By Carla Hall and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

August 13, 2010

In the 11 months since Mitrice Richardson stepped out of the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff's Station into the early morning darkness and vanished hours later, the mystery of her whereabouts twisted around false sightings from the ocean to Las Vegas.

Was that her at the Abbey in West Hollywood in late September? Or was she the badly burned body in a dumpster behind a building in Santa Fe Springs in October? Did her father really see her on a sidewalk near a Motel 6 in Las Vegas in January? Did a friend come across her in June in a Las Vegas hotel bar?

In her absence, she became a fixture on cable TV talk shows, the focus of debate over the sheriff's station's seemingly thoughtless decision to release a young woman without a car near a rugged canyon.

Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, was skeptical of some of the sightings, particularly the most recent one in Las Vegas. She said that authorities should keep searching the area where her daughter went missing.

In the end, she was horribly right. On Thursday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca confirmed that the skeletal remains discovered Monday in Malibu Canyon were those of Mitrice Richardson.

"The circumstances of this case are tragic," a somber-faced Baca told a news conference. "I am mindful of the fact that a mother and father are in deep grieving at this moment."

The saga started when Richardson was unable to pay an $89 dinner tab at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu and the staff called the Sheriff's Department. She was arrested and her car impounded. She was released from custody early Sept. 17 without her cellphone or purse — neither of which she had on her at the restaurant when she was arrested.

Her parents and critics contend that she should have been held longer for a mental health evaluation after she acted bizarrely at the restaurant.

Why Richardson even went to Geoffrey's remains as much a mystery as how she ended up in a steep-sided ravine, her badly decomposed body discovered only because park rangers were on a patrol of the area for illegal marijuana plants.

Sheriff's officials say there is no sign of foul play. Nor do they believe she fell to her death. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office estimated that her remains had been there at least six months, or possibly the entire time she had been missing.

Over several months, law enforcement officials carried out four searches covering a total of 40 square miles of Malibu Canyon.

Investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department, which handled Richardson's missing-person case because she lived in South L.A., spent months tracking clues and eventually were joined by Sheriff's Department detectives.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas got the county to offer a reward for information and questioned whether Richardson should have been arrested at all.

Friends and family members followed up on sightings. "If you knew how many buses I've chased down," Ronda Hampton, a psychologist who was a friend of Richardson, said recently.

And at a time when law enforcement agencies and the media have been accused of devoting less attention to minorities who go missing than to pretty, white women who disappear, Richardson — a black woman who was a strikingly attractive former beauty pageant contestant — got extraordinary attention, becoming a high-profile-enough case to make the cover of People magazine last fall along with several other missing people.

Only adding to the aura of her case was the intriguing and perplexing portrait that emerged of Richardson, a Cal State Fullerton graduate who worked as an executive assistant for a freight company in Santa Fe Springs, passed a test to become a substitute teacher, considered being a psychologist, and danced part time at a gay and lesbian club in Long Beach. LAPD investigators believe that she probably was suffering from a severe bipolar disorder.

She was living with her great-grandmother in South Los Angeles — but she also appeared to have been living in her Honda Civic, which was cluttered with clothing, make-up, books and the journals that she kept.

The night that she was arrested, she had shown up alone at Geoffrey's, charming strangers into allowing her to join their table — but alarming restaurant staffers when she couldn't pay her bill and spoke of being from Mars.

LAPD homicide investigators combed through her text messages, diaries, MySpace and Facebook pages and speculated that she may not have slept in the five days leading up to the fateful night at Geoffrey's.

At the sheriff's station, the jailer who processed Richardson found her cooperative and a little nervous. The jailer chatted about gospel music; Richardson talked about karma. She was booked on two misdemeanor charges — defrauding an innkeeper and possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in her car.

According to sheriff's officials, shortly before midnight, the station jailer told her that she was free to go, but suggested that she either stay the night in a cell — leaving whenever she asked — or in the station lobby since it was cold and dark out and her car had been towed to a lot.

Richardson said she would rather leave. At 12:15 a.m., she left with the possessions she came in with — her shirt and jeans, a brown hat and pink belt; two keys and her driver's license — signing a citation promising to return to the Malibu courthouse on Nov. 16, 2009.

Around dawn the morning she was released, a homeowner on Cold Canyon Road in the Monte Nido area of Malibu discovered a woman napping in his backyard and called the Sheriff's Department.

Investigators are convinced that it was Richardson, having somehow made her way from the sheriff's station on Agoura Road in Calabasas down into Malibu Canyon and east on Piuma Road to Cold Canyon. The woman left when the homeowner discovered her.

Investigators believe she was spotted two more times — once walking down Malibu Canyon Road about 7:30 a.m. and then a few hours later on Piuma Road east of Malibu Canyon. Her remains were found about 2 1/2 miles from that last sighting.

In the last year, her parents — who are not a couple — have seesawed between gratitude for the search efforts and frustration at the direction and pace of the investigation.

The Sheriff's Department faces two negligence lawsuits filed by the parents. And though the Office of Independent Review report says sheriff's personnel correctly handled the booking and release of Richardson, the department still faces questions about whether it should change its policy. Baca acknowledged that.

"The deputies acted properly," he said. "Properly doesn't mean we couldn't have done something more."

Richardson's father, Michael, said after Baca's news conference, "A lot of people wronged my daughter that night. It was a wrongful release based on her mental state."

Latice Sutton did not attend Thursday's news conference. But she sent out a text message: "It is with great sadness and grief that I [tell you] my baby, Mitrice Richardson, has gone on to our Heavenly Father. Thank you for all of you love, support and prayers."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mitrice-richardson-20100813,0,4741787,print.story

With the announcement Thursday that authorities had identified the skeletal remains of Mitrice Richardson, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has come under renewed scrutiny for its decision to release her from custody far from home in the middle of the night.

But the civilian jailer who processed Richardson at the Malibu-Lost Hills station on the night she was released told The Times on Wednesday that Richardson was offered the opportunity to stay but ultimately refused, saying she planned to "hook up with friends."

Sharon Cummings, a custody assistant at the Malibu-Lost Hills station, said Richardson was slightly nervous but lucid while being booked for arrest after behaving strangely and being unable to pay her $89 dinner bill at a local restaurant.

