News Releases and Statements

Sixteen people were arrested Tuesday on alien smuggling and/or drug smuggling charges. The arrests were announced by: U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Sean McElroy, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations; and Chief Charles McClelland, Houston Police Department (HPD).

Edwin Monge-Peña, 29, wanted by HSI for drug trafficking, and Luis Daniel Rivera-Carrasquillo, 32, wanted by the FBI for weapons violations, were arrested by USMS and HSI special agents in the vicinity of Paseo de Torre Alta in the municipality of Barranquitas, while they were looking for a third fugitive who remains at-large.

At the seventh annual general meeting of the Africa Prosecutors Association (APA) held here last week, the U.S. government was represented by a senior official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Romanian woman, Miruna Eugenia Lixandru, was sentenced Tuesday to 33 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Florida's Orange County Sheriff's Office.

American tourists, with twisted overseas travel plans to engage in child sex tourism, may think they are beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. However, they should know that it is a priority for ICE's HSI to apprehend and prosecute U.S. citizens who engage in sexual acts with minors in foreign countries.

Jesse Tyrone Chavful, a San Antonio man who is charged in a federal superseding indictment with his cousin, former professional football player Samuel George Hurd III, appeared in federal court Wednesday and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

A former American Airlines baggage handler, Victor Bourne, was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for his leadership of an international drug trafficking organization.

Fossils include a Tyrannosaurus dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia.

Jeffrey Dale Wiederholt, 34, of Stanberry, Mo., pleaded guilty to producing, transporting and receiving child pornography.

A Polish national - who is wanted in his home country for extortion, kidnapping and attempted murder - was deported and turned over to Polish law enforcement officials Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

A Washington, D.C., man pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges involving the operation of an illegal gambling business, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Collier Bennett Harper surrendered to federal authorities Monday to begin serving a 37-month prison sentence for importing more than 1,000 counterfeit Microsoft Office CD-ROMs and selling them to unsuspecting customers over the Internet.

According to federal indictments and search warrant affidavits unsealed Tuesday, 37 defendants are accused of trafficking in guns, methamphetamine, heroin, Ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine.

A mail-order gourmet brownie business became the 17th Arizona company to join a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) program designed to strengthen hiring practices and combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens.

An illegal alien from Mexico who lived in Riverdale, Md., pleaded guilty Monday to transporting more than 100 women from other states to engage in commercial sex in Virginia.

The suspects Samar Ayoub, 39, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., and Hussein Jomaa, 30, of Dearborn, Mich., who made their initial appearances in federal court Monday afternoon, are charged in a criminal complaint with knowingly trafficking counterfeit merchandise.

A 33-year-old Idaho man, Florin Fleischer, pleaded guilty Monday to the unlawful procurement of U.S. citizenship following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Fleischer admitted to providing materially false statements on his January 2010 naturalization application.

Two Fresno-area men have received significant prison terms after pleading guilty to child pornography charges stemming from investigations conducted by ICE 's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the other agencies on the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Domingo Agustin-Simon, 31, and Leonardo Rabanales-Casia, 30, were both convicted of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, hostage taking, bringing in illegal aliens for profit, and harboring illegal aliens for profit.

Marcos A. Flores was sentenced Friday to eight years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release following his June guilty plea to possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana of the Northern District of Texas.

David Gould, of Annapolis, Md., was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for possession of child pornography after an investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Gould admitted that he has been trading and collecting child pornography for more than 10 years.

Larry G. Young, 60, of New Castle, was indicted on charges he produced sexually explicit material involving a 6-year-old child.

The Department of Justice has executed restraints on more than $4 million in additional corruption proceeds in connection with the prosecution and conviction in the United Kingdom of James Onanefe Ibori, the former governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta State. The case was investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Foreign...

Robin Han, a New Zealand physician who acted as a large-scale supplier of bogus erectile dysfunction drugs to distributors in California, Texas and Europe, was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution on charges stemming from a long-term probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Marco Ortiz-Barajas, 19, Angel Zamudio-Martinez, 54, and Jose Luis Chavez-Morfin, 43, all of whom are from Mexico but resided in the Atlanta metropolitan area, were convicted based upon their June 29 guilty pleas to a charge of conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute.