News Releases and Statements
News Releases and Statements
Micah Lynne Wascher, 36, and Travis Eugene Wascher, 42, both of Canute, Oklahoma, were correctional officers for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma, at the time of the alleged offenses.
The DHS E-Verify employment eligibility verification program enables employers to verify that newly hired employees are eligible to work in the United States.
Abhijit Prasad, 52, received multiple convictions Tuesday, including 21 counts of visa fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft from a federal jury. Prasad was previously indicted on related charges during 2016.
According to court records, Ryan Fitzgerald Dalley, 44, of Soda Springs, admitted that from September 2013 to October 2017, he acted as an organizer, supervisor or manager over at least five other individuals who conspired to distribute methamphetamine in Idaho and other states. He further admitted that he received substantial income from the sales of methamphetamine and laundered $100,000 in drug proceeds.
On May 10, ERO officers with the Washington field office arrested Alvaro Johel Angel Angel in Alexandria, Virginia and served him a notice to appear in immigration court. An immigration judge ordered Angel removed to El Salvador July 9.
Pedro Juan Cruz-Cortez, 23, was flown to El Salvador July 31 on a charter flight coordinated by ICE Air Operations (IAO). Upon arrival, ERO officers transferred Cruz-Cortez to officials from El Salvador’s Civilian National Police.
“Our partnerships with jurisdictions across Florida allow us to better meet our public safety enforcement mission,” said ERO Miami Acting Field Office Director Mike Meade, for the Miami Field Office of ERO. “This is an example of law enforcement working together to make communities safer by keeping criminal aliens off our streets.”
George Alexis Theros, 76, was arrested yesterday by special agents with ICE's HSI Honolulu and officers with the Maui Police Department. The ongoing investigation is being conducted by HSI in Honolulu and Panama, U.S. Dept. of State’s DSS Overseas Criminal Investigations and local law enforcement in Panama and Thailand.
HSI’s forced labor programs coordinate and initiate criminal investigations into U.S.-bound supply chains whose goods are made wholly or in part by means of forced labor.
The trainings, which took place between June 17-21 and June 24-28, 2019, were designed to help participating law enforcement officers, agents, prosecutors, and judges understand the crimes of sex trafficking/forced labor and child exploitation/sexual child abuse and how to work these types of cases. The ICE HSI delegations not only provided insight into each crime, but also discussed the challenges they face when investigating and prosecuting human trafficking and child exploitation cases in the United States.
This surge initiative in the Bay Area is in furtherance of an HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) strategy for targeting the importation, smuggling, and trafficking of counterfeit goods. The goal of this operation is to identify and interdict counterfeit products entering the US at International Mail Facilities and Express Consignment Hubs, and then for HSI field offices to initiate investigations to disrupt and dismantle those organizations involved in these criminal acts.
Kari Scattaglia, 40, of Sylmar, and another former DMV employee co-defendant Lisa Terraciano, 52, of North Hollywood, pleaded guilty, Nov. 3, 2017, to a conspiracy to commit bribery, to commit identity fraud, and to commit unauthorized access of a computer.
Cortez-Moreno, 30, is wanted by the Salvadoran government for multiple egregious crimes, including charges of manslaughter, murder and other crimes with ties to 18th Street Gang activity.
Mario Herrera, 55, from Michoacán, Mexico, and formerly of Chicago, was a member of a Mexico-based conspiracy that laundered more than $100 million in narcotics proceeds on behalf of the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa drug cartels.
James Keegan, 57, of Cicero, Illinois, fraudulently offered immigration advocacy services, including guaranteed U.S. permanent resident status, in exchange for a fluctuating fee that averaged $3,000 per applicant.
Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate agencies have been notified about the death, including the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility.
On Thursday, July 18, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Yuma special agents arrested Alejandro Escobar-Rivera, 51, and seized 221.22 lbs. of methamphetamine and 5.0 lbs. of cocaine with a combined approximate street value of nearly $4.1 million, as well as multiple cell phones, in a targeted enforcement action led by HSI.
On May 16, 2018, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, 48, was sentenced to 32 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to violate U.S. economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran involving billions of dollars in Iranian oil proceeds held at Atilla’s employer (“Turkish Bank-1”).
The National Bulk Cash Smuggling Center (BCSC) was recognized for its efforts in identifying and combatting transnational criminal organizations’ (TCO) use of illicit value, including bulk cash, stored value and cryptocurrency.