The booking process lasted less than two hours, Cummings said. During the time, Richardson was given a phone and made several calls. The jailer said she did not listen to the conversations but talked with Richardson intermittently, discussing gospel music and karma.

When authorities learned she had no outstanding warrants and had signed papers authorizing her release, Richardson was given the option to stay or go.

Cummings said she urged Richardson to stay because it was not only dark but cold.

"I told her maybe she should wait until morning and have breakfast," Cummings said. "She thought about it and said ‘Maybe I'll stay.' "

The jailer left to get some keys. When Cummings returned, Richardson had changed her mind and said she didn't want stay, according to the jailer.

The Office of Independent Review, which oversees the Sheriff's Department found that the department "properly and legally released" Richardson, according to a 58-page report.

But in the press conference identifying Richardson as the victim, Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged the Richardson case had triggered "soul searching” in the Sheriff's Department.

Although sheriff's personnel acted properly, "Properly doesn't mean we couldn't have done something more,” Baca said in a news conference.

Cummings said that when detainees are showing signs of mental instability, jailers immediately contact the watch sergeant or watch commander. That didn't occur because Richardson was calm the entire time she was in custody.

In the end, Cummings said, Richardson had made up her mind to leave.

"She just didn't want to stay. I offered her the opportunity. I even tried to convince her to stay. She [Richardson] said she was going to hook up with her friends and she did not want stay."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/malibu-sheriffs-station-jailer-mitrice-richardson-offered-chance-to-stay-but-refused.html#more

August 13, 2010

The discovery of Mitrice Richardson's remains in a Malibu Canyon ravine this week cleared up some of the mystery surrounding the young Cal State Fullerton graduate, who disappeared nearly a year ago after being released from a remote sheriff's station. But it doesn't explain why anyone thought it wise to let Richardson go in the Malibu hills in the dead of night with no car, money or phone. If anything, the unhappy conclusion to the search for Richardson only raises more questions about the Sheriff's Department's approach to those it detains.

Deputies took Richardson into custody on the night of Sept. 16, 2009, at Geoffrey's Malibu for failing to pay the $89 bill for her meal. They booked her at the Malibu/Lost Hills station in Agoura and, after she refused two invitations to stay in a private cell until morning, watched her walk into the chilly night with no access to her car, no ride home and no buses running for six hours.

An internal probe by the Sheriff's Department and a draft report by the Office of Independent Review found that deputies had followed the department's procedures to the letter. The office's report argues that deputies had good reason to separate Richardson from her car, despite having found her to be sober — there were copious quantities of tequila, vodka and beer inside. Yet the report also asserts that deputies had no choice but to release Richardson after she was booked because they had no authority to hold her any longer.

Even if the department couldn't detain Richardson, that doesn't mean it was appropriate to release her on the doorstep of a station deep in Malibu Canyon. That's hard to defend regardless of Richardson's mental health, which deputies seemed to pay scant attention to before hauling her off from Geoffrey's. The department recognizes that it's not a good idea to release women from the county jail after dark — the Century Regional Detention Facility restricts nighttime releases for female inmates. If it's a bad practice at the jail, it's bad anywhere.

It may not be easy to avoid putting people at risk when they're released after dark on their own recognizance. The Sheriff's Department isn't a taxi service, and the sheer volume of people leaving custody — almost 500 a day — poses its own challenges. The solution may require deputies to think more about what will happen after a suspect is released before deciding where to book someone. Regardless, Richardson's tragic end proves that the department's eagerness not to hold people too long has public safety implications too. Her case shouldn't be closed until the department comes up with a better way to handle vulnerable people who come temporarily into its custody.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-sheriff-20100813,0,2129554,print.story

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From the New York Times

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British Officers Charged in Attack on Suspect

LONDON — One of Britain 's longest-running terrorism cases took a sharp turn on Thursday when the Crown Prosecution Service announced that four Scotland Yard police officers would face trial for carrying out what Britain's top police officer previously admitted was a “prolonged attack” on the chief suspect.

The decision came after nearly seven years of controversy in the case and appeared likely to further delay moves to extradite the man involved, Babar Ahmad, to the United States. Mr. Ahmad is wanted in Connecticut on charges of running militant Islamic Web sites that the authorities say were used to recruit and raise money for terrorists and to serve as a conduit for supplies of gas masks, night vision goggles and other equipment to terrorist groups.

Mr. Ahmad and his lawyers have maintained in British court hearings that the officers punched and kicked him, subjected him to a “life-threatening” neck hold, pulled his testicles and mocked his Islamic faith. At one point, he said, they forced him into a praying position while one officer shouted, “Where is your God now? Pray to him!” and at another point, an officer was said to have told him, “You will remember this day for the rest of your life.”

The four officers — Nigel Cowley, John Donohue, Roderick James-Bowen and Mark Jones — will appear in court on Sept. 22. All were members of a specially trained unit, the Territorial Support Group, that was sent to arrest Mr. Ahmad in December 2003. The prosecution said it had considered bringing charges against a fifth officer but had decided not to because there was “insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect for conviction.”

Mr. Ahmad, 36, an engineering graduate specializing in digital technology, has been detained without trial since 2004, longer than any other detainee caught up in the multiple terrorism cases that have come to court in Britain since the 9/11 attacks. Throughout that time, he and his lawyers have said that he was criminally assaulted by the Scotland Yard team that made the original arrest at his south London home.

United States prosecutors say the groups supported by the Web sites that Mr. Ahmad oversaw included Al Qaeda , Chechen rebels and the Taliban in Afghanistan. But British prosecutors concluded by 2006 that there was “insufficient evidence” to charge him with any criminal offense in Britain, shifting the legal battle to the American bid for extradition.

In 2005, the British government approved the extradition, but Mr. Ahmad appealed. He took his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which last month imposed a temporary ban on any further moves to extradite him.

A turning point came in March last year, when the High Court in London awarded Mr. Ahmad compensation of about $90,000 after the head of Scotland Yard, Sir Paul Stephenson, admitted that Mr. Ahmad had been the victim of “a serious, gratuitous and prolonged attack” by the officers who arrested him in 2003.

London's mayor, Boris Johnson , who shares oversight over Scotland Yard with Britain's home secretary, then ordered a fresh inquiry into the case. The findings of that inquiry, headed by a retired judge, were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/world/europe/13britain.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Asylum Granted to Mexican Woman in Case Setting Standard on Domestic Abuse

The Obama administration has granted asylum to a Mexican woman who was sexually abused and severely battered by her common-law husband. The decision, in a closely watched case, clarifies the exacting standard that domestic abuse victims must meet to win asylum.

