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From LA Times

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Fear sets up camp on a stretch of the L.A. River

For residents along a grimy stretch of the waterway, the shooting of five people a year ago made a perilous place feel even more so.

By Christopher Goffard

November 24, 2009

After the killings, the people on the river slept with their knives closer. They leashed guard dogs outside their tents and cardboard lean-tos. They listened for strangers' footsteps above the thrum of traffic on the bridges overhead. They got used to the sight of police stepping carefully along the big white rocks of the embankment. Below, in its concrete jacket, the dirty river crawled.

Violence is common and often unreported along the 51-mile Los Angeles River, daytime haunt of the occasional jogger and bird-watcher and in many parts a lawless no-man's-land populated by hard-core addicts, the mentally ill and uncountable others, broke or hiding. But what happened last November made an already fearful place feel more perilous still.

Someone gunned down three men and two women in a homeless encampment a few miles from the river's final southern curve into Long Beach Harbor. Hidden by bottlebrush trees along the Santa Fe Avenue off-ramp of the 405 Freeway, it was a cave-like spot with a single entrance -- a narrow footpath along a chain-like fence -- and a reputation as a drug den.

Police suspect the shooter came to punish a drug debtor and turned the gun on everyone to eliminate witnesses. Two things made it personal for river residents: One of the victims, 24-year-old Katherine Verdun, was a familiar face. And many understood how easily it could have been them.

For weeks, police who usually avoid the river were searching its banks, looking for witnesses, waiting for someone with information to claim a $20,000 reward. A year later, police are waiting still.

"You've got five people that were killed and no one came forward. That's unheard of," said Long Beach Police Det. Mark McGuire. "That community is terrified still. There's no way to get through to them yet, even with the reward."

McGuire calls it among the toughest cases he's worked in nearly 10 years in homicide, owing to "the nature of the victims" -- most were homeless -- and to their transient circumstances. Attempting to track down witnesses is to confront an ever-changing cast. On the river, McGuire said, "it's never the same person twice. Nobody knows who's who, who's coming or who's going."

The river, which once supplied a nascent metropolis with drinking water, is now a gargantuan drainage trench, built by the Army Corps of Engineers after a deadly 1938 flood. It begins behind Canoga Park High School and snakes under a network of bridges and freeways through the heart of Los Angeles.

Like other rivers, its personality changes as it bends and coils, trickling here, rippling there. In places, where the accumulated trash isn't too thick, it's almost picturesque, full of elderberries and willows, alders and sycamores. Visitors can spot hawks, egrets and schools of carp, and stroll in adjacent mini-parks.

On the mental topography of Southern California, it remains mostly a blank spot, a terra incognita glimpsed from an overpass and instantly forgotten. It's easy to grow up here, and grow old, without setting foot in it. It's an invisible city whose population centers do not figure on official maps.

Under the 7th Street Bridge in Long Beach, where a dozen or more people can be found living in the garbage-heaped shade between the pylons, the population obeys the rhythms of any flophouse.

There are relationships of convenience and survival, alliances made and broken, betrayals, sudden, violent spats -- a methamphetamine-fueled soap opera with an ever-changing gallery of prematurely haggard faces.

" 'As the World Turns' on the Los Angeles River," said Jolene Musgrove, a former carnival worker who goes by "Mama Jo" and looks at least a decade older than her 51 years. She's lived on the river on and off for about 30 years, most recently between bridge pillars, one of them scrawled with the words "Carny Power." Her boyfriend had lent their scavenged-wood shelter a tropical feel, hanging the facade with wooden mats and seashells. "I got two ex-husbands living on the river too."

Musgrove, who survives on food stamps and a general-relief check, said she knew Verdun, one of the homicide victims, and the killings scared her off the river. She stayed with her son in Long Beach for a week before returning. "Nowhere else to go," she explained. Decades back, she said, the river was a kinder place.

"I used to know who everyone was and where they were," she said. "It has gotten a lot meaner. People are more ruthless."

The bridge, about six miles south of the site of the killings, has no small number of addicts, their blasted olfactory sense numbing them to the reeking water, human waste and rotting garbage. Although Musgrove has lived in many spots along the river, she feels safest under the bridge -- a place where church groups deliver meals twice a week, and where "everybody cares about everybody, and they take care of each other."

Among the river's jerry-built villages, it's a common mantra: We take care of each other. Just as common is the remark that no one around here can be trusted.

All the talk of "community" is a joke, said Mike Ducret, who is in his mid-40s, corpulent and blind in one eye, a loner who lives on the rocks a couple of miles north of the bridge. He avoids the encampments and their dramas. "I don't want anything to do with them," he said. "They're just strung out all the time."

Ducret is too ashamed of his appearance to hunt for food from city trash bins in the daytime. "I'm dirty and nasty," he said. "I'm more of a vampire now." He tries to stay hidden from teenager taggers who throw rocks at him. He owns a filthy futon, paperback novels and a tiny radio that brought him news of the slayings last November. He knows that even these few possessions will be stolen if he leaves them unguarded for a few minutes.

Nearby lives Sarah Lomeli, an Arkansas woman in her mid-40s who said she keeps a machete or a Louisville Slugger close by and is terrified when her husband, Omar, wanders from their camp on the eastern bank. "I cry every day," she said. "I hate being scared all the time."

Sandra Lopez, a woman in her mid-50s, lives on the opposite bank and said she doesn't take her medication for manic-depression because she likes to stay alert. "It's like 'Wild Kingdom' out here. . . . I sleep with pepper spray, knives, clubs. I'm ready," she said. "Because of the murders, we don't want strangers down here."

For months after the killings, Merle Megee, a Long Beach cop whose beat is the homeless, frequented the river and nearby missions and soup kitchens, looking for answers, sifting through rumors. One of the victims had Megee's business card in his pocket.

There's no authoritative census of the river, which runs through more than a dozen cities, but Megee estimates the Long Beach portion probably has 150 to 200 people.

"They don't want to be seen, they don't want to be found. If I went down to the river and ran their rap sheets and really looked at their backgrounds, I'd probably pass out," Megee said. "These are the people that have fallen through the cracks, that have nothing going for them. If they had any kind of money, they wouldn't be there."

The isolation is at once the lure and the danger. "There's no pay phone. Nobody's going to hear you scream. It's like breaking down on the way to Las Vegas," he said. "If there's a stabbing out there, we may or may not hear about it."

Dangerous as the river might be, the rumor mill operating along its banks tends to exaggerate the violence. It's widely believed, for instance, that one man recently died there because someone smashed in his head, but Megee said a likelier scenario is that he got drunk and fell on the rocks. "It's not murderers' row. It might be dopers' row."

For its denizens, part of the river's reputation stems from its role as the dumping ground of a vast metropolis. Almost everyone who has lived there for long claims to have seen a body or two in the water.

Earlier this year, it became personal for Megee. He said a childhood friend who fell into a drug habit was slain in his Hawaiian Gardens apartment and thrown into the river. Weeks later, his body was found against a metal grate in north Long Beach.

In the winter, the wind hurts this close to the Pacific. On a chilly morning not long after the killings, Priscilla Gribble, 29, was climbing out of the tent she shared with her boyfriend, Aaron "Droopy" Martinez, 33, under the northernmost pillar of the 7th Street Bridge. "After all that's happened, I don't sleep alone," she said.

Gribble's demeanor goes from welcoming to ferocious "in 2.5 seconds," she conceded, depending on the perceived threat. She described herself as a former Red Lobster cook who was struggling to stay off heroin and has school-age kids living in the city with their father. She had been at the river for more than a year.

"I've been to the ballet. I've seen 'The Nutcracker.' I know that there's more to life than there is out here," she said. "I don't want to die out here."

Her boyfriend described himself as a former gangbanger and longshoreman who does meth -- "but not all the way," taking pains to distinguish himself from the hopeless addicts he believes have ruined the river. The drug gave him energy for his chores, he said, like foraging for spare tent poles and gathering cardboard for campfires -- the better to please Priscilla, his "headstrong, independent woman."

After the killings, it was a comfort to have a Doberman and a chow at the camp. "We grew a lot smarter; we have dogs now," Martinez said. Also, a mirror hung outside their tent so they could see who was approaching from behind. He made it a point, when strangers entered the camp, to give them some marijuana and strong liquor, in the belief that it would reveal their true nature. "I'm trying to make this bridge be a family bridge," he said.

Methamphetamine filled him with big plans. He spoke excitedly of rigging up another layer of security. He would bury plastic bottles under the dirt so he could hear the crunch of approaching footsteps. Piles of debris spoke of a dozen projects, begun in a frenzy and then abandoned.

At the next pillar over, Patrick O'Keefe, 41, who described himself as a former punk rocker and doorman, was flying a pirate flag from his tent. He hated the concept of working all the time "to live in someone's stupid little apartment."

Here, he could do all his laundry for a buck fifty at a local laundromat and get a hot shower at the nearby Multi-Service Center. The "bunkies," or camp mates, all had food stamps, and just last night they barbecued steaks. "One guy had vodka. Someone's got the weed," he said. "That's what I love about this -- a little community feeling."

Gathering planks to undergird his tent, O'Keefe rhapsodized about the romance of life on the river. "I'm building my own home, like I was out on the Oregon Trail," he said. "I'm the alpha male. I live by the river. How many live by the river? Like the Mississippi River. Indian tribes, all the way back."

Still, O'Keefe said, you couldn't let your guard down around so many meth addicts, known as "tweakers." "Don't ever look at me sideways, or I'll snap your neck and throw you down on the rocks," he said. "People know me as a sensitive, intelligent person. An artist. At the same time, I can be somebody who can snap your head in an instant."

Steve Hrenak, an employee of Mental Health America, a nonprofit that helps the homeless mentally ill, was handing out sack lunches. He considered O'Keefe's bluster. "He's the most scared person out here," he said. "He's not used to living this way."

