News Releases and Statements

Fifteen military veterans who successfully completed a one-year intensive computer forensics training program with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have all been offered permanent positions with the agency to continue working in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.

Maualuga Leaana, 43, was charged in an April federal grand jury indictment, which alleges she applied for and obtained a U.S. passport in the name of her sister. She is also charged with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on various applications for benefits, including Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends, unemployment compensation, subsidized housing, as well as obtaining identification from the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles.

According to the indictment, during March 2014, Kervin Ruiz-Colon, 54, attempted to transfer sexually explicit photographs to a minor whom he believed to be 13-years-old. Ruiz-Colon had his initial hearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Sylvia Carreño Coll, who scheduled his preliminary hearing for May 28. He was ordered held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo.

Operation Dirty Glass is a multi-agency investigation into a large-scale PCP and crack cocaine drug-trafficking organization in Kansas City which has so far resulted in 10 indictments that charged 20 defendants in separate but related cases. PCP is an illegal hallucinogenic drug. Damond S. Hill, also known as "Day Day," 35, of Kansas City, was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison without parole.

Jose Antonio Hernandez, 41, and Genaro Vela-Rodriguez, 28, pleaded guilty Monday before Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii to one count each of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and traffic in counterfeit labels and counterfeit documentation and packaging. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry Z. Carbajal III and Patrick R. Delahunty are prosecuting the case.

John David Boyle, 52, of Glendora, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson. At Monday's hearing, Judge Wilson said Boyle's crimes were "horrendous" and that "the damage done to the victims is incalculable."

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending May 16, 2014

Isaias Flores-Mendez, 42, was also ordered to forfeit approximately $1.7 million, and to pay $84,000 in restitution to a victim of his crime. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest.

Samuel Granados-Hernandez, 33, of Mexico, is the sixth member of the Granados family to be prosecuted and convicted in the United States in connection to the HSI New York sex trafficking investigation.

Kyoni Humphrey aka Kyoni Nieves, 24, admitted that she helped a co-defendant commit the crime by renting and driving a vehicle used to transport the female to motels in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to engage in prostitution, renting motel rooms and posting "escort" advertisements and photographs on the backpage.com website during May and June of 2013. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in January.

Jesse Yang, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Judge Gonzalez Rogers also sentenced Yang to 10 years of supervised release.

Maria Anay Castaneda-Aleman, 32, and Emmanuel Navarro Gallegos, aka "Armando Roberto Espino," 30, were indicted May 14 on charges of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Castaneda-Aleman was also charged with making available for use a house in San Jose for the purpose of manufacturing, storing and distributing methamphetamine.

The two companies, Dana Kay Inc., and Siouni & Zar Corporation, engaged in a fraudulent scheme to avoid the payment of customs duties by presenting the government with invoices that significantly understated the value of the imported apparel from approximately 2003 through 2012. The defendants paid their overseas manufacturers the full value of the apparel, but deducted a flat fee per garment set before calculating the duty on the apparel. The defendants then recorded only the lower value on the entry forms presented to the government. Through this fraud, the defendants avoided paying millions of dollars in customs duties.

Operation Broken Bone was a multi-agency investigation into a drug trafficking organization that operated from January 2006 to November 2011 to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Oscar J. Aguilar, 37, entered his plea May 16 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan. He will remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing, which is set for Aug. 18 before U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen. At that time, Aguilar faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng, 57, was escorted by ERO officers on a multi-segment commercial flight that left Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday morning and arrived at Hong Kong International Airport Wednesday night (local time). Ng had been held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since his parole from Washington state prison in December.

Gary Joe Smith, 61, of Morgan, Texas, was sentenced by U.S District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to serve 72 months imprisonment for possessing and distributing child pornography. Judge Smith also ordered him to serve five years of supervised release after he completes his sentence. Smith pleaded guilty to the charges March 6.

Manuel Fernandez, 33, of Wayne, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court to one count of distribution of child pornography. Fernandez has been in custody since his arrest in January 2012.

Eliyahu Cohen, aka Eli Cohen, 63, of Bnei Brak, Israel, was arrested May 12 on federal felony charges of conspiracy to export U.S. defense articles, unlawful export of U.S. defense articles and conspiracy to commit money laundering. This matter stems from a long-term investigation into a network of military parts purchasers and brokers involved in an alleged conspiracy to export controlled military parts from the United States in violation of U.S. federal criminal law. If convicted of all of the counts of the superseding indictment in which he is charged, Cohen faces a maximum term of 130 years in prison and a fine of up to $7.5 million.

Brian Bethman, 38, of Lafayette Hill, is charged with smuggling in more than 6,000 audiovisual copies of movies and television shows that were protected by copyright between April 2010 and April 2011.

Leo Charles Koppala, 48, was escorted by ICE officers on a commercial flight and turned over to Indian authorities May 14 in New Delhi, India.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and El Salvador's Civilian National Police (PNC) signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) Wednesday to enhance their ability to share immigration and criminal history record information concerning Salvadoran nationals who are being repatriated from the United States. The signing ceremony took place at PNC headquarters in El Salvador. Timothy S. Robbins, the deputy executive associate director for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, signed on behalf of ICE, and Director General Rigoberto Pleités Sandoval signed on behalf of El Salvador's PNC.

A federal grand jury in Harrisburg Wednesday indicted a U.S. Army colonel for possession and distribution of child pornography over the Internet. Colonel Robert J. Rice, 56, of Carlisle, is stationed at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.

The following individuals who were unlawfully in the United States have been charged: Santiago Ortiz-Ortiz, 49, a native and citizen of Mexico, was charged in a one-count indictment alleging that after he was previously arrested and deported, he knowingly and unlawfully reentered the United States. Claudio Villa-Vera, 26, a native and citizen of Ecuador, was charged in a one-count indictment alleging that after he was arrested and deported, he knowingly and unlawfully reentered the United States. Jose Gonzalez-Sanchez, 25, a native and citizen of Mexico, was charged in a one-count indictment alleging that after he was previously arrested and deported, he knowingly and unlawfully reentered the United States.