News Releases and Statements

FLETA plays a critical role in supporting the training of federal law enforcement officers, agents, and other personnel.

Federal, state, and local law enforcement partners from across the United States, including HSI, executed a nationwide, coordinated takedown Nov. 2 of leaders and associates of a national network of thieves, dealers, and processors for their roles in conspiracies involving stolen catalytic converters sold to a metal refinery for tens of millions of dollars. Arrests, searches, and seizures took place in California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wyoming. In total, 21 individuals in five states have been arrested and/or charged for their roles in the conspiracy.

Gaston Perez, a 40-year-old Brownsville resident, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas, Nov. 1, to transporting unlawfully present noncitizens within the United States.

Jose Adame Jr., a 44-year-old resident of Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty Tuesday in the Southern District of Texas to possession with intent to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin.

David William McKeon, 67, of Laredo, was sentenced Nov. 2, to 57 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. In handing down the sentence, the court repeatedly emphasized McKeon’s actions resulted in endangering over 100 people.

A Tucson federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 49 firearms-related offenses against 12 people following a multiagency investigation, which included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, HSI. CBP Office of Field Operations, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. The following individuals were indicted: Victor Coronado; Fernando Palomares, Jr.; Julissa Leonor Torres; Carlos Fernando Palomares-Leon; Briana Marie Montpetit; Karla Romero; Avery Danelle Gipson; Kevin Allen Lapedus; Ray Alberto Laborin; Elizar Olivares; Kyle Rene Fazlollah; Ty-Jhai Damon Grigsby.

Cory Lavell Smith, also known as “Fatz,” 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 18 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Smith to 20 years of supervised release following his incarceration.

Raymond Dugan was sentenced on Oct. 27, to four years and six months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for accessing with the intent to view prepubescent child pornography. Dugan must also register as a sex offender. A federal jury found Dugan guilty following a one-day trial.

The indictment alleges that the 10 individuals were members of a Tucson-based firearms trafficking organization. The investigation leading to their indictment involved a series of firearms transactions that resulted in firearms being seized in the Republic of Mexico.

Savannah Nicole Valdez, 20, from Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to smuggling wildlife into the United States without first declaring and invoicing it and fleeing an immigration checkpoint.

Nathanal Pace, a 27-year-old Detroit resident, was arrested in December 2019, after local police received tips that someone in his residence had been trading child pornography online using a cloud-based storage service and a social media application. HSI Detroit special agents determined the individual to be Pace, and executed a search warrant at his residence. During the search, Pace admitted to sexually assaulting multiple children, and creating child pornography.

Robert Allen Yost, 61, of Phoenix, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sex traffic children and production of child pornography, as well as conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit. Upon release from prison, Yost will be placed on lifetime supervised release with sex offender conditions and will be required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, Matthew Alan McNair, 41, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was in Indiana in the summer of 2017 when he utilized an electronic device to take sexually explicit photographs of an 18-month-old infant. McNair took multiple sexually explicit photos of the infant on at least three different dates that summer.

MLB has a comprehensive anti-counterfeiting program, including official MLB holograms affixed to all officially licensed MLB products to protect fans looking to purchase genuine MLB merchandise. Counterfeiters target major events, such as the World Series, where fans are eager to take home memorable keepsakes.

Jorge Mario Manjarrez-Reyes, 30, was also ordered to be placed on a lifetime of supervised release and pay a $5,000 assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Ashley Yen Nguyen, 58, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $334,605 in fines. Nguyen pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 5, 2020. As part of her plea, she admitted to conspiring to engage in marriage fraud, mail fraud, immigration fraud, money laundering and making false statements in a tax return.

Richard Blake Howard, a 28-year-old resident of Dickinson, Texas, was sentenced in the Southern District of Texas to 174 and 120 months for the receipt and possession of child pornography convictions, respectively. The two sentences will run concurrently for a total of 174 months in prison.

On Jan. 8, 2020, Hector Diaz Perez and Abel Perez Valdivia were traveling east on Interstate 80 in Buffalo County when they were stopped by a Nebraska State Patrol trooper for driving onto the shoulder of the road twice. The two gave conflicting stories about their travel.

HSI conducted a large-scale enforcement action in Guatemala that led to the execution of 20 arrest warrants and 54 search warrants in Guatemala City, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Oct. 24-25. HSI Guatemala executed the operation in conjunction with the HSI Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU) and Guatemalan authorities.

Jeffery Dean Biddle, 41, pleaded guilty Oct. 26, to production and attempted production of child pornography, receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, and enticement and attempted enticement of a minor.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into the theft of several semi-trailers and loads of frozen beef in Lancaster County, Nebraska, June 27.

In addition to the lengthy prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney imposed a 20-year period of supervised release to follow the incarceration of 41-year-old Chad Kraft, from Galesburg, Michigan.

Thomas Scott Perkins, 31, from Fort Stockton, was sentenced Oct. 25 in federal court to 1,890 months in federal prison.

Billy Edward Frederick, 52, of Redondo Beach, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who after sentencing Frederick to life, said that “to say his conduct is despicable is an understatement.”

The results of a multi-agency undercover operation supported by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and led by the Phoenix Police Department Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEaT) Unit, was announced Oct. 24.