News Releases and Statements

A Mexican national was sentenced on Friday to 348 months imprisonment for possessing with intent to distribute about 72 kilograms of cocaine, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Juan Contreras-Arballo, a previously deported Mexican national with an aggravated felony conviction was arrested Wednesday after special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an employment verification audit of the local business where he worked.

Yonjo Quiroa, 28, of Comstock Park, Mich., was arrested yesterday and operated nine of the 16 websites that were seized. The arrest and website seizures coincide with Operation Fake Sweep, which was announced earlier today in Indianapolis.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Naveed Sheikh Tuesday on charges of illegally reproducing and distributing more than 100 copyrighted commercial software programs. Sheikh, who had fled to Pakistan, was arrested by HSI at Dulles International Airport attempting to enter the United States.

Speaking at an NFL news conference on Thursday, ICE Director John Morton, CBP Director of Field Operations in Chicago David Murphy and NFL Vice President for Legal Affairs Anastasia Danias announced the record-breaking results of a nationwide enforcement operation.

Five Los Angeles-area residents have been indicted for operating a human smuggling scheme that relied largely on non-Spanish speaking African-Americans, in a calculated attempt to try to reduce the risk of detection and prosecution, to transport loads of illegal aliens from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Los Angeles area.

A Pasadena, Texas man, Roberto Bahena-Garcia, was charged Jan. 25 with federal firearms and drug trafficking violations in an investigation being conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Liberty County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Rigoberto Munoz-Vargas, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty on Thursday to possession with intent to distribute 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds) of methamphetamine and being an alien possessing a firearm. The investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)...

Twelve individuals were charged in an indictment for their role in a significant drug distribution operation that allegedly trafficked over 30 kilograms of heroin, 12 kilograms of cocaine, 1,000 pounds of marijuana and laundered in excess of $21 million. The joint investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)...

Matthew Alter, 47, of Wichita, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 to one count of possessing child pornography. At the plea hearing, prosecutors told the court that Alter became the subject of an investigation after Italian State Police provided information that a computer user in Kansas was accessing a child pornography website.

"The two owners of LA-based Angel Toy Company, Meichun Cheng Huang and Ling Yu, were sentenced Tuesday to over three years in federal prison for their roles in a cash ""structuring"" scheme that prosecutors say was linked to the Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) that allows drug cartels to launder the proceeds of their narcotics trafficking."

Two South Texas men, Guillermo Enrique Villarreal and Leoncio Sanchez, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to illegally exporting about 3,000 rounds of ammunition to Mexico without a license. The investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

A Chula Vista man convicted of serving as the 'transportation manager' for the drug trafficking organization responsible for a highly sophisticated cross-border tunnel that yielded a 30-ton marijuana seizure has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A U.S. Army Reserve veteran was sentenced on Friday to 19 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for production of child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force (PRCACTF).

John Stadalnikas pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possession of child pornography, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Alex Campbell, a suburban massage parlor owner, was convicted in federal court on Monday of multiple crimes against four foreign women whom he mentally and physically abused while forcing them to work for him between July 2008 and January 2010.

Neng Yang, 43, of Fresno, Calif., made his initial appearance in federal court Monday. Yang is charged in a criminal complaint with production of child pornography. According to the complaint, Yang, a teacher at Freedom Elementary within the Clovis Unified School District, allegedly used his cell phone to record his sexual abuse of a minor on multiple occasions, between January 3 and January 26.

William Cannon of Springdale, Ark., was sentenced Monday to 70 years in federal prison for production and receipt of child pornography, after a city fire marshal reported he had discovered a child pornography operation while doing a routine fire inspection.

Paul Kalka of Del Rio, Texas, a member of the Aryan Circle gang, was sentenced on Monday to 240 months in federal prison for his role in trafficking marijuana. The investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Manuel Gomez Barba was sentenced on Monday to eight years and four months in federal prison for illegally exporting firearms, one of which was used to murder ICE HSI Special Agent Jaime Zapata in February 2011.

Two Florida men, Chester John Floyd and Pedro Lazaro Rodriguez, were convicted Monday on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) administratively arrested 20 aliens convicted of sexual offenses in the Carolinas and Georgia Monday through Wednesday as part of Operation SOAR (Sex Offender Alien Removal), which targets criminal aliens who are removable due to convictions for sexual offenses.

The final member of a maritime cocaine smuggling organization, Elias Estupinan Rengifo from Colombia, was sentenced to more than 11 years imprisonment Friday following an investigation by the Panama Express Strike Force South, which includes ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A Phoenix man was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison for importing $400,000 of heroin with the intent to distribute it in the United States.

Riley Rich Gibson III was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison for child pornography violations, including images produced by Gibson using his cell phone to photograph a toddler in sexually explicit poses. This investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Beaumont Police Department (BPD)...