Sex offender pleads guilty to killing two teen girls

In a deal to avoid the death penalty, John Albert Gardner III admits to the murders of Chelsea King, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14.

By Tony Perry

April 17, 2010

Reporting from San Diego

A 31-year-old registered sex offender pleaded guilty Friday to murdering two teenage girls in northern San Diego County in a deal that spares him from the death penalty.

John Albert Gardner III, who previously served five years in prison for beating and molesting a 13-year-old girl, pleaded guilty to the murders of Chelsea King, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14, both during rape attempts. In exchange for his plea at the hastily arranged hearing, Gardner will be returned to prison for life, without the possibility of parole.

Chelsea, an honor student at Poway High School, disappeared Feb. 25 while jogging near Lake Hodges. Gardner was arrested Feb. 28, and on March 2 law enforcement searchers found Chelsea's body in a shallow grave 10 feet from the water's edge.

Amber's skeletal remains were found four days later buried in the rugged Pala area northeast of Escondido. She had disappeared Feb. 13, 2009, while walking to class at Escondido High School.

With his head bowed, Gardner admitted Friday to Superior Court Judge David Danielsen that he strangled Chelsea and stabbed Amber. He also admitted to attacking a female jogger Dec. 27 in a rape attempt at Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The victim managed to escape Gardner's grasp.

The parents of both murdered girls were in the courtroom, as were a dozen supporters, some wearing T-shirts and buttons with pictures of the two victims.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kristen Spieler told Danielsen that Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis agreed to the plea bargain after "careful consideration of the feelings and opinions" of the victims' families.

In a news conference after the plea, Maurice Dubois, Amber's father, said the agreement allowed "justice and closure" for his daughter. Brent King, Chelsea's father, said lengthy court proceedings would have had a "destructive effect" on their 13-year-old son, Tyler, and the community and distracted from the family's campaign for tougher laws for sex offenders.

Dumanis said that without Gardner's guilty plea, her office would not have had enough evidence to take him to trial for Amber's murder.

Gardner and his attorney declined the judge's offer to comment on why Gardner agreed to plead guilty. He had pleaded not guilty to the murder and rape of Chelsea on March 3. The discovery of Amber's remains, which followed months of search efforts by hundreds of volunteers, so soon after Gardner's arrest had led to speculation that he had led authorities to her body, but until Friday his indictment for her killing was not public.

Gardner's arrest has sparked widespread public criticism over allegedly sloppy supervision of sex offenders .

Documents indicate that Gardner, who was released from prison in 2005, could have been sent back to prison for violating parole on several occasions, including for living too close to a school and missing meetings with his parole officer.

Other documents indicate that Gardner has long been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder and been prescribed mood-stabilizing drugs.

This week, accompanied by Chelsea's parents, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego) said he would introduce Chelsea's Law, a bill that would allow for life sentences for first-time child molesters and for lifetime use of global positioning system monitoring of all sex offenders.

Although a gag order has prevented authorities from discussing either killing or the evidence linking Gardner to the crimes, a search warrant indicates that investigators found shovels and a pickax at Gardner's home in Lake Elsinore.

At the request of Gardner's public defender, Danielsen continued the gag order until an April 22 hearing. Danielsen said he has "grave reservations" about continuing the order but will allow lawyers to make their arguments. Danielsen made an exception to the gag order to allow Dumanis to comment to reporters.

The sentencing is not official until a June 1 court hearing. At that hearing, the relatives and friends of the victims can address the court. Under the plea bargain, Gardner is eligible to be treated as a mentally disturbed sex offender, Danielsen said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gardner-plea17-2010apr17,0,6606650,print.story

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Chelsea King's father: Trial would have had 'destructive effect' on their son and family

The parents of two teenage girls slain in San Diego County said they hope the plea deal reached with the girls' killer will bring some level of closure to the high-profile cases.

At a news conference Friday, Amber Dubois' father, Maurice Dubois, said the plea bargain with John Albert Gardner III, 31, will allow “justice and closure” in his daughter's murder.

Chelsea King's father, Brent King, said lengthy court proceedings would have had a “destructive effect” on their 13-year-old son, Tyler, and the community and distracted from the family's campaign for tougher laws for sex offenders.

San Diego County Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said that without Gardner's guilty plea, her office would not have had enough evidence to take him to trial for the murder of Dubois, 14.

“This was a somber decision,” she said. “To end the anguish of the unknown for the Dubois family and to bring Amber home, we agreed.”

Gardner pleaded guilty Friday to strangling King, 17, during a rape attempt and stabbing Dubois during a rape attempt. He also admitted attacking another female jogger, who escaped.

Answering in a clear voice, Gardner answered “yes” to a series of questions from the judge, asking if he understood the terms of the plea bargain. Gardner is a registered sex offender who spent five years in prison for beating and molesting a 13-year-old girl. He was paroled in 2005.

The plea bargain was meant to spare him from the death penalty. Under the agreement, Gardner will be returned to prison for life without the possibility of parole.

Authorities said Gardner led them to the body of Dubois, who had been the subject of several searches.

