News Releases and Statements

According to court documents, Sierra Danyelle Halsey, 23, became involved in the conspiracy when she was contacted by co-conspirator Robert Harold Scott Jr. under his assumed online identity of "Mike Pyro."

Misael Perla," 26, of Dallas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 300 months in federal prison. Hugo Sanchez, 25, also of Dallas, was sentenced by Judge Godbey to an aggregate sentence of 360 months in federal prison.

Justin Turcheck, 29, of Abilene, Texas, who is on bond, faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Jose Cruz Romero-Flores, 39, Felix Rios-Martinez, 48, and Raul Romero-Castillo, 31, all from Lakewood, were sentenced to five years in state prison for conspiracy to facilitate human trafficking. Santos Lazaero Florez-Cruz, 59, of Union City and Haliro Bueno, 22, of Lakewood, were sentenced to three years for promoting prostitution.

Jesse Oziah, 19, previously pleaded guilty in February to two counts of production of child pornography.

Tomas Camargo-Chavez, 39, aka Thomas Camargo, aka Thomas Camargo-Chavez, aka Scarface, of Poteau, Oklahoma, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James H. Payne to 63 months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Jesus Gabriel Ibarra-Espinoza, 41, was arrested Aug. 12 in Centennial, Colorado, by ERO’s Denver Fugitive Operations Team.

The victims ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old, and were forced into prostitution in the Boca Chica area. Sixteen of the 25 victims were minors; 12 were girls and four were boys.

Antonio-Bonifacio admitted manufacturing and selling six fraudulent green cards and six fraudulent Social Security cards in September 2013.

David P. Harlan, pleaded guilty in January 2014 to the charge first lodged in 2010. Following a lead from German law enforcement, investigators obtained a search warrant in March 2010. The search of Harlan's home turned up more than 5,300 images and nearly 200 videos of child pornography on 10 computers and other digital storage media.

Francisco Soares, 44, of Foxborough and Paul Stein, 58, of Mashpee, were charged with conspiracy to impersonate a federal officer and falsely impersonating a federal agent.

The remaining two defendants of 36 accused in the Southern District of Texas of racketeering activities as part of their roles with the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) have pleaded guilty, capping a six-year sweeping effort that led to 73 convictions across five federal districts and the decimation of the gang's leadership and violent members and associates.

Apolinar Ortiz Islas, aka Polo, 44, a citizen of Mexico, illegally present in the United States, was sentenced to 14 years and two months imprisonment after being found guilty following a 3-day trial in October 2013.

Ramon Miguel Cerros-Cruz, 24, of Hyattsville, was sentenced after pleading guilty to the charge.

Juan Carlos Hernandez, 44, of El Paso, Texas, faces 10 years in federal prison, according to the terms of his plea agreement. His prison sentence is to be followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. Hernandez also will be required to register as a sex offender.

Gregory Bogomol, 38, of Fort Worth, was arrested in May on a related federal criminal complaint and has been in custody since that time. He was employed by the Denton (Texas) Independent School District as a teacher at Denton High School. He resigned from that position the week before his arrest.

Christopher L. Modglin, 45, of Stotts City, Missouri, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to manufacture child pornography.

Antonio Govea Figueroa, 43, of Nederland, Texas, pleaded guilty Aug. 13 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith F. Giblin after being charged with wire fraud.

A federal grand jury indicted James T. McBride, of Columbus, Ohio, May 14 of one count of conspiracy, one count of causing the impersonation of a diplomat and four counts of producing false identification documents.

Eric Lee Bederson, 37, an inmate at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to two counts of distributing child pornography.

Kirk Simmons, 60, of Newark, Delaware, was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following his prison sentence and register as a sex offender.

According to the indictments, from at least July 2008 to April 2014, conspirators in the United States and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, sold the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens, corresponding Social Security cards, Puerto Rico birth certificates and other identification documents to illegal aliens and others residing in the United States.

Esteban Villegas-Gamez, 39, formerly of Bellevue admitted in a May plea agreement to selling methamphetamine and firearms to a confidential informant working with investigators. Court records state Villegas-Gamez made multiple illegal sales between November 2013 and January 2014. He admitted the combined total of the methamphetamine he sold the informant during the different transactions was in excess of 50 grams.

Jesse William Korff, 19, of LaBelle, Florida, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of developing, producing, transferring and possessing toxins, five counts of smuggling toxins and one count of conspiring to kill a person in a foreign country.

Olayinka Ilumsa Sunmola, 31, of Lagos, Nigeria, was arrested Aug. 9 in connection with a recently unsealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Illinois. Sunmola was arrested by London Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Airport as he was about to board a British Airways flight bound for Johannesburg, South Africa, where he currently resides and conducts his activities.