Department of Homeland Security officials found that the woman had proved that she could not expect the Mexican authorities to protect her from the violence and murder threats of her attacker, and that she could not safely relocate anywhere in the country to escape him.

During decades of abuse, the man repeatedly raped her at the point of guns and machetes, and once tried to burn her alive, according to court documents in the case in San Francisco.

Based on a favorable recommendation from Department of Homeland Security officials, an immigration judge on Aug. 4 approved asylum for the woman, who is known only as L.R., because asylum cases are confidential. Her lawyers announced the decision on Thursday.

The outcome of the case of L.R., 43, brings new clarity to asylum law after almost 15 years of arcane and tangled litigation, when claims from domestic abuse victims were regularly dismissed by immigration judges.

“The Department of Homeland Security has recognized that asylum should be available to women who have suffered domestic violence and whose governments won't protect them,” said Simona Agnolucci, a lawyer with the Howard Rice law firm in San Francisco who represented L.R. “Now the day finally came when the department said these are the criteria required to show a case for asylum.”

In the case of L.R., who first filed for asylum in 2005, Homeland Security Department officials had tipped their hand in papers they submitted in immigration court in April 2009. They confirmed that L.R. could be eligible for asylum as a domestic violence victim, but laid out narrowly defined requirements she would have to meet. Since then, her lawyers presented new evidence designed to meet those standards.

In a declaration in March, Alicia Elena Pérez Duarte y Noroña, a former special prosecutor in Mexico City for crimes against women, said L.R. could not turn for help to the police in Mexico because of “the enormous social and cultural tolerance of this abuse, resulting in the virtual complicity of authorities who should prevent and punish these violent acts.”

L.R. testified that she had asked Mexican courts for protection for herself and her two children. One judge had offered to help her if she would have sex with him, she said.

In a novel argument, a Mexican lawyer specializing in information access, Jimena Avalos Capin, declared that L.R. could not find safety by moving to any new location in Mexico because her common-law husband could easily track her down using the Internet. For L.R. to be able to work in her profession as a schoolteacher, Ms. Capin said, she would have to post her current address in a public registry.

L.R.'s lawyers said the case was not likely to lead to any new surge of refugees in the United States because the hurdles remain high for battered women.

“It shows what kind of evidence would be enough to make a case, but it doesn't mean every case is successful,” said Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, who also represented L.R.

Homeland Security Department officials said they would proceed cautiously with asylum claims based on sexual abuse. “The department continues to view domestic violence as a possible basis for asylum in the United States,” said Matthew Chandler, an agency spokesman. But he said each case “requires scrutiny of the specific threat the applicant faces.”

The government and the courts never questioned the account L.R. gave of her treatment by a man who she said had first forced her to have sex with him when she was a teenager and he was her school athletics coach. Once when he discovered she was pregnant, she said, he set fire to the bed where she was sleeping.

Asylum was also granted to L.R.'s two sons, now 22 and 20 years old. After years of “extreme anxiety” over the case, Ms. Musalo said, L.R., who is living in California, is “ecstatic, grateful and relieved” that she will be able to remain in this country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/us/politics/13asylum.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Suspect Held in Spree of Stabbings

ATLANTA — The main suspect in the killing of five people and the stabbing of at least 13 others in three states was arrested at the airport here as he tried to board a plane to Israel, the authorities said Thursday morning.

The police believe that the suspect, Elias Abuelazam, was most likely responsible for a spree of attacks in Michigan, Ohio and Virginia that began in May and continued through Saturday. Mr. Abuelazam, 33, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with assault with intent to murder in one of the stabbings, although other charges may follow, the police said.

Nearly all of the victims were black men, but investigators have disagreed publicly about whether the attacks were racially motivated. Mr. Abuelazam, who was born in Israel, is a legal immigrant with a history of criminal charges, the police said.

“I would consider this man to be very desperate and very dangerous,” said Chief Joseph R. Price of the Police Department in Leesburg, Va., where three nonfatal stabbings occurred last week. “He's attacking based simply on the color of their skin.”

But David Leyton, the Genesee County prosecutor handling the case in Michigan, said there was insufficient evidence that the stabber was singling out blacks.

A team of federal, state and local investigators tracked Mr. Abuelazam to Atlanta's airport after a tip from an anonymous caller, one of more than 500 people who called with tips about the crimes. Judge Tracy Collier-Nix of District Court in Flint, Mich., where the five killings and at least nine of the attacks occurred, signed a warrant Thursday for Mr. Abuelazam's arrest.

Last week, the police in Virginia stopped Mr. Abuelazam on a traffic violation and discovered that there was a warrant in Leesburg for his arrest on a simple assault violation. His car contained a knife and a hammer, which was a weapon in one of the attacks. He was released after promising to appear in court, said Crystal Nosal, a spokeswoman for the Police Department in Arlington County, Va.

“At that point, there was no reason for him to be held,” Ms. Nosal said. “Leesburg had not put out any information relating to a serial stabbings at that point.”

Later that day, a person was stabbed nearby.

Investigators soon began to see similarities between the unsolved killings in Michigan and the stabbings in Virginia and Toledo, Ohio. In most of the attacks, they say, a tall, stocky man, often in a sport-utility vehicle, was reported to have approached a black man in a deserted area at night, sometimes asking for directions or help with a broken-down car. The attacker then stabbed his victim and ran away.

One victim, Antwione Marshall, 26, who was stabbed six times on July 27 in Flint, said he was relieved by the arrest and naming of Mr. Abuelazam as a main suspect.

“I can sleep easier now,” said Mr. Marshall, whose injuries were severe.

Neighbors of Mr. Abuelazam in Flint were startled to learn of his arrest. Deanna Brelinski, who lives on the same street, said he had moved into a house owned by his uncle this year and could be seen in the driveway repairing his car and supervising his uncle's young daughter.

“You're not thinking that someone who's playing with the kid in the front yard during the day is killing people at night,” Mr. Brelinski said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/us/13stabbings.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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The State of the War

OPINION

We believe that the United States has a powerful national interest in Afghanistan, in depriving Al Qaeda of a safe haven on either side of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. This country would also do enormous damage to its moral and strategic standing if it now simply abandoned the Afghan people to the Taliban's brutalities.