King, an honor student at Poway High School, disappeared Feb. 25 while jogging near Lake Hodges. Gardner was arrested three days later, reportedly on the strength of DNA evidence.

On March 2, law enforcement searchers found King's body in a shallow grave 10 feet from the water's edge.

On March 6, the skeletal remains of Dubois were found buried in the rugged Pala area northeast of Escondido. She disappeared Feb. 13, 2009, while walking to class at Escondido High School.

Gardner pleaded not guilty March 3 to the murder and rape of King. The discovery of Dubois' body, after hundreds of volunteers had searched for months, led to speculation that Gardner had led authorities to the body. But until Friday's hearing, his indictment for the murder of Dubois had not been made public. His next court date in the King case was not until August.

The hearing in San Diego County Superior Court was hastily arranged, with prosecutors and defense counsel refusing to give a reason. Gardner's arrest has sparked widespread public criticism over allegedly lax supervision of sex offenders.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/chelsea-king-father-trial-would-have-had-destructive-effect-on-family.html#more

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EDITORIAL

The warrior chief

Ever combative, Daryl Gates did things his way at the LAPD, with sometimes tragic results.

April 17, 2010

On Daryl F. Gates' last day as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in 1992, Times staff writer Sheryl Stolberg asked him how he thought history would view his tenure. "I think history will take care of itself," he said.

By the time of his death at the age of 83, it had. Almost two decades after Los Angeles erupted in the worst U.S. rioting of the 20th century, a conflagration both ignited and unsuccessfully extinguished by Gates' LAPD, the verdict of history is largely in -- and if it suggests that Gates wasn't necessarily guilty on all counts, there is no chance of a pardon. While an honorable man, a devoted public servant and a capable crime-fighter who might have made a decent police chief in an earlier era, Gates was a hidebound, egomaniacal figure who was so wrong for the job at the time he served in it that he nearly destroyed the city he was charged with protecting.

Gates, a Navy veteran who served in the Pacific during World War II, became chief of the LAPD in 1978. He ran the department largely in the style of his model and mentor, legendary Chief William H. Parker, for whom Gates had once served as chauffeur. Yet even while the LAPD stayed much the same, the city around it was changing fast. Far larger and more diverse than it had been in Parker's day, it experienced a crack cocaine epidemic early in Gates' tenure that ravaged poor communities and gave rise to a new kind of murderous gang culture. Gates' response was to turn the police force into an organization that even the most hardened criminals would fear.

An incident in 1985 serves as an illustration both of Gates' character and that of the department he led. After undercover officers bought cocaine at a suspected "rock house" in Pacoima, Gates rolled out his newest weapon in the war on crime: a six-ton tank with a 14-foot battering ram in the front. With Gates in the passenger seat, the ram smashed through the wall of the house, narrowly missing two women and three children who had been eating ice cream inside. There was no one else at home, and an extensive search turned up only a small amount of marijuana and no weapons. The raid outraged community activists and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, but Gates, characteristically, was unapologetic.

That, in a nutshell, was the kind of policing Daryl Gates stood for: an officer in a tank, shielded behind steel walls from the community he serves, knocking down the wall instead of knocking at the door. Police had long complained that officers sometimes felt outgunned by criminals, but it was Gates who did something about it. He created the Special Weapons and Tactics team, a unit replicated nationwide, to bring military precision and force to police operations. Meanwhile, he treated tough neighborhoods as enemy-occupied territory. His officers were trained to bring overwhelming force to bear, to stay in their patrol cars rather than fraternize with the enemy, to focus on arrests and sweeps rather than crime prevention.

This was, after all, the style that had worked for Parker. Yet in other big cities, a very different strategy was taking hold. Known as “community policing,” it emphasized partnerships with community and governmental organizations, communication between officers and people on the beats they patrolled, and new methods of pinpointing and ameliorating trouble spots. As L.A.'s top politicians, led by Mayor Tom Bradley, grew ever more insistent that Gates adopt these methods, the chief only clung harder to tradition -- and because it was then impossible to fire a police chief without cause, there was nothing Bradley or anyone else could do about it. Meanwhile, a cancer was growing within the LAPD, one that would metastasize on March 3, 1991.

The Rodney King beating

In minority communities already boiling with suppressed rage over perceived mistreatment and racism by the LAPD, including inflammatory comments from Gates himself, the savage beating of Rodney G. King by four white officers seemed like confirmation of their worst suspicions. King was hardly a sympathetic figure -- a drunk driver who resisted arrest. Yet the response, videotaped from a nearby apartment in Lake View Terrace, was so brutal and unnecessary that it shocked the world.

What was going on within the department that had allowed such a debacle? Amid furious protests and calls for Gates' resignation, a blue-ribbon panel led by future Secretary of State Warren Christopher was formed to answer that question. Its report revealed an astonishingly insular organization in which there were few consequences for bad behavior. Racism and brutality were tolerated by superiors and covered up by a code of silence among officers; though the department had grown more diverse under Gates, women and minorities were treated as tokens, seldom promoted and too afraid of retaliation to speak out. Among its recommendations, the commission said chiefs should be appointed by the mayor and limited to two five-year terms; the LAPD should implement community policing; and the Police Commission should exercise more oversight. And, most scathingly, Gates should resign. He refused.

