News Releases and Statements

The owner of a local dollar supermarket and two of his employees were arrested on Tuesday, after a federal grand jury indicted the three men for food-stamp fraud, and other charges.

Phillip Andro Jamison, 31, of San Diego, entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jan Adler. His plea is now subject to final acceptance by the federal court judge, or at the sentencing scheduled for Aug. 1. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

More than 1,300 federal and local law enforcement officers fanned out Thursday morning across the Los Angeles harbor area to arrest 80 alleged members and associates of the Rancho San Pedro gang, capping a nearly three-year investigation that linked the group to firearms and narcotics trafficking.

Vincent Lee Evans, 30, of Fort Richardson, Alaska, became the target of an ICE HSI investigation following a referral from the German police in the state of Baden-Württemberg. German investigators provided evidence that Evans was using the Internet's peer-to-peer capabilities for illicit child pornography purposes.

A convicted drug trafficker and ring leader was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for possessing with intent to distribute 1,973 kilograms (4,341 pounds) of marijuana in June 2005.

Two Montana residents were sentenced on Thursday following their guilty pleas to distributing methamphetamine.

Federal agents with U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested 12 individuals today for their role in two drug smuggling operations out of U.S. airports. All of the individuals have been charged with drug trafficking and related charges to include conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute and illegal importation of narcotics.

Jon Leslie Lyons, 45, a former local high school teacher was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in September 2010 to three counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

A local man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to five years in federal prison for his role in a criminal enterprise involving illegal aliens working in 14 states.

Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) have deported a Colombian national to Bogota after being jailed in the U.S. for her role in providing support for a terrorist organization known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

A man wanted for torturing prisoners in Brazil in 2005 was deported on Tuesday and turned over to Brazilian authorities Wednesday morning by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Brendan Clery, 34, of Miami, pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally importing about 278,256 kilograms of the ozone depleting substance hydro chlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22), following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division.

Melvin Sorto, 24, also known as Killer, was sentenced today to a prison term of life plus 45 years for his role in a series of crimes, including the murder of one victim and the blinding of another, committed by the MS-13 gang in the Washington, D.C. area in 2006 and 2007 following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

The phone rings at 1:32 a.m. At that hour, the news can't be good. The agent on the line received a referral from a local law enforcement partner who encountered an abused and exploited individual, potentially someone who has been trafficked for sex or labor. Luckily, a victim assistance specialist is from U.S. ICE.

Angel Ayala-Vazquez and his brother Luis X. Cruz-Vazquez were found guilty Tuesday of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute narcotics within Puerto Rico and from Puerto Rico to several eastern seaboard states, following a joint investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)...

Today at ICE headquarters, ICE Director John Morton and CBP Assistant Commissioner Thomas S. Winkowski repatriated 99 pre-Columbian artifacts seized as a result of operations by ICE's HSI and CBP in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., to Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli.

Manuel Garcia-Martinez, a/k/a Daniel Garcia-Martinez, a/k/a Marco Hernandez , 35, of Graniteville, S.C., and Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, pled guilty Monday in federal court in Columbia, to illegal re-entry into the United States after deportation.

To coincide with World IP Day, ICE' HSI has launched a new PSA that aims to raise awareness of the economic impact of IP theft.

Five members and principal leaders of an illegal drug and money transportation cell based in Brownsville, Texas, pleaded guilty on Monday to smuggling into the U.S. and transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, along with millions of dollars in drug proceeds.

Two local men were sentenced on Monday to lengthy federal prison terms for holding smuggled aliens hostage for ransom payments, announced U.S. Attorney Jose Angel Moreno, Southern District of Texas.

In less than one week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (ICE) special agents, arrested three Puerto Rican men on child pornography charges. The arrests coincide with April's Crimes Against Children Awareness Month.

Alexander Litt, 47, the owner of a company that provided illegal workers to hotels and restaurants in Pittsburgh and three other cities, was sentenced Monday to 56 months in federal prison following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Litt was one of six people indicted in a December 2008 investigation...

Emmanuel Tavarez, 31, a former officer with the New York Police Department (NYPD) pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy charges of robbery and narcotics distribution and the use of a firearm in carrying out these crimes, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Edward Bernas, 63, of Mundelein, Ill., a former competitive ice skating coach, was taken into federal custody Monday to begin serving a 14-year prison sentence for possessing child pornography. Bernas pleaded guilty in October to storing child pornography on his PC in 2008.

Van Bodden-Martinez, A Bahamian national residing in Palm Beach County, Fla., was arrested for attempting to import spiny lobster, queen conch and yellowtail snapper which had been harvested without a permit. The arrest resulted from a joint investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), North Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin...