News Releases and Statements

A 43-year-old Mexican national was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday for alien smuggling that resulted in the death of nine illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

A federal grand jury indicted Saavedra-Vega on March 16, 2011. He pleaded guilty on April 14. Following his federal prison term, Saavedra-Vega will be deported.

Matthew R. Fisher, a former Columbus-area high school teacher and eighth-grade girls' basketball team coach, was sentenced Wednesday to 36 months in prison for possessing 600 images of child pornography following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A federal jury in Rochester has found a Jamaican national guilty of two counts of assaulting a federal officer. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a and $250,000 fine.

Thomas Jacob Weldon pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to identity theft and possessing child pornography. Weldon admitted using personal information of three Jamestown, N.D., residents to purchase items for his own use, and admitted possessing videos on his computer which depict children involved in sexually explicit conduct.

A Maryland man was sentenced earlier today to federal prison for illegal re-entry into the United States following removal for the commission of an aggravated felony following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Frederick Police Department.

The Republic of Poland issued an Interpol warrant for Pitucha for his alleged role in stealing 18 luxury vehicles as a member of an organized criminal group. He faces trial in Poland on these charges.

They serve warrants under hazardous conditions. They secure the airspace over the Super Bowl in Blackhawk helicopters. They go undercover to dismantle drug trafficking organizations. The work of special response team (SRT) members is often grueling and so is the training they undergo at Georgia's Ft. Benning.

Woman is charged with visa fraud in a criminal complaint filed November 17 in U.S. District Court.

Owners, managers and associates of several strip clubs in the New York City-area involved in an alleged international visa and marriage fraud ring were arrested Wednesday by agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS).

A local man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in a $1 million conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, as well as a conspiracy to commit identity theft.

The passageway, linking warehouses in San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial park and Tijuana, Mexico, is equipped with a hydraulic entry, elevator and electric rail cars.

A Virginia-based cell manager of a Mexican fraudulent document trafficking organization was convicted by a federal jury of luring rival document vendors to an empty trailer house in Little Rock, Ark., beating one to death and abandoning another individual bound and seriously injured.

A Texas man and woman pleaded guilty on Monday for their roles in trafficking Mexican females for compelled service at local bars and restaurants through force, fraud and coercion.

On March 9, 2010, Shawn Pound, 40, of Gowanda, N.Y., a New York State corrections officer at the time, possessed 190 images of child pornography stored on two computers at his residence in Gowanda. The two computers were seized by law enforcement agents during the execution of a federally authorized search warrant, and a subsequent search of the computers revealed the images.

A Guatemalan national, Miguel Angel Vargas-Cordon, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for alien smuggling and harboring in violation of the Mann Act. Vargas-Cordon transported an illegal alien minor with the intent to engage in illegal sexual conduct. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

Edward Schlacht, a manager at a specialty pallet and box manufacturing company in northwest Detroit, was arrested Tuesday by agents with by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on criminal charges of knowingly accepting false documentation in the course of hiring undocumented workers.

Inocente Orlando Montano, 69, of Everett, Mass., was charged with one count of making false statements on an immigration application and one count of perjury.

Three people accused of misclassifying Chinese honey as rice fructose in order to avoid more than $1 million in duties have been indicted in federal court on charges related to smuggling goods into the United States and providing false descriptions of the merchandise.

The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, in collaboration with the National Crime Prevention Council and ICE's HSI-led IPR Center, have unveiled a new public education campaign to combat the purchase and sale of counterfeit and pirated products.

Following a four-week trial, a federal jury Tuesday convicted a Bay Area leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, street gang of racketeering conspiracy and related charges stemming from a multi-agency probe spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Adolfo Payan Chavez of San Diego was taken into custody Sept. 18 at the San Ysidro border crossing, after federal agents discovered images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on his laptop. Prior to his arrest, Chavez worked at Whittier Elementary School's Learning Center, providing one-on-one instruction to students with special needs.

Manuel Enrique Zelaya-Rodriguez, who was found guilty for sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 15 years in prison following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Zelaya-Rodriguez is an illegal alien who will be subject to deportation after serving his sentence.

Connell Wilson Cook admitted downloading several images of child pornography from the Internet, planning to later sell them online.

An upstate New York woman who was convicted of conspiring to import Ecstasy was sentenced to three years of probation and six months home detention with electronic monitoring. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).