The most fateful day of his life arrived less than a year later, on April 29, 1992. A Ventura County jury devoid of African Americans acquitted the four officers involved in the King beating on charges of assault and excessive force. Riots erupted throughout the city, but the focus of the activity, and of media attention as cameras filmed the scene from helicopters buzzing overhead, was the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues in South L.A. As cameras rolled, a small group of officers at first confronted the mounting crowd, then retreated and were not seen again. The rampage of burning and looting that followed, including the brutal beating of white trucker Reginald Denny, went uncontested by a police force that seemed to have vanished into its station houses.

Gates, meanwhile, was attending a political fundraiser in Brentwood. As pandemonium ruled South L.A., he spent less than an hour at a police command post, then left. Although it had been widely anticipated that the King verdict could prompt a violent response, he had implemented no emergency planning as the trial wore on.

Betrayal of trust

To a city already widely disgusted with Gates, this was the ultimate betrayal of trust. Many believed his apparent failure to take the rioting seriously was a peevish act, his way of getting back at the politicians and community activists who had been calling for his head. Gates disputed that contention, laying the blame on one of his subordinates for failing to regroup with a stronger force at Florence and Normandie. His defenders pointed out that had the LAPD made a more aggressive response on April 29 and subsequent days of mayhem, it might only have fueled even more deadly violence, given rioters' fury at the police.

Second-guessing aside, Gates' many management failings -- pointed out that October by yet another special panel -- were large and unforgivable. Public anger was too overwhelming even for Gates to fight it off anymore. After announcing his retirement, changing his mind, and taking every opportunity to nettle the "crummy little politicians" who wanted to interfere with his department, he finally stepped down in June 1992.

It would be corny, but oddly appropriate, to compare Gates to a figure from Greek tragedy felled by hubris. But an even more fatal flaw was his ferocious resistance to change. For the rest of his life, Gates fought publicly to maintain the status quo at the LAPD, railing against such reforms as community policing, allowing politicians to appoint chiefs and improving civilian oversight of the department. His extreme loyalty to this old-fashioned ethos blinded him to the toxic culture it created. His hostile patrol style inflamed racial tensions and created an adversarial relationship between the police and the community. The lack of outside supervision he insisted on made rogue officers feel -- accurately -- that they could get away with just about anything, that they would be protected by fellow officers and by supervisors who valued loyalty more than good behavior.

The King beating and the riots weren't the only negative results. The Rampart scandal of the late 1990s, in which dozens of officers from Gates' beloved anti-gang unit were implicated in drug dealing, planting evidence, extortion and a host of other nefarious activities, stemmed directly from the failure by Gates' successors to fully implement the recommendations of the Christopher Commission. That process, thanks largely to the leadership of former Chief William J. Bratton, is now finally complete, and the result is a far more diverse, professional organization with vastly improved community relations. If there's a verdict of history so far, it probably would be that the civilian overseers who so infuriated Gates were right, and he was hopelessly wrong.

That's not a kind epitaph for a man who lived his life by a rough code and always did what he genuinely thought was right. And coming from this newspaper, with which Gates engaged in a war of words throughout his career and afterward, it feels a little like a final underhanded swipe. So we'll say this about Gates: He was a guy you'd want by your side in a war, but not while you're trying to keep the peace.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gates17-2010apr17,0,4899351,print.story

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EDITORIAL

A hostile Arizona

The state's harsh anti-immigration bill goes too far. What's needed is national reform.

April 16, 2010

Earlier this week, Arizona lawmakers passed anti-immigration legislation that is unique in its stringency and harshness. The bill would strongly encourage police officers to engage in racial profiling by ordering them to check the status of people they merely suspect suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. Even legal immigrants, in a move that harks back to fascist Europe, would be required to carry their papers at all times or risk arrest. Apparently Arizona legislators have forgotten Proposition 187, the 1994 California ballot initiative. That measure, popular with a frustrated public but ultimately deemed unconstitutional, would have cut off services, including healthcare and public education, for illegal immigrants. Arizonans have forgotten the lawsuits, national outrage and political backlash.

Although the California and Arizona measures are different, the frustration with federal apathy that fuels them is the same. Arizona is hostile to illegal immigrants because it is the main point of entry to the U.S. for migrants coming in from Mexico. (Californian hysteria softened after the San Diego border was fortified in 1994 and migration routes shifted to Arizona and Texas).

Some of the most established trails from Mexico crisscross private property in Arizona. Homes along these trails are sometimes burgled and vandalized; property is damaged. Some trails are littered with empty water bottles and human waste; trash, diapers, cigarette boxes and discarded backpacks. These are thoroughfares not just for job-seekers but for human traffickers and gun-toting drug smugglers.

The sense of peril at the border has been heightened by the killing last month of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz. Krentz was known for aiding migrants who landed on his property dehydrated, hurt and hungry. Tracks from the scene where he and his dog were shot led back toward Mexico.

