspiring to export the high-tech military technology, in violation of federal law.

Robert Eoff, 31, admitted that he knowingly entered into a conspiracy with three other co-conspirators to conduct financial transactions in connection with a spice manufacturing and distribution business beginning in March 2011, according to court records.

Mei Ya Zhang, 29, of Waterville, was sentenced by Chief Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. for harboring undocumented aliens, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to file false employer's quarterly federal tax returns. In addition to imprisonment, Zhang was also ordered to pay more than $88,000 in restitution to the IRS. Zhang pleaded guilty to the charges June 5, 2013.

Devon Campbell, aka Wilmott Alvin Livingston, left Jamaica in November 2007 and entered the United States using a Jamaican passport bearing the fabricated name Wilmott Alvin Livingston and a false date of birth.

Jose De La Cruz Ajqui, 27, a citizen of Guatemala last residing in Willimantic, was identified by ICE's Secure Communities program despite his use of a false identity after being arrested by Willimantic police. Once removability was established ERO officers lodged a detainer May 7, 2013.

Devin Spencer Williams, 19, of Blackshear, pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing child pornography in January 2014. He was also ordered by United States District Court Chief Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to register as a sex offender upon his release.

David Aguilar-Araiza, 22, was charged in a one-count indictment. He was originally arrested and removed from the country in April 2012. He faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Maximiliano Moreno Contreras, 37, was transferred to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office in Tijuana. An arrest warrant issued by authorities in Mexicali’s judicial district accuses Moreno of the April 16, 2001, stabbing death of a local man.

Gregory John Schaffer, 34, was convicted of enticement to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity, enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, attempted enticement to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.

Marcos Martinez-Gutierrez, 43, a citizen of Mexico last residing in Norwalk, was identified by ICE's Secure Communities program after being arrested by Norwalk police. Once removability was established ERO officers lodged a detainer March 2, 2013.

According to court documents, on May 10, 2012, Daniel Lewis Dolde, 44, of Coraopolis, possessed approximately two to three gigabytes of videos and images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"This guy had more quotes than Shakespeare," said John Malandra, retired group supervisor with ICE's HSI. But instead of poetic verses, a man using the alias of Alex Dave wanted quotes for how much it would cost to buy sensitive military technologies. In reality, Alex Dave was Amir Ardebili, an Iranian arms dealer.

Kurtis Head, 32, of Jasper, was convicted of 12 counts of receiving child pornography. He was sentenced July 8 to 97 months in federal prison by U.S. District Chief Judge Richard Young.

According to the indictment that led to the arrest of Betsian Carrasquillo-Peñaloza, 35, of Loiza, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, 2012, she enticed, harbored and transported a 14-year-old female identified as N.M.C.C. to engage in commercial sex acts. Carrasquillo-Peñaloza allegedly knew that the female was a minor. HSI special agents arrested her on Oct. 3, 2012. She entered a guilty plea Oct. 11, 2013.

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending July 3, 2014

Mohammad Ajmal Choudhry, 61, orchestrated the murders of family members of a man who helped his daughter escape from Pakistan to the U.S.

Damion St. Patrick Baston, 37, of New York, was convicted on four counts of sex trafficking – both in the United States and Australia – five counts of transporting multiple individuals for prostitution, one count of importation of an alien for prostitution, one count of using a passport secured by false statement, one count of aggravated identity theft and nine counts of money laundering. Baston was also found guilty of illegally reentering the United States after being previously removed.

Juan Pedro Guzman-Zavala, aka Alvaro Julio Luna, 28, was convicted by a jury March 13 of being an alien in possession of a firearm. The defendant elected to go to trial on that charge after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft and making a false statement in a passport application.

Pedro Rayon-Perez, 28, of Mexico, was sentenced July 1 to 96 months in federal prison for harboring illegal aliens. Rayon-Perez previously pleaded guilty to the charge, as did three others. As an illegal alien, Rayon-Perez was further sentenced to 21 months for re-entering the United States after having been previously deported.