News Releases and Statements

Operation “Black Phoenix” resulted in seven indictments that were issued earlier this year by a federal grand jury. The indictments charge a total of 25 defendants, 18 of whom were arrested this morning, and four of whom were already in custody.

Justin Pham, 30, of Las Vegas, was charged with one count of illegal possession of a machine gun and two counts of possession of a firearm not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Cristal Avila, 27, from Fort Worth, Texas, and Joseph Mora, 35, from Schertz, Texas, entered their guilty plea Aug. 7, in front of U.S. District Judge Mark Lane. Both pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property.

According to court documents and evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, between 2011 and 2018, Vladimir Volgaev, 69, of Sarasota, shipped more than 1,600 firearm components – including barrels, slides, receivers, and frames – from the United States to Ukraine. These components were used to construct fully functional firearms, including handguns and rifles.

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.

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.

Michael John Suppes, 46, of Weld County, Colorado, willfully engaged in the business of manufacturing and dealing in firearms and is not a licensed firearm dealer or manufacturer. He exported firearm parts to buyers in other countries without obtaining an export license and he possessed short-barreled rifles that were not registered under the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record as required by law.

Javier Guerrero-Garcia, 23, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. In his plea, Guerrero-Garcia admitted that he fired a Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun into a residence early in the morning of Nov. 19, 2017.

Michael Diaz-Calderon, 51, from Washington State, was charged May 6, 2020, by a U.S. District Judge.

Jerry James Kendall Ritchie, 32, was indicted federally Nov. 13, 2018, with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and felon in possession of a firearm. These charges stemmed from his Oct. 19, 2018, arrest by the Enid Police Department.

Hany Veletanlic, a citizen of Bosnia legally residing in the United States, was found guilty of violating the Arms Export Control Act, illegally possessing two unregistered silencers, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Jeffrey Mons Olson, who was indicted by a federal grand jury Sept. 5, 2019, is scheduled to be sentenced March 19.

Omran Ismail, 53, of Burbank, Illinois, purchased four handguns in November 2013 from a licensed firearms dealer in Tinley Park, Illinois.  He then immediately transferred the guns to co-defendant Ola Sayed so that she could smuggle them to Egypt.  The guns were discovered in Sayed's checked luggage at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Cairo via London. 

HSI Boston acting Special Agent In Charge Jason J. Molina joined U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI, Boston Field Division, Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, Commissioner Carol Mici of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and Lawrence, Mass. Police Chief Roy P. Vasque in announcing the results of the operation at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. federal court building in Boston Nov. 15.