News Releases and Statements

Shawna Michelle Gunter allegedly used stolen identity to gain employment at a doctor's office, treated 200 patients, including infants, and wrote prescriptions. The indictment was returned March 18 and unsealed April 4 upon Gunter's arrest.

Sihai Cheng, a citizen of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili an Iranian national, were indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia following an international investigation by the FBI, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Commerce's Office of Export Enforcement.

The passageway - equipped with lighting, a crude rail system and wooden trusses - exits inside a warehouse at 10145 Via de la Amistad. The entrance is accessed down a 70-foot shaft secured by a cement cover.

Larissa Hlukha pleaded guilty Thursday for her role in a conspiracy to arrange fraudulent marriages for illegal aliens from Uzbekistan and Russia. The guilty plea follows the launch of an ICE outreach campaign warning the public not to say 'I do' to marriage fraud.

Michael David Wilson, 30, whose case was featured on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Operation Predator smartphone app to seek fugitive and unknown child predator suspects, was arrested late Wednesday night in Mexicali, Mex.

Modesto Alarcon, 41, of Aurora, is charged with unlawfully possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver, unlawfully possessing a controlled substance, and money laundering.

Son Pham, 45, admitted he loaned money to people in his community and then used threats of violence to try to collect the debts.

Arturo Gonzalez, 42, owner of J.C. Twiss El Canonazo sporting apparel and firearm accessories stores in Laredo, appeared before US District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo sentenced Gonzalez to 63 months in federal prison, plus three years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence.

Lisa A. Renze, 48, of Uniontown, Pa., pleaded guilty April 2 before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer. At sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 1, she faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or both. She is currently free on bond.

Jonathan Delaura was sentenced to 35 years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet, possessing child pornography and sending obscene material to a 15-year-old boy.

Daniel Alan Jines, 37, of Whitestown, Ind., was sentenced to 680 months in federal prison after he was convicted of the following charges: 10 counts of producing, one count of receiving, and one count of possessing child pornography.

Marriage fraud poses a national security threat, damages the integrity of the U.S. immigration system and endangers U.S. citizens who enter into these fake unions.

That DTO was responsible for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine in Lubbock and surrounding areas. The operation resulted in significant seizures of methamphetamine, three vehicles and more than $313,000 in cash.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with the Caribbean Border Corridor Strike Force (CCSF), seized Monday 1,774 kilograms of cocaine near Dorado and arrested two Venezuelan nationals for drug trafficking.

In the indictment returned by a federal grand jury April 1, Nancy Madelen Peebles, 73, and her daughter Lisa Kaye Barwick-Majeski, 53, both of St. Robert, Mo., were charged with aiding and abetting others to transfer more than $1 million in counterfeit obligations (postal money orders).

Cristian Alexander Castillo-Rodriguez, 36, was convicted in January 2014 for domestic violence in Franklin County, Ohio.

Robert Alexis Saldarriaga-Yepes, 20, a citizen of Colombia who was residing in New Market, Md., was arrested Dec. 6, 2012, by Frederick County Sheriff deputies on child exploitation related charges. The victim was a 9-year-old girl.

The three-day operation, which concluded Thursday, was conducted by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) as part of the agency's commitment to prioritize the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration violators.

Balakrishnan Patwardhan, 53, of Cupertino, admitted that, between July 2008 and October 2010, he knowingly submitted false immigration forms and supporting documentation to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking high-tech worker visas for 19 applicants.

On March 27, a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment charging David Pina-Lico, Alexis Acosta-Monell, Johnathan Saldana-Garcia, Victor Cruz-Resto, Charlie Martinez-Pimentel, Noel Rodriguez-Lopez and Israel Adorno-Perez, with participating in a conspiracy to possess and import controlled substances...

This event was held as part of HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.

Paul D. Edwards, 64, of Sapulpa, Okla., was charged Nov. 5, 2013 with one count of possessing and child pornography and five counts of receiving child pornography. Edwards is a former Certified Public Accountant for local municipalities and school districts who has been unemployed since 2008.

Anthony Nelson, a 31-year-old convicted sex offender from east Texas, was indicted Wednesday on child exploitation charges.

Thomas Warren Stickney was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz, who ordered that upon his release from prison, Stickney must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Karl W. Leeman was arrested Thursday in Watertown, Mass., after he allegedly traveled there to engage in sexual relations with a minor female. The arrest follows an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).