O'Keefe's stay at the camp would be brief. About a week later, by Martinez's account, O'Keefe got drunk and tossed Martinez's trash can onto the rocks, and Martinez, also drunk, retaliated by flinging O'Keefe's tent planks into the river, and O'Keefe, furious, cold-cocked Martinez and screamed, "You stole my home!"

Within weeks, Martinez was gone too, and Gribble was displaying a bruise on her arm. "I still have feelings for him," she said, but "I don't want to be floating in the pier." The notion that she would report the incident was laughable. "Why would I go to the cops?"

You can view the audio slide show narrated by homeless who live along the waterway and a gallery of still images , taken by LA Times photographer Francine Orr.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-river-killings24-2009nov24,0,4644099,print.story

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Witnesses chase skid row slaying suspect to police officer

A woman who allegedly gunned down another woman on Los Angeles' skid row was arrested today after witnesses chased her into the arms of a police officer, authorities said.

Michelle Cato, 26, ran into the Los Angeles Police Department officer as she tried to escape from the witnesses and the dead woman's son. The officer was across the street from the LAPD's Central Division station when he grabbed Cato, police said.

Cato allegedly shot the 38-year-old victim shortly before 4 p.m. in the 500 block of San Julian Street.

"This appears to be a cold-blooded shooting," said Lt. Paul Vernon, commander of the station's detective unit. "The suspect shot this woman in full view of the victim's 23-year-old son and dozens of bystanders."

[ Updated 10:46 p.m .: The victim was identified as Sheila Zaldana, 46, of South Los Angeles, Vernon said.]

The victim and her son were not residents of skid row, police said.

The witnesses chased the woman south on San Julian and then followed her as she fled westbound on 6th Street. Witnesses directed detectives to a small-caliber gun, which was found on the sidewalk where Cato had fled, according to police.

Cato, who is on parole for a prior narcotics conviction, was booked on suspicion of murder, police said.

Vernon said it was the fifth slaying recorded downtown this year, but added that homicides have dropped dramatically from previous years.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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More youngsters believed targeted in assaults on redheads

As many as four youngsters were targeted in Calabasas by at least a dozen middle-school students after a Facebook group urged them to beat up redheads, authorities said.

The first reported incident occurred Friday morning when a 12-year-old boy was kicked and hit in two incidents on the campus of A.E. Wright Middle School by a dozen of his classmates, Los Angeles County S heriff 's investigators said.

Further investigation led detectives to confirm a second attack in the city, and they now believed there may be two more victims, said Steve Whitmore , a department spokesman.

The students who participated in the attack may have been motivated by a Facebook message telling them that Friday was "Kick a Ginger Day," according to Lt. Richard Erickson. "Ginger" is a label given to people with red hair, freckles and fair skin.

Whitmore confirmed that all four victims in the investigation have red hair.

The Facebook message may have been inspired by an episode of the television show "South Park." An episode in 2005 focused on prejudice against " gingers " after one of the characters said people with red hair, light skin and freckles have no souls and suffered from a disease called " Gingervitis ."

Investigators have not made any arrests and don't consider the attacks to be hate crimes.

The first victim sought help Friday from a school nurse, who contacted the principal. Sheriff's officials arrived on campus shortly afterward.

Investigators say the boy was accosted by seventh- and then eighth-graders who kicked and hit him. Detectives are investigating the incident as a possible assault with a deadly weapon.

The boy's injuries were not severe. His name was not released because he is a juvenile.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the network relies on its more than 300 million users to report problems with groups or events. Staff members then follow up to see if groups should be removed or reported to law enforcement, he said.

Schnitt said he had not been made aware of this specific message or group.

"Inciting violence against any individual or group is against what we stand for and our policies," Schnitt said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Assault of Calabasas boy is not being investigated as a hate crime

Authorities said today that an assault on a 12-year-old Calabasas boy who was allegedly targeted by his fellow middle school students because of his red hair is not being investigated as a hate crime.

The attack on the boy occurred at A.E. Wright Middle School by as many as 14 classmates, police said. The incident may have been motivated by a Facebook message on Friday saying it was "Kick a Ginger Day."

However, the incident does not meet the criteria of a hate crime, said Lt. Scott Chew of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"This doesn't apply," he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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White supremacist gang member in Orange County sentenced to death

A white supremacist gang member in Orange County was sentenced to death today for his involvement in the murder of a fellow gang member who had divulged gang secrets on television, authorities said.

Billy Joe Johnson, 46, was convicted last month of assisting two other men  in the March 2002 murder of Scott Miller, a founding member of the gang, the Orange County district attorney's office said in a  statement.  Miller was featured in a Fox News broadcast a year earlier that focused on a criminal case against known leaders of the gang.

Fellow gang members were offended by his actions, prosecutors said. Although Miller's voice and face were disguised during the television broadcast, other gang members were able to identify him by his tattoos.

Gang members Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 34, were also convicted for their role in the murder.  Last year, Lamb was sentenced to death in the case, and in 2007 Rump received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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U.S. youths recruited to fight in Somali militia, authorities say

Young Somali Americans, many in Minneapolis, were lured to fight with an Al Qaeda-affiliated group, court documents allege. Eight suspects alleged to be part of that network face criminal charges.

by Josh Meyer

November 24, 2009

Reporting from Washington

Federal authorities unsealed criminal charges Monday against eight suspects alleged to be part of a U.S. recruiting network that sent young men to fight in Somalia -- one of the largest militant operations uncovered in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The court documents disclosed how some older members of the Somali American community in Minneapolis are believed to have lured younger ones to fight in Somalia -- some as suicide bombers -- with an Al Qaeda-affiliated group known as Al Shabab, or "The Youth."

The charges include providing financial support to fighters who traveled to Somalia, attending Al Shabab training camps and fighting with the group against the U.S.-backed transitional government there, as well as against Ethiopian government forces and African Union troops.

The recruitment of young people from Minneapolis and other U.S. communities "has been the focus of intense investigation for many months," said David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security.

The new charges bring the number of men accused in connection with the case in Minnesota to 14. Several of the newly disclosed defendants are believed to be outside the United States.

At least 20 men, all but one of Somali descent, are thought to have left the Minneapolis area and traveled to Somalia between September 2007 and October 2009, according to court documents and interviews.

Minneapolis is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, an estimated 60,000. Many arrived in the early 1990s as refugees, fleeing famine and a brutal civil war. A cluster of high-rise apartments and the surrounding neighborhood in eastern Minneapolis have come to be known as Little Mogadishu.

As with members of many refugee groups around the country, young Somalis have struggled with negotiating the conflicts between traditional culture and modern America. Authorities say Somali youths in the United States are more easily radicalized than other young Muslims because they are often extremely poor and more isolated from society as a whole.

Amid that struggle, some have come to admire Al Shabab, a hard-line Islamist militia that controls much of southern and central Somalia.

Even among the less militant in this country, there is broad opposition to the regime that was put in place after Ethiopia, backed by the United States, invaded in 2006 and overthrew an Islamic coalition.

The fighters from Minneapolis, according to authorities, were trained in Somalia in the use of small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and military-style tactics. Authorities added that the recruits were also indoctrinated with "anti-Ethiopian, anti-American, anti-Israeli and anti-Western beliefs."

Authorities said one of the men, Shirwa Ahmed, attended Al Shabab training camps after leaving Minneapolis in 2007 and took part in one of five simultaneous suicide attacks on targets in northern Somalia in October 2008.

Until Monday, the public aspects of the investigation had focused on the Somalis who had gone overseas.

But the newly unsealed court documents provide a wealth of new details. Peers and elders recruited the men, according to the documents, in some cases by exhorting them to fight for their homeland and, in others, to fight for jihad, or holy war, against the West and what they described as its puppet government in Mogadishu.

"Instead of the kids going over there as cannon fodder, this identifies some of the recruiters behind them," said one federal law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Federal authorities say they are particularly concerned that some of the men who receive training in guerrilla warfare and terrorism tactics in Somalia might return to the United States and launch attacks here.

They cited a recent case in which Australian authorities arrested at least four men of Somali and Lebanese descent who they charged with planning to use automatic weapons to carry out a suicide attack on a military base in the southern city of Melbourne.

According to Australian police, some of the men had trained with Al Shabab, but the group issued a statement denying it.

Federal authorities said they had been investigating support and finance cells for the network in several U.S. cities, including Boston, San Diego and Columbus, Ohio.

"It's always troubling when you find indications of a terrorist recruitment and training operation with structure, organization and continuity, because those are the makings of an effective terrorist cell," said Kenneth Wainstein, who tracked the threat of Somali Americans fighting overseas as the head of counter-terrorism and homeland security in the George W. Bush administration until earlier this year.

"And while that terrorism may be focused today in the Horn of Africa, which is troubling enough, that same operation could conceivably be directed at us or our allies in the future," Wainstein said.

The documents unsealed Monday in federal court in Minneapolis show how FBI agents followed some of the suspected ringleaders for at least two years, using confidential informants who had quietly pleaded guilty to similar charges.

One of the informants said recruits stayed at Al Shabab safe houses and trained at camps with dozens of young ethnic Somalis from Somalia, elsewhere in Africa, Europe and the United States.

One of the accused, Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, is said to have regaled young Somali Americans with tales of how he was wounded and experienced "true brotherhood" while fighting there, according to documents.

He told alleged co-conspirators "that traveling to Somalia to fight jihad will be fun and not to be afraid," and that it was "the best thing that they could do," according to FBI affidavits filed in support of the charges.

Faarax and Abdiweli Yassin Isse were charged in an Oct. 9 criminal complaint with conspiring to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons outside the United States. An affidavit filed in support of the complaint said that in the fall of 2007, Faarax and others met at a Minneapolis mosque to telephone co-conspirators in Somalia to discuss the need for Minnesota-based fighters to go to Somalia.

