News Releases and Statements

Kevin Weiner, 42, was arrested March 23 and charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to sexually coerce and entice a minor by computer. The complaint alleges that Weiner placed a craigslist ad entitled "Older looking to suck younger." Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) officers responded to the ad and scheduled a face-to-face meeting with Weiner.

A federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., returned a two-count indictment against three Chinese nationals for trafficking in counterfeit goods and conspiracy, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

U.S. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents on Wednesday deported a Mexican national who is suspected of raping a 6-year-old girl, who later died as a result, in Mexico in 1997. He was escorted to the border and handed over to Mexican federal officials to face these charges after he evaded Mexican courts for more than 14 years.

"Four family members from Bogota, Columbia, were indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury on various counts of illegally attempting to export 22 F-5 jet fighter engines to Iran. According to the complaint affidavit, Iran produces an aircraft named ""Saegeh,"" which is compatible with F-5 fighter engines."

A Brazilian national, who is wanted for a 1991 murder, was deported on Tuesday by local officers with U.S. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Joao de Oliveira, 51, was charged in January 1997 for the murder of Absolon Ferreira de Souza. On April 15, 1991, De Oliveira and the victim had an altercation outside a bar...

A Bosnian national woman in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) passed away Sunday night at McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah, of an apparent heart attack.

A local woman was sentenced Tuesday to a year in prison for transporting, harboring and hiring illegal aliens to work at the Chinese restaurant she managed. Between January 2009 and August 2010, Hua Huang was manager of the China Buffet/Mongolian Grill in Poplar Bluff. During that time she regularly employed several illegal aliens from Mexico...

Evidence introduced at sentencing showed that on April 29, 2010, Michael Alan Reaid, 28, of Tallahassee, was found possessing about 24,000 images of child pornography, including sadistic and masochistic images, and depictions of sex acts with children as young as 2 years old.

According to court documents, Roland J. Flath, 71, of Lamartine, Wis., allegedly traveled to Belize in July 2006 and sexually molested a local girl.

"A Canadian man who attempted to smuggle potent ""B.C. Bud"" marijuana into a remote area of Washington's Olympic Peninsula was sentenced Monday to 30 months in federal prison, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).Engine trouble prevented the men from fleeing back to Canada after being seen by a USBP agent."

A 21-year-old man was arrested Saturday for producing and possessing child porn, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD).

A Bahamian national, who fled to the United States to avoid a prison sentence on a murder charge in his native country, was turned over to Bahamian authorities Wednesday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

A South African national, who is wanted in his home country for fraud and forgery, was deported on Friday and turned over to South African law enforcement officials by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers.

The leader of a human smuggling organization with ties to the Avenues street gang was sentenced Monday to 25 years in federal prison, one of the longest prison terms ever imposed locally in an alien smuggling case.

A senior attorney with U.S. ICE was sentenced to 212 months in federal prison following a multi-agency investigation that revealed he took nearly $500,000 in bribes from immigrants who were promised immigration benefits that would allow them to remain in the United States.

In addition, U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ordered that John Alan Conroy, 37, who has been in custody since his July 2010 arrest on a related charge, serve a lifetime of supervised release following his imprisonment.

A previously deported Honduran national has been indicted for federal firearms violations following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Raymond Watts, 55, of Kingston, Ga., a teacher at Mill Creek Middle School in Woodstock, Ga., was arraigned Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of distribution and possession of child pornography, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Devon Samuels, 45, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer of Stockbridge, Ga., pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to conspiring to launder drug money and attempting to smuggle guns onto an airplane.

A Mexican national living in Anchorage was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in prison for drug and firearms crimes, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Lt. Cmdr. Mark Tilford, 43, of Corpus Christi, Texas, an active duty attorney with the Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography before U.S. District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack.

Two men from El Salvador, both wanted on separate murder charges, were deported on Thursday by officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).

Shane Jay Fleetwood, 41, of Ava, Mo., pleaded guilty March 16 before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr, interrupting a jury trial that began the day before.

A woman from Saint Basil, New Brunswick, Canada, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to bringing an illegal alien into the United States.

Maria Azada, 53, of Grayslake, Ill., was arrested March 17 by ICE HSI agents and a Lake County State's Attorneys special investigator. Azada faces 17 felony counts in Lake County Circuit Court of perjury, mutilation of election materials, and tampering with voting machines in connection with illegal voting by a non-U.S. citizen.