News Releases and Statements

David Paul Robinson, 31, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with numerous offenses including the rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, manufacturing and dissemination of child abuse material, and other related charges. 

During the operation, HSI seized five pounds of methamphetamine, $28,000 in cash, 14 firearms (9 long arms and five handguns), and six suppressors.

As alleged in the superseding indictment, from at least in or about the late 1990s, up to and including the date of the superseding indictment, Michael J. Miske, Jr., aka “Bro,” John B. Stancil, Kaulana Freitas, aka “Shorty,” Lance L. Bermudez, aka “Hammah,” Dea Han Moon, aka “Dayday,” Preston M. Kimoto, Harry K. Kauhi, aka “Harry Boy,” Norman L. Akau III, Hunter J. Wilson, and Jarrin K. Young, the defendants, and others known and unknown, conspired to conduct and participate in the conduct of the affairs of a racketeering enterprise, the “Miske Enterprise,” through a pattern of racketeering activity.

Onoval Perez-Montufa, 51, was pronounced dead at 4:27 p.m. local time by hospital medical staff at the Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade, Florida, where he had been receiving inpatient treatment since July 1 after reporting shortness of breath that same day to facility staff at the Glades County Detention Center.

ICE arrested Alvaro Cuatate-Xochicale, 57, and Miguel Guzman-Reyna, 58, both unlawfully present Mexican nationals, and Jonathan De Jesus-Lopez, 20, an unlawfully present Dominican national, in the boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx, July 6, without incident.

Kassim Tajideen, 65, arrived in Beirut July 8, on an ICE Air charter. Tajideen entered ICE custody June 11 at the Federal Correctional Institute in Cumberland, Maryland, where he was serving a federal sentence for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in furtherance of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

HSI Detroit seized the internet domain “http://lafoauto.com/” pursuant to an international arms-trafficking investigation. HSI determined that more than 350 suppressors seized by law enforcement across the county were purchased from the website and smuggled into the United States from China as automotive parts.

On Wednesday, ICE’s ERO arrested Rene Atilio Ramos-Hernandez, 56, at his place of work in Washington, D.C. He is subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge and will remain in ICE custody until his removal from the U.S.

The goal of the program is for participants to become familiar with how and why ICE carries out its mission.

Arturo David Aguilera-Viveros, 36, who was living in Adams County, Colorado, was originally charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin.

Unlawfully present Mexican national, Roberto Montes-Lopez, 37, was arrested without incident from the Weber County Jail after being released from custody.

According to court documents, on June 17, 2019, James Edward Groover, II, 34, of Antwerp, Ohio, returned to the United States from a three-day cruise to the Bahamas, carrying his cell phone and laptop computer. Upon his entry into Port Canaveral, Florida, law enforcement agents conducted a border search of his devices and located 4,638 images and 1,763 videos depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of infants, toddlers and prepubescent children.

Mexican citizen Ivan Dario Puga-Moreno, 31, was sentenced July 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to transport unlawfully present aliens into the United States causing death or serious bodily injury.

Bernard Lopez, 40, of Sayreville, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of bank fraud, one count of theft of government funds and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was arrested July 6, appeared July 8 by teleconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis in the Southern District of Florida, and is expected to appear by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre later this week.

According to the indictment, beginning by at least some date in 2016, Edward Alan Hardin, 33, of Pomona Park, began soliciting a child victim to engage in commercial sex acts, knowing that the victim was younger than 18 years old.

Geoffrey Eldridge Hull, 40, who maintained offices on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, was arrested Wednesday evening by special agents with ICE's HSI. Hull was arrested pursuant to a federal grand jury indictment that charges him with six counts of wire fraud related to his “lease consignment” program.

The drugs and weapons were seized from two separate marijuana grow houses in St. Tammany Parish and Orleans Parish. Hung Q. Nguyen, Phi Q. Nguyen, and Tuan Q. Nguyen were arrested and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail for Cultivation of Marijuana, Possession with Intent to Distribute Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance, Creation/Operation of a Clandestine Laboratory, Drug Conspiracy, and Racketeering.

Unlawfully present Salvadoran national Saul Alberto Benavides, 35, was flown from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, to the Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, on a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit.

On June 6, 2019, Berrios-Trinidad arranged to bring two underage females to a hotel for a "sex party" with adult men. On that evening, he arrived with two girls, ages 14 and 17. Once inside the hotel room, Berrios-Trinidad was arrested, and the victims were rescued.

In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the 287(g) program resulted in almost 25,000 law enforcement encounters with aliens in the custody of participating jurisdictions.

Ruben Maldonado-Espino, 30, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, Southern District of Texas. Since he is not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face deportation proceedings following his incarceration.

Rowan Olsen, 19, of Portland, is charged with disorderly conduct, creating a hazard on federal property, and failing to obey a lawful order; Shant Singh Ahuja, 28, of Oceanside, California, is charged with destruction of federal property; and Andrew Steven Faulkner, 24, of Beaverton, Oregon; Gretchen Margaret Blank, 29, of Seattle, Washington; Christopher Fellini, 31, of Portland; Cody Porter, 28, of Portland; and Taimane Jame Teo, 24, of Eugene, Oregon, are charged with assaulting federal officers.

Elvis Antonio Velasquez-Molina, 29, from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE officers May 23 near Staten Island, New York after a warrant for his arrest was discovered during a records check.

Following an investigation by ICE’s HSI New York’s CPAA unit with assistance from U.S. CBP, Ashraf Omar Eldarir, a U.S. citizen, is being charged with smuggling Egyptian cultural property into the United States.

Due to COVID-19, SEVP instituted a temporary exemption regarding online courses for the spring and summer semesters. This policy permitted nonimmigrant students to take more online courses than normally permitted by federal regulation to maintain their nonimmigrant status during the COVID-19 emergency.