News Releases and Statements

An HSI Pensacola investigation led to the sentencing of Jason R. Moore, 43, of Milton, to 60 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

Jacqueline Rascon-Chacon, Bryan Gardea and Ricardo Landeros face charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. All three defendants appeared in federal court and will remain on conditions of release pending trial, which has not been scheduled.

The strategy announced today leverages HSI’s extensive expertise in investigating cross-border criminal activity and its unique access to customs and financial data to prevent illicit shipments of drug precursor chemicals from reaching U.S. borders. Interrupting the precursor supply chain further prevents the synthesis of drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamines. 

ERO Long Island Fugitive Operations apprehended the 23-year-old Honduran national without incident outside his residence in Copiague. He will remain in custody pending removal to Honduras.

The Prince George's County Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division arrested and charged him with sex abuse of a minor: household member; sex offense third degree; sex offense fourth degree-sex contact; sex abuse of a minor/continuing course of conduct with a child; and assault second degree in February 2021.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 33, of Culiacan, Mexico, was arraigned in federal court in Chicago Sept. 18 after his extradition from Mexico to the United States on Sept. 15. In January, Guzman Lopez was arrested in Mexico pursuant to a request from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and partner agencies for his provisional arrest with a view toward extradition.

The controlled substance was concealed inside six ice cream machines in a moving truck that arrived in Puerto Rico on a ferry from the Dominican Republic. The estimated street value of the seized contraband is $768,000. During a routine inspection of cargo from the marine vessel KYDON, officials discovered the bricks of cocaine.

The 37-year-old Brazilian citizen unlawfully entered the United States after U.S. Border Patrol encountered him near El Paso, Texas, in May 2019. Following his arrest, U.S. Border Patrol officials processed and released him after serving him with a notice to appear before a federal immigration judge.

According to court documents, special agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Division identified Anthony Perez-Diaz aka Krosty, 37; Anthony Perez-Perez aka Mundo, 43; Jose Ublies-Rivera aka Wichy, 49; and Emanuel Giovanni Hernandez-Miranda aka Goldo, 30, as narcotics distributors in January.

As a result of the investigation, Suez Rajan Limited pleaded guilty April 19, 2023, to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The company was thereafter sentenced to three years of corporate probation and fined almost $2.5 million.

Dereck Wayne Winstead, a 34-year-old resident of Bridge City, was found guilty of possession of child pornography following a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

On Sept. 11, 2023, HSI arrested Francisco Furiel Ramos-Dominguez, Coral Rivera-Mercado and Robeletti Ramos-Pagan for conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute after a grand jury returned an indictment against them on Sept. 6, 2023.

Individuals who lack a lawful basis to stay in the United States are ordered removed, consistent with U.S. law – all individuals who are removed have been screened for protection concerns.

Individuals who lack a lawful basis to stay in the United States are ordered removed, consistent with U.S. law – all individuals who are removed have been screened for protection concerns.

The Turkish citizen was temporarily admitted into the United States in June 2019 as a visitor. He was later granted nonimmigrant student status in January 2020 while in the United States. The individual had been sentenced May 3, 2019, under the Turkish Penal Code to three years and nine months in prison and fled to the United States without revealing his child sexual abuse conviction to U.S. authorities.

208 previously deported violent criminals referred for federal prosecution to discourage border migration in Salt Lake City area of responsibility to include Utah, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.

According to law enforcement officials, Joshuah Cruz Eberhart, 24, of Clay Springs, sent sexually explicit material involving a minor over the internet.

On Sept. 8, ERO Baltimore arrested an undocumented noncitizen who was convicted of sex crimes in Maryland. Deportation officers from the ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehensions Program took the 31-year-old Honduran national into custody at the Maryland Division of Corrections’ Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown. He will remain in ERO custody pending his removal from the United States.

The operation addressed unlawfully present noncitizens with felonies or misdemeanors for domestic violence, sexual abuse or exploitation, unlawful possession or use of a firearm, drug distribution or trafficking, or driving under the influence, and noncitizens with an executable final order of removal who have unlawfully reentered the United States after having been previously removed.

Eric Nana Kofi Ampong Coker, 41, of Columbia received a sentence of 30 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Sep. 6. 

ERO Philadelphia removed Iva Masinova, a citizen of the Czech Republic with a final order of removal, on Sept. 7. Law enforcement authorities in the Czech Republic are looking for Masinova for fraud, bodily harm and breach of the public peace.

ERO Washington, D.C. removed Jose Wilfredo Andrade, on Sep. 8, who is wanted by Salvadoran authorities for aggravated fraud. His removal and transfer of custody to the Salvadoran National Police (PNC) occurred without incident.

On Sept. 8, ERO Newark announced the local results of a nationwide enforcement operation conducted between Aug. 4 and Aug. 25 during which officers apprehended 18 removable noncitizens determined to be a threat to national security, public safety or border security.

Individuals who lack a lawful basis to stay in the United States are ordered removed, consistent with U.S. law – all individuals who are removed have been screened for protection concerns.

On Sept. 7, HSI Houston, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and various other federal, state and local law enforcement authorities announced charges brought against 39 individuals under the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Houston Violent Crime Initiative.