But the Arizona bill is not just a reaction to that tragedy; it was in the works well before the killing. Rather, it is the state's way of expressing frustration with the federal government and preparing itself for the comprehensive federal immigration reform residents fear is coming. In the eyes of many Arizonans, any new law granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants will open a floodgate into their backyard.

Arizona's new legislation is terribly wrongheaded, but the state's sense of abandonment by Washington is not something the rest of us can shrug off. Congress must find the courage to create a policy that sensibly regulates the flow of immigration. Arizona ranchers living along the border are fearful for their lives, and migrants are dying in the desert. Inaction penalizes everyone. The solution is not for Arizona to criminalize illegal immigration, which has generally been regarded as a civil violation, or to encourage a culture of civil rights violations and racial profiling. We urge Gov. Jan Brewer not to let these measures become law.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-arizona16-2010apr16,0,6658495,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates inspects the troops during the graduation of police cadets on April 19, 1991. See Daily News photo gallery

Former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates dies By Rick Orlov 04/16/2010 Daryl F. Gates, the blunt-talking former LAPD chief who was both praised for his crime-fighting innovations and reviled for his heavy-handed policing tactics, died early Friday at age 83. Gates died at his Dana Point home, where he'd moved following his retirement from the Los Angeles Police Department. His family said in February that Gates was suffering from bladder cancer. Gates was one of the longest-serving chiefs in Los Angeles history, with a 14-year tenure that began in 1978 and ended in the wake of the 1992 riots that killed 53 people. "Chief Gates was a truly devoted public servant who committed his life to improving the lives of others," said Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. "He was a man of courage and character, who had a deep commitment to the rule of law, with a deep pride in the LAPD." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued a statement saying Gates led the LAPD during a period of great change.

Former Police Chief Willliam Bratton, who left the department last year, described Gates as "a man of deep convictions."

"He was very happy to stand up for them, whether you liked them or not," Bratton said. "And he enjoyed being in the middle of the bull's-eye. He thrived on it."

Despite the accolates, Gates is probably best remembered for his role in the videotaped beating of African-American motorist Rodney King by four white officers.

The incident in Lake View Terrace sparked accusations that Gates had allowed a pattern of abuse of minorities to flourish among the rank-and-file.

He also was criticized for being at a fund-raiser in West Los Angeles when violence erupted after the acquittal of the four officers of criminal charges. The four-day riots left 53 people dead and more than 2,000 injured. Entire blocks were set ablaze, and property damage eventually totaled $1 billion.

Gates came under intense criticism from city officials who said officers were slow to respond. The mayor said Gates had "brought Los Angeles to the brink of disaster just to satisfy his own ego."

Although he later defended the department's response as "beautiful," the riots ultimately led to Gates' downfall.

The blue-ribbon Christopher Commission, formed by Mayor Tom Bradley following the riots, released a scathing report on Gates' beloved department. Among the hundreds of recommended reforms was limiting future police chiefs to two, five-year terms.

Gates was born in Huntington Park on Aug. 30, 1926, and raised in Glendale. He served in the Navy during World War II and joined the LAPD in 1949 after graduating college under the G.I. bill.

Former Chief Bill Parker tapped Gates to be his driver. Gates later said in that position he learned more about the city, policing and politics than he could have ever learned in a dozen years in other postings.

Parker was brought on to root out corruption in the LAPD, creating an ethos in Gates that he carried with him throughout his career.

But part of that training also resulted in criticism.

Parker – and, later, Gates – did not want officers to be tempted by familiarity, so he ordered them to shift their beats every 18 months, a move that supporters of community-based policing said deterred residents and officers from getting to know one another.

Gates was a good student and scored first on all his promotional tests, as sergeant and later as lieutenant and captain. He served as director of intelligence for the department during the Watts riot of 1965. Later he would become an inspector and oversee investigations such as the Charles Manson Family and the Hillside Strangler.

As chief, Gates was credited with creating the SWAT teams and the anti-gang CRASH units, which later would embarrass the department when officers at Rampart Division Rampart Division were accused of beating and framing suspects. He also created the Drug Abuse Resistance Effort program that sent officers to schools to talk about the dangers of drugs.

Gates also was responsible for bringing in a ramming device in 1987 as part of Operation Hammer, a crackdown on gangs in South Los Angeles. One of his prized possessions was a picture of him with former First Lady Nancy Reagan, when she accompanied him on an LAPD operation. Shortly after leaving the LAPD, Gates made occasional public appearances. He was a radio talk show host briefly and also worked with video games manufacturer to produce computer games.

He wrote a biography, "Chief: My Life in the LAPD," with writer Diane Shah.

Gates kept a low profile after the appointment of Chiefs Bernard Parks and William Bratton, although he did appear at the recent opening of the new Police Headquarters Building.

Police Chief Charlie Beck has said Gates had a profound impact on his life and his decision to join the LAPD.

"Growing up, he was always there," Beck said. "My father worked as a deputy chief to him and Chief Gates was always around. I remember him and my father talking about how I would never amount to anything because all I was interested in was riding my motorcycle."

