I.C.E. News Releases


12/03/2018

NEW YORK, NY

HUMAN SMUGGLING/TRAFFICKING


Member of Mexican sex trafficking ring sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment
Raul Granados-Rendon, a member of the Granados family sex trafficking ring based in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico, was sentenced Monday in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) to eight years’ imprisonment.



12/03/2018

JACKSONVILLE, FL



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


Russian national in ICE custody passes away at Florida hospital
Guerman Volkov, 56, was pronounced dead at University of Florida Health Jacksonville Medical Center. Mr. Volkov died two days after he was discharged from another Jacksonville hospital after he made the decision to discontinue all medical treatment. The official cause of Mr. Volkov’s death is under investigation but is believed to be cardiac-related natural causes.



11/30/2018

PHILADELPHIA, PA



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


ICE removes Chinese man convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act
Fuyi Sun, 54, aka “Frank,” a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, was sentenced in New York federal court to three years in prison for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in connection with a scheme to illegally export to China, without a license, high-grade carbon fiber, which is used primarily in aerospace and military applications.


11/29/2018

NEW YORK, NY



WORKSITE ENFORCEMENT


12 NYC companies join the IMAGE program, including 5 7-Eleven franchises
A dozen New York based businesses have partnered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York Thursday by joining the agency’s employment compliance program IMAGE, or “ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers.”




11/29/2018

GREAT FALLS, MT



NARCOTICS


California man sentenced in Montana to 10 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking
Michael Christopher Laird, 26, of California, pleaded guilty on Aug. 23 to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.



11/29/2018

PHOENIX, AZ



NARCOTICS


Pharmacist and pharmacy technician sentenced to prison for diverting hundreds of thousands of opioids
Pharmacist Vilawoe Aku Boadu, 39, of Peoria, Ariz., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan to 120 months in prison. Zinka Sisic, 30, of Phoenix, who worked as a Pharmacy Technician for Boadu, was previously sentenced to 48 months in prison. Boadu and Sisic were both convicted of conspiring to distribute controlled substances and conspiring to launder money involved in a drug trafficking offense.



11/28/2018

PLANO, TX



CHILD EXPLOITATION


North Texas man indicted on child sexual exploitation charges
Joseph Patrick Mosher, 49, from Carrollton, Texas, was named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Nov. 15, 2018, charging him with sexually exploiting a child. Mosher appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson Nov. 19 and was ordered detained until trial.



11/26/2018

TACOMA, WA



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


ICE detainee passes away at local hospital
Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate state health and local law enforcement agencies have been notified about the death, as have the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility.




11/26/2018

WASHINGTON, DC



INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS


Over a million websites seized in global operation
Roughly 33,600 website domain names were criminally seized in a collaborative effort between ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Europol, Interpol and police agencies from 26 different countries. Industry partners participating in the operation were fully responsible for civilly seizing 1.21 million domain names and shutting down 2.2 million erroneous ecommerce links featured on social media platforms and third-party marketplaces.



11/21/2018

DALLAS, TX



HUMAN SMUGGLING/TRAFFICKING


Dallas sting operation nabs spa proprietor mongering illicit sex
Following a sting operation at a Dallas hotel earlier this month, law enforcement liberated dozens of women sold for sex, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, Northern District of Texas.



11/20/2018

HOUSTON, TX



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


ICE removes 5 fugitives wanted in El Salvador for various crimes including aggravated murder
Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) on Friday removed five illegal aliens from El Salvador, who were fugitives wanted in their home country for various serious crimes, including aggravated murder.



11/20/2018

WASHINGTON, DC



FINANCIAL CRIMES


Venezuelan billionaire charged; former Venezuelan national treasurer and former owner of Dominican Republic bank both plead guilty in money laundering conspiracy involving $1 billion in bribes
Raul Gorrin Belisario, 50, a Venezuelan citizen with a residence in Miami, Florida, was charged in an indictment filed, Aug. 16, 2017, in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and nine counts of money laundering. Former Venezuelan National Treasurer Alejandro Andrade Cedeno, 54, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Wellington, Florida, pleaded guilty under seal, Dec. 22, 2017, to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Gabriel Arturo Jimenez Aray, 50, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Chicago, Illinois, and former owner of the Banco Peravia bank, pleaded guilty under seal, March 20, 2018, in the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.