Faarax was interviewed three times by authorities, the affidavit said, "and each time denied fighting or knowing anyone who had fought in Somalia."

Another of those charged, Mahamud Said Omar, 43, is a permanent U.S. resident and Somali citizen accused of visiting an Al Shabab safe house in Somalia and providing financial support and personnel to Al Shabab -- including donating money to buy AK-47 rifles for the men from Minneapolis. He was arrested two weeks ago in the Netherlands, and the Justice Department is requesting his extradition.

The Justice Department also announced Monday that four residents of Minneapolis had entered guilty pleas in connection with the investigation and that another defendant awaited trial on charges of making false statements to the FBI.

Ralph S. Boelter, the FBI special agent in charge of the Minneapolis field office, stressed that the investigation focused on "a small number of mainly Somali American individuals and not the broader Somali American community itself, which has consistently expressed deep concern about this pattern of recruitment activity in support of Al Shabab."

The FBI began investigating the network after the disappearance of some young Somalis from Minneapolis several years ago.

At least three of the young men have been killed in fighting, and others have been arrested in Africa, Europe and elsewhere.

In recent years, Al Shabab has trained with and provided refuge for senior Al Qaeda operatives wanted in connection with the deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 and a 2002 hotel bombing in Kenya.

As part of its war with the transitional government, Al Shabab has attacked police stations, border posts, government facilities and civilian targets.

It also has launched suicide bombings and produced numerous jihadist propaganda videos, including ones showing decapitations of its purported enemies. It has declared that its ultimate goal is the imposition of Sharia, or strict Islamic law, throughout Somalia.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-somali-terror24-2009nov24,0,2665303,print.story

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China sentences activist to 3 years

Huang Qi was investigating the role shoddy school construction may have played in the deaths of thousands of children in the Sichuan quake last year.

by Barbara Demick

November 24, 2009

Reporting from Beijing

An activist who was investigating the role shoddy school construction played in the deaths of more than 5,000 children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was given a three-year prison sentence Monday on charges of possessing state secrets.

Huang Qi, 46, a veteran activist and blogger, is the most prominent of more than a dozen people who were arrested for demanding investigations into construction standards after the magnitude 7.9 temblor. Others included prominent artists, former teachers and parents who lost their only children in the earthquake.

Huang is a veteran activist who had long irritated Chinese authorities by writing about taboo subjects, such as the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square and the persecution of practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. He'd previously served time in prison.

After the May 12 earthquake, Huang rented a truck and distributed water and instant noodles to people left homeless. He also organized bereaved parents who were questioning why so many schools collapsed when Communist Party and government buildings nearby remained intact. He was arrested less than a month after the quake -- a week after posting an article on his website about school construction standards.

Huang's wife, Zeng Li, told reporters Monday in the Sichuan capital, Chengdu, where the sentencing took place, that her husband was convicted of illegal possession of municipal documents, but that she wasn't told what the papers were or even which municipality they were from.

U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. spoke to Chinese officials about Huang's case during the run-up to President Obama's visit to China last week, according to embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson. It was unclear whether the president himself brought up the subject.

Some Chinese human rights activists have criticized Obama for not being more forceful on their behalf.

"Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the world has been intimidated by China, whether it is about economics, culture or human rights. This is a sad situation that I saw during Obama's visit," said Yang Licai, who volunteered to tally the number of children killed in collapsing schools. Yang said that he and others involved with the quake "were merely people with a conscience trying to find out the truth of what happened and help China avoid the same mistakes."

Amnesty International said in a statement Monday that the Chinese government prohibited witnesses from testifying at Huang's trial and restricted his access to a lawyer under the grounds that "state secrets" were involved.

"China's state secrets legislation needs to urgently be reviewed. These laws are used extensively to retroactively penalize lawful human rights activities and restrict freedom of expression," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-china-dissident24-2009nov24,0,51882,print.story

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EDITORIAL

L.A.'s skid row mission

Officials should build on recent progress, cracking down on criminal predators while extending help to those who need it.

November 24, 2009

Skid row in downtown Los Angeles is not what it used to be. Just three years ago, close to 10,000 people may have been living on the streets from Third south to Seventh and from Main east to Alameda, many of them the destitute and troubled single men who had long gathered in the area when they ran out of options, but joined increasingly by women and their young children. People huddled in donated tents and discarded cardboard boxes, waiting for meal times at local missions, defending themselves from the drug dealers who preyed on them or seeking them out to help dull their pain. Today, large clusters of homeless people are less common.

Last month, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that the county's homeless population has fallen by 38% since 2007, notwithstanding the steep recession.

It's easy to examine the changes on skid row and the countywide numbers and conclude that Los Angeles is tackling its homelessness problem. That would be premature. Despite the count, areas of the county formerly unaffected by homelessness have seen, for the first time, families gathered in parks or living in cars parked discreetly on side streets. The Los Angeles Unified School District reports more children coming to class from shelters or from couches or garages borrowed from friends and neighbors.

Still, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has made good on a vow to fund, so far, 1,331 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless residents, where they will receive the mental health care, drug treatment, job training and counseling they need to stay off the street for good. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky led an effort to coordinate county services to help and house skid row's most vulnerable residents, and the county has begun to replicate the program in Hollywood, Santa Monica, the San Fernando Valley and Venice.

To define success, it is necessary to first define the mission. If it's to end homelessness in Los Angeles, the task appears as impossible as ever. But if it's to help some people get off the street and stay off, the success, although still small in numbers, is real.

And what if the mission is to "clean up skid row"? That is too often, and incorrectly, deemed the mission of the Safer Cities Initiative, a Los Angeles city program to reduce crime and improve services. Opponents sometimes see it as an attempt to sweep away the destitute and the suffering in order to protect property values in the area that business owners would prefer to be known as Central City East. What they often seem to miss is that it makes sense for police to target crime, not to "clean up skid row" but to protect the homeless from those who would prey on them.

Now police say skid row has become something of an open drug bazaar, where dealers and buyers who may once have done their business in MacArthur Park or other parts of town seek each other out. It may be tempting to try to wipe out crime with a heavy hand to eliminate skid row once and for all. That would be a mistake.

It's not always easy to distinguish skid row's criminals from its victims. Homeless addicts -- and many remain on skid row -- often are recruited by dealers to sell drugs in exchange for feeding their habits. They are lawbreakers, but sending them to state prison, where there is no room, or county jails, which likewise are packed, would be to simply repeat the mistakes of recent, less-enlightened times. The city must move wisely and deftly, distinguishing between criminal predators who deserve little mercy and addicts who can be helped off the street for good with a little tough love rather than be pushed into the revolving door from street to jail to street.

If homelessness numbers truly are down, Los Angeles has a narrow window of opportunity to get help to longtime skid row residents. That window may close all too soon, when overcrowded prisons are compelled to release thousands of inmates -- many of whom will no doubt drift to skid row. When they get there, the city must be prepared to show them that crime will not be tolerated but that help is available to those who need it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-homeless24-2009nov24,0,315323,print.story

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From the Daily News

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L.A. database of deaths aids families who seek closure

It had been years since the Boatwrights had heard from their beloved brother James Arthur - the only one of the 10 surviving adult siblings estranged from the family.

Wanting to bridge the gap of years and miles, they launched an Internet search in August from their homes in the Deep South, knowing only that he lived somewhere in Los Angeles.

They got a hit, but the news brought them sorrow rather than joy. James Arthur Boatwright, age 65, was among the 4,827 unclaimed bodies listed in an online database by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

After contacting authorities, Boatwright's family learned that he'd died in August 2007 at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley, two months after being hit by a car.

"We were able to get his ashes and came to closure with his death," said Evelyn Boatwright May, 72, who lives in Georgia. "It was really something to find out two years later that your brother has been dead."

Boatwright's name was added to the unclaimed body database after coroner's officials had exhausted other means for notifying his next of kin, such as fingerprints, public records and inquiries to other Internet sites. Authorities sometimes can locate relatives in other countries using documentation showing that the deceased wired money out of the United States.

And while these resources can help authorities identify the body, they may offer few clues about the next of kin.

"You see families becoming more and more estranged," said coroner's investigator Joyce M. Kato. "They are losing that link."

If records are located that show the deceased served in the military, the body is interred at Riverside National Cemetery. Other unclaimed bodies, however, are kept in the county morgue for 30 days, then cremated by companies under contract to the county.

The ashes are stored for several years in the hope that relatives like the Boatwrights will eventually come forward. The ashes are released to families, who pay a $352 fee.

Officials said 708 unclaimed bodies were cremated in 2008, a 48 percent increase from the 480 cremated just three years earlier.

Each year, the ashes in years-old cases are buried during a service at Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles. This year's funeral will be held Dec.9 for those who died in 2005 and 2006.

And while their physical remains will be disposed of, the names of those unclaimed souls remain on the list.

About 70 percent of the names in the database are men ages 50 to 70 who authorities believe were homeless or estranged from their families, Kato said.

"You get a lot of cases where they don't care," Kato said.

Still, many others who locate their fathers, brothers, sisters and mothers on the Web site are shocked and riddled with grief to learn that a loved one had died without their knowledge.

Tina Vincent of Flemington, W.Va., was asked by her father-in-law to search online for his younger brother, who had lost touch with the family after moving to California.

As with the Boatwrights, the Vincent family learned via the Internet that their loved one had died. Gary Noel Vincent, 61 and homeless, died in Septemter 2001 of head injuries suffered when he fell off a retaining wall.

"He was a transient living on the streets, and we didn't even know it," Vincent said. "We wanted to bring his remains back, but we were too late."

Jason Brown, 38, of Washington, used the coroner's database to learn the fate of his estranged father, with whom he'd lost touch after his parents divorced. He heard through a family friend that William Edward Hart had died, but didn't know until contacting the coroner that it was a heart attack that claimed his life in January 2005.

