News Releases and Statements
News Releases and Statements
Of the other 120 aliens ERO removed, 39 were Failure to Comply (FTC) subjects who previously resisted removal attempts. One particularly egregious individual on the flight was an aggravated felon who possessed convictions for First Degree Kidnapping with Use of a Deadly Weapon, Sexual Assault With Use Of A Deadly Weapon, and Trafficking In Controlled Substance – crimes for which he earned sentences of 15 years, 25 years, and 12 months in prison.
ICE HSI has awarded up to $4.25 million to Marshall University for the development and implementation of a tool to aid in opioid investigations.
After his arrest in November 2018, a second search revealed Daniel Eric Merida, 35, El Dorado, Kansas, had used online storage to transport more child pornography, and he was in possession of more child pornography on his phone.
Jose Loza, 40, the lead defendant in a 2016 federal grand jury indictment charging 51 Canta Ranas members and associates, was convicted Thursday afternoon of 12 felonies. Canta Ranas is a multi-generational criminal enterprise engaged in murder, attempted murder, assault, extortion, money laundering, and drug distribution.
Christian Alexander Augustus, 23, a.k.a. “Sir Ceeco,” was arrested in Stockton on Monday. He made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on August 28, and was ordered detained pending trial. He remains in federal custody in Sacramento and will be transferred to this district at a later date to face the charges against him.
Joshua David LeCompte, 34, pleaded guilty on Feb. 21, 2019, to distributing child pornography and was sentenced Aug. 28 to 151 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone.
Last week, Kevin Dean McCoy, 28, of Tucson, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg. Silvester Ruelas, 50, of Peoria, Ariz., was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Christopher Chad Pool, aka “Cityboy,” 40, will serve 20 years in prison for drug and gun crimes, while Owen Henry Long Jr., aka “Ardmore,” 38, will serve more than 28 years in prison for a drug offense.
Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Daniel Flores-Ventura, aka “Necio,” 26, of Aspen Hill, Maryland, to 360 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
Benjamin Gil Aguilera, 57, Jose Ramos-Delgadillo, 32, and Ariane Ramos-Piccone, 33, were each originally charged by criminal complaint.
Emilio Testa, 32, an Australian national and Boulder, Colorado resident, was sentenced Aug. 22 to one year and one day in federal prison for money laundering Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency otherwise known as digital cash.
Adam Donald Bennet, 36, pleaded guilty in April to one count of sexually exploiting children following an HSI-led investigation. He was sentenced Aug. 23 by Senior U.S. District Judge John McBryde.
Kunal Kalra, 25 – who was also known as “Kumar,” “shecklemayne” and “coinman” – was charged today in a four-count criminal information filed in U.S. District Court and is expected to make his initial court appearance next month.
According to the plea agreement, during the months of May through August of 2018, Báez-Aponte used the Facebook Messenger application to communicate with a 12-year-old male to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce the minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct. Báez-Aponte requested sexually explicit photos from the male minor and sent him sexually explicit photos. The sexually explicit conduct occurred in at least four times at the defendant’s residence.
Jackeline Hortencia Ramirez, 34, of Waco, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Southern District of Texas, to150 months in federal prison.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between May and September 2018, Israel Perez conspired with other persons to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl as part of a drug trafficking organization.
Jordan Monroe, 54, has been detained in federal custody since his arrest by HSI special agents and members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force on May 12, 2016, when, during a court-authorized search of his residence, he was found to be in possession of tens of thousands of images and nearly a thousand videos containing child pornography.
Ziyaya Mtola, 45, who was convicted following a 2018 jury trial of assaulting an officer and destroying government property was turned over to ICE for removal in February 2019, as the agency made final preparations for his repatriation.
Joseph Lavern Harris, 32, of Rigby, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to 300 months in prison, for sexual exploitation of a minor child, Brad Bench of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Seattle field office and U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.
In addition to the 160-month sentence, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm, Central District of Illinois, also ordered that Eric Ingram, 31, of Washington, Illinois, remain on supervised release for eight years following his release from incarceration.
Rami Najm Asad-Ghanem, 53, who was commonly known as Rami Ghanem, a naturalized United States citizen who was living in Egypt at the time of the offenses, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.