Tag: CBP
Thomas Cataloni, Conspiracy to Smuggle Goods, International Money Laundering, Massachusetts 2026
⏱ 2 min read A brazen gold smuggling ring smuggled hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold and platinum into the US from Colombia in 2018. Walpole man Thomas Cataloni, 46, was at the helm, using his co-conspirators to send cash to Colombia to buy the precious metals. To avoid detection, the gold was melted…
Anthony Gonzalez Alvarez, Ramming a Federal Vehicle, Illinois 2025
⏱ 2 min read Chicago, IL – A caravan of vehicles descended upon a U.S. Customs and Border Protection operation in Chicago’s Southwest Side on October 3, 2025, with one driver taking a violent turn. Anthony Gonzalez Alvarez, 27, rammed his Ford pickup truck into the rear of a CBP vehicle, intentionally impeding the work…
Youhuang Xiang, E. coli Smuggling, Indiana 2024
⏱ 2 min read Youhuang Xiang, a 32-year-old former post-doctoral researcher at Indiana University, has been sentenced for smuggling E. coli DNA from China into the United States. Xiang, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to concealing the biologic materials in a shipment of clothing from Guangzhou Sci-Tech Innovation Trading, a…
Junjie Zhang, Making a False Statement, California 2019
⏱ 2 min read Junjie Zhang, a 57-year-old senior material and process engineer at a Wichita aviation company, attempted to board a flight to China with proprietary information belonging to his employer in September 2019. Zhang, also known as Jeff Zhang, lied to U.S. customs officials at a Dallas airport, claiming the thumb drive and…
Anthony Hamel, Possession of CSAM involving a minor under 12, Vermont 2026
⏱ 3 min read Anthony Hamel, 25, of Cowansville, Quebec, will spend the next two years in federal prison after customs agents found a sickening trove of child pornography on his phone. Hamel tried to cross into the US at the Morses Line Port of Entry on May 9, 2025, claiming he was meeting an…
Anthony Hamel, Child Pornography, Vermont 2025
⏱ 3 min read Anthony Hamel, 25, of Cowansville, Quebec, is going to federal prison for two years. Border agents at the Morses Line Port of Entry in Vermont caught him red-handed on May 9, 2025, with a digital library of child pornography on his phone. He’d claimed he was meeting an 18-year-old; instead, he…
