News Releases and Statements

Javier Arnoldo Ceron Gomez, 21, was repatriated on board a charter flight coordinated by ERO’s Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival at the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, ERO officers turned the suspect over to top-level Salvadoran judicial and immigration officials.

Kyuseop Maeng, 50, was transported from Los Angeles to South Korea on board a commercial aircraft escorted by officers from ICE ERO. Maeng is charged with fraud in a criminal warrant issued in January 2011 by Korean authorities. Specifically, the warrant alleges that, during a one-month period beginning in November 2010, Maeng embezzled the equivalent of $3.5 million from investors in his trading company before fleeing to the U.S.

Isaias Perez-Pineda, 43, was turned over to Mexican authorities at the top of El Paso’s Stanton International Bridge. Perez-Pineda is a suspect in the 1995 homicide of Juventino Rojas Sanchez, 33, in Mexico’s capital.

Ricardo Valentino Lee Mc Carthy, 43, was repatriated under ERO escort on board a commercial flight from McCarren International Airport. Upon arrival, ERO officers turned the suspect over to authorities from the Panamanian Judicial Police. Mc Carthy is wanted in Panama for a murder that occurred Aug. 27, 2002.

All 244 of the foreign nationals taken into custody by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers during the enforcement action, which concluded Thursday, had prior criminal convictions. The majority (56 percent) had criminal records that included felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes, weapons charges and drug violations. The remaining arrestees had past convictions for significant or multiple misdemeanors.

According to Salvadoran authorities Luis Antonio Garcia Garcia, 38, is a confirmed member of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Among MS-13 members, Garcia goes by the moniker “El Shaggy”. He is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide related to an incident on April 12, 2008 when Garcia allegedly shot a male victim multiple times, resulting in the victim’s death on the scene.

Victoriano Enrique Larios, 30, was flown to El Salvador Aug. 27 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Larios was turned over to officials from the El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

Marseno Augusto Martins, 51, and Evandro Sergio Pais-Franca, 57, were turned over to Brazilian law enforcement authorities upon their respective arrivals at Belo Horizonte Airport in Brazil on Aug. 17 and 18.

Diego Oswaldo Jauregui-Rosales, 31, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

Katherine Giselle Ortiz Gutierrez, 18, was flown to El Salvador Aug. 21 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Ortiz Gutierrez was turned over to officials from the El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

All 61 individuals arrested have been convicted of crimes in the United States and fall within ICE enforcement priorities. Of those arrested, 21 have felony convictions and 14 have aggravated felony convictions.

The 300th capture was Elmer Francisco Reyes, a 30-year-old Honduran man, wanted on a warrant for aggravated sexual assault by Honduran law enforcement authorities who issued a warrant for his arrest in August 2010.

Walter Antonio Larios-Hernandez, 34, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested on the morning of Aug. 14 after ERO officers located him outside of a residence in Norfolk. Larios-Hernandez was convicted in New Mexico of criminal sexual penetration of a child in 2003 and had separate convictions in Virginia including a conviction for driving under the influence in 2007.

Alexander Pineda-Ponce, 33, was flown to El Salvador Aug. 14 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Pineda was turned over to officials from the El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

According to Guatemalan authorities Oscar Lopez Guerra, 32, is wanted on possession of firearms charges after he allegedly was involved in a carjacking attempt that resulted in one innocent bystander’s death and another person wounded.

Florin Hristea, 36, who also goes by Constantin Pendus, was going through immigration proceedings in the United States when Romanian authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in December 2012 to serve five years in prison for a conviction of fraud and using forged documents.

On June 17, the Des Moines Fugitive Operations Team arrested Ceu Awi Thang, 30, a citizen and national of Burma, who had been convicted for the sexual abuse of 15-year-old girl. He was sentenced to prison for ten years, two years of supervised probation and ordered to register as a sex offender on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life.

Timoteo Gonzalez-Leiva, 42, of Honduras, was encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in January following the completion of his prison sentence for a battery conviction in Caddo Parish.

Thirty fugitive or convicted criminal aliens were arrested in or around Oklahoma City, or around Guymon, Oklahoma, during a four-day initiative that ended Sunday, and was conducted by local officers from ICE ERO.

Fourteen convicted criminal aliens were arrested in Lubbock during a four-day initiative that ended Sunday which was conducted by local officers from ICE ERO.

Overall, their convictions include: driving while intoxicated, assault with bodily injury on a family member, purchasing/furnishing alcohol to a minor, engaging in organized criminal activity, alien smuggling and theft.

William Antonio Martinez-Aguilar, 36, was turned over to Mexican Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) and Interpol officers without incident through the Nogales, DeConcini Port of Entry in Arizona on July 21 about 3 p.m.

On July 17, officers removed Alexander Mendoza-Hernandez to El Salvador, where he was wanted for extortion. In a separate case, Cesar David Rodriguez Lopez, of Guatemala, was wanted by Guatemalan authorities on three criminal warrants for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and forged documents.

Lucio Quiroz-Beltran, 41, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office at the Nogales-Grand Avenue port of entry. Quiroz is charged in an arrest warrant issued in November 2014 with a homicide committed in Sinaloa, Mexico, in April 2014.