But, like many Americans, we are increasingly confused and anxious about the strategy in Afghanistan and wonder whether, at this late date, there is a chance of even minimal success.

The trove of military documents recently published in The Times showed, once again, why this is so hard: the weakness of the Afghan Army and the corruption of the Afghan government; the double game being played by Pakistan; the failure of the Bush administration, for seven years, to invest enough troops, money or attention in a war that it allowed to drag on until it has now become the longest in the nation's history.

The WikiLeaks documents, however, end in late 2009 and don't show us how the war is going now or whether President Obama's decision in December to send 30,000 more troops (the last won't be in place until the end of this month) has a chance of altering those realities.

The answer to that question also depends on whether President Obama and his top advisers can finally secure the full commitment and cooperation of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and Pakistan's military commander, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

•

The first test of the new counterinsurgency strategy, in Marja, population 60,000, did not go well. American Marines drove the Taliban from Marja's center in late February, but the “government in a box” that was supposed to win over the population with security, services and honest governance didn't arrive. Competent Afghan officials didn't want the risk or the hardship of moving there.

Taliban fighters quickly began a campaign of intimidation and assassination. Many local residents have been too frightened to sign up for American-financed reconstruction projects. With too few Afghan security forces to hold the town, the Marines have not been able to move beyond Marja.

American officials say things are improving. Some schools and markets have reopened, and as of mid-July there were 21 Afghan officials working at the Interim Government Center, with another 7 to 10 positions unfilled. Marja remains isolated and dangerous.

We were told that Marja was a rehearsal for a major offensive this spring around Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and the Taliban's spiritual base. Breaking the insurgents' hold there was supposed to send a powerful message that the tide of the war is finally changing. After Marja, though, the Kandahar offensive was postponed, reinforcing the impression of drift.

Mr. Obama has promised to review his policy this December. We agree that the “surge” and his new commander, Gen. David Petraeus, need time. But reports from the ground have been so relentlessly grim — July's death toll of 66 American troops was the highest since the war began — that Mr. Obama needs to do a better job right now of explaining the strategy and how he is measuring progress. Here are some of the things Americans and American allies, who are even more anxious about the war, need to hear:

THE PLAN AFTER MARJA

Do the president and his generals still believe that counterinsurgency — securing crucial areas and building up local governments — is the best chance for driving back the Taliban? Is it even possible? What lessons were learned in Marja? How has it changed their approach in Kandahar?

American officials now insist that it was wrong to think about Kandahar as a set piece offensive. The city is already under the formal control of the Afghan government, and they say Special Forces are already pounding the Taliban outside the city while efforts to improve services and security inside are under way. Claiming that the media somehow didn't get it right doesn't help. The White House and Pentagon need to explain clearly what is happening there.

One of the first bureaucratic fights General Petraeus won after assuming command was his insistence on spending more than $200 million for diesel generators and fuel to increase Kandahar's electricity supply. That sounds like a sensible way to win local support.

We are concerned about the administration's decision not to challenge the control of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's younger brother and chief of Kandahar's provincial council. American officials have long claimed that the younger Mr. Karzai is involved in the opium trade and other corrupt enterprises. (He also has been on the C.I.A.'s payroll.) Washington's new line is there are suspicions but “nothing that will stand up in court.”

How can a more credible government be built in Kandahar with Ahmed Wali Karzai still in place? What is the plan for bringing in and protecting more honest officials? And for tamping down the resentment of other local leaders who complain that the younger Mr. Karzai has grabbed all of the lucrative security and supply contracts? President Karzai could give a major boost to the Kandahar campaign by urging his brother to take a year or two abroad. Failing that, what is Washington doing to ensure that the two Karzais help rather than hinder the effort?

A CREDIBLE PARTNER

At a recent international conference in Kabul, President Karzai said all the right things about fighting corruption and Afghans assuming more responsibility for their own security. (For a change, there were no anti-American tantrums.) Does the administration finally have a plan to get him to deliver? Indeed, we are still not clear about the benchmarks that are being set for adequate governance. Has Mr. Karzai been given a detailed list? How can Americans judge if they are being met?

Most urgent, has the administration warned Mr. Karzai of the disastrous consequences — in Afghanistan and in the United States — if next month's parliamentary elections are as tainted as last year's presidential vote? Some American officials are so worried that they are hoping a way can be found to get the Afghans to postpone the vote at least until next spring.

Confronting Mr. Karzai head-on hasn't worked. The White House has now decided to play nice, at least in public. We hope American officials are a lot franker in private about the limits of the American public's patience. General Petraeus skillfully managed self-defeating politicians in Iraq. He will need to bring that skill to bear with Mr. Karzai while cultivating a wider array of leaders. He cannot do that alone.

The constant infighting among top American officials over how deeply to invest in the war has to end. It has undermined Americans' confidence and made it far too easy for Mr. Karzai to ignore Washington's advice and demands.

MILITARY AND POLICE TRAINING

Like everything else about this war, the effort to train the Afghan Army and police was shortchanged for years under the Bush administration. President Obama has done better, but there is still a very long way to go. News of the way an ambitious Afghan military operation turned into a bloody rout by the Taliban is the latest reminder of that.

In November, the United States and NATO opened a new integrated training mission. Its leader, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, has increased the number of trainers (the allies still need to ante up hundreds more), revamped the Afghan Army leadership program and standardized police instruction, including adding new literacy courses. American military officials said this week that this year's goal of 134,000 Afghan National Army troops and 109,000 police officers has already been met.

After days of discussion, General Petraeus persuaded President Karzai to support the creation of new, lightly armed village defense forces.

Still, we are concerned about a recent report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which found serious flaws in how the United States military has been measuring the readiness of Afghanistan's Army and police for the last five years. It also described widespread problems with drug use, corruption and high attrition rates. General Caldwell said the report was based on out-of-date information; the No. 2 American commander in Afghanistan said they were developing a more rigorous system. We are eager to learn about that system and hear the evaluation.

REINTEGRATION AND RECONCILIATION

American officials say that any exit strategy will almost certainly include some deal with some Taliban. Americans need to hear more about the plans to woo back lower-level fighters with offers of aid, jobs and security.