After he joined the force and moved up through the ranks, Beck said the Gates style of managing the department was etched into his memory. "I suppose if I'm like anyone," Beck said, "it was Chief Gates."

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14901214

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The two Daryl Gates I knew

The on-set camera crew and sound technicians had long since departed from the sound stage at KCBS and the lights had dimmed, but we sat there for what seemed like hours afterwards engaging in heated debate.

My opponent – at one moment fierce, the next jovial – was former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, who died Friday.

We were co-commentators for the station during the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995. On and off the set, we went at it on every topic: the Rodney King beating, the 1992 riots, the Los Angeles Police Department's war on gang and drug violence, police misconduct and shootings, and, of course, the Simpson trial. These were the issues that tore at Los Angeles then and did more to poison relations between the LAPD and minority communities, especially African-Americans, than any other.

Our debates during that time were so intense that we continued the battle of words as we walked to our cars in the parking lot. After a while this became a routine. We'd spar on the set, and continue sparring as we walked to our cars.

There were moments when Gates would sigh in exasperation that I and other critics just didn't understand what he had to face running the LAPD. It was under-resourced, got little political and public support, and yet was expected to be a kinder, gentler department while battling increasing gangs, drug crime and violence.

I listened to his heartfelt pleas that he sincerely tried to make change, even reform. He repeatedly cited the number of officers that he disciplined and terminated for misconduct and other offenses, but said that his hands were tied by city officials, the police union, and the public who wanted tougher policing and were loathe to see officers removed. He cited the community policing programs that he tried to put in place. Yet, he said, nothing he did seemed to matter.

This was no act or parking lot revisionism to convince me that underneath the tough cop's cop exterior he was a marshmallow. Gates passionately believed that he had done the best that he could do - and against the odds - to move the LAPD into the modern era.

As we parted ways after those debates, I always wondered which Daryl Gates I had been talking to that night - the maligned, misunderstood reformer or the chief whose name was synonymous with a department that at the time had become the nation's poster agency for a dysfunctional, brutal and racist police department.

During those years, the perception, and more often than not reality, was that the LAPD was an occupying army in South L.A. Officers went where they pleased, did what they pleased and cracked heads when they pleased - all with the blind acquiescence of city officials. Two massive riots, the King beating, the Rampart scandal, the Christopher and Webster commissions and a federal consent decree all made it obvious that the LAPD had to change.

Gates stood at the center of the tumultuous events that engulfed the LAPD of the late 20th century. He was, depending on whom one talked to, the top cop who expanded and popularized the department's kick-butt SWAT teams, or the innovative chief who devised and expanded programs such as DARE, which served as a national police model for drug prevention and education.

By the mid 90s, Gates was well aware that the years when the LAPD carried his indelible stamp were past. Los Angeles city officials talked incessantly about reform and change. There was a new African-American chief. The department had been put under intense federal scrutiny, which eventually led to a consent decree mandating an overhaul of department policies and practices on the use of deadly force, minority hiring and promotions, and the handling of misconduct complaints.

Gates understood his LAPD - the department that had reigned over a city, that was predominantly white, that was overseen by an insular city government - had faded. This new Los Angeles was one nation's most diverse cities, that demanded accountability and transparency. This meant its police force had to change as well.

Gates was truly a man of another time. LAPD's problems still haunted him, and our discussion as we walked to our cars told me of a man who still deeply believed that he had tried to do what was best for the city, despite everything.

These were the two sides of Daryl Gates that I saw as we smiled, shook hands, exchanged a laugh and walked away from each other those nights in the studio parking lot.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14901109

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From the New York Times

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As Cellular Service Expands in Subways, Thefts Rise

BOSTON — Nashira Muniz was sending a text message on her cellphone the other day when the phone rang. “I just texted you!” she said to the caller. Nothing unusual about that, except Ms. Muniz, 25, was deep underground, riding the subway.

She then checked on her child at home, made a banking transaction, received a few Facebook notices and arranged to meet another friend — all from the subterranean depths.

Last month, Boston completed installation of cellphone service — at least for T-Mobile subscribers — along all 11 miles of the Orange line, the first of its four subway lines to have end-to-end coverage. But the service has highlighted a problem, and it is not the expected one of fellow passengers yakking loudly.

The bigger problem, transit officials said, is cellphone theft, a growing concern throughout the country. Thefts occur even in subway systems that do not have cellular coverage because passengers display their phones as they read or listen to music and hope to catch the occasional signal that leaks through a street grate or when the train goes above ground.

The rise in thefts could correlate to the spread of high-end smart phones, transit officials said. Ordinary phones have little resale value, especially because victims usually turn off their service once the phone is stolen. But some phones can be reactivated by replacing the personal identity card.

Still, as underground coverage expands, transit officials are concerned that even more phones will be on display, tempting thieves.

The snatching of phones in Boston's subway system , known as the T, jumped 70 percent in the first three months of this year compared with the first three months of last year (46 stolen phones compared with 27). In 2009, the number of thefts in the Metro system in Washington rose 65 percent (to 894 from 581) over 2008, a spokesman said, and most of those were cellphones.

