Deputy US Marshal Arrested for Revealing the Identity of Undercover HSI Agent During Drug Trafficking Investigation

A deputy U.S. Marshal was arrested Tuesday, December 4, 2012, and charged with disclosing the identity of an undercover agent who infiltrated a Starr County drug trafficking organization.

The arrest and charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. This investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General, and the FBI.

A federal criminal complaint was filed Dec. 4 against Deputy U.S. Marshal Lucio Osbaldo Moya, 29, of Rio Grande City. He was charged with being an accessory after the fact, and obstruction of a proceeding. He was arrested and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos Dec. 4. He was set to appear again the afternoon of Tuesday, December 4, 2012, for a bond hearing.

According to court documents, in June 2011, an HSI special agent posed as a tractor-trailer driver and agreed to transport 1,800 pounds of marijuana in return for $50,000 for Francisco Javier Treviňo, 29, of Mission, and Lauro Arturo Treviňo Sr., 60, of Roma, Texas. That shipment was eventually seized by special agents. But Treviňo Sr. later contacted the undercover special agent to transport another load of marijuana.

Subsequently, Trinidad Dominguez, 43, and Juan Norberto Moya, 51, both of Roma, allegedly asked Treviňo Sr. to get more information concerning the undercover special agent. Treviňo Sr. then asked Treviňo to get a copy of the undercover special agent's driver's license, which he did, according to the complaint. Treviňo Sr. then got into an SUV and allegedly provided the copy of the undercover special agent's license to the SUV driver. A record check on the Texas license plate of that SUV showed that its registered owner was a brother of Dominguez.

On Oct. 5, 2011, Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya showed up at work with a copy of the undercover special agent's driver's license. While at work, Deputy Marshal Moya allegedly approached another deputy U.S. marshal and told him a confidential source had given it to him. He further allegedly stated the source was transporting thousands of pounds of marijuana to Houston, and that he probably had a corrupt Border Patrol agent at the checkpoint because he had never been caught. Shortly thereafter, according to the complaint, Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya had an analyst obtain a color copy of the license and showed it to another deputy U.S. Marshal.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya was told the person depicted in the driver's license was an HSI special agent.

Subsequently, Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya was interviewed by agents with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. The criminal complaint indicates he stated the license was given to him, not by a confidential source, but by his father, Juan Norberto Moya. He further claimed his father got the copy from someone he only knew as "Lauro." The reason he said his father gave it to him was so he could pass it along to another agency in an effort to become a confidential source. During the meeting, agents allegedly told Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya the HSI special agent was working undercover conducting drug trafficking investigations and all agreed to keep the information secret for the safety and well-being of the special agent.

According to the criminal complaint, Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya left the meeting and allegedly sent a text message to his father indicating that the person depicted in the driver's license was a federal agent.

During the course of the investigation, agents conducted a forensic examination of Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya's work computer. The examination allegedly showed that on Oct. 5, 2011, he conducted several searches on "Yahoo" and "Facebook" of the name of undercover special agent.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Moya is charged with assisting his father by informing him of the status of the undercover special agent in order to hinder and prevent his father's apprehension, trial and punishment. He's also charged with corruptly influencing, obstructing and impeding the proper administration of the law.

Moya faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $2.5 million fine if convicted of being an accessory after the fact. He could also receive another five years in federal prison for obstruction of a proceeding, upon conviction, as well as another $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anibal J. Alaniz, Southern District of Texas, is prosecuting the case.

ICE and HSI Crackdown on Cyber Intelligence Theft

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) -led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) seized 70 websites that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise.

The 70 websites seized are part of Project Copy Cat, an iteration of Operation In Our Sites (IOS), and closely mimicked legitimate websites selling authentic merchandise and duped consumers into unknowingly buying counterfeit goods. Many of the websites so closely resembled the legitimate websites that it would be difficult for even the most discerning consumer to tell the difference.

The websites are now shut down and their domain names are in the custody of the federal government. Visitors to these websites will find a seizure banner that notifies them that the domain name has been seized by federal authorities and educates them about the federal crime of willful copyright infringement.

"This operation targeted criminals making a buck by trying to trick consumers into believing they were buying name brand products from legitimate websites when in fact they were buying counterfeits from illegal but sophisticated imposter sites located overseas," said ICE Director John Morton. "The imposter sites were simply a fraud from start to finish and served no purpose other than to defraud and dupe unwary shoppers."

A new twist in the websites seized in Project Copy Cat involved the appearance of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates. SSL certificates provide authentication for financial information, meaning consumers should be able to trust that they are sending information to the intended server and not to a criminal's server. Trusted SSL providers should only issue SSL certificates to verified companies that have gone through several identity checks. In addition to providing authentication, SSL certificates also provide encryption, enhancing the security of credit card numbers, usernames, passwords and other sensitive information. These websites, however, displayed SSL certificates, further duping the consumer into thinking they were shopping on a legitimate website, potentially putting customers' financial information at risk.

