News Releases and Statements

Alejandro Enrique Young-Hernandez of Hyde Park, Vt., has been charged with transporting women from New York to Vermont to engage in prostitution. The charges are the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

William Hurlbut of Fredericksburg, Va., pleaded guilty to producing child pornography following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Hurlbut admitted performing sexual acts with a sleeping eight-year-old boy and filming those acts with his iPhone in 2009.

Gordon D. Gazaway, 53, of Bellevue, Wash., was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2010. Three months later, he pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of child pornography.

Jose Ortiz Ortiz-Rijos, aka Piculin, a former member of Puerto Rico's Olympic basketball team, was arrested Wednesday on drug charges by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). A search warrant at his residence revealed a fully operational marijuana cultivation room.

One hundred fourteen individuals were indicted for drug trafficking by a federal grand jury on Monday. The object of the conspiracy was to distribute and supply controlled substances within the La Perla Ward housing project and numerous public housing projects, municipalities and towns in Puerto Rico for significant financial gain.

Steven Waring, 32, of Titusville, Fla., is employed by the Brevard County School Board at Space Coast Junior/Senior High School.

Thirteen men and women were arrested earlier this month during a three-day operation targeting violent gang members throughout the San Juan metropolitan area by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and assisted by local law enforcement agencies.

More than 2,000 items of counterfeit Major League Baseball (MLB) clothing seized by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in San Francisco during last year's baseball playoffs will soon be on their way to the needy in Haiti.

Jonathan Zahra, 27, of Plainville, was sentenced in a case investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Plainville Police Department. After his prison term he will also serve 10 years of supervised release.

Court records revealed that from about 2000 through 2007, the dairy employed 78 different illegal aliens, which constituted almost 75 percent of its workforce over that time period. Aquila Farms failed to conduct the necessary inquiries to determine the employment eligibility of its work force, as required by federal immigration laws.

A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging a 31-year-old Ashford man with receiving and possessing child pornography. Richard Hendricks, a former computer teacher at East Hampton Middle School, was investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Connecticut State Police, and the East Hampton Police Department.

About 531 kilograms (1168 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of $16 million was seized from a St. Thomas residence on Monday by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department (USVIPD). In addition to the cocaine, ICE HSI special agents and USVIPD officers also seized two automatic pistols.

Four men convicted of taking 10 aliens hostage, including one man who accidently shot himself, were sentenced on Monday to 11 to 20 years in prison for threatening their hostages. The investigation was conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) with the assistance of Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office.

Two men, who tripped a sensor on the U.S.-Canada border on Dec. 15, 2010 and were later found to be carrying more than $650,000 in U.S. and Canadian currency, were sentenced in federal court following their bulk-cash smuggling guilty pleas. This case was investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Kevin Kaller Wright, 44, of Santa Monica, Calif., received the 84-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow.

On Saturday, 132 kilograms (290 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of $11 million was seized from concealed inside a dump truck in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, by agents and officers from the following agencies: U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD).

Edwin Rodriguez was arrested on Wednesday charged with sexually abusing a woman who was detained at the Willacy Detention Center (WDC), an ICE-contracted detention facility in Raymondville, Texas. The case was investigated by U.S. ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) in Harlingen, Texas.

Matthew Andrew Carter, operator of Morning Star Center, a residential facility located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that provided food and shelter to minors, was charged Thursday with sexually abusing minors in Haiti.

Travis Hunter Blank was found guilty on June 22 of transporting and possessing child pornography following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Richard Schell.

Seven individuals and five corporate entities based in the United States, France, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and Iran have been indicted in the state of Georgia for their alleged roles with illegally exporting military components for fighter jets and attack helicopters from the United States to Iran.

Christopher Blackwell, 32, of Colleyville, Texas, was arrested in Phoenix, Ariz., earlier this month on a charge outlined in a related federal complaint filed in the NDTX. Blackwell remains in custody; a date has not yet been set for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.

Robert A. Howard Jr., 41, of Merritt Island, Fla., was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release, after he's released from prison.

Assistant U. S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann, who has a well-earned reputation for successfully prosecuting cases investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Boston, received top honors Wednesday for her outstanding professional achievements as a leading member of the U.S. Attorney's Office for District of Massachusetts.

"U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested five Puerto Rican men on Wednesday for producing child pornography by making a female minor, identified by the initials ""KMV,"" lasciviously perform sexual acts which the men recorded on a digital still camera and a video camera."

Cameron Jackson, 32, is charged with possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. In December 2010, a search warrant was served at his residence, resulting in the seizure of drug paraphernalia, illegal drugs and drug proceeds.