We also need to hear more about the plans for reaching out to the insurgency's leaders. An Afghan peace conference in June called for creating a council to negotiate a deal with senior Taliban. Washington has laid down what it insists are clear red lines: Taliban leaders must forswear all ties to Al Qaeda and accept the Afghan Constitution, with its protection of women's rights. Mr. Karzai has embraced the same conditions.

There are also reports that the Afghan president has been secretly negotiating with the Taliban and that Pakistan is eager to broker a deal. American officials say any negotiations have to be Afghan-led, while admitting they are not fully certain who is talking to whom.

We don't know if there is a deal to be had with the Taliban. We are sure that Washington cannot sit on the sidelines. The administration also needs to be thinking hard about a diplomatic strategy to engage or at least neutralize all of the region's meddling players.

MANAGING PAKISTAN

The most alarming parts of the WikiLeaks reports were the ones that described how Pakistan's military intelligence service was cynically colluding with the Afghan Taliban, which it sees as a proxy force to ensure its influence in Afghanistan and keep India's at bay.

The administration has said and done many of the right things to try to change Pakistan's behavior: committing to long-term economic aid and constantly reminding Pakistani leaders that they are playing with fire and that extremists, on both sides of the border, pose a genuine threat to their own survival. It is not clear whether they are getting through.

Pakistan has pushed back against the Pakistani Taliban and has allowed the Americans to fly drone strikes against Al Qaeda and other fighters along its border. It also continues to shelter and aid some of the most destructive and dangerous armed factions fighting United States and allied troops in Afghanistan. Americans need to understand what more the administration plans to do to end this support and draw Islamabad fully into the fight — on the right side.

THE DEADLINE

President Obama was intentionally vague last December when he said that American troops would begin to transfer out of Afghanistan by July 2011. At the time, we agreed that a deadline, so long as it was not set in stone, made sense. Americans need to know this war will not go on forever. Mr. Karzai needs to know that American protection is not open-ended. American generals and diplomats need to know that their work is being closely reviewed.

Since then, the administration has sent a host — a cacophony — of conflicting signals about the deadline, the strategy and its commitment to the war.

Americans need regular, straight talk from President Obama about what is happening in Afghanistan, for good and ill, and the plan going forward. More ambiguity will only add to the anxiety and confusion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/opinion/13fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the Department of Justice

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Good morning and thank you. I am very happy to be joining you today on behalf of the Department of Justice. It is great to see Secretary Duncan and the Department of Education taking leadership on this important issue through this Anti-Bullying Summit. The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is doing great work, and I'm pleased to be with all of you here today.

I am pleased to be here for two reasons. First and foremost, I am a parent. I have two sons, and, like all parents, I want them to have every opportunity in life. I know that education will be their key, as it was for me. To that end, I want my sons to be safe in school, and without fear of harassment by fellow students. Our nation's children deserve a learning environment that allows them to reach their full potential, and no child should be scared to go to school because of bullying. What all of you in this room are doing matters to me personally.

What you are doing also matters to me professionally. It isn't often that, as Associate Attorney General, I get to walk into a room full of educators and education advocates. I think that in many communities, and for many Americans, what the Department does and what so many of you do are thought of as opposite ends of the spectrum. The theory goes that students have had to make choices and they can either make good choices, and succeed in school, or they can make bad choices, and end up in the criminal justice system. The theory would follow that you take care of the good kids and get them to college, and we take care of the bad kids and get them off the streets.

One of the reasons I am here today is because you and I know that that's not how the world works. People who actually work in law enforcement, and people who actually work in our nation's schools, know that our jobs are closely interwoven. When their neighborhoods and homes don't feel safe, our children have a tough time focusing in school. And when our children are not engaged at school – if they are bullying others or being bullied – we know that can lead them onto a path to the criminal justice system, for bullies and victims alike.

Attorney General Janet Reno really drove this point home to me when I worked for her back in the 1990s. I remember once, when she was on a long plane flight, she took out a pen and paper and outlined everything that was required to reduce crime and keep communities safe. A number of the things on that list focused on what we think of as traditional law enforcement issues: Do we have enough officers on the streets? Are those officers using the right techniques? Are we being smart in how we prosecute crime?

But what stood out to me most was how many of the elements on that list were things that most people never think of as law enforcement issues. She started with pre-natal care, and her list included Head Start and available childcare for working families. Wherever one thinks we should start, we all know that it takes a lot more than police, prosecutors and prisons to make a community safe. You need people who watch out for each other and who have a stake in their community. You need an economic base that keeps people engaged and relatively free from need. And you need safe schools.

Our current Attorney General has a similarly broad view about how to make communities safe. When Attorney General Eric Holder served as Deputy Attorney General during the 1990s, he was struck by the research that showed that for every child who ends up in the criminal justice system, there were 40, 50, 100 opportunities for intervention early in life that were missed. He led the Department to take an in-depth look at the problem of children exposed to violence and uncovered some deeply troubling facts. That research revealed, for instance, that exposure to violence – whether the child was an observer or a direct victim – was associated with long-term physical, psychological, and emotional harm. The studies showed that children exposed to violence are more likely to go on to abuse drugs and alcohol. They're at greater risk of depression, anxiety, and other post-traumatic disorders. They fail in school more often than other kids. They're more likely to develop chronic diseases and to have trouble forming emotional attachments. And they're more likely to commit acts of violence themselves.

The work that he started has continued to this day, and we have doubled down on it upon his return as Attorney General. Last fall, through our National Survey on Children Exposed to Violence , which is the first comprehensive look at children as victims and witnesses of crime, abuse, and violence from infancy to age 17 and which is an outgrowth of then-Deputy Attorney General Holder's initiative from more than a decade ago, the Department of Justice found that most children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. Indeed, the study found that the majority of our kids – more than 60 percent – have been exposed to crime, abuse, and violence. And the Department has renewed its efforts in this area, beginning a new pilot program to address the problem of children exposed to violence.

And all that helps explain why I am here and why the work that you do is so extraordinarily important. We know that bullying has lasting, serious effects for both victims and perpetrators, and that bullying can be a sign of other serious anti-social and violent behavior. The Health Resources and Services Administration reports that kids who bully are more likely to get into frequent fights, vandalize and steal property, be truant or drop out of school, and carry a weapon. And these impacts are long-lasting, as the research tells us there is a strong association between victimizing peers during school years and engaging in illegal behavior as adults. Indeed, just two weeks ago when I was visiting the Menominee Indian Reservation of Wisconsin, tribal leaders emphasized the direct link between bullying among youth and occurrences of domestic violence in later years.

