U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Rhode Island

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Virginia Truck Driver Detained in Rhode Island for Allegedly Transporting a Minor with Intent to Engage in Sexual Activity

Missing 15-year-old located in the sleeping compartment after driver is detained on outstanding warrant while attempting to enter Naval Station Newport

PROVIDENCE – A Virginia truck driver detained by Naval Station Newport Police on April 2, 2021, when a routine background check conducted prior to his being allowed to enter the Navy base determined that he was wanted in Texas for felony assault of a child, appeared today in federal court in Providence on a charge of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity.

David Romero Reyes, 50, of Stafford, Virginia, was charged in U.S. District Court in Providence after an FBI and Rhode Island State Police investigation determined that Reyes allegedly had sexual contact in several states with a 15-year-old girl who was discovered in the sleeping compartment of his tractor-trailer by Naval Station Newport Police. The girl was reported missing from her Virginia home in July 2020, when she was 14 years old.

The girl entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor in February 2020. She was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and placed in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) facility. HHS documents found in the truck indicate that in May 2020 she was removed from a Houston, Texas, HHS-funded facility by Reyes, who, according to HHS documents, identified himself as the girl’s distant relative. An FBI and Rhode Island State Police investigation determined that Reyes is a long-time friend of the girl’s father who lives in El Salvador and a distant cousin of the girl.

According to court documents, the girl resided in the Houston, TX, area with her mother and other relatives for several weeks after leaving the immigration detention center. The young teenager eventually left Texas with Reyes and began living in Virginia with a relative of Reyes. Shortly after moving to Virginia, when it became known by a family member that Reyes and the girl allegedly had a sexual relationship, the family member reported Reyes to law enforcement. Shortly thereafter, in July 2020, the girl left the home on a bicycle and was picked up nearby by Reyes. She was reported missing and had not been seen since. According to court documents, during the week the two travelled together in trucks driven by Reyes. On weekends they stayed at hotels or at an apartment rented by Reyes.

According to court documents, during interviews with law enforcement, Reyes and the now 15-year-old admitted to traveling together and engaging in sexual contact in multiple states. Investigators determined that Reyes, using the name David Romero, traveled in or through Rhode Island on at least six dates between February 1, 2021, and April 2,2021, the date of his arrest.

Reyes, detained in state custody since his arrest, appeared today in federal court in Providence on a criminal complaint charging him with transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity and was ordered detained, announced Acting United States Attorney Richard B. Myrus, Newport Naval Station Police Chief Lieutenant Ruben Gutierrez, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta, and Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police Colonel James M. Manni.

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Connecticut

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Ohio Man Admits Posing as Teen, Receiving Explicit Videos from Minor and Posting Them on TikTok

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BRIAN GRINNELL, 36, of Lakewood, Ohio, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2020, Grinnell posed as a 15-year-old girl and met a female, who at the time was under the age of 12, on Omegle, an online chat website and mobile application that allows users to interact with strangers. Shortly thereafter, he began communicating with the minor victim on Snapchat. Grinnell told the minor victim to take sexually explicit photos and videos of herself and send them to Grinnell over Snapchat. After the minor victim began to feel threatened by Grinnell, she unfriended and blocked Grinnell’s account.

Grinnell subsequently contacted a friend of the minor victim on TikTok and stated that unless the minor victim got in touch with him, he would post a video of the minor victim naked on TikTok. Grinnell then posted sexually explicit videos of the minor victim on TikTok. When a friend of the minor victim, who is also a minor, begged Grinnell not to post additional videos of the minor victim, Grinnell stated “I want a video of you begging me to not put them up. And you have to be topless in the video. If you don’t want any more of your friend stuff going out.” After the friend told Grinnell that they would call the police, Grinnell responded “How are they gonna find me?” Grinnell then proceeded to post another video of the minor victim on TikTok.

Grinnell has been detained since his arrest on September 23, 2020.

Judge Shea scheduled sentencing for July 19 at which time Grinnell faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

This investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Canaan Police Department, with assistance from the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s Office and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara E. Levens and Sarala V. Nagala through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Urbandale Man Sentenced to Twelve Years in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

DES MOINES, IA – On April 16, 2021, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger sentenced Joseph Mikel Cerwick, age 33, of Urbandale, to 144 months in prison for Receipt of Child Pornography announced Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. Cerwick was ordered to serve eight years of supervised release to follow his prison term, pay $9,000 in restitution, and comply with sex offender registry requirements upon his release from prison.

This investigation began in December of 2017 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation Task Force received a tip that a video of child pornography had been sent to an individual through the Kik internet application. Following further investigation, the FBI executed a search warrant at Cerwick’s Urbandale apartment in September 2018. Police seized Cerwick’s cellular telephone which was found to contain hundreds of images of child pornography. Cerwick also received and sent a video of child pornography to other persons via the Kik app in November 2017.

This matter was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nationwide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.

Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Northern District of Iowa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Battle Creek Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Receiving Child Pornography

Wilson had prior convictions for sex offender registry violations.

A man who received child pornography was sentenced April 14, 2021, to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Russell Roy Wilson, age 30, from Battle Creek, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 3, 2020, guilty plea to one count of receipt of child pornography.

In a plea agreement, Wilson admitted that between November 2016 and October 2018, in the Northern District of Iowa, he knowingly received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct using a cell phone. During the execution of a search warrant at Wilson’s residence on or about October 18, 2018, officers seized items belonging to Wilson which after forensic examination were found contain child pornography. Wilson has failed to comply with the sex offender registry guidelines on a number of occasions.

Wilson was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Wilson was sentenced to 135 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to make $12,000 in restitution. He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Wilson is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikala Steenholdt and investigated by The Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and Ida County Sheriff’s Office.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 19-CR-4043.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

Senate Committee Foreign Relations

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CLOSED/TS/SCI: Briefing on the Negotiation Process and Security Situation in Afghanistan

Full Committee

DATE: Monday, April 19, 2021

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TIME: 06:00 PM

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PRESIDING: Senator Menendez

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WITNESSES

The Honorable Zalmay Khalilzad

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U.S. Department of State

Washington , DC

Mr. David F. Helvey

ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY AFFAIRS

U.S. Department of Defense

Washington , DC

Official Briefer

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER FOR SOUTH ASIA

Office of the Director for National Intelligence

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