Of the 14 underground subway systems in urban areas in the United States, many by now provide some cellular coverage. A glaring exception is the New York City subway system, by far the country's largest, where the lack of underground service often leaves passengers standing in stairwells to finish a call before heading down to the trains.

(The planned wiring of New York's underground stations, but not the tunnels, which was announced in 2007, has not materialized; a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the plan was “under review.”)

Boston, which has the nation's oldest subway system, has had cellphone coverage at four downtown stations since 2007. The entire system is to have coverage by the end of next year and will include more providers, including AT&T , which is to begin testing its service on the Orange line next week.

When transit officials announced the wiring of the Orange line last month, they simultaneously announced a public education program urging passengers to be alert to thieves.

“Do you own a cellphone?” a male voice blares over the public address system in some T stations. “Of course you do.” The voice goes on to instruct passengers to “protect your phone from curious onlookers.” Placards warn: “Show how smart you are: don't show off your smart phone.”

The police say most thefts occur when passengers are sitting or standing in the subway near the door and paying more attention to their phones than to their surroundings. The thief snatches the phone and darts out of the train just as the doors shut.

“It's taken right from the hand,” said Deputy Chief Joseph O'Connor of the transit police. “People looking to steal them will take advantage of the relaxed customer.”

Philadelphia has also stepped up its fight against cellphone thefts, as part of a larger program to curb juvenile crime. When school lets out, around 3:15 p.m., the police force in the subways is doubled, said Jerri Williams, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia's regional transit system. Thefts on the subways, 80 percent of which involve cellphones, she said, are down this year.

On a recent afternoon here, after school was out and rush hour had started, it seemed that at least half of the passengers in several cars were staring into their phones, many of them sending text messages and reading e-mail messages.

A few said they worried about their phones being stolen, but more were like Josh Ernstoff, 30, a business analyst, who shrugged: “Cellphones are a dime a dozen. If I lose it, I'll turn it off and get another one.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/us/17cellphones.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Fox News

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Brittanee Drexel - Myrtle Beach Police Department

Mom: Missing Teen Being Held Against Her Will or Dead The mother of a New York teen who was last seen in South Carolina nearly a year ago says she's been told little about new information in the case. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- The mother of a New York teen who was last seen in South Carolina nearly a year ago says she's been told little about new information in the case. New video of Brittanee Drexel, who was 17 when she was last seen in Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009, was shown before "Today" show host Matt Lauer interviewed Dawn Drexel, the teen's mother. The video from "Investigation Discovery" shows Drexel the day before her disappearance in a hotel room and texting on her phone. Drexel told NBC's "Today" show on Friday she thinks police in South Carolina are trying to find her daughter.

"She's either being held against her will, she's been trafficked or she's not alive," Drexel said on "Today."

Police told a WPDE-TV in Myrtle Beach last week they have identified several people of interest. The Rochester, NY, woman says that's also about all police have told her.

A vigil is planned in Myrtle Beach next week to mark the one-year anniversary of Brittanee's disappearance.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/crime/ci.Mom%3A+Missing+Teen+Being+Held+Against+Her+Will+or+Dead.opinionPrint

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Readout of Secretary Napolitano's Remarks to Law Enforcement Leaders

April 16, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today delivered remarks about the Department's support for first responders to top law enforcement leaders from across the nation at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass.

“The men and woman of our state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies serve our country honorably every day,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The Department of Homeland Security is committed to doing everything we can to support these officers on the frontlines by providing the critical training and information they need to do their jobs to secure our nation from the threats we face.”

In her remarks, Secretary Napolitano emphasized the Department's continued commitment to sharing timely, accurate information about evolving threats between the federal government and state, local and tribal law enforcement to protect against terrorism.

She also reiterated her commitment to deploy personnel to all 72 state and local fusion centers across the nation by the end of fiscal year 2010 to better coordinate and streamline the efforts of federal, state, local and tribal governments to detect, deter, prevent and respond to homeland security threats.

In addition, Secretary Napolitano highlighted the Department's efforts to coordinate with law enforcement partners* to strengthen participation in Joint Terrorism Task Forces and emphasized the success of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative pilot program, which trains law enforcement personnel nationwide to better identify and address emerging threats while protecting privacy and civil liberties.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1271428926276.shtm

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Combating the Cartels

Thank you, Laurie [Robinson].  It's an honor to be with you all, and I want to thank Laurie and Joye [Frost] for inviting me, once again, to participate in this important ceremony. I'm grateful for this opportunity to commend and to celebrate the outstanding work of this year's awardees and to welcome their colleagues, friends and proud family members.

I also want to join Laurie in recognizing Sue Carbon, the new Director of the Office on Violence Against Women and the most recent addition to the Justice Department's work to combat crime and to serve victims. Sue [Carbon], I'm so glad you're with us today. Under your leadership, I know the Office on Violence Against Women will continue its excellent work.

