News Releases and Statements

These types of fraud pose a threat to national security and public safety.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) and other members of the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF), arrested three individuals and seized 1,300 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $30 million Wednesday off the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

Jean Brown of Jamaica was one of the leaders of the Brown Organization, a criminal organization whose members distributed narcotics primarily in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Arizona, California and Jamaica. The conspirators transported as much as 1,000 pounds of marijuana per month.

Jeremiah Paul Selman pleaded guilty Thursday to child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas. HSI special agents seized a computer during a search at Selman's residence and discovered that it contained more than 600 images of child pornography.

Jeffrey Schmutzler, 42, of Fayettesville, Pa., a teacher in the Chambersburg School District, is charged with distribution and receipt of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

John Ellenbacher of Linden, N.J., was charged Thursday with distributing videos and images of child sexual abuse. The charge is the result of an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Troy Rowlette was sentenced Wednesday to more than nine years in federal prison for downloading child pornography following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Arkansas Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, the Baxter County Sheriff's Office and the Mountain Home Police Department.

Harold Duane Davenport of Le Center, Minn., pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to receiving videos containing child pornography. Davenport admitted that he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography, including images and videos portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

Joshua P. Blakenship was sentenced Wednesday in a local example of what child exploitation investigators are calling a disturbing and growing trend known as "sextortion."

Daniel Alan Jines of Whitestown, Ind., was charged with producing sexually explicit photos and videos of a minor over a two-year period.

A federal judge Monday sentenced heroin trafficker Steven Michael Carrasco to 57 months in federal prison, following an investigation by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Chad Salvatore of Alden, N.Y., was sentenced to 20 years in prison for distribution and receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice. At the time of his arrest, Salvatore was a foster parent to a young teenage child, despite having been convicted of molesting three children when Salvatore himself was a teenager.

Members of a nationwide Chinese marijuana and contraband cigarette trafficking organization were arrested and charged today. These arrests follow an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Salvador Vera-Olmeda, a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Mexico City, was deported Monday by ICE and turned over to Mexican officials for prosecution. Vera was arrested by ERO Fugitive Operations officers in Raleigh, N.C., in February.

A Maryland attorney, Aaron G. Seltzer, was arrested Tuesday by special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI. Seltzer was indicted by a federal grand jury March 14 on nine counts of wire fraud in connection with a scheme in which he converted funds intended for real estate investments to his personal use.

Luis Baena-Olivares, a Mexican criminal alien with a prior felony conviction for evading police with a motor vehicle, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of illegally re-entering the United States following a prior removal.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested four men in connection with a scheme to allegedly distribute large amounts of methylenedioxypryovalerone (MDPV) - a controlled substance commonly referred to as bath salts - in New Jersey and New York.

Paul Kalash, 37, of Plymouth, Minn., pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling goods from the United States. He was charged Feb. 11.

A Central African Republic citizen was convicted in federal court Tuesday on two felony charges of obstructing his removal from the United States. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations attempted to deport the man on two separate occasions, Nov. 14, 2011 and March 13, 2012, but each time he resisted ICE officers with physical force.

Following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Dr. Wronald Best, the chief scientist of a government contractor working on components for use in military helicopters and the presidential helicopter fleet, was sentenced Monday for conspiring to obtain pirated software from Chinese and Russian cyber criminals.

A former Fresno resident, Kwan Yong Choi, is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday on federal money laundering charges for his alleged role in a fraud scheme that bilked investors out of several million dollars.

Eleven people were charged March 14 in a conspiracy that involved secreting packets of heroin inside the body, in order to smuggle the drugs into the United States from the Dominican Republic. Also, as a result of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) probe, all 11 face drug and kidnapping charges.

Ten years ago in March, the Homeland Security Act set into motion what would be the single-largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. One of the agencies in the new Department of Homeland Security was the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Michael Allen Dreyer, a retired Air Force technical sergeant convicted last September by a federal jury of possession and distribution of child pornography, was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison.

Nassar Issa Ibrahim Nassar, a Jordanian citizen with more than a dozen criminal convictions in Illinois ranging from felony sexual assault to unlawfully carrying a weapon, was removed from the United States to Jordan Tuesday by officers with ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).