MIL Security Engine-1

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BOSTON – A Stoughton, Mass. woman pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to charges relating to thousands of injections she performed using counterfeit Botox and dermal fillers imported from China and Brazil. The defendant, who was not licensed to perform injections, received more than $1 million in client payments for these procedures.

Source: United States Department of Justice

A California man and co-founder of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, one of the world’s most prolific cartels and a designated foreign terrorist organization, pleaded guilty today to federal narcotics charges.

According to court documents, Erick Valencia-Salazar, also known as “El 85,” 49, of Santa Clara, California, is a co-founder of the Mexico-based drug trafficking organization, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), which the State Department in February 2025 designated as a foreign terrorist organization. As a leader of CJNG, Valencia-Salazar recruited new CJNG members. He also used information about rival cartels to locate and kill CJNG’s enemies and gain control of all drug trafficking operations in particular territories in Mexico. Valencia-Salazar also conspired to send thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States for the CJNG.

Before forming the CJNG, Valencia-Salazar was a member of the Milenio Cartel, another Mexico-based drug trafficking organization. In the Milenio Cartel, Valencia-Salazar regularly distributed pistols and rifles, including AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, to the cartel’s gunmen, also known as “sicarios,” to use in battles with rival cartels. In doing so, Valencia-Salazar supported the Milenio Cartel’s efforts to send multi-ton shipments of cocaine from South America into Mexico each year and then import most of that cocaine into the United States for further distribution.

“Erick Valencia-Salazar co-founded the CJNG, one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, which shipped tons of cocaine into the United States and inflicted immeasurable damage on our country,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Valencia-Salazar was also responsible for furthering the rampant violence in Mexico, at the expense of people’s lives and the safety of communities, that helped destabilize the region and allow crime to flourish. Today’s conviction is yet another example of the Criminal Division’s efforts in disrupting and dismantling transnational drug trafficking organizations that harm the American people.”

“Erick Valencia-Salazar helped build CJNG into a ruthless organization that uses violence as a business model — murdering for control in Mexico while flooding the United States with poison,” said DEA Administrator Terrance Cole. “CJNG is a designated terrorist organization. They do not just traffic deadly drugs — including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine — they spread violence, fear, and instability on both sides of the border. This guilty plea marks another step in holding its leadership accountable. DEA will continue to target the leaders, financiers, and enablers of these organizations until they are brought to justice and their networks are dismantled.”

Valencia-Salazar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine for unlawful importation into the United States. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit Los Angeles is investigating the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance to Salazar’s February 2025 transfer from Mexico to the United States pursuant to Mexico’s National Security law.

Trial Attorneys Kaitlin Sahni, Lernik Begian, Douglas Meisel, and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section are prosecuting the case.

The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Homeland Security Task Force and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tallahassee, Florida – Laquinton Montral Harris, 36, of Tallahassee, Florida, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with one count of Hobbs Act robbery; carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Jose Douglass Castellano, also known as “Chino,” a high-ranking member of the 18th Street gang, was sentenced by United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall to more than 35 years’ imprisonment for racketeering conspiracy in connection with his participation in the October 25, 2017 murder of 20-year-old Jonathan Figueroa in Saugerties, New York. Castellano is the third and final gang leader to be sentenced under a seventh superseding indictment in connection with a sprawling racketeering conspiracy that also involved the September 12, 2016 murder of 15-year-old Joshua Guzman in Hempstead, New York; the February 2, 2018 murder of 20-year-old Oscar Antonio Blanco Hernandez in Queens; and multiple shootings and other gang activity.  Junior Zelaya Canales, also known as “Terco,” a Queens-based regional gang leader, and Walter Fernando Alfaro Pineda, also known as “Clever,” a Texas-based national gang leader, were each sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment in February and March 2026, respectively.  Co-defendants Yanki Misael Cruz Mateo, also known as “Doggy” and “Wino,” Israel Mendiola Flores, also known as “Chapito,” Yoni Alexander Sierra, also known as “Arc Angel” and “Wasson,” Jose Jimenez Chacon, also known as “Little One,” Carolina Cruz, also known as “La Fiera,” and Eric Chavez, also known as “Lunatico,” were also previously sentenced.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

BOSTON – A New York man has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cargo and sell the items for illicit profit. The goods allegedly stolen include beer worth approximately $35,200; 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs worth approximately $325,000; pallets of blueberries; and more than $430,000 worth of designer cologne.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A complaint was unsealed today in U.S. District Court charging Zabdiel Aaron Rothschild, 26, of the District of Columbia. with Production of Child Pornography, Coercion and Enticement of a Minor, Receipt of Child Pornography, and Transfer of Obscene Material to a Minor.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Tampa, Florida – Frank Jude Petrone, Sr. (56, Parrish) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge William F. Jung to three years and one month in federal prison for trafficking in firearms and selling firearms and ammunition to a convicted felon. Petrone pleaded guilty on August 26, 2025. United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.