"For me it was a confirmation about what had happened to him," Brown said. "It was a relief to put the pieces together." Coroner web site: coroner.lacounty.gov

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13848513

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CELEBRATION: Fun, not gangs

VAN NUYS -- Thousands of local kids slurped ice cream, screamed on spinning coasters or danced along with Disney television stars Saturday in the second annual Children's Day Celebration at Woodley Park.

"Kids Day is about having fun because kids always have fun," said 6-year-old Breana Ruiz as she danced along to the music blaring on the speakers.

Organized by the San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs, the all-day event was created last year as a way to celebrate local youth, said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michel Moore. An estimated 60,000 people showed up to Saturday's event.

"The majority of the kids in this Valley have great promise....This is a way to showcase the joy of being a kid," Moore said.

Modeled after similar events around the world organized for International Children's Day, Saturday's gathering had plenty of carnival rides and a large display of police cars, helicopters and firetrucks.

Sporting a feathered hat, 10-year-old Stephanie Martinez said she enjoyed the arts and crafts available at the event, but the best part of the day was watching Disney Channel stars perform.

Also, more than 80 local community groups had tables at the event. One of the goals of the event, Moore said, was to promote the multitude of free and low-cost after-school programs and resources available to young people in the region.

"Kids are outstanding but as they struggle with the teenage years and growing up sometimes they can fall into a downward spiral that leads to tragic outcomes," Moore said.

"Here we connect parents with the tools they need to help them with that critical job of parenting....It helps us prevent gang violence."

Granada Hills resident Luis Vanegas said he collected tons of information on programs that he would now be able to use to keep his three daughters - ages 10, 11 and 18 - busy.

"Me and my wife, we work, and it's so important to find ways to keep them active in the community and out of trouble," Vanegas said.

Also, during an economic downturn, a free event with free parking was not a bad deal for the head of a family of five.

"Hey it's family fun in the outdoors," Vanegas said.

All proceeds from carnival rides and food sales will be used by the San Fernando Valley Coalition to fund micro-grants for local groups that work with troubled youth.

Moore said he was aware of the financial burdens facing most local families and he would be happy if the event just matched the amount that was raised last year.

That money went to fund everything from after-school dance programs, to tutoring services and even soccer balls for local parks.

"This is about finding kids things to do to keep them off the street and doing something positive," said Hilda Garcia, a representative of the Mayor's Gang Reduction and Youth Development Department.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13843616

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Friendly Fire: Terrorism on trial

Terrorism on trial

This week, Friendly Fire bloggers took on this hot topic at www.insidesocal.com/friendlyfire . Below are excerpts from the conversation.

Location counts

When the public elected Barack Obama under the moniker of change, they did not mean the change to do whatever they want. And this applies to the administration's decision to hold the 9-11 terrorist trials in New York City.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said it would be dangerous to hold the trials in New York City because several plots have already been thwarted there. He feels that it would be too much like a terrorist lightning rod. While his fears may be true, the whole world has become their stomping ground because of our dependence on slick black gold, Texas tea, so anyplace where the trial is held would likely become a target.

The other choice would be Guantanamo Bay, which is where Khalid Shiekh Mohammed and his five cronies will most likely wind up anyway.

Other than that, the place where they had the utter temerity to unleash their plot and take the lives of people who were merely going to work and going about their business is the place where they should be tried. After all, there is something to be said in rising up, looking our perpetrators squarely in the eye and letting them know that they can knock us down, but not out.

Afraid of blind justice

Some have speculated that an upside of terrorist trials in New York City is that the accused will lose their aura of supervillainy amid the drudgery of the American judicial system. That is good both for Americans and for those who the terrorists seek to recruit. Their "cosmic war" would seem a good deal less glamorous.

But a friend offered me an intriguing insight into the rationale of Americans who decry the idea of terrorists being tried by our American justice system instead of secretive military tribunals: They trust the latter more than the former. They believe that the court is more capricious and unreliable. They prefer the values of the military more than that of a jury of Americans. Given that our military men and women are supposed to be giving their lives specifically to defend things such as our justice system, that's a bit ironic.

Bad precedent

I know that I'm considered a reliable supporter of President Obama, having been in his camp since before Iowa. However, I think he and Attorney General Holder are wrong to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his band of plotters and murderers here for trial in our criminal justice system.

The problem with bringing him here is not danger to New York or the fairness or competency of our system. Nor is housing a bad man, (or many bad people) particularly challenging. We know how to do this. The problem is that it is a bad precedent to bring war criminals and combatants from overseas and give them civilian rights.

The prospect of change of venue motions, vetting of every piece of evidence and testimony, as a good defense lawyer must do, will be ugly, time-consuming and without clear advantage to us. The charges of confession by torture and the examination of the CIA will be terrible distractions. No, they won't give away secrets, but they will diminish the impact of the trial.

The shame of it is we shouldn't have to do this. We know how to try people who commit crimes on our land. We dealt with everyone from Sirhan Sirhan to Timothy McVeigh, Sheik Omar and Massoui just fine.

We also know how to try people taken on the field of battle in other lands. We tried Japanese officers after Word War II as well as Nazis. We seem at a loss here because we invented a new category, "Illegal enemy combatant," in theory to deal with the fact that the terrorists, the members of al-Qaida are not directly state-sponsored but are nonstate actors. This is a legal Never Never Land. We should leave it.

Smugglers set eyes on U.S. truck program

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAREDO, Texas (AP) | A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so without anyone looking at their cargo.

But among the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband, including 8 tons of marijuana seized during one week in April.

Some specialists now question whether the program makes sense at a time when drug traffickers are willing to do almost anything to smuggle their shipments into the United States.

The trusted-shipper system "just tells the bad guys who to target," said Dave McIntyre, former director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M University.

The program works like this: Participating companies agree to adopt certain security measures in exchange for fast entry into the United States. They are required to put their employees through background checks, fence in their facilities and track their trucks. They also are asked to work with subcontractors who also have been certified under the program, which is run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

The government keeps the list of participants secret, citing national security and trade secrets. But some of the 9,500 companies that are part of the system advertise their membership to drum up business, making them targets for smugglers, who can then threaten drivers or offer them bribes.

More than half of all U.S. imports now come from companies in the program, called the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT. Mexican trucking companies make up only 6 percent of global membership in the system, but they account for half of its 71 security violations during the past two years.

Mexican trucking companies face higher scrutiny than others. They get a full customs inspection every year, instead of every three years like other participating companies.

The most common contraband is marijuana, officials say.

In a 24-hour period in April, customs officers in Laredo found 3 tons of marijuana in trucks carrying auto parts across two different bridges. Five days after that, agents in El Paso found more than 4 tons of marijuana in a tractor-trailer hauling auto parts.

In July, the director of the program became alarmed by the number of large drug seizures along the border and issued a security bulletin, asking participating companies to redouble their efforts against smuggling.

In Laredo, the border's busiest crossing, nearly 700 trucks a day pass through the lane at the World Trade Bridge reserved for trucks that are certified by the trusted-carrier program, each one pausing only for a matter of seconds.

Stephen Flynn, senior fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said truckers do not feel safe rejecting bribes, no matter what agreements their companies have made with the U.S. government.

"The basic vulnerability for a truck driver remains the 'plata-or-plomo' dilemma," Mr. Flynn said, using Spanish shorthand for taking a bribe or a bullet.

John Chaffin, a trade lawyer near San Diego, said he had worked with one Mexican trucking company that wanted to join the program, but then pulled out. He suspects participating companies feel pressure from drug gangs to help them smuggle drugs into the United States.

"Some Mexican truckers have figured out, 'I don't want someone thinking I'm a better target than someone else,' " Mr. Chaffin said.

Mexican authorities suspect a man who owned a participating trucking company in Aguascalientes, Mexico, was killed by drug gangs in July 2008. The slaying of Gerardo Medrano Ibarra is unsolved.

Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, then chief of operations for Mexico's customs agency, told El Norte newspaper that exporters last year became worried that organized crime was targeting U.S.-certified companies.

In the past, smugglers created their own fly-by-night businesses for smuggling, he said. Now they use major trucking corporations.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/smugglers-set-eyes-on-us-truck-program//print/

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China holds lawyer who tried to see Obama

by Julia Duin

American activists are demanding Obama administration action on the arrest of Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who was dragged away from his home in front of his family after being drawn back to China by the possibility of a meeting with President Obama in Beijing.

"President Obama should pick up the phone and call [Chinese President] Hu Jintao," Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican, said Monday at a Capitol Hill press conference. "This man asked to meet with the president and was turned down."

U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman "should be in his car today visiting him and his family," added Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican. "Human rights concerns have been sidelined by this administration."

And last Friday, Amnesty International criticized the Chinese government's treatment of Mr. Jiang not a whole day after Mr. Obama's departure and noted that "dozens" of lawyers and activists were detained and barred from talking with foreign journalists during the Obama visit.

"It is a very negative sign that the Chinese government now actually steps up its repressive tactics during sensitive public events," said Sam Zarifi, Amnestys Asia-Pacific director. "This is a clear signal to Chinas civil society, as well as to the United States, that the Chinese government will not abide by its international human rights obligations even when it knows the whole world is watching."

Mr. Jiang had just returned from a five-week American tour including criticism his government's human rights record. He testified twice, on Oct. 29 and Nov. 10, in front of Congress about what he termed "harassment, suppression and persecution" of lawyers like him by Chinese authorities.

He flew back to China soon after the Nov. 10 hearing because he had received word from the embassy in Beijing that Mr. Obama might meet with selected human rights lawyers during his visit, Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Jiang and another lawyer came to the embassy the morning of Nov. 18 - Mr. Obama's last day in Beijing - only to be told no such meeting was in the works. Then they were arrested, interrogated in a nearby hotel, then put under house arrest until the president flew out that afternoon.