Let me also recognize the great teams that Laurie and Joye lead in our Office of Justice Programs and our Office for Victims of Crime. I know how much work you all put into preparing for National Crime Victims' Rights Week. But I also realize that your commitment to supporting victims' advocacy and services is part of the critical work you do every day. On behalf of the entire Justice Department, thank you all.

Today, we've come together, from as far as Omaha and Albuquerque, Portland and Philadelphia, to recognize men and women who have found their calling in the service of others. Together, we honor your advocacy, your creativity and your dedication. You've designed nationally-recognized programs to aid some of our youngest victims of sexual violence; you've established the first child-abuse and domestic-violence victim services program for the millions of Americans living abroad; and you've supervised and trained hundreds of victim advocates, as well as thousands of U.S. soldiers, in sexual assault prevention.

But that's not all. Some of you have channeled your own pain and suffering into a positive force for change. One awardee, on top of a full-time job, created a non-profit to serve families with missing children – families like her own. Another now works to encourage more support for first responders – years after a police detective rescued her from a locked car trunk during a near-fatal abduction.

All of you deserve to be commended, not only for your extraordinary service, but also for the example you set. The support of victims and advocacy work is not easy. But it is so important. As you provide healing, you restore hope. And as you listen, you restore dreams.

All across the country, victim advocates are serving people in need and in crisis, working in police departments, D.A.'s offices, hospitals and prisons. And many are educating other professionals about victims' unique challenges and needs. At increasing rates, pediatricians and teachers are being trained to identify signs of abuse. And many medical and law enforcement professionals now receive special training on treating victims of sexual assault.

Today's Justice Department is working with service providers to reach those victims most in need of help. For example, as we've come to recognize the unique challenges faced by victims with disabilities, we've worked to support services tailored to their needs. And we have elevated victim assistance in tribal communities – where violent crime rates are two, four, and in some cases, 10 times the national average.

We're also evolving to meet new challenges and emerging threats. As criminals adapt to an inter-connected world, advocates and service-providers alike – in partnership with law enforcement – are working hard to serve victims of youth violence, cybercrime, identify theft, human trafficking and fraud.

In fact, I am proud to announce that earlier today, the Department's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force launched StopFraud.gov, our new one-stop site for American consumers to learn how to protect themselves from fraud and to report it wherever – and however – it occurs. Victims of financial fraud may not encounter violence, but they often suffer devastating losses that can take years to recover from – both financially and emotionally. They need our help and support in overcoming these crimes and seeking justice.

I realize that, in this time of growing needs and limited resources, you've been asked to do much more with much less. And I want you all to know that this Administration – and this Department of Justice – will continue working to support the essential services you provide. Last year, we were pleased to provide new funding for victims' services through the Recovery Act. But our commitment is not a one-time deal. The President and Congress raised the cap on the Crime Victims Fund for this fiscal year, and this Administration has asked Congress to raise it even higher for the next.

But, as you all know, it will take more than money to fulfill our responsibilities to you and to those you assist. Just as we need to be smart on crime, we must also be smart about meeting the needs of victims. Our Office for Victims of Crime is leading the way in this effort by providing innovative training, resources and development support. And the National Victim Assistance Academy continues to provide state-of-the-art information on victim's rights and services to providers and allied professionals.

On Monday, at a Department-wide event to commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the 15 th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, we heard from several courageous victims. While listening to their stories, I was reminded that crime is not limited to any one age, gender or demographic group. The problem of crime affects us all. And addressing it effectively will require innovative, collaborative and coordinated solutions. Now, I realize that identifying and implementing the solutions we need to make a difference, and to make continued progress, will not be easy. But, as I look around this room and consider all that's been accomplished, I can't help but feel hopeful about the progress I know we can, and will, make.

I look forward to this work, and I'm grateful that our efforts will be guided by some extraordinary examples. Once again, I want to congratulate this year's awardees for their outstanding contributions, achievements and service. You're an inspiration to us all.

Thank you.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100416.html

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From the FBI

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This apartment building was one of several used for prostitution by the Vasquez-Valenzuela family.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING Putting a Stop to Modern-Day Slavery 04/16/10 The girls—some as young as age 12—were smuggled into the U.S. from their village homes in Guatemala. Their impoverished parents were told that their daughters would be working in restaurants and jewelry stores in California and would earn good wages that could be sent back to their families. Instead, upon arriving in Los Angeles, the girls were taken to have their eyebrows tattooed and their hair colored and then forced to work the streets as prostitutes. It was one of the biggest human trafficking cases we've ever investigated, and when it was all over last year, nine defendants known as the Vasquez-Valenzuela family went to jail—with the ringleader receiving a 40-year sentence.

Human trafficking—nothing less than modern-day slavery—often involves the most vulnerable populations and takes the form of forced prostitution, forced labor, and domestic servitude. The FBI is the lead agency for investigating violations of federal civil rights laws, and human trafficking is one of our top civil rights violation priorities. We established our Human Trafficking Initiative in 2005, and we take this international problem very seriously from both a criminal and a human perspective.

A Guatemala dwelling where one of the girls lived with her family before being smuggled to the U.S.