So if we realize that bullying is not just a school's problem, how do we respond to it? When I was a kid, students were bullied for being overweight or for being labeled a nerd, not for being gay or because of sexual promiscuity. And the sitcom response from the 1960s and 70s was for parents to give kids boxing gloves because, we were taught, that if you have the courage to fight back, the bully backs down.

But bullying is not that simple and the notion that "kids will be kids" isn't an answer to problem. When we talk about bullying, we are talking about a destabilizing force that not only disrupts the school environment; it disrupts young lives in serious, far-reaching ways, with dangerous academic, health, and safety consequences. From this summit and the work you all are doing, we know that bullying starts early; that bullying is widespread; that it escalates when unchecked, and that it takes many forms and is evolving. And as the tragic suicides of Megan Meier and Phoebe Prince make apparent, we know that bullying can also be fatal.

With the increasing use of social networking sites and text messaging, the face of bullying is changing. Previously, an incident may have involved girls bickering with each other over boys on the playground. Today, insults – and retaliation for insults -- are not only made face-to-face, they are also posted on a classmate's Facebook profile for all to see. As the internet becomes today's playground, the previous distinction between what took place inside and outside of school is disappearing. Unsurprisingly, teachers are now spending time mediating conflicts between students that began online or through text messages.

What's more, the apparent anonymity offered by technology can lead to more vicious insults. It is apparent that children (and frankly adults) are willing to push the envelope in cyberspace and say malicious things that they might not otherwise say in person. Never before has particularly cruel harassment from school persisted as long as it does now online, where for example, a Facebook group, populated with hundreds of members, is dedicated solely to making fun of a fellow classmate because of his hair color. The Journal of Adolescent Health reported that the number of adolescent victims of online harassment increased by 50 percent between 2000 and 2005. And as students become more technologically sophisticated at younger ages, they learn early on that the Internet can be a powerful, and hurtful, tool. retain an expert in the area of harassment based on sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation to review the District's policies, and an expert to conduct annual training for staff and students on discrimination and harassment based on sex. The agreement also required the school district to implement a comprehensive plan for disseminating its harassment policies, and to maintain records of investigations and responses to allegations of harassment for five years. All of us -- the federal government, local police officers, community leaders, teachers, coaches, principals, and – above all – parents have a responsibility to act. With a multi-tiered approach, involving school officials, community agencies, and the Department of Justice, our team efforts can pay huge dividends – for our nation's children, for the safety of our communities, and for the future of our country.

Bullying is changing in other ways as well, as harassment has also become increasingly sexually explicit. In Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, middle school, high school, and college students posted comments on a web site that were full of sexual innuendo attacking fellow students. The online message boards had been accessed more than 67,000 times in a two-week period. This type of far-reaching harassment haunts and torments kids who are keenly aware that not just a few classmates can view these posts, but the whole world can view the disparaging comments. And with the widespread use of text messaging, an increase in "sexting" has also become a complication for combating bullying, where, with just the click of a cell phone button, an angry boyfriend can retaliate by forwarding compromising photos of a middle school girlfriend to his adolescent classmates.

And for gay and lesbian students, who are now coming out at earlier ages, bullying at school is also on the rise. According to a study released by the California Safe Schools Coalition, more than 200,000 California students are targets of harassment every year, based on actual or perceived sexual orientation. The study tells us that these 200,000 students are three times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe, and are more than twice as likely to be depressed, to consider suicide, or to make a plan for suicide.

Laying out the problem and its long-term consequences certainly makes it feel daunting, and the fact that bullying will continue to evolve makes it feel even more daunting. But we have to start where the research tells us to start – like so many other things, bullying and its consequences are preventable and require early intervention to break the chain of events that will lead a bully or a victim to other behaviors later on that may intersect with the criminal justice system. On this, we all have a role to play. The question is – how do we do it?

A first step is the recognition that we are all in this together and that means that teachers, principals, parents, and yes, law enforcement must model caring behavior for our children and promote communication. It means teaching our kids how to care for themselves, how to care for each other, and how to care for their communities, through group community service requirements or student-to-student mentorship programs. When Secretary Duncan and the Attorney General did a forum with high school students on healthy relationships in December, you saw the power of peers helping peers to deal with some of the most difficult aspects of learning and growing up. While adults need to model the right behaviors and provide supervisions, the power of peers should not be underestimated.

And that leads to a second step, which is fostering a sense of responsibility among our young people. We know that students observe bullying all the time, but rarely report it or often don't take action to stop it. This bystander problem is not unique to today's subject matter. Early this year, Justice Department officials did a coordinated swing through colleges and universities to highlight the problem of sexual assault and abuse on college campuses, with a particular focus on enlisting bystanders as forces to stop the abuse. We must promote responsibility and integrity in our schools – and specifically, the duty to others, and the duty to report. By activating bystanders in this way, and then following up with consistent responses to when incidents are reported, schools can convey the message that bullying is monitored closely, by both teachers and fellow students, and it will not be tolerated.

I know that most of what I have said doesn't sound like what most people think the Justice Department does. But our philosophy is not just that you have to be tough on crime, but you have to be smart on crime. That requires looking at the science and supporting programs that are evidence-based and have a track record or a likelihood of success. And that means recognizing the seeds of problems that will occur later on and investing in initiatives that will actually prevent crime and ensure that our children grow up health, whether its peer counseling, mentoring, after-school programs, character education, and many of the other activities to which you devote your time. Only through initiatives that address these issues in the developmental stages, can we prevent them from intensifying into serious criminal justice problems that create widespread harm for all of our communities in the long-run.

I am here to thank you for your efforts and for the work that you do every day. You have an ally in the U.S. Department of Justice, because the needs of the most precious and most vulnerable among us – our children – are a top priority for us. We are lucky to have, in Eric Holder, an Attorney General who has always understood the connection between the education environment and public safety. And much of what we are doing in today's Justice Department is based on our recognition that we need broad partnerships to make our communities safe. That means building and renewing coalitions among local communities. It means re-building the partnerships with state and local authorities who are the first responders to most crime in this country and who are best positioned to make our communities safer. And it means re-engaging with our partners in health care, education, and other areas not traditionally thought of as part of law enforcement.