Early the following morning, Nov. 19, Mr. Jiang was waylaid outside his Beijing home by about four police officers, according to a chronology assembled by ChinaAid, a human rights group. The lawyer was leaving his Beijing home to take a 7-year-old daughter to school. While he was forced into a waiting police car, a police officer named Wang Tao tackled Mr. Jiang's wife, throwing her to the ground while the daughter sobbed.

ChinaAid said it contacted the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to report the arrest and the embassy called the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest, an account confirmed by the State Department.

As human rights lawyers rallied in front of the police station where Mr. Jiang was being detained, the lawyer was told he was guilty of beating up Officer Wang.

"I was holding my daughter's hand with my left hand and her school bag with my right hand; how could I have beaten up a policeman?" Mr. Jiang responded, according to the ChinaAid account. "And there were at least four of them."

After 13 hours of being questioned, Mr. Jiang was told "you have not seen the last of this yet" by the police station's vice director before he was sent home about 9:30 p.m.

Mr. Jiang remains under house arrest, Mr. Smith said.

A State Department spokeswoman said the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has no plans to further protest the attorney's treatment, nor was the department aware of any plan to have Mr. Obama meet with human rights lawyers.

The White House did not immediately return a call asking for comment on Mr. Jiang's detention, the Washington press conference, and the accusations raised there.

Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Mr. Jiang must have done something wrong.

"If legal actions are taken against anyone, he or she must have done something in violation of the Chinese laws, and that has nothing to do with other factors such as a foreign leader's visit to China," he wrote in e-mail.

"We strongly believe that China is on the right development path, so is today's China-U.S. relationship. Noises made by a handful of anti-China people may be misleading for the American public, but they will not stop the historical trend," he concluded.

However, last Friday the U.S. Embassy in Beijing did call for the release of Xue Feng , a China-born U.S. citizen who has been imprisoned for two years on state secrets charges.

Mr. Xue is a geologist who was detained two years ago this month after trying to buy a database of information about China's oil industry, according to Agence France-Presse. He was arrested in April 2008 and charged with procuring state secrets for overseas entities. The embassy said Mr. Xue's case was raised during Mr. Obama's visit.

Also Monday, according to wire service reports from China, veteran dissident Huang Qi was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally possessing state secrets. He had posted several reports on his blog criticizing the government over poorly built schools that were destroyed in a massive earthquake that killed about 90,000 people in Sichuan province in June 2008.

Mr. Jiang is one of a cadre of Chinese lawyers who have taken on unpopular causes ranging from defending migrants' rights to the fates of Tibetan activists and Falun Gong followers.

He is best known for his defense of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who was imprisoned in 2005 and remains in jail for organizing a class-action lawsuit against reported widespread forced abortions and sterilizations in China.

Activists at Monday's Washington press conference said Mr. Obama's silence on human rights had chilling effects less than 24 hours after he left the country.

"All the newspapers in Europe are saying Obama came back empty-handed," said Wei Jingsheng, a former political prisoner in China, speaking through an interpreter. "He didn't bring back much and appeared to say little."

There is widespread anger around China about the denial of basic human rights, "which are deteriorating in China," he said. "If this continues, Chinese society will collapse."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/china-holds-lawyer-who-tried-to-meet-obama//print/

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One child at a time

by Carolyn B. Lamm

Last month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., addressing a national pediatric conference, described a recent Justice Department-commissioned report, National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence.

It found, shockingly, that more than 60 percent of children have been exposed to violence during the past year, either directly or indirectly. Much of that brutality occurred in their homes. In his speech, the attorney general challenged us to do more to help these vulnerable children.

Every November, we mark National Adoption Month, a time to celebrate families brought together through adoption. Adoptive parents and others pause to reflect on and celebrate the great privilege and joy resulting from a child's adoption. But we all must also recognize there are large numbers of children still awaiting adoption who have experienced the cruelty of abuse - and the equally devastating developmental and emotional impact of chronic neglect. Half a million children are in foster care because of what they have suffered in their homes.

With the help of child welfare agencies, dependency courts, and judges and attorneys working within that system, most of these children will be safely returned to strengthened and more protective families, or permanently placed with loving relatives.

As many as 130,000 of them, however, remain in foster care and need adoptive or other permanent families. Their average age is close to 9, but greater numbers of older youth each year are lingering within the system.

What can we lawyers do to help them? Mr. Holder suggested those of us who come in contact with troubled children and families, regardless of the reason, become better trained and more informed so we can identify children who need our help. For those in foster care, I believe we can do even more.

These youth are truly "children of loss" - having lost birth families, neighborhoods, schools, friends and belongings. They come to believe they can't count on anyone. We must work to restore their confidence and trust in life.

Lawyers in the child welfare field - and we encourage more - can help these children immensely. This year, for instance, the ABA Center on Children and the Law marks its 30th anniversary of work to improve child protective legal policy and practice.

Even for those who don't do child-focused legal work, there are opportunities to help youth in foster care. Here are some examples:

Lawyers volunteer or donate to support adoption and to help children, adoptive parents and birth parents through the Lawyers for Children program, the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Initiative, the D.C. Bar Foundation and other groups. Pro bono lawyers are also assisting parents who respond to the weekly "Wednesday's Child" TV segment that highlights foster children available for adoption.

The ABA and its state and local bar association counterparts also have an opportunity this year to support extension of the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, considered the most generous individual credit in today's tax code, and target it to encourage more foster youth adoptions. The credit should especially support adoption of those older special needs youth who must not be simply allowed to "age out" of foster care without permanent connections to caring adults.

Join an effort like one of these. Come up with one of your own. This is an area where lawyers can make a lasting difference in the lives of children and families. It is some of the best work we can do for our children - our future - and for our communities. We must embrace Mr. Holder's suggestion: Let's not watch from the sidelines and hope someone else does the job.

Carolyn B. Lamm is president of the American Bar Association.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/one-child-at-a-time//print/

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Security compromised

by Frank J. Gaffney Jr.

An unsettling question has begun to nag as Team Obama's conduct of security policy becomes ever more inconsistent with common sense - and, at least in some cases, manifestly at odds with our national interests.

Consider the following illustrative examples of such troubling behavior:

Worse yet, by denying the role played in this attack by Maj. Hasan's adherence to the seditious, jihadist program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah," the administration can only compound the problem that has been illuminated by the investigation to date: the collective refusal of the Army, the intelligence services, the FBI and the U.S. government more generally to act against an individual with such proclivities.

This refusal goes beyond political correctness. It reflects more than an understandable reluctance to risk the retribution to careers and livelihoods associated with being labeled "racists," "bigots" and "Islamophobes." It amounts, as a practical matter, to submission to the dictates of Shariah. And Americans are understandably horrified by the extent to which this practice has been - and is - affecting the capacities of those responsible for keeping us safe.

Mr. Holder's truly pathetic - to say nothing of unpersuasive - appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week made clear that this trial has no real upsides for the United States, and plenty of downsides.

The latter include: the prospect of new terrorist attacks in Manhattan (Sen. Charles E. Schumer says he wants the feds to provide an additional $75 million to protect the city); the certainty that the defendants will use the "platform" they would be afforded as a vehicle for waging political warfare against this country; and the distinct possibility that the constitutional rights they will undeservedly obtain in such a trial will prompt a federal judge to let them off the hook, or at least seriously compromise sensitive intelligence sources, methods and data.

The administration's fatuous bid to "engage," and thereby disarm, North Korea has fared no better. Its only tangible negotiating "success" to date is the adoption by the United Nations of an Islamist prohibition on "hate speech" against Muslims - which was, believe it or not, co-sponsored by the United States, despite the assault it represents on our First Amendment rights.

We can only speculate about the motivations behind such deeply problematic behavior on the part of a president of the United States and his administration. What is beyond dispute, however, is the cumulative effect of the application worldwide of the Obama doctrine - emboldening our enemies, undermining our allies and diminishing our country: Team Obama is making it much more difficult to defend our vital interests and the security of our people, even as its actions encourage the emergence and intensification of threats to both.

History will judge such behavior harshly, whatever the intentions that motivate it.

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for The Washington Times and host of the nationally syndicated program, "Secure Freedom Radio."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/security-compromised//print/

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From the Wall Street Journal

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BELTON, Texas -- The man accused of the Fort Hood shooting rampage is facing tighter restrictions on his communication with the world outside the hospital room, where he lies paralyzed from the chest down, his lawyer said Monday.

The lawyer, John P. Galligan, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan fell asleep during an hour-long hearing held at his hospital bed on Saturday, during which a military magistrate ruled that the suspect should be placed in pretrial confinement. That is a legal status that essentially turns his hospital room, at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, into a jail cell.

Journal Community

• Vote: Should the Sept. 11 trial be held in New York City?

The military has begun opening Maj. Hasan's mail and monitoring his telephone conversations, Mr. Galligan said in an interview at his office here. Army officials have also ended normal hospital visiting hours, allowing Maj. Hasan to receive visitors, such as family, for no more than half an hour daily, the lawyer said.

Maj. Hasan's status as a prisoner also makes it easier for the military to move him, said Mr. Galligan, a retired Army colonel. He added that he is concerned the Army plans to move Maj. Hasan to Bell County jail here, which is under contract with Fort Hood to serve as a brig, when house-arrest might be more appropriate.

Army officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Maj. Hasan, a psychiatrist who had been scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan, is accused of murdering 13 people on the sprawling Army base on November 5 and injuring dozens more.

He was shot several times during the incident and remains under intensive medical care. His lawyer said doctors have determined Maj. Hasan will remain paralyzed from his chest down and incontinent for the rest of his life.

Maj. Hasan's unit commander, Captain Jake Huber, wrote in a Friday letter that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that "the circumstances of Maj. Hasan's confinement would be unique and tailored as necessary."

