News Releases and Statements

According to court documents, Oct. 27, 2014, an agent with HSI conducted an online investigation into individuals who were using peer-to-peer software to share child pornography files. The agent connected with a computer belonging to Michael Eugene Read, 60, of Naples, and downloaded four videos depicting child pornography.

“Monday’s chain of events is a testament to the unity of effort by federal law enforcement in Arizona to attack and neutralize the drug smuggling threat,” said Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of HSI Arizona.

Michael Brandner, 67, was convicted following a seven-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason of the District of Alaska. According to the indictment and evidence introduced at trial, in late 2007, shortly after Brandner’s wife filed for divorce, he collected millions of dollars in marital assets and secretly drove from Tacoma, Washington, to Costa Rica.

Wensink, a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army, volunteered to drive the trail vehicle in the convoy while she was serving in Iraq. Wensink explained that the trail vehicle is the last in the convoy and it maintains security and keeps the other vehicles safe.

Luis Alfonso Cantu-Maya, 48, and Luis Jesus Cantu-Garcia, 21, were turned over to Mexican authorities at the top of El Paso’s Stanton International Bridge. They face charges for aggravated homicide, aggravated assault and aggravated robbery.

The jury convicted Brady Rodriguez-Cruz, aka Marcos Antonio Rodriguez-Mejia, 33, from Irving, Texas, on one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children. Rodriguez-Cruz also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing counterfeit documents. On Oct. 22, Luis Rivera, 19, also of Irving, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children.

All of the foreign nationals targeted by ICE ERO officers during last week's enforcement action had prior criminal convictions. Many had criminal histories that included convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes and assault.

No one knew Zento better than ICE HSI Special Agent Patrick Strait.

According to the statement of facts, on Nov. 10, 2014, Richard Midgett, 50, used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to distribute a computer file depicting child pornography.

Shane Perry Anderson, 25, pleaded guilty Sept. 21 to state charges of viewing and possessing child pornography. According to court documents, beginning in August 2013, HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center began investigating an individual with the username “Spapeoria” who was commenting on a free file sharing website.

According to court records, Robert Earl Rice, 48, of Neptune Beach, used his email address to trade and receive videos of child pornography. He admitted to viewing and collecting child pornography from 2012 until April 2014, and he also admitted to using search terms to find child pornography on the Internet. Rice pleaded guilty June 24, 2015.

A federal grand jury returned a 32-count indictment charging nine defendants, all residing in the United States illegally, in an interstate human trafficking conspiracy. The defendants are: Edegardo Osorno Rodriguez; Antonio Flores-Vargas; Jose Juan Ruiz Prudencio; Jose Alvaro Trujillo-Santiz; Rosa Mirtha Cruz Vidal; Mauro Gonzalez-Lira; Romon Tobon; Lazaro Juarez-Juarez; Emerson Corvera.

Uriel Silva-Garcia, 24, of Turicato, Michoacán, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana and possessing firearms in furtherance of a large-scale cultivation operation located near Little Poso Creek in the Sequoia National Forest.

James Peyton Busbee Jr., 30, from Victoria, Texas, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey; sentencing is set for Feb. 1. At that time, Busbee faces a minimum of 15 and up to 30 years in federal prison.

A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment Thursday against Armando Arnoldo Martinez-Tinoco, 36; his brother, Juan Carlos Martinez-Tinoco, 41; and Luis Enrique Flores, 23, all of Mexico; and Ivan De Jesus Jimenez, 30, of La Puente, charging them with a conspiracy to cultivate marijuana on public land, cultivating and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, and damaging public land and natural resources.

A jury deliberated for more than three hours Oct. 30 before returning guilty verdicts against Marcus B. Fifer, 44, for producing child pornography.

Jony William Guillen-Alvarado, 27, was repatriated under tight security, escorted by members of ERO’s operations coordination team. Upon arriving in San Pedro Sula, Guillen was transferred to the custody of Honduran law enforcement.

In addition to these arrests, HSI identified 15 potential human trafficking victims from brothels across the southeastern United States with assistance from the DHS JTF-I, ICE ERO, CBP, FEMA and multiple state/local law enforcement agencies.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen sentenced Anthony Dane Roberty, 54, of Bozeman, Montana, following a July 16 hearing in which Roberty pleaded guilty to the offense. The sentence will run concurrently with state sentences Roberty is also serving for felony DUI.

Corderro Cody, 27 pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, conspiracy to transport individuals both intrastate and interstate for the purpose of prostitution, one count of sex trafficking of a minor and 12 counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.

The federal grand jury in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania indicted Jose Ramos, 33, Wednesday and charged him with being a previously convicted of an aggravated felon offence and being deported from the United States in 2010.

On Oct. 29, U.S. District Judge Randy Crane, accepted the guilty plea of Daniel Salvador Gomez-Reyes, 43, from Mexico.

Noe Arturo Castillo, 43, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $21,082 to the federal government. In July 2015, Castillo pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, passport fraud, theft of public money, and misuse of a Social Security number.

John Pearce, 30, previously admitted to participating in the conspiracy, which distributed alpha-pvp to customers during Dec. 2011 through Aug. 2013.