At the Department of Justice, we have made an historic commitment to this work. I'm proud that, today, the Department is directing resources for the express purpose of reducing bullying in schools and to raising awareness around its ramifications, and, of course, to countering its negative impact. In particular, our Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention – or OJJDP – provides many resources that respond to the problems of bullying and cyber bullying, including online programs for kids, parents, educators, law enforcement, and community leaders.

I would like to highlight a couple of specific projects of ours that have shown positive results. For example, OJJDP's Model Programs Guide (MPG) is a user-friendly, online portal to scientifically tested and proven programs that address a range of issues across the juvenile justice spectrum. The MPG profiles nearly 200 prevention and intervention programs and helps communities identify those that best suit their needs.

Web Wise Kids is another initiative focused on empowering today's youth to make wise choices online. Through Internet Safety tips and state-of–the-art Internet Safety computer games, which are modeled after real-life scenarios, Web Wise Kids seeks to promote a safer, friendlier internet experience.

I am also proud to announce today two new anti-bullying initiatives spearheaded by the Department of Justice. First, OJJDP is developing a five-bulletin series on the topic of peer victimization in schools based on three studies funded by OJJDP and conducted by the National Center for School Engagement. The authors designed the studies to explore the connections between bullying and peer victimization, school engagement, and the outcomes for school attendance and educational achievement. These bulletins will be used nationwide by practitioners and policymakers to understand the problem of bullying, in order to devise effective ways of addressing it.

These practical recommendations, written in an accessible style for non-researchers, are based on the research, evaluation, and knowledge of real life situations in schools, classrooms, and neighborhoods. Scheduled to be released in late 2010 and early 2011, the bulletins will also provide resources to help individuals who work directly with youth, or who make decisions about how schools and communities respond to bullying, to find additional assistance in order to address peer victimization.

Second, OJJDP will develop a webinar using information and presentations from this Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit so that we can deliver the message of the summit to wider audiences throughout the field. Scheduled to air approximately a month from now, the webinar will be available on OJJDP's website and will serve as a free training tool for practitioners throughout the country.

And as many of you know, the Department of Justice is also combating bullying in the courtroom. This past January, the Department of Justice joined a lawsuit, which resulted in a settlement, on behalf of a student who was subjected to severe and pervasive harassment based on sex. Because this student failed to conform to gender stereotypes in behavior and appearance, he was bullied by fellow classmates. The harassment escalated from derogatory name-calling to physical threats and violence. We asserted that the school district knew of the harassment, yet was deliberately indifferent in its failure to take action.

The resulting settlement agreement required the school district to, among other things:

To be clear, we don't want to make excessive demands of our school administrators and educators, because I know that we already expect so much of them. We realize that educators are stretched thin and that these are difficult times. But, together, we have a duty to keep our children safe in school.

I want to thank those of you who have seen the importance of this issue, and who have been working to improve the lives of our young people. I look forward to our continued partnerships to build school environments where our children can thrive.

Thank you.

http://www.justice.gov/asg/speeches/2010/asg-speech-100812.html

WASHINGTON – Today's passage by Congress of the Border Security Appropriations Bill provides $196 million for the Department of Justice to surge federal law enforcement efforts in high crime areas in the Southwest Border region, announced Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler.

“I commend Congress for passing the Border Security Appropriations Bill to add important resources to bolster security on our Southwest Border,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler. “These assets are critical to bringing additional capabilities to crack down on transnational criminal organizations and reduce the illicit trafficking of people, drugs, currency and weapons.

“This bill will help strengthen the Department of Justice's historic security efforts on the Southwest Border. Over the past 18 months, this Administration and this Department have dedicated unprecedented personnel, technology, and resources to the border, with unprecedented results, and we will continue to focus our efforts on disrupting criminal organizations and the networks they exploit,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Grindler was joined in the announcement by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; Deputy Director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA) Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart; Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division and U.S. Marshals Service Director John Clark.

Specifically, the funding will allow for more than 400 new positions and the temporary deployment of up to 220 personnel along the border as part of the Justice Department's broader Southwest Border Strategy, including:

The Southwest Border Strategy, led by the Deputy Attorney General, uses federal prosecutor-led task forces that bring together all law enforcement components to identify, disrupt and dismantle the Mexican drug cartels through investigation, prosecution and extradition of their key leaders and facilitators, and seizure and forfeiture of their assets. The Department of Justice is increasing its focus on investigations and prosecutions of the southbound smuggling of guns and cash that fuel the violence and corruption and attacking the cartels in Mexico itself, in partnership with the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) and the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP). 

The latest resources and funding announced by the United States build on the framework of expertise and experience that have been announced during the last year, as well as the successes these resources and funding have achieved, as part of the Obama administration's support of the fight against the cartels.

As the largest law enforcement presence in Mexico with offices throughout, and a decades-long history of working with the Mexican government, the DEA has a strategic vantage point from which to assess the drug trafficking situation in Mexico, the related violence, its causes and its historical context. Currently, DEA has 29 percent of its domestic agent positions allocated to its Southwest border field divisions. Project Deliverance, announced in June 2010, led to the arrest of more than 2,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges in the United States and the seizure of more than 74.1 tons of illegal drugs as part of a 22-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation.

Through ATF's Project Gunrunner, agents gather intelligence from federal firearms licensee records, ballistics and other laboratory analysis and trace data as well as use traditional methods of intelligence gathering to deny the “tools of the trade” to the firearms trafficking infrastructure of criminal organizations operating in Mexico and throughout the United States. As a result of Project Gunrunner, ATF seized 2,589 firearms and 265,500 rounds of ammunition destined for the Southwest Border in FY 2009.

ATF has significantly expanded its efforts by deploying GRIT teams to target areas along the border. As a result of the first GRIT team deployment to Houston, agents researched and completed more than 1,000 investigative leads resulting in the initiation of more than 275 firearms cases and seizure of more than 440 illegal firearms. GRIT teams also completed more than 1,100 federal firearms licensee (FFL) inspections.

Recovery Act funding provided Project Gunrunner with $10 million to hire special agents, industry operations investigators and others to staff new offices in McAllen, Texas; El Centro, Calif.; and Las Cruces, N.M. (including a satellite office in Roswell, N.M.,) to target the gun traffickers that enable weapons to make their way to violent criminals.