"What does that mean?" Mr. Galligan asked. "I need to be able to advise my client."

He said he requested that Capt. Huber be present at the hearing over the weekend in order to answer questions, but that the captain did not attend the proceedings.

The army would not make Captain Huber available for comment, or confirm his rank and role.

Last week, Maj. Hasan was transferred to the 21st Cavalry Brigade, an air-combat unit based at Fort Hood, according to his lawyer. Mr. Galligan said the explanation offered to him was that the new unit "has no known victims or responders to events of 5 November."

Mr. Galligan said he is concerned that the rapid pace of the proceedings threatens his client's due-process rights. "Already on most basic fundamental parts of pretrial process, I am not saying it is totally derailed, but they need to do some maintenance to make sure we stay on track," he said.

The military said Monday in a three-page memorandum that its continuing 45-day probe of how it identifies service members who might pose a risk will include a look at whether policies "functioned properly" when Maj. Hasan was promoted through the ranks. They will also look at whether Maj. Hasan's care of his patients "met accepted standards."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125902650334561539.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories#printMode

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From the White House

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Celebrating National Adoption Day

This past Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and key leaders on adoption issues marked the 10th anniversary of National Adoption Day. The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships was proud to work with the Department of Health and Human Services to organize this exciting event. 

Secretary Sebelius participated in a ceremony to finalize the adoptions of two D.C.-area foster children, the first two adoptions of National Adoption Day in the District.  Two-year-old Emma, who has a chronic inflammatory condition of her esophagus, lit up the stage as her adoption was processed and she officially joined her lovely family.  Sixteen-year-old Dominique was adopted by her mom Karen, with whom she has lived since she was 11. Dominique and her mother share similar interests, even down to their favorite colors of purple and pink.

In her remarks, Secretary Sebelius sought to “draw attention to the hundreds of thousands of children around the country who don't have permanent families.” The Secretary noted that the “evidence is clear: Children who don't have stable, permanent homes are more likely to drop out of school, more likely to be unemployed, more likely to go to jail, and more likely have kids out of wedlock.” The Secretary highlighted several HHS initiatives that work to promote adoption and connect children with the families they deserve, including:

• AdoptUSKids.org
  
  
• The Adoption Incentives Program
  
  
• A Public Service Announcement campaign with the AD Council
  
  
• National Child Welfare Resource Centers
  

Also on stage and delivering remarks were Senator Mary Landrieu (LA); Representative Jim McDermott (WA); Joan Lombardi, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood, Administration for Children and Families; D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield; Rita Soronen, National Adoption Day Representative; and Kathleen Strottman of Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. 

For additional information on Administration efforts around adoption and foster care, you can visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov .

Joshua DuBois is the Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/23/celebrating-national-adoption-day

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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"Sacrifice and Commitment"

WASHINGTON – The United States has filed a lawsuit against Terence Flanagan, a Chicago area property owner and rental agent, alleging that he refused to rent properties he owned or controlled to African-Americans, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act, the Justice Department announced.

The lawsuit, filed today in federal court in Chicago, alleges that Flanagan refused to rent a single-family house he owns in Orland Park, Ill., to Kamal Alex Majeid, who is African-American, because of his race. The lawsuit also alleges that Flanagan asked a white tester employed by the Justice Department whether her husband was African-American and admitted to her that he did not want to rent to African-Americans. The suit further alleges that Flanagan told this tester that he had numerous other rental properties in the Chicago area.

Testers are individuals who pose as applicants for housing and report on their interactions with housing providers to determine the providers' compliance with fair housing laws. Since 1991, the Department has operated a Fair Housing Testing Program whereby it uses federal employees or contractors as testers to identify violations of the Fair Housing Act.

"Racial discrimination has no place in this nation, particularly when it stands in the way of an individual satisfying a basic need like housing," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. "This lawsuit makes clear that such discrimination will not be tolerated, and we will use all tools at our disposal to root out unlawful discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities."

"We are committed to seeking out discrimination and acting forcefully to eliminate it in all its forms from the Chicago-area housing market," said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

This lawsuit resulted from a complaint submitted to the Justice Department by the South Suburban Housing Center, a private suburban Chicago fair housing organization, after it was contacted by Majeid. Majeid filed a lawsuit against Flanagan in August. That lawsuit is currently pending in federal court before the Honorable Samuel Der-Yeghiayan. The United States' complaint seeks a court order prohibiting future discrimination by the defendant, monetary damages for those harmed by the defendant's actions and a civil penalty.

Individuals who may have information related to this lawsuit should contact the Justice Department toll-free at 1-800-896-7743, mail box number 93, or email the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov. Fighting illegal housing discrimination is a top priority of the Justice Department. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at http://www.justice.gov/crt .  Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov, or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777.

The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct. The allegations must be proven in federal court.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-crt-1271.html

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Jacques Monsieur, a Belgian national and resident of France suspected of international arms dealing for decades, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama to conspiracy to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran.

Monsieur along with Dara Fotouhi, aka Dara Fatouhi, an Iranian national currently living in France, was charged in a six-count indictment returned on Aug. 27, 2009, with conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling, as well as violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Monsieur was arrested by federal agents in August 2009 upon his arrival in New York. Fotouhi remains at large.

According to Monsieur's factual proffer and the documents filed in court, Monsieur, along with his co-conspirator Fotouhi, are experienced arms dealers who have been actively working with the Iranian government to procure military items for the Iranian government. In February 2009, Monsieur contacted an undercover agent seeking engines for the F-5 (EIF) fighter jet and the C-130 military transport aircraft for export to Iran. Thereafter, Monsieur began having regular e-mail contact with the undercover agent regarding the requested F-5 engines and parts.

These engines, known as J85-21 models, are replacement engines for the F-5 fighter jet that was sold to Iran by the United States before the 1979 Iranian revolution. The engines and parts are designated as defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List and may not be exported from the United States without a license from the U.S. State Department. Additionally, these items may not be exported to Iran without a license from the U.S. Treasury Department due to the U.S. trade embargo on Iran.

In May 2009, an undercover agent met with Monsieur where Monsieur introduced Fotouhi as a business associate, and again discussed the illegal export of F-5 fighter jet engines from the United States to Iran. During this negotiation, Monsieur asked the undercover agent if he could obtain or use U.S. shipping or export authorization documents that falsely indicated that the end user of the items would be located in Colombia.

In June 2009, Monsieur sent an e-mail to the undercover agent and provided a purchase order for F-5 fighter jet parts from a front company for an organization known as Trast Aero Space, located in Kyrgyzstan. The order requested that the parts be located by the undercover agent and illegally exported to the United Arab Emirates for the transshipment to Iran. The following month, Monsieur contacted the undercover agent indicating that approximately $110,000 had been wired from Dubai to a bank account in Alabama as payment for the parts. He also indicated that a deposit of $300,000 would be forthcoming as a down payment for two F-5 fighter jet engines. In August 2009, Monsieur requested information from the undercover agent about his contact in Colombia for forwarding the aircraft parts from Colombia to the United Arab Emirates.

"Today's plea underscores the threat posed by Iranian procurement networks and the international arms traffickers who help supply them," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. "I applaud the many agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service who worked tirelessly to bring about this important case."

Eugene A. Seidel, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama said, "Today's prosecution clearly shows that the United States will continue to be vigilant in cases dealing with arms traffickers and will relentlessly pursue every lead to shut down illegal arms transfer to Iran."

"We realize foreign governments actively seek our equipment for their own military development. Therefore, preventing the export of critical technologies and restricted munitions is of extreme concern to the Department of Defense because of the real possibility that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines may have to face this material in the hands of our adversaries and thereby lose the advantage that U.S. technology is supposed to provide them," said Sharon E. Woods, Director, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. "Protecting American's Warfighters through technology protection is a top priority for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the law enforcement arm of the DoD Inspector General, and a fundamental focus for our special agents."

"The guilty plea of Monsieur reflects the government's commitment to ensuring that critical technologies and military-grade weapons not fall into the wrong hands," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton. "ICE will continue bringing to bear its unique law enforcement authorities to investigate and enforce criminal violations of all U.S. export laws related to military items and controlled "dual-use" commodities."

Monsieur faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory A. Bordenkircher of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama, with assistance from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-ag-1272.html

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Robert Restuch, 70, of Bullhead City, Ariz., was sentenced today to five years in prison for mailing child pornography. Restuch was also sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow to serve a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

On May 20, 2008, a Phoenix grand jury indicted Restuch on one count of mailing child pornography, one count of reproducing child pornography for distribution through the mails and one count of possession of child pornography. The charges arose after Restuch entered the U.S. Post Office in Bullhead City and mailed a box of CDs and DVDs that contained more than 600 images of child pornography, including images depicting children under the age of 12 years.

Restuch pleaded guilty on July 28, 2009, to one count of mailing child pornography. According to court documents, the investigation revealed that Restuch had downloaded child pornography files from the Internet, and copied the files onto the CDs and DVDs that he later mailed.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon K. Sexton of the District of Arizona.  The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation. 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-ag-1273.html

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From the FBI

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Tennessee Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Burning Islamic Center

WASHINGTON—Senior Judge Robert L. Echols of the Middle District of Tennessee today sentenced Michael Corey Golden to 14 years and three months in prison and three years of supervised released for vandalizing and burning down the Islamic Center of Columbia, Tenn., the Justice Department announced. Golden pleaded guilty on Nov. 3, 2008, to destruction of religious property and to using fire to commit a felony.

Golden, 24, previously admitted to the court that he constructed Molotov cocktail explosive devices, ignited them and used them to destroy the mosque on Feb. 9, 2008. He further admitted that while he burned down the mosque, a co-defendant painted swastikas and the phrase “White Power” on the building's walls. The other two defendants, Jonathan Edward Stone and Eric Ian Baker, previously pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in December.