11/20/2018

DENVER, CO



NARCOTICS


Illegal alien from Mexico sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture, possess with intent to distribute marijuana in Colorado
Margarito Yepez-Sanchez, 25, an illegal alien from Mexico, was first charged by criminal complaint on Sept. 21, 2017.



11/20/2018

NEW YORK, NY



DOCUMENT AND BENEFIT FRAUD


Queens Immigration attorney found guilty of operating asylum fraud scheme
Andreea Dumitru, a/k/a “Andreea Dumitru Parcalaboiu,” an immigration attorney based in Queens, New York, was found guilty Nov. 19 in Manhattan federal court of asylum fraud, making false statements to immigration authorities, and aggravated identity theft.



11/20/2018

NEW YORK, NY



TRANSNATIONAL GANGS


MS-13 gang member, Interpol fugitive arrested under Operation Matador removed to El Salvador
A female MS-13 gang member wanted to face charges in El Salvador was arrested under Operation Matador in March, pursuant to an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations. She was removed Nov. 16 to El Salvador by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).



11/19/2018

NEW YORK, NY



NARCOTICS


Performer Tekashi 6ix 9ine, 5 others charged with racketeering and firearms offenses in New York
Six gang members and associates of the violent New York City gang, “Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods”, also known as “Nine Trey,” were charged Monday following an investigation by ICE's HSI New York with the NYPD and the New York Field Division of the ATF. This investigation led to an indictment with multiple charges to include racketeering and firearms offenses.




11/16/2018

PHILADELPHIA, PA



CHILD EXPLOITATION


Pennsylvania man charged with child pornography charges
Jose Carrillo, 27, was federally indicted and charged with trafficking in and possessing more than 37,000 images and videos of pornographic images of children, toddlers, and infants on the Internet. The indictment charges the defendant with committing these crimes as recently as October 19, 2018.



11/16/2018

EL PASO, TX



DOCUMENT AND BENEFIT FRAUD


ICE seeks victims of 3-time convicted criminal who posed as immigration attorney, defrauded legal and illegal aliens
Federico Garcia Jr., 44, who had worked for the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) at the ports of entry in the 1990s, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to defrauding numerous legal and illegal aliens.



11/16/2018

LOS ANGELES, CA



COUNTER PROLIFERATION INVESTIGATION UNIT


Arms trafficker found guilty of conspiring to supply and use anti-aircraft missiles after pleading guilty to other arms offenses
Rami Najm Asad-Ghanem, 52, who was commonly known as Rami Ghanem, a naturalized United States citizen who was living in Egypt at the time of the offenses, was found guilty of the missile conspiracy charge late Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court. The jury returned the verdict at the conclusion of a nine-day trial.



11/15/2018

PHILADELPHIA, PA



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


ICE removes man wanted in China for financial scheme
Quanguan Zheng, 61, a Chinese citizen, entered the United States lawfully, on May 24, 2015, at the Newark International Airport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) admitted Zheng to the United States as a nonimmigrant visitor for pleasure (B-2) until Nov. 23, 2015.




11/15/2018

NEW YORK, NY



FINANCIAL CRIMES


7 charged with laundering drug trafficking proceeds between US, South America
The defendants Enayatullah Khwaja, Abdulrahman Khwaja, Rahimi and Rhamatzada will be arraigned at the Federal District Court in Central Islip, NY and defendants Saenz, Melendez-Mendoza and Bokhari, were arrested in Florida and will be brought to the duty Magistrate at the Federal District Court in Miami, Florida, before being transferred to the Eastern District of New York.



11/14/2018

SPRINGFIELD, MO



CHILD EXPLOITATION


Former Missouri teacher pleads guilty to receiving, distributing child pornography
Brandon Hileman, 25, of Lebanon, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to the charge contained in an Oct. 18, 2017, federal indictment.



11/14/2018

DENVER, CO



NARCOTICS


Colorado man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing and possessing methamphetamine, possessing firearms in furtherance drug trafficking
Daniel Mata-Armendariz, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on Feb. 6, 2018; a superseding indictment was obtained on March 20. Mata-Armendariz pleaded guilty before by U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello on June 5, 2018. He was sentenced on Nov. 13.



11/09/2018

TRENTON, NJ



ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL


Mexican national released from local custody facing murder charges
Luis Rodrigo Perez was being held at Middlesex County Jail in December of last year on domestic violence charges. ICE issued a detainer and requested notification prior to his release, so that he may be taken into ICE custody and placed in removal proceedings.

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