News Releases and Statements

Cecilio Yonatan Jimenez-Bautista, 27, of Mexico, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday. No relative or guardian accompanied the minor.

Five former WNBA players coached the three-hour clinic, which was attended by around 100 girls, ranging in age from 7 to 17 years old.

According to court documents, Ezennia Peter Neboh, 48, who was sentenced to 128 months of incarceration, was the lead defendant of a group of fraudsters who sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the United States, falsely claiming that the sender was a representative of a bank in Spain and that the recipient was entitled to receive a multimillion-dollar inheritance left for the recipient by a family member who had died years before in Portugal.

James Dooly Pollock, 39, pleaded guilty in federal court on July 13, 2022, to production of a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents, Jesus Menjibar Salinas, 20, was arrested by Border Patrol agents east of Sierra Blanca on Oct. 3. An affidavit filed in a criminal complaint alleges that Salinas possessed a cellphone with photos and videos depicting child sexual abuse material stored within the device and in a messaging application.

Carma de Monterrey SA de CV, a Mexican corporation headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, and the defendants admitted they conspired to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business on behalf of foreign patrons of the casino industry.

HSI Frederick joined with other federal, state and local enforcement agencies Oct. 26 to recognize officially the creation of a new Interagency Child Exploitation and Persons Trafficking Task Force (INTERCEPT) in Frederick.

The repatriation included myriad artifacts, such as ancient books and manuscripts, coins, paintings, statues and sculptures, an ammonite fossil and a Greco-Roman bronze helmet.

HSI Frederick provided vital assistance to Maryland law enforcement authorities Oct. 26 during a search for Pedro Manuel Argote, the prime suspect in the murder of Washington County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Wilkinson.

In 2022, authorities seized more than 180,000 counterfeit sports-related items worth an estimated $22.7 million through Operation Team Player, a collaborative public-private sector operation targeting international shipments of counterfeit merchandise into the United States with brand owners and e-commerce marketplaces.

Craig Allen Rhoden, 55, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Rhoden to pay $150,000 in restitution to 30 victims and serve 15 years on supervised release following his incarceration.

U.S. District Court Judge Aida Delgado-Colon sentenced Angel Gabriel Diaz-Rosado, a youth basketball coach from Toa Baja, to 15 years in prison and 15 years of supervised release. HSI special agents arrested Diaz-Rosado in 2019 after he was charged with attempted production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of minors, and transfer of obscene material to a minor.

A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Hainze Diaz Arroyo, known in the music industry as Hanzel la H, with firearms violations. Diaz Arroyo was arrested on July 10 for violating his federal supervised release and has remained detained since his arrest.

In support of the 14-month investigation, HSI worked with AFP investigators and key partners to plan and execute the takedown of the Long River money laundering organization, through investigative actions, such as obtaining financial records through subpoenas, analyzing bank records, obtaining search warrants, and conducting undercover operations, which contributed significantly to the multinational investigation, arrests and charges.

Operation Tin Man focused on MS-13’s criminal activity in the Northern Virginia area. The operation yielded significant convictions for five MS-13 members, including a life sentence for the leader of one MS-13 clique. The investigation led to convictions for racketeering, murder, attempted murder and drug distribution.

Sunshine Michelle Betters, 47, of Tucson, was sentenced to an additional 11 months imprisonment for violating her federal supervised release for a prior conviction for transportation of noncitizens.

Sean Stevenson, 58, of San Diego, was scheduled to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell Dembin Oct. 25, at 2 p.m.

According to court records, Tien Tan Vo, 47, of El Centro, injected as many as 178 patients with unapproved drugs that had been smuggled into the United States from Mexico.

According to court documents, Vint Wade, 65, and Donna Wade, 67, of Moab, Utah; Steven Willing, 67, of Los Angeles, California; and Jordan Willing, 40 of Ashland, Oregon, committed several felony offenses against the United States by violating the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act.

The roundtable brought together local, state and federal leaders to discuss and collaborate on California’s efforts to end the fentanyl crisis. Bonta shared the California Department of Justice’s strategy to address the multifaceted crisis by collaborating on enforcement operations and seizures with law enforcement partners statewide, bringing billions of dollars for recovery services into the state by holding the opioid industry accountable and developing and implementing effective public policy solutions with legislative partners.

Richard Wesley Robinson, 74, of Cambridge, received the decade-long sentence at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore Oct. 13. 

Juwan James Davis, a 28-year-old resident of Houston, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to serve 25 years in federal prison to be followed by 15 years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Victor Torres, 28, pleaded guilty before a federal judge for importing cocaine concealed in a car battery. During his plea, Torres admitted he knew he was transporting drugs into United States and that individuals in Mexico recruited him.

A federal grand jury returned indictments for Jeremiah Pittman, 21; Shamall McDonald, 21; Juan Christian Rodriguez-Luhan, 20; Raeshawn Demond Roberts, 21; Jacob Deshaun Raglin, 24; Javion Lavelle Cooper, 19; Tyson Charae Hawthorne, 21; and Dantawn Richardson, 20, all charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Jeremy Carson Lamb, 39, of Mesa, pleaded guilty on June 13 to one count of attempted production of child pornography.