“The right to worship without fear of this kind of violent interference is among our most fundamental civil rights,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We will aggressively prosecute anyone who seeks to intimidate or injure any congregation because of what they believe, how they worship or who they are.”

“This type of crime strikes at the heart of our civil rights and religious freedoms in America. I am very pleased that through local, state and federal cooperation all defendants responsible for this vile attack have been brought to justice," said U.S. Attorney Edward M. Yarbrough for the Middle District of Tennessee.

“Every Muslim who saw the news photos with the Swastika painted on the burned out Islamic center was victimized by this attack. Today, they can clearly see that American law enforcement stands strongly with them to guarantee their freedoms to worship and assemble,” said ATF Nashville Field Division Special Agent in Charge James M. Cavanaugh.

“The FBI is committed to protecting the civil rights of all people through the enforcement of federal civil rights statutes,” said FBI Memphis Division Special Agent in Charge My Harrison. “The destruction of any place of worship will not be ignored and the FBI will make every effort to bring those who commit such heinous acts to justice.”

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tennessee State Bomb and Arson, and the Columbia, Tenn., Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal McDonough from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nashville and Trial Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti from the Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case.

http://memphis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/me112309.htm

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Terror Charges Unsealed in Minnesota Against Eight Defendants, Justice Department Announces

The Justice Department announced that terrorism charges have been unsealed today in the District of Minnesota against eight defendants. According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab. 

Thus far, 14 defendants have been charged in the District of Minnesota in indictments or criminal complaints that have been unsealed and brought in connection with an ongoing investigation into the recruitment of persons from U.S. communities to train with or fight on behalf of extremist groups in Somalia. Four of these defendants have previously pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

The charges were announced today by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; B Todd Jones, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minneapolis; and Ralph S. Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“The recruitment of young people from Minneapolis and other U.S. communities to fight for extremists in Somalia has been the focus of intense investigation for many months,” Assistant Attorney General Kris said. “While the charges unsealed today underscore our progress to date, this investigation is ongoing. Those who sign up to fight or recruit for al-Shabaab's terror network should be aware that they may will end up as defendants in the United States or casualties of the Somali conflict.”

Background

According to court documents, between September 2007 and October 2009, approximately 20 young men, all but one of Somali descent, left the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area and traveled to Somalia, where they trained with al-Shabaab, a designated terrorist organization. Many of them ultimately fought with al-Shabaab against Ethiopian forces, African Union troops, and the internationally-supported Transitional Federal Government (“TFG”).

Court documents also state that the first group of six men traveled to Somalia in December 2007. Prior to their departure, the six men, as well as others in the Minneapolis area, raised money for the trips and held meetings in which they made phone calls to alleged co-conspirators in Somalia.

Upon arriving in Somalia, the men from Minneapolis allegedly stayed at safe-houses in Somalia and attended an al-Shabaab training camp. The al-Shabaab training camp included dozens of other young ethnic Somalis from Somalia, elsewhere in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Purportedly, the trainees were trained by, among others, Somali, Arab, and Western instructors as to small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and military-style tactics. Allegedly, the trainees also were indoctrinated with anti-Ethiopian, anti-American, anti-Isreali, and anti-Western beliefs. Two men from Minneapolis who completed the training camp later participated in an ambush of Ethiopian troops.

According to court documents, on October 29, 2008, Shirwa Ahmed, one of the men who left Minnesota in December 2007 and attended the al-Shabaab training camp, took part in one of five simultaneous suicide attacks on targets in northern Somalia. The attacks appeared to have been coordinated. Shirwa Mohamud Ahmed, also known as “Shirwa,” drove an explosive-laden Toyota truck into an office of the Puntland Intelligence Service in Bossasso, Puntland. Other targets included a second Puntland Intelligence Service Office in Bossasso, the Presidential Palace, the United Nations Development Program office, and the Ethiopian Trade Mission in Hargeisa. Including the suicide bombers, approximately twenty people were killed in the attacks.

Today in Minnesota, United States Attorney B. Todd Jones said of these cases, “The sad reality is that the vibrant Somali community here in Minneapolis has lost many of its sons to fighting in Somalia. These young men have been recruited to fight in a foreign war by individuals and groups using violence against government troops and civilians. Those tempted to fight on behalf of or provide support to any designated terrorist group should know they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Joining U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones was Ralph S. Boelter, Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who added, “It is through the sustained and dedicated efforts of the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force and the support of the Somali-American community that today we are able to disclose some of the siginificant progress we have achieved in this critical investigation. At the same time, I emphasize the sole focus of our efforts in this matter has been the criminal conduct of a small number of mainly Somali-American individuals and not the broader Somali-American community itself, which as consistently expressed deep concern about this pattern of recruitment activity in support of al-Shabaab.”

Charging Documents Unsealed

The Justice Department announced that three charging documents were unsealed this morning in the District of Minnesota:

1) United States v. Mahamud Said Omar, 09-CR-242

On August 20, 2009, a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment charging Mahamud Said Omar with terrorism offenses. According to the indictment, from September 2007 through the present, Omar, who is a Somali citizen but was granted permanent U.S. resident status in 1994, conspired with others to provide financial assistance as well as personnel to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations. On November 8, 2009, law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands arrested Omar pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant. The United States has filed its request for extradition. According to documents unsealed this morning, including affidavits in support of the United States' request for extradition of Omar from the Netherlands, Omar provided money to young men to travel from Minneapolis to Somalia to train with and fight for al-Shabaab. Omar also allegedly visited an al-Shabaab safe-house and provided hundreds of dollars to fund the purchase of AK-47 rifles for men from Minneapolis.

Omar currently is in custody in the Netherlands.

2) United States v. Ahmed Ali Omar, Khalid Abshir, Zakaria Maruf, Mohamed Hassan and Mustafa Salat , 09-CR-50

On August 20, 2009, a federal grand jury returned a second superseding indictment charging Ahmed Ali Omar, Khalid Abshir, Zakaria Maruf, Mohamed Hassan, and Mustafa Salat with terrorism-related offenses. These men were charged in the summer of 2009 with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations; conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, and injure people outside the United States; possessing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. The indictments that detail the charges filed against these co-conspirators also were unsealed today. 

None of the five defendants is in custody. All five are believed to be outside of the United States.

3) United States v. Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax and United States v. Abdiweli Yassin Isse

On October 9, 2009, a criminal complaint was filed, charging Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax and Abdiweli Yassin Isse with conspiring to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons outside the United States.  The affidavit filed in support of the complaint states that in the fall of 2007, Faarax and others met at a Minneapolis mosque to telephone co-conspirators in Somalia to discuss the need for Minnesota-based co-conspirators to go to Somalia to fight the Ethiopians. The affidavit also alleges that later that fall, Faarax attended a meeting with co-conspirators at a Minneapolis residence, where he encouraged others to travel to Somalia to fight and told them how he had experienced true brotherhood while fighting a “jihad” in Somalia. Subsequently, Faarax was interviewed three times by authorities and each time denied fighting or knowing anyone who had fought in Somalia.

The criminal complaint states that Abdiweli Yassin Isse also encouraged others to travel to Somalia to fight the Ethiopians. He purportedly described at a gathering of co-conspirators his own plans to fight “jihad” against Ethiopians, and he raised money to buy airplane tickets for others to make the trip to Somalia for the same purpose. In raising that money, he allegedly misled community members into thinking they were contributing money to send young men to Saudi Arabia to study the Koran. The complaint that details the charges filed against these co-conspirators also was unsealed today.

Faarax and Isse are not in custody. Both men are believed to be outside of the United States.

Guilty Pleas

The Justice Department also announced that four residents of Minneapolis have entered guilty pleas in connection with this investigation, one resident of Minneapolis awaits trial on charges that he made false statements to the FBI, and one resident of Minneapolis was just recently indicted on related charges.

1) United States v. Kamal Hassan, 09-CR-38

On February 19, 2009, Kamal Said Hassan pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A, and one count of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, respectively. On August 12, 2009, Hassan pled guilty to one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Hassan currently is in custody awaiting sentencing.

2) United States v. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 09-CR-50
3) United States v. Salah Osman Ahmed, 09-CR-50

On April 24, 2009, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse entered a guilty plea to one count of providing material support to terrorists, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A. On July 28, 2009, Salah Osman Ahmed entered a guilty plea to one count of providing material support to terrorists, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A.

Isse and Ahmed currently are in custody awaiting sentencing.

4) United States v. Adarus Abdulle Ali

On November 2, 2009, Adarus Abdulle Ali pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of perjury for making false statements to a federal grand jury in December of 2008, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623.

Ali has been released pending a sentencing hearing.

Additional Pending Cases

1) United States v. Abdow Munye Abdow

On October 13, 2009, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Abdow Munye Abdow with making false statements to the FBI, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). The indictment alleges that on October 8, 2009, Abdow lied to FBI agents when he was questioned after being stopped during a road trip from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. Abdow purportedly told the agents only one other person was traveling with him when, according to officials, four people were accompanying him. In addition, Adbow allegedly told the agents he did not know how the rental car in which he was riding had been financed when, according to officials, he had used his own debit card to pay for the car.

Abdow has been released pending trial.

2) United States v. Omer Abdi Mohamed

On November 19, 2009, Omer Abdi Mohamed was arrested on charges that he conspired to provide material support to terrorists; that he provided material support to terrorists; and that he conspired to kill, kidnap, main, and injure persons outside the United States.

Mohamed was released on bond pending further proceedings. 

