News Releases and Statements

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. 

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.

Speaking at an Aug. 31 roundtable in Laredo, HSI San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee, CBP Acting Director of Field Operations for Laredo Eugene Crawford, ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Field Division Robert Topper, Houston U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chief Scott Fix, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Makens stressed that interdicting southbound firearms prevents criminal cartels from using them in illicit activity, such as the production and trafficking of fentanyl.

On Aug. 31, a federal judge sentenced Pedro Cruz Almeida Jr., 22, of Pharr, to serve 50 months in prison immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

Victor Coronado Jr., 40, of Tucson, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States.

Manuel De Jesus Guzman, 19, of Rio Rico, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Joshua Francisco Mendez, 19, of Tucson, was sentenced to one year and one day to prison; both sentences will be followed by three years of supervised released; Guzman and Mendez pleaded guilty to Smuggling Goods from the United States.

Hugo Medina, 40, of Del Rio, was sentenced Aug. 1 to 57 months in prison.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and Acting United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Joshua Thomas Alan Casiano, 36, of Kearney, Nebraska, on July 10, 2023 to five years’ imprisonment for possession of stolen firearms, following an HSI, law enforcement partner investigation.

Between May 2021 and January 2023, the U.S. Navy seized the weapons, which included more than 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, approximately 194 rocket launchers, more than 70 anti-tank guided missiles, and more than 700,000 rounds of ammunition, during routine maritime security operations conducted in and around the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Cesar Ignacio Perez-Barrios, 48, of Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico, was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Perez-Barrios pleaded guilty to smuggling goods from the United States.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Kansas City Taekuk Cho and Acting United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Senior United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard has sentenced Donald Greuter, Jr., 57, of Upland, Nebraska on June 29 to a term of 114 months’ imprisonment following his conviction for being a felon in possession of firearms.

Jesus Alberto Olivares, 32, was sentenced July 6 by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, who ordered him to serve 75 months in federal prison less than one year after he served a sentence for a drug distribution conspiracy.

A federal judge sentenced Miguel Armando Castro, of Phoenix, to 51 months in prison followed by supervised release for attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into Mexico.

Tamufor Nchumuluh St. Michael, 42, of Rosedale, received the federal prison sentence May 16 in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore for conspiracy and violating the Arms Export Control Act by sending firearms, ammunition and other military-type items from the United States to Nigeria without obtaining a license from the U.S. Department of State.

The FGR apprehended Michel Bacasegua-Barriga after extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico. In addition to Bacasegua-Barriga’s arrest, the operation resulted in the seizure of firearms and ammunition.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound.

Brenda Belinda Barba, 33, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for exporting pistols to Mexico from the United States. She will also serve three years of supervised release. At the hearing, U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez heard additional evidence regarding WhatsApp messages Barba sent on the morning of her arrest to negotiate the firearm purchases and transport.

Roberto Lugardo Moreno Jr., 42, of Harlingen, pleaded guilty to aiding the smuggling of a firearm into Mexico knowing it was intended for members of the Gulf Cartel.

A Mexican national was recently sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for illegally possessing a semiautomatic firearm as a result of an investigation by HSI after USBP requested assistance for a traffic stop involving a Mexican national illegally in possession of several firearms.

A jury convicted Robert Nicholas Hansen, 43, of Hospers, of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; two counts of distribution of methamphetamine; and one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (one gun) on Nov. 3, 2022, following a joint HSI investigation. On May 18, 2022, a jury convicted Hansen of two counts of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (17 guns).

On May 2, Jesus Alberto Olivarez, 32, admitted to attempting to export 5,680 rounds of assorted pistol ammunition.  

Wilson Nuyila Tita, 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland, received the over-five-year sentence followed by two years of supervised release on April 4 at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Over the weekend of April 1, Jorge Ivan Gastelum Avila, 42, of Mexico, aka Cholo Ivan, was extradited to the United States and made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia yesterday to face international drug trafficking and firearms charges.

The HSI Washington field office and the DCIS Mid-Atlantic field office are leading the larger investigation of the Iranian weapons-smuggling network with substantial assistance from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in conducting the seizure.

Jesus Soto-Parra, 31, drove into Mexico in December 2022 and Mexican authorities denied him entry due to vehicle registration issues.