During this operation, federal law enforcement officers made undercover purchases of a host of products, including baby carriers, professional sports jerseys, language and fitness DVD sets, and a variety of clothing, jewelry and luxury goods from online retailers who were suspected of selling counterfeit products. In most cases, the goods were shipped directly into the United States from suppliers in other countries. If the copyright holders confirmed that the purchased products were counterfeit or otherwise illegal, seizure orders for the domain names of the websites that sold the goods were obtained from federal magistrate judges.

"Every day the U.S. economy and American jobs are negatively impacted by criminal organizations engaged in the sale of counterfeit merchandise through rogue websites. Even more importantly, consumer's health and safety can be threatened when they unknowingly purchase counterfeit products," said IPR Center Director Lev Kubiak. "Our goal at the IPR Center is to protect the public's safety and economic welfare through robust intellectual property enforcement and we hope that today's enforcement actions raise the public's awareness to this pervasive crime."

This operation was the next phase of IOS, a sustained law enforcement initiative that began two years ago to protect consumers by targeting the sale of counterfeit merchandise on the Internet. These 70 domain name seizures bring the total number of IOS domain names seized in the last two years to 839. This enforcement action coincides with the two-year anniversary of the 2010 launch of IOS. Since then, the seizure banner has received more than 103 million individual views.

Of the 769 previous domain names seized, 229 have now been forfeited to the U.S. government. The federal forfeiture process affords individuals who have an interest in seized domain names a period of time after a "Notice of Seizure" to file a petition with a federal court and additional time after a "Notice of Forfeiture" to contest the forfeiture. If no petitions or claims are filed, the domain names become the property of the U.S. government. Additionally, a public service announcement, launched in April 2011, is linked from the seizure banner on each of the 229 forfeited websites. This video educates the public about the economic impact of counterfeiting.

The operation was spearheaded by the IPR Center in coordination with HSI field offices in Denver, El Paso, Houston, Newark and Salt Lake City. U.S. Attorney's Offices in the Western District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, District of New Jersey, District of Colorado and the District of Utah issued the warrants for the seizures. The IPR Center is one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. The IPR Center uses the expertise of its 21 member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions and conduct investigations related to IP theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public's health and safety, the U.S. economy and the war fighters.

During the first phase of IOS in 2010, the IPR Center received information from the Motion Picture Association of America that a website, www.ninjavideo.net (Ninja Video), was illegally distributing pirated copies of motion pictures and other audiovisual works. Ninja Video provided its millions of visitors the ability to illegally download high quality copies of copyrighted movies including movies that were currently in theaters or not yet released.

Following the seizure of the website, search warrants were executed at the residences of the primary suspects in the United States and funds were seized from 15 separate financial accounts. To date, the Ninja Video investigation has resulted in the arrest and conviction of five of the six co-conspirators with sentences ranging from 22 months in federal prison to three years of probation with a combined restitution exceeding $470,000 to the victims. A sixth co-conspirator remains a fugitive. In addition to Ninja Video, IOS phase one also targeted eight other websites selling counterfeit merchandise in New York.

Previous website seizures include:

·                             First phase: 9 domain names

·                             Second phase: 83 domain names

·                             Third phase: 10 domain names

·                             Fourth phase: 18 domain names

·                             Fifth phase: 5 domain names

·                             Sixth phase: 17 domain names

·                             Seventh phase: 58 domain names

·                             Eight phase: 156 domain names

·                             Ninth phase: 10 domain names

·                             Tenth phase: 385 domain names

·                             Salt Lake City: 7 domain names

·                             Sustained Effort: 11 domain names

These cases are part of efforts being undertaken by the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP Task Force) to stop the theft of intellectual property. Attorney General Eric Holder created the IP Task Force to combat the growing number of domestic and international intellectual property crimes, protect the health and safety of American consumers, and safeguard the nation's economic security against those who seek to profit illegally from American creativity, innovation and hard work. The IP Task Force seeks to strengthen intellectual property rights protection through heightened criminal and civil enforcement, greater coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement partners, and increased focus on international enforcement efforts, including reinforcing relationships with key foreign partners and U.S. industry leaders.

ICE Announces New Export Enforcement Center

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on March 7 the opening of a multi-agency center established to coordinate and enhance federal export enforcement efforts.

In November 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13558 mandating the departments with export control authority to coordinate their efforts to protect and enforce U.S. export control laws and share intelligence across relevant departments and agencies. The Export Enforcement Coordination Center, or E2C2, serves as the primary center for this effort and will protect the nation's most sensitive technology through coordination and collaboration among the U.S. government export enforcement agencies that are authorized to conduct criminal investigations related to possible violations.

The center will be administered by a director from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with deputy directors from the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce.

"Both our national security and our economic security are dependent on our ability to maintain a vibrant trade system as we safely and efficiently move people and goods across our borders," said ICE Director John Morton. "Export enforcement is a vital tool to prevent criminals and terrorists from obtaining our most sensitive weapons and technologies. The Export Enforcement Coordination Center is designed to further our ability to do so, with robust interagency cooperation and intelligence sharing."

Participating departments and organizations include the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Commerce, State, Treasury, Defense, Energy, and the Director of National Intelligence, with representation from agencies including the FBI, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, National Nuclear Security Administration, Defense Security Service and numerous other law enforcement and licensing components.