Participants

The investigation into the recruitment of young men to join al-Shabaab and those supporting that recruiting effort has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance and cooperation of the Dutch KLPD; the Dutch Ministry of Justice; Judith Friedman at the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs; the U.S. Department of State; the embassies at Abu Dhabi, UAE; Sanaa, Yemen; and The Hague in the Netherlands; and the Department of Defense. The case is being prosecuted by W. Anders Folk, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and William M. Narus, from the Justice Department's Counterterrorism Section, with assistance having been provided by David Bitkower, formerly of the Counterterrorism Section and currently an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York.

http://minneapolis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/mp112309.htm

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From ICE

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More than 80 arrested in multi-agency gang operation in Washington state
Arrests made in Tri-Cities and Yakima Valley

YAKIMA, Wash. - More than 80 gang members and gang associates were arrested in a three-day multi-agency enforcement operation that ended Friday in the Yakima Valley and Tri-Cities area of Washington state.

The operation, dubbed "Valley Thunder," was a coordinated law enforcement effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Washington; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and state and local law enforcement.

Thirteen of those arrested during the operation, which began Wednesday, are facing federal prosecution on charges of re-entry after deportation, possession of fraudulent documents, an illegal alien in possession of a firearm or a felon in possession of a firearm. They will face immigration charges later.

Twelve others were arrested on administrative immigration violations and are being processed for deportation. All are Mexican nationals.

"Operation Valley Thunder demonstrates our collective resolve to dismantle gang organizations that threaten the quality of life in our neighborhoods and communities," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in Seattle. "ICE will use its unique enforcement authorities to investigate these violent organizations and work closely with our law enforcement partners to stop this criminal activity."

The arrests were made as part of an ongoing initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit called Operation Community Shield (OCS). As part of the initiative, ICE partners with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational street gangs.

The National Gang Unit at ICE identifies violent street gangs and develops intelligence on their membership, associates, criminal activities and international movements to deter, disrupt and dismantle gang operations by tracing and seizing cash, weapons and other assets derived from criminal activities. Since OCS began in February 2005, ICE agents nationwide have arrested more than 14,000 gang members and associates linked to more than 900 different gangs.

In addition to ICE, DEA and the ATF, other federal law enforcement agencies participating in the operation were U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Marshals Service; the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General (OIG); and the Social Security Administration OIG. Local enforcement agencies assisting with the enforcement action included the Metro Drug Task Force; the Benton Franklin Juvenile Probation; the Washington Department of Corrections Adult Supervision; the sheriff's departments in Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties; and the police departments in Kennewick, Pasco, Moxee, Prosser, Richland and West Richland.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0911/091120yakima.htm

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10 indicted in Chicago sham marriage conspiracy

CHICAGO - An immigration attorney and five current and former Cook County Traffic Court employees were among those charged on Monday for allegedly arranging sham marriages to evade U.S. immigration laws. The charges resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

A federal grand jury returned a 14-count indictment last week that was unsealed Nov. 23 after ICE agents arrested five of the defendants. Among the 10 individuals charged are a Chicago immigration attorney and five current or former Cook County Traffic Court employees. However, the charges do not allege that their employment played any role in the alleged fraud scheme.

According to the indictment, Maria F. Cruz and others recruited U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, primarily Filipinos, who entered into at least 15 sham marriages to evade immigration laws. The foreign nationals paid Cruz about $3,000 each to arrange for them to marry U.S. citizens. Cruz allegedly promised U.S. citizens that in return for marrying a foreign national they would receive about $3,000 after the marriage and about $350 a month until the foreign national obtained U.S. citizenship.

Foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens can become U.S. permanent residents - and ultimately obtain U.S. citizenship - but not if the marriage is identified as a sham solely to evade immigration laws.

Cruz, 49, formerly of Chicago and currently living in American Canyon, Calif., was arrested on an initial complaint in late August; she was released on a $200,000 secured bond. She was a Cook County Traffic Court employee until this past summer when she moved to California.

In addition to the 15 allegedly fraudulent marriages detailed in the indictment, Cruz allegedly attempted to arrange two additional marriages between individuals and ICE agents during an undercover portion of the investigation.

Among the five people arrested Monday was Manny Aguja, 53, of Chicago, an immigration attorney with an office at 3144 W. Montrose Ave. Also arrested were two of Aguja's employees: his twin brother, Marc Aguja, 53; and Celeste Ligutan-Lopez, 36, both of Chicago.

According to the indictment, between July 2003 and October 2009 Cruz allegedly paid fees to individuals who referred U.S. citizens to her who were willing to enter into fraudulent marriages. Cruz then drove them to weddings and took photos before and after, knowing that they would be used to make it appear that the sham marriages were legitimate. She also advised the participants of steps they needed to take to make their marriages appear legitimate.

Cruz allegedly referred sham marriage participants to Manny Aguja's law office to prepare paperwork in support of the conspiracy. In addition to preparing allegedly fraudulent immigration papers, the Aguja brothers and Ligutan-Lopez met with participants and coached them on how to make the marriages appear legitimate. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of Manny Aguja's law office.

Also arrested Monday were Keisha McGary, 33; and Eugene Wilson, 30, both Cook County employees residing in Chicago. The Aguja brothers, Ligutan-Lopez, McGary and Wilson are scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. Monday before U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan, Northern District of Illinois.

Cruz and the remaining four defendants will be ordered to appear for arraignment at a later date. They include Maria Cyd Adriatico-Fernandez, 53, of Oakbrook, and the following three Cook County Traffic Court employees: Sonia Maki, 43; DeShawn Barksdale, 39; and Eugene Wilson's sister, Latrice Wilson, 37, all of Chicago.

Each defendant was charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Some defendants were charged with additional counts of marriage or immigration fraud, including Cruz who faces 10 counts of marriage fraud. The Aguja brothers were also charged with conspiracy to induce foreign nationals to reside illegally in the United States.

"ICE will not tolerate those who engage in sham marriages to circumvent and exploit our nation's immigration system," said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. "Marriage fraud poses a significant vulnerability that must not go unchallenged. ICE aggressively investigates those who take illegal shortcuts to citizenship, whether they do so to gain an immigration benefit or simply for personal profit."

ICE was assisted in the investigation by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) program.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan, Northern District of Illinois, is prosecuting the case.

Conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and marriage fraud carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Other immigration fraud counts in the indictment carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, however, the Court would impose a sentence it deems reasonable under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0911/091123chicago.htm

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Arrests made in case involving a conspiracy to procure weapons including anti-aircraft missiles

PHILADELPHIA - David S. Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice, and United States Attorney Michael L. Levy, together with Special Agent-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent-in-Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement John P. Kelleghan, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Don Fort, and Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police Colonel Joseph R. Fuentes, announced arrests in a case involving a conspiracy to procure weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles.

A criminal complaint charged Dani Nemr Tarraf with conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles (FIM-92 Stingers) and conspiring to possess machine guns (approximately 10,000 Colt M4 Carbines). In addition, Tarraf and other defendants - including Douri Nemr Tarraf, Hassan Mohamad Komeiha, and Hussein Ali Asfour - were charged with conspiring to transport stolen goods. Dani Nemr Tarraf and Ali Fadel Yahfoufi were charged with conspiring to commit passport fraud.

"Keeping missiles, machine guns, and other sensitive U.S. weapons technology from falling into the wrong hands is one of the Justice Department's top priorities. I applaud the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors who worked tirelessly to bring about these charges and arrests," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

"This investigation demonstrates the dedication and cooperation of law enforcement agents from numerous agencies," said U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy. "These cases show the breadth of criminal activity engaged in by those who oppose us. The crimes charged here range from the purchase of stolen and counterfeit goods, to the purchase of false visas and passports, to the purchase of weapons. I want to compliment the law enforcement agents, the Assistant United Attorneys, and the attorneys in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice for their efforts."

According to the complaint, Hassan Mohamad Komeiha began purchasing purportedly stolen cellular telephones from a law enforcement officer acting in an undercover capacity (the "UC") in or about June 2007. Over the next several months, Komeiha and his co-conspirators [Dani Nemr Tarraf, Douri Nemr Tarraf, and Hussein Ali Asfour] purchased purportedly stolen goods from the UC, including cellular telephones, laptop computers, Sony Play Station 2 systems, and automobiles.

The complaint also alleges that Dani Nemr Tarraf conspired to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and conspired to possess machine guns. According to the complaint, in or about mid-June 2009, Tarraf asked whether the UC could supply guided missiles and told the UC that he (Tarraf) wanted the UC to export approximately 10,000 "commando" machine guns [Colt M4 Carbines with short barrels] from the United States. On or about July 28, 2009, in Philadelphia, Tarraf paid the UC a deposit of approximately $20,000 toward the cost of purchasing FIM-92 Stinger missiles and approximately 10,000 Colt M4 Carbines and shipping these items outside the United States.

Finally, the complaint alleges that Dani Nemr Tarraf and his assistant, Ali Fadel Yahfoufi, conspired to commit passport fraud. In furtherance of their scheme, Yahfoufi provided passport photos of himself to the UC, Tarraf agreed to pay the UC to obtain a United States passport in Yahfoufi's name, and Yahfoufi instructed the UC to submit false information to the United States government in a passport application.

"The FBI remains resolutely committed to working with our law enforcement partners to find and stop those individuals who commit crimes, such as those alleged today, in support of a broader intent to commit acts of terrorism against the United States," said Special Agent-in-Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk, of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI. "Today, through the well-coordinated effort of all involved agencies, dangerous weapons have been kept out of the hands of those who would turn those weapons against the United States."

"ICE will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to disrupt networks involved in the illegal sale and distribution of weapons and critical technologies," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton. "Today's arrests are a clear indication of the federal government's commitment to keeping Americans safe."

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the New Jersey State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Secret Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Air Marshals, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Department of State.

It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nancy Beam Winter and Stephen A. Miller, and National Security Division Counter-terrorism Section Trial Attorney Jolie F. Zimmerman.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0911/091123philadelphia.htm

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