Source: United States Department of Justice
Guillermo Cruz Velazquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, faces federal charges after a handgun he allegedly carried onto a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) bus in Sandy Springs, Georgia last week fired a bullet that passed through his arm and into another passenger.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Yaroslav Shilkloper, 50, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was sentenced today to four years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy that utilized a sophisticated phony brokerage-business to scam U.S. citizens out of millions of dollars. Shilkloper was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and $1.43 million in restitution to his victims.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Shilkloper and his co-conspirators defrauded victims in the United States of more than $3 million dollars by promising high rates of return on investments made through their “K6 Investing,” “Neotron Holding LTD.,” and “Goldex Technology” companies. As part of the scheme, the defendant provided access to a digital platform that allowed victims to see what they believed were real-time investment performance data. The victims’ money, however, was never invested, but instead diverted and laundered through a series of bank accounts in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Czech Republic, and elsewhere, all controlled by Shilkloper and his co-conspirators. When victims attempted to withdraw their money, they were prevented from doing so, threatened with legal action, or manipulated into sending more money to the fraud ring.
Shilkloper is the first of three defendants charged in the case to be sentenced. He was extradited from Poland after being arrested there in 2023. Today’s U.S. forfeiture order adds to the $2.8 million already previously returned to the victims as a result of forfeiture proceedings against Shilkloper and co-conspirators in the Republic of Georgia.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Wright of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New Orleans Field Office made the announcement.
The HSI New Orleans Field Office investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Ben Tonkin and Justin G. Bish of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter McCreight for the Southern District of Mississippi prosecuted this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with Polish authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Shilkloper.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An El Paso, Texas, woman pleaded guilty today to smuggling unaccompanied alien children into the United States.
According to court documents, Dianne Guadian, 33, and three other members of an alien smuggling organization brought unaccompanied alien children between the ages of five and 13 illegally into the United States from Juarez, Mexico, sometimes using candy laced with THC to sedate them during smuggling events. The drivers and their co-conspirators would then present U.S. documents to inspecting officers falsely claiming the documents belonged to the children, and that they were the parents of the children. Once inside the United States, the children were then transported to El Paso. During one smuggling event, a child was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with THC poisoning. One of Guadian’s co-defendants, Manuel Valenzuela, was sentenced on July 1 to five years in prison for his role in the child smuggling scheme.
A photo of THC gummies recovered by agents during secondary inspection at the port of entry
“This defendant and her co-conspirators engaged in serious and dangerous conduct, which included giving THC laced gummies to children to sedate them while smuggling them from Mexico into the United States, all in order to make money,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The smuggling of unaccompanied children can expose them to the additional crimes and societal ills of human trafficking and sexual assault. This robs them of their innocence and youth, and it must be stopped.”
“Dianne Guadian was just one conspirator in a sickening smuggling operation, toying with the lives of children by drugging them in order to bring them into the United States from Mexico,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “Fortunately, our partners at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recognized something was off. Their keen instincts resulted in the successful medical treatment of THC-poisoned children and the arrests of the smugglers. While we will aggressively prosecute all alien smugglers, those who smuggle children and risk the lives of those children in the process, should be especially aware that their date with American justice is coming at the hands of prosecutors in the Western District of Texas.”
“Dianne Guadian’s actions were not only unscrupulous, they put innocent children in grave danger,” said Deputy Executive Associate Director Matthew Millhollin of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Human smuggling is never a victimless crime. Smugglers routinely expose vulnerable people, including children, exploitation and life-threatening risk. HSI is committed to holding individuals like Guadian accountable and dismantling criminal organizations that profit from the desperation and suffering of others.”
“Criminal human smugglers exploit vulnerable children in horrific ways,” said Chief Patrol Agent Jesse Munoz of U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector. “I am glad our Border Patrol agents investigating this case were able to contribute to the successful prosecution of a criminal who will be held accountable for this terrible crime.”
Guadian pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting bringing of aliens without authorization for profit. She faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
HSI El Paso and U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) led investigative efforts, with substantial assistance from HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force.
Trial Attorney Bethany Allen of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Hines for the Western District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
The indictment and plea announced today were coordinated and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). JTFA also leads and supports U.S. Attorneys’ Offices (USAOs) in the prosecution of crimes related to unaccompanied alien children (UACs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP/USBP and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 465 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 424 U.S. convictions; and more than 368 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
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 (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Greenbelt, Maryland – An illegal alien from Guatemala, residing in Beltsville, Maryland, pled guilty in federal court, today, to illegal re-entry after prior removal. According to federal and state court documents, Bayron Leopoldo Perez Batres, 64, unlawfully re-entered the United States after authorities removed him on three separate occasions.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Lomere Holliman, 23, of Syracuse, New York, was sentenced July 8th 2026, to 75 months in prison for possessing and distributing fentanyl and carrying a firearm during those crimes. First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Bryan DiGirolamo and Syracuse Police Chief Mark Rusin made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A 50-year-old Niles man was sentenced to prison after he admitted to downloading and sharing thousands of child pornography files. The defendant had a pattern of related criminal activity and was previously convicted at the state level for engaging in the same exact conduct in 2019.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative is led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country and marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The ex-wife and current partner of a leader of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as Los Cuinis pleaded guilty today to willfully violating counternarcotic sanctions. Los Cuinis is closely aligned with the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative.
