After extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, Fiscalía General de la República, conducted a significant enforcement operation on June 23 to dismantle a prolific transnational drug trafficking organization operating in Nogales, Sonora, along the U.S.–Mexico border. The operation resulted in the arrest of five people and the seizure of 120,000 fentanyl pills, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, 17 pounds of heroin, 15 pounds of cocaine, 3 assault rifles, one 9mm handgun, and a vehicle.
Leonard Darnell George is charged along with Mario Angel Gutierrez, Esteban Galvan and four other unnamed defendants with conspiracy to import and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in the Southern District of California and elsewhere. According to the indictment and other public records, the defendants allegedly coordinated the smuggling of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico with an ultimate destination of the United States.
ERO officers escorted Saul Ceniceros Santoyo, 27, from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport to Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas, on July 11. Ceniceros was then transported to the Laredo, Texas, port of entry where he was removed from the United States and transferred to Mexican authorities on July 12.
Nine2Five LLC and its owner, Sebastian Guthery, pleaded guilty in federal court on July 10 to felony crimes related to the illegal importation of kratom, an opioid-like plant, and the subsequent laundering of proceeds from the sale of the illegally imported product.
Juan Gonzalez-Cardebas, a 56-year-old Mexican national who is lawfully in the United States, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine and one or more kilograms of heroin, as well as possession with intent to distribute 18 kilograms of cocaine. Gonzalez was convicted of the charges in August 2022.
Cesar Ignacio Perez-Barrios, 48, of Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico, was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Perez-Barrios pleaded guilty to smuggling goods from the United States.
Cesar Ignacio Perez-Barrios, 48, of Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico, was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Perez-Barrios pleaded guilty to smuggling goods from the United States.
On May 23, ERO Phoenix received information that the non-citizen was wanted in connection with a homicide investigation; the person in question was the subject of an arrest warrant for vehicular manslaughter.
Natalie Le Demola, 38, currently incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered her to pay $933,181 in restitution.
Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Kansas City Taekuk Cho and Acting United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Senior United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard has sentenced Donald Greuter, Jr., 57, of Upland, Nebraska on June 29 to a term of 114 months’ imprisonment following his conviction for being a felon in possession of firearms.
Older Americans lose a staggering $2.9 million a year to a growing variety of financial scams. Baby boomers represent the largest and most affluent generation, and one in five victims of reported fraud are between 60 and 69 years old.
Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Miami’s Stuart suboffice and officials with U.S. Border Patrol arrested 18 unlawfully present individuals during the final week of June in an enforcement action targeting individuals who pose a threat to public safety.
The Salvadoran citizen, who was charged locally with indecent assault and battery of a minor and statutory rape, was arrested without incident on immigration violations.
The Kenner Police Department arrested the illegally present noncitizen in September 2022 for a firearms violation. When officials determined that he was illegally present in the United States, U.S. Border Patrol transferred him to ERO New Orleans custody.
Jesus Alberto Olivares, 32, was sentenced July 6 by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, who ordered him to serve 75 months in federal prison less than one year after he served a sentence for a drug distribution conspiracy.
James R. Lambert , 41, of Lake St. Louis, was indicted June 28 on two counts of production of child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography and one count of transporting minors across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity.
The Jamaican citizen originally entered the United States at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as a lawful permanent resident in October 1981.
Special Agent Kimmesia Sampson, Special Agent Robert Frounfelker and a third HSI Baltimore special agent were officially recognized for their work with OCDETF. The third special agent currently works undercover cases, and his identity is being withheld.