In the Vasquez-Valenzuela case, the traffickers duped the unsuspecting families, and when the girls—none spoke English, and they had so little education they didn't know their birthdates or how old they were—arrived in Los Angeles, they were told they had to pay off debts of as much as $20,000 for being smuggled into the country. If they objected to paying off the debt through prostitution, many were told their families in Guatemala would be murdered. There was less subtle coercion as well. “These girls and women were physically beaten and were held in apartments so they couldn't escape,” said Special Agent Tricia Whitehill in our Los Angeles Field Office. “Members of the Vasquez-Valenzuela family would sleep by the doors with knives,” Whitehill added. “So not only were they physically held captive, but they were also under constant threat.” Part of our success in working human trafficking investigations like the Vasquez-Valenzuela case comes from the cooperative efforts of our law enforcement partners domestically and internationally.

The Los Angeles Metro Task Force on Human Trafficking—whose members include the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Los Angeles Police Department—was instrumental in bringing the Vasquez-Valenzuela family to justice. In all, the Bureau participates in approximately 30 task forces pertaining to human trafficking.

In fiscal year 2009, we opened 167 human trafficking investigations and made 202 arrests. During that same period, 121 informations/indictments were filed and 93 convictions were obtained. We also rescued 13 minor victims of trafficking and dismantled seven trafficking organizations.

The Vasquez-Valenzuela family held two young girls inside this apartment when they weren't working the streets. The windows were nailed shut so the girls would not try to escape.

Another important component of our human trafficking program is our work with victims to enlist their help in prosecuting their captors and to make sure they get the support they need after being rescued from abusive situations. In the Vasquez-Valenzuela case, Agent Whitehill said, “With the help of ICE, prior to making any arrests we actually helped two of the girls escape, which obviously aided the victims but also helped us build our case. It's satisfying to know we were able to help protect people who were unable to protect themselves.” Podcast: Inside the FBI Special Agent Whitehill talks about the Vasquez-Valenzuela case. Resources: - Human-trafficking website - More about the Vasquez-Valenzuela case: press release | podcast - Victim Assistance Program

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april10/trafficking_041610.html

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Fourth New Orleans Police Officer Charged in Danziger Bridge Case

WASHINGTON—A one-count bill of information filed today in federal court charges New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Officer Robert Barrios with conspiring with fellow NOPD officers to obstruct justice by covering up a police-involved shooting in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today.

The Sept. 4, 2005, shooting on the Danziger Bridge left two civilians dead and four others seriously injured. According to the bill of information, Barrios and other officers rode in a large Budget rental truck to the Danziger Bridge, where they encountered a group of civilians who were walking across the bridge to get food and supplies from a supermarket.

On the east side of the bridge, officers fired at the group of civilians, killing one man and seriously wounding four members of a family. Officers then traveled to the west side of the bridge, where they encountered Lance and Ronald Madison, who were crossing the bridge on their way to the dentistry office of one of their other brothers. On the west side of the bridge, an officer shot and killed Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old man with severe mental and physical disabilities.

The bill of information charges Barrios with agreeing with other officers to obstruct justice during the investigations that followed the shooting. Specifically, it charges that Barrios and other officers discussed the stories that they would tell about what happened on the bridge and that, on Jan. 25, 2006, before the officers gave formal, audiotaped statements about the incident, they gathered with supervisors in an abandoned and gutted out building, where they again went over the stories they would tell on tape. The bill of information alleges that the purpose of the conspiracy Barrios joined was to provide false and misleading information in order to ensure that the shootings would appear to be legally justified and that the involved officers would therefore be shielded from liability. The defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

These charges against Barrios follow guilty pleas from three other former NOPD officers involved in the Danziger Bridge case. Michael Lohman, a former lieutenant, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice, and admitted that he knew of, facilitated and participated in the creation of false reports about the shooting. Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former NOPD detective who then became an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pleaded guilty to covering up a felony, and admitted that he too participated in the cover-up of the Danziger Bridge shooting. Lehrmann admitted during his plea hearing that officers had coordinated efforts to provide false statements, and that a supervisor assigned to investigate the shooting had made up witnesses and planted evidence. Most recently, on April 7, 2010, former NOPD Officer Michael Hunter pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice and to covering up a felony he observed while he was on the bridge on Sept. 4, 2005. Hunter, in his plea hearing, admitted that he drove the Budget truck to the Danziger Bridge on the day of the shooting, and that he and other officers opened fire on civilians who did not appear to have any weapons, and who were “casually walking on the roadway” when the police arrived. Hunter stated that a supervisor on the scene held out his assault rifle and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at civilians who had, by that time, taken cover behind a concrete barrier. Describing the shooting of Ronald Madison that occurred a few minutes later, Hunter stated that another NOPD officer shot Madison in the back, without warning, as Madison ran away, unarmed, following his brother toward a nearby motel. After Madison was shot, according to Hunter, the supervisor who had shot people earlier on the east side of the bridge, repeatedly kicked or stomped on Madison as he lay wounded and dying.

This case, which is ongoing, is being investigated by the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein and Trial Attorney Forrest Christian of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

http://neworleans.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/no041610.htm

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