News Releases and Statements

Joseph Cespedes, 37, a Manchester police officer at the time of the HSI investigation, was associating with an individual in Lawrence, Massachusetts, who was the target of a separate drug-related investigation. Federal investigators discovered that the targeted drug dealer enlisted Cespedes to run criminal records checks on certain stolen identities to determine whether they were clear of outstanding arrest warrants.

U.S. schools must complete the Web-based Form I-17, "Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Students," before they can enroll international students. This form consists of several fields about the school, including its full legal name, mailing address, type of educational programs offered, accreditation information and more.

According to court documents, between 2010 and 2013, Vinston Boxton-Moises, 49, of San Andres Island, Colombia, was documented as having dispatched approximately 7.7 tons of cocaine on go-fast vessels (GFVs) ultimately destined for the United States and was a knowing and willing participant in an ongoing plan to smuggle cocaine by sea.

German Espinosa-Hernandez, aka Ferdinand Gonzalez-Velez, 36, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and three years of supervised release. On July 23, Alberto Bautista-Sanchez, 30, also a citizen of Mexico, living in the U.S. illegally, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

John Richard Balyo, 34, of Grand Rapids, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and up to a maximum of 50 years.

Arleigh Joe Esqueda, 35, of Newton, Iowa, pleaded guilty to the charge and received an immediate sentence on one count of knowingly possessing child pornography that included images of prepubescent children under 12.

Timothy Beaver, 49, was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, to forfeit the computer equipment he used to commit the office and to serve a life term of supervised release.

According to court documents, from 2003 until January 2005, Luis Alberto Urrego-Contreras acquired private aircraft and pilots on behalf of Colombian cocaine trafficker Fabio Enrique Ochoa-Vasco for the purpose of transporting cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. The cocaine was later imported into the United States for distribution by Ochoa-Vasco.

Roy Palomera, 24, was sentenced Monday by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. In addition to the prison term, Ishii ordered Palomera to pay $5,000 in restitution to one victim whose images he possessed.

According to court documents, Cassandra Hamilton, 55, of Tampa, engaged in a marriage fraud conspiracy spanning several years and in excess of ten marriages.

The 14 new arrests, made from Feb. 10 through July 22, include two school bus drivers who drove children in the community of Mays Landing and a Salem County man, Michael Van Culin, who allegedly hacked into the email account of a 16-year-old Canadian girl and used personal information he obtained to blackmail her into stripping naked on a webcam while he recorded her.

Mildred Betzaida Giron-Acebedo, 27, was transferred to the custody of the Guatemalan National Police in Guatemala City.

The following three individuals arrested July 25 had initial court appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal in federal court in Urbana: Monica Adriana Zacatlan-Ramirez, 19, of Urbana; Eduardo Guerrero-Cortez, 25, of Texas; and Jarbey Emerson Reyes-Villalobos, 18, of Champaign, Illinois. All three remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Richard Anthony Davis, 43, of Jamaica, was also ordered to forfeit $2,926, which is traceable to proceeds of the offenses. Davis pleaded guilty to these offenses April 30.

Marvin Ernesto Escalante-Roque, 33, first came into ERO custody in August 2010 after he was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas. ERO officers removed him from the United States in September 2010.

According to court documents, in November 2013, Kenneth A. Brauckmann used a social networking website to contact a user he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but in actuality, was an undercover Fairfax County police detective. Through online chats and text messages with the user, Brauckmann made arrangements to engage in sexual activity with her and her 13-year-old friend in his car.

Clare Rose Inc. is strengthening its hiring practices to ensure it is employing a legal workforce. IMAGE is a voluntary program that allows private sector businesses to partner with the agency to reduce unauthorized employment and the use of fraudulent identity documents. As a result, a participating employer is able to maintain a more secure, stable workforce.

Nerene Erica Harrison, 32, of St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23. Harrison was indicted Nov. 13, 2013, along with Robert Kenneth Scott Cruz.

Monica Mason, 49, of Lilburn, Georgia was involved in the scam along with her coconspirator, Shawn Foote, who knowingly prepared and addressed fraudulent mail containing counterfeit instruments to victims, who believed they were acting as mystery shoppers.

HSI International Operations Deputy Director David A. Thompson and Migración Colombia Director Sergio Bueno Aguirre signed the MOU at a ceremony held at Migración Colombia headquarters in Bogota.

A federal grand jury in Peoria, Illinois, returned an indictment July 22 charging Shannon Logan, 35, of Urbana, with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that from March 5 to May 30, Logan traded images on the Internet of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Frank Edwin Ness, 44, of Joplin, Missouri, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury. Ness' indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against him on July 17.

Dorn Vacklyn Webster, 53, a citizen of Anguilla, was arrested Thursday morning after ERO and local police identified a vehicle and found Webster inside. Webster is a convicted felon, with a 1985 second-degree murder conviction in the U.S. Virgin Islands and two convictions in Florida – one in 2001 for fraud and one in 2002 for burglary. Webster had been on the ERO most wanted fugitives list since January.

Luis Fernando Quintero-Heras, 44, and Jose Adrian Mendoza Del Muro, 33, were transferred to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General's Office. The two men are charged in connection with separate slayings in Mexico.

A ceremony was held at ICE headquarters in Washington to commemorate the MOU signing, the first of its kind between a U.S. agency and an agency from the Republic of Korea. The MOU was signed by ICE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas S. Winkowski and CHA Administrator Sun-hwa Rha.