News Releases

ICE's top 5 news stories for the week ending Jan. 6, 2012

Jan. 5, 2012 – 2 Corpus Christi pizzeria employees plead guilty to document fraud

Two former employees of Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Corpus Christi, Texas, prepared and delivered fraudulent documents to a confidential informant who they believed to be a Mexican national seeking illegal employment at the restaurant. They pleaded guilty Thursday to immigration document fraud. Full Story

Jan. 5, 2012 – Delaware man sentenced to 30 years in prison on child pornography charges

An undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent identified Leonard Wasylyk while investigating a private peer-to-peer network being used to trade images of child pornography. Wasylyk had more than 60,000 images of child pornography, including more than 60 images of himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a young boy. Full Story

Jan. 4, 2012 – Canadian man convicted in case involving largest seizure of cocaine in upstate New York history

Michael Bagri packed 97 kilograms of cocaine into a hidden compartment of a tractor-trailer at a California warehouse. That cocaine was ultimately transported across the United States to the Canadian border where it was discovered by ICE HSI agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. In May 2011, Bagri traveled from Buffalo, N.Y., to California where he loaded another tractor-trailer with around 26 kilograms of cocaine. Federal agents also seized this cocaine. Bagri pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy to export five kilograms or more of cocaine from the United States into Canada. Full Story

Jan. 4, 2012 – 10 arrested following interdiction of drug smuggling boat north of Los Angeles

Ten people are in custody following the interdiction of a Mexican "panga" boat loaded with more than a ton of marijuana along the Ventura County coast, north of Los Angeles. Authorities also seized two vehicles in the landing area believed to be linked to the smuggling scheme. The ongoing probe is being spearheaded by ICE HSI. Full Story

Jan. 3, 2012 – Local sportswear vendors lose their shirts in illegal sales at 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic

To coincide with the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, officials enforced counterfeiting laws by seizing fake sports merchandise from international mail facilities and local street vendors in Philadelphia. ICE HSI announced the seizure of 1,649 counterfeit items with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of nearly $350,000. Full Story