According to court documents, Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo, 45, of Mexico, committed criminal violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Act (Kingpin Act) by engaging in transactions and dealings in property with IMG Academy, a preparatory school and athletic training facility headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, that Amaral’s child attended. On Aug. 19, 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Amaral Arevalo for assisting the international narcotics trafficking activities of Los Cuinis, a sanctioned drug cartel. Despite Amaral Arevalo’s OFAC designation, which prohibited her from engaging in transactions or dealings within the U.S. financial system, Amaral Arevalo entered into contracts with IMG Academy for her child to attend the school and arranged for $504,497.48 in tuition payments.
On July 21, 2023, Amaral Arevalo’s ex-husband and current partner, Gerardo Gonzalez Valencia, was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to distribute tonnage quantities of cocaine for importation into the United States. On Feb. 12, 2026, OFAC announced a $1.72 million settlement with IMG Academy for entering into yearly tuition agreements with Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) sanctioned for their ties to a sanctioned Mexico-based drug cartel and receiving and processing payments pursuant to those agreements.
“Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo willfully violated U.S. counternarcotic sanctions by funneling over half a million dollars in illicit drug proceeds as tuition payments through IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, despite being prohibited from engaging in transactions within the U.S. financial system,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Kingpin Act exists to cut off foreign narcotics traffickers, their businesses, and their operatives from engaging in transactions within the U.S. financial system, and prevents them from using American institutions to receive or move drug money. The Criminal Division will use every tool available to dismantle drug cartels, protect the American people, and ensure financial transactions in the United States are free of sanctioned drug proceeds.”
“Wendy Dalaithy Amaral Arevalo exploited a school and training facility — a place families trust to invest in their children’s futures — as a vehicle to funnel millions in illicit drug proceeds for CJNG, one of the Western Hemisphere’s most violent and destabilizing drug cartels,’’ said Administrator Terrance C. Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Her guilty plea exposes the calculated audacity and sophisticated reach of cartel financial networks operating inside the United States. DEA, alongside our law enforcement partners, remains committed to pursuing the leaders, financiers, and enablers who sustain these terrorist enterprises.”
Amaral Arevalo faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10 million. Sentencing has been set for Dec. 2.
The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit Los Angeles is investigating the case. The Department of Justice thanks OFAC for its support and contributions to the case.
Chief Kaitlin Sahni of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit (NDDU) and Trial Attorneys Lernik Begian, Douglas Meisel, and Nicole Lockhart of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) are prosecuting the case.
MNF’s 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 NDDU 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 the HSTF initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
An illegal alien from Guatemala pleaded guilty today to illegal reentry after previously being deported.
According to federal and state court documents, Bayron Leopoldo Perez Batres, 64, who resided in Beltsville, Maryland, unlawfully reentered the United States after having been previously removed. On Sept. 6, 2024, Perez Batres was arrested in Maryland on state charges relating to sexual abuse of a minor. After his arrest on state charges, it was established that he was illegally present in the United States and that he has been previously removed to Guatemala on three separate occasions – in January 1996, September 2009, and May 2010. He was charged with illegal reentry in the present case on Nov. 13, 2025. He pleaded guilty to state sexual abuse charges on Sept. 2, 2025 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in October 2025.
Perez Batres is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20 and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland; and Special Agent in Charge Akil Baldwin of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Maryland made the announcement.
HSI is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Matthew Thiman and Sean F. Mulryne of the Justice Department’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Li and Brooke Oki for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.
The indictment and plea announced today were coordinated and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). JTFA also leads and supports U.S. Attorneys’ Offices (USAOs) in the prosecution of crimes related to unaccompanied alien children (UACs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and CBP/U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 465 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 424 U.S. convictions; and more than 368 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
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 other transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a man from Rapid City, South Dakota, convicted of Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet, and Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on July 24, 2026.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that EDWARD GENE SMITH was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to 30 years in prison for drugging a female victim (“Victim-1”) with the intent to rape her, enticing another female victim (“Victim-2”) to travel to New York where SMITH drugged and sexually assaulted her, receipt of child pornography, and obstruction of justice.