News Releases and Statements
News Releases and Statements
Counterfeit electronics that overheat due to improper manufacture, fake bicycle helmets that break upon impact and phony cosmetics that lead to skin ailments are just a few examples of knock-off items sold online that present a serious health and safety risk. Seasonal items like holiday lights can also be counterfeit, poorly wired and ignite fires.
Daniel Fredrick Heidemann, 42, was sentenced to 200 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos.
Thomas Robert Kernohan, 35, pleaded guilty in October to receiving and distributing child pornography. According to court documents, an HSI undercover investigation revealed that during a nine-month period beginning in February 2013, Kernohan was identified as an online trader in child pornography through a foreign file-sharing website.
According to plea documents filed in the case, John Everette Murdock, of Lubbock, Texas, used a computer to access, with intent to view, various images of child pornography. He used file-sharing software to search for material that was likely to result in his access to child pornography, which he viewed and then deleted.
Michael Thomas Franks, 44, of Brownwood, Texas, was remanded into custody.
Juan Hernandez, 46, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. He must also register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.
Damien Beverly, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin.
Ramon M. Negron-Colón, 65, of Bayamon, is an attorney licensed to practice law in Puerto Rico. He represented the notorious Puerto Rican drug lord Jose D. Figueroa-Agosto in judicial proceedings in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Sherin Thawer, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft.
Tucker J. Newman, 48, of Topeka, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography. In his plea he admitted he sent child pornography to an undercover investigator in California.
Rocky P. Ouprasith, 23, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $45,288.62, and forfeit $50,851.05. He is the first cyberlocker operator in the U.S. to receive a criminal copyright infringement sentence.
Oscar Ivan Romero-Martinez, 33, of Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced to 71 months in prison for his offenses.
Derrick Hargrove, 35, from Houston, was sentenced to 180 months imprisonment for trafficking 4.99 kilograms of methamphetamine. His sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.
Shane Lucas Winn, 34, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, the court noted the sincerity of the defendant in wanting to turn his life around for his kids. Winn had noted that he did not want his children to grow up without a father like him and make the same bad choices as he had done. Winn pleaded guilty Aug. 31.
Tremayne Rontae Kirby, 25, pleaded guilty in August to one count of human trafficking and one count of using interstate commerce to promote an enterprise involving prostitution. Kirby must also pay $11,000 in restitution to an individual listed as “Victim One” in the indictment.
Mark Alin Hammerschmidt, 48, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Ornella Angelina Hammerschmidt, 36, also of Prior Lake, pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud.
Representatives from the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University transferred Monday a religious relic known as a Festival Bronze of Shiva and Parvati to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Daniel L. Bonnett, 40, of Sacramento, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez. According to court documents, between Jan. 27, 2013, and Feb. 14, 2013, Bonnett sent and received images depicting the sexual exploitation of children over peer-to-peer file sharing networks and by using other Internet applications.
Jose Remberto Guzman-Dominguez, 33, and Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Flores, 47, were arrested Nov. 14 on a criminal complaint by HSI special agents after officers of the New Mexico Motor Transportation Police allegedly found about 124 pounds of cocaine in their tractor-trailer.
John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, of Millsboro, Delaware, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware.
London resident Ahmad Feras Diri, 42, recently lost his extradition fight in the U.K. He turned himself over to HSI and Department of Commerce special agents Thursday morning and pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance today in the Middle District of Pennsylvania federal court in Scranton.
The indictment alleges that beginning in 2008, the organization distributed heroin, crack, cocaine, marijuana, Oxycodone and Alprazolam within 1,000 feet of a real property comprising the Luis Muñoz Morales and Brisas de Cayey public housing projects and the San Tomás and Canteras wards, all in the municipality of Cayey.
On the first day of drill with the 194th Wing, Mealer was asked by the commander (who became Mealer’s mentor and friend as well as the Washington State Air Surgeon), “How would you like to become a flight surgeon? The mission really needs one right now. Do you think you could be away from work and family for several weeks to do the training?”
Atul Nanda, 46, and his brother, Jiten "Jay" Nanda, 44, were each convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, and four counts of wire fraud.
Kouame Innocent Tanoh must also pay $671,760 in restitution and $651,769 in a forfeiture money judgment.
Updated:
Subscribe to ICE News