News Releases and Statements

James Wean Jr., 49, is charged with attempted aggravated kidnapping after being arrested near a gas station in Pin Oak, Texas, the evening of Aug. 21.

Brand holders and intellectual property rights experts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led an all-day symposium Thursday aimed at combatting brand theft and merchandise counterfeiting.

Tommaso Accetta, 44, had been arrested and convicted on three different occasions in New York. The latest conviction was for larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. He was subsequently sentenced to 30 days in prison. ERO officers encountered Accetta at Rikers Island April 3, 2012.

William Davis, 38, was arrested on a warrant issued by the Western District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney's Office for conspiracy to distribute child pornography and conspiracy to advertise the distribution of child pornography.

According to court records, on Nov. 2, HSI Cocoa Beach received information from an investigator with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in Georgia that a person in Florida had used an Internet chat service to trade child pornography that day. That person, who was later determined to be William Christopher Dempsey, 30, of Wildwood, Fla., had also mentioned in a chat that he was sexually molesting a 3-year-old.

A group of 23 Mexican customs officers completed a rigorous 10-week training program modeled on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Training Program to prepare them to more effectively fight crime along the southern border and within Mexico.

A federal jury found a Colombian man guilty Wednesday of three drug conspiracy charges. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison for two of the conspiracy charges and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the third charge.

Seven suspects made their initial appearances in federal court Thursday on drug charges stemming from their alleged role in an attempt to smuggle more than a ton of marijuana into the United States from Mexico onboard a sailboat and panga interdicted off the coast of Catalina Island.

As part of ICE's ongoing commitment to prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators, 28 convicted criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators were arrested during a five-day operation in northeastern Wisconsin which ended Tuesday.

Three individuals and a corporation are charged with fraud and bribery in connection with their alleged role in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme involving the procurement of a military contract for services in Afghanistan, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City Wednesday.

On Aug. 21, HSI special agents and partner law enforcement officers worked in teams to execute 17 federal search warrants.

James R. Howard was sentenced to 20 years in prison for possessing more than 2,400 images and videos of child pornography. The sentence comes after an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A federal grand jury charged Mu-Tsun Tsai, 27, of Champaign, Ill., with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. Tsai was previously arrested and charged in a criminal complaint July 24. U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal ordered Tsai to remain in U.S. Marshals Service custody.

David Paul Moe, 45, of Denver, is currently in custody pending a bond release hearing. The grand jury charged Moe with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.

A Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) indictment was unsealed Tuesday charging individuals with participating in a massive racketeering organization. These charges stem from an investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

Jose "Panama" Antonio Haughton, 36, is believed to have illegally posed as an immigration officer over the past several years. He is known by most people simply as "Panama." While he operated mostly from the Seattle/Tacoma area, investigators have identified victims in other parts of the country.

A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, which included sadistic conduct and other violent images involving minors.

A brother and sister from north Texas were each sentenced Tuesday to more than two years in federal prison following their convictions for attempting to smuggle almost 900 rounds of ammunition and 17 firearms magazines into Mexico.

An east Texas woman was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison for bank fraud violations, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Eastern District of Texas.

A convicted felon from Mexico, Osbaldo Carrillo-Peralta, was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for illegally re-entering the United States after having been twice deported. This sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations' (ERO) and Mercer County Sheriff's Office.

Yadwinder Singh pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiring to unlawfully produce California driver's licenses, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Investigations Division, Office of Internal Affairs.

A local federal jury convicted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer Monday on two counts of making a false statement on an official federal form, and one count of making a false statement to a federal agent.

Robert Jacaman Sr. and Veronica Jacaman were arrested Monday after an 11-count federal indictment charged them with illegally selling firearms and ammunition they knew were destined for Mexico. This investigation is led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Town of Milford, with more than 1,500 employees, has partnered with ICE to protect the integrity of their workforce.

Also convicted were 17 undocumented aliens who backpacked marijuana from Mexico.