ATF has also expanded its successful eTrace initiative, which allows law enforcement agencies to identify firearms trafficking trends of drug trafficking organizations and other criminal organizations funneling guns into Mexico from the United States, as well as to develop investigative leads in order to stop firearms traffickers and straw purchasers (people who knowingly purchase guns for prohibited persons) before they cross the border.

In addition to the five new Hybrid Squads, the FBI is continuing to operate its National Border Corruption Task Force, with representatives from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Internal Affairs and TSA to guide and oversee border corruption programs across the country.

USMS has stepped-up its efforts along the Southwest border, deploying 94 additional Deputy U.S. Marshals and sending four additional deputies to Mexico City to assist the Marshals Service Mexico City Foreign Field Office in FY09. Twenty-five new Criminal Investigators-Asset Forfeiture Specialists have been placed in USMS asset forfeiture units in the field.  The new positions are unique in that they are solely dedicated to the USMS Asset Forfeiture Division and support U.S. Attorneys Offices and investigative agencies in investigations of cartels and other large-scale investigations.

Extraditions from Mexico reached an all-time high in 2009, with 107 individuals extradited from Mexico to the United States to stand trial for alleged crimes committed in the United States. The Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs has already achieved the extradition of 54 fugitives from Mexico in 2010, 22 of whom have been for drug trafficking offenses. This included the extradition from Mexico of Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, the former governor of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

In addition to increased resources and funding, the Department of Justice has continued to support Mexican law enforcement through training initiatives. The Criminal Division's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT) and others are providing real time hands-on training through seminars for investigators and prosecutors in Mexico on the investigation and prosecution of complex cases, as Mexico transitions to an adversarial system. The training of 5,462 Mexican prosecutors and investigators at the state and federal level and in the executive and judicial branches has already occurred, and the department is on target to reach 9,261 trained by the end of 2010.

In addition, the OCDETF program has increased its analyst personnel along the Southwest Border and the Office of Justice Programs invested $30 million in stimulus funding to assist with state and local law enforcement to combat narcotics activity coming through the southern border and in high intensity drug trafficking areas. 

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/August/10-opa-925.html

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From ICE

PHOENIX - In the largest operation of its kind ever carried out in Arizona, more than 60 convicted criminal aliens and immigration fugitives have been arrested following a three-day targeted enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

During the operation, which concluded Wednesday evening, ICE officers located and arrested 55 aliens with prior criminal convictions. In addition, 16 of the individuals ICE officers took into custody were immigration fugitives, aliens with outstanding orders of deportation who had failed to leave the country. Of those arrested during the enforcement action, at least 25 have already been removed from the United States.

At a news conference here Thursday, ICE Director John Morton announced the results of the enforcement action, which involved more than 60 ICE agents and officers, as well as personnel from the U.S. Marshals Service. Those officers fanned out across the state making arrests in Phoenix, Tucson, Sedona , Mesa, Tempe and Prescott.

"These are not people we want to see walking the streets here in Phoenix or in any other community in Arizona," said ICE Director John Morton. "Those who come to the United States to prey upon communities in Arizona will be prosecuted for their crimes and ultimately returned to their home countries. The results of this operation demonstrate ICE's commitment to that principle."

Because of their serious criminal histories and prior immigration arrest records, at least 12 of those arrested during the enforcement surge have been presented for federal prosecution for reentering the country illegally after a formal deportation. A conviction for felony re-entry carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

"We are dedicated to bringing criminals to justice all along the southwest border, and in particular we will aggressively prosecute offenders with violent criminal convictions and who pose a threat to our communities," said Dennis Burke, U. S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. "We are pleased to stand together with our partners in Homeland Security and the Marshals Service and our state partners in the Offices of Probation and Parole to secure the southwest border through targeted enforcement strategies like today's action."

Among the arrestees is a 45-year-old Mexican woman who was convicted in California for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a scheme that netted her and her conspirators more than $820,000.

Also arrested was a 55-year-old Mexican man who was convicted of selling methamphetamine in 2003. This individual has already been convicted once of felony reentry into the United States in 2009, and following this arrest he will be prosecuted again in federal court.

The foreign nationals detained during the operation who are not being criminally prosecuted will be processed administratively for removal from the United States. Those who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining aliens are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near future.

Of those arrested, 52 were male and 11 were female. They represent 9 different nations, including countries in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

This week's special enforcement action was spearheaded by ICE's Fugitive Operations Program, which is responsible for locating, arresting and removing at large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives - aliens who have ignored final orders of deportation handed down by the nation's immigration courts. ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams (FOTs) give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and public safety, including members of transnational street gangs and child sex offenders.

The officers who conducted this week's operation received substantial assistance from ICE's Fugitive Operations Support Center (FOSC) located in South Burlington, Vt. The FOSC conducted exhaustive database checks on the targeted cases to help ensure the viability of the leads and accuracy of the criminal histories. The FOSC was established in 2006 to improve the integrity of the data available on at large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives nationwide. Since its inception, the FOSC has forwarded more than 550,000 case leads to ICE enforcement personnel in the field. In addition, leads were developed through the assistance of the Arizona Supreme Court Adult Probation Division.

ICE's Fugitive Operations Program is just one facet of the Department of Homeland Security's broader strategy to heighten the federal government's effectiveness at identifying and removing dangerous criminal aliens from the United States. Other initiatives that figure prominently in this effort are the Criminal Alien Program, Secure Communities and the agency's partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies under 287(g).

Largely as a result of these initiatives, ICE removed a total of 136,126 criminal aliens from the United States last year, a record number.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100812phoenix.htm

INDIANAPOLIS - Agents with the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in close partnership with other federal, state and local law enforcement partners, arrested 14 foreign-born gang members and gang associates during a two-day operation ending Tuesday. This is the latest joint local action of an ongoing national ICE HSI effort to target foreign-born members of violent street gangs.

These arrests were made Aug. 9 and 10 in the Indiana communities of Jasper, Huntingburg and Evansville under an initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit dubbed "Operation Community Shield." As part of the initiative, ICE partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to target transnational street gangs and the significant public safety threat they pose. Partnerships with local law enforcement agencies are essential to the initiative's success, and they help further ensure officer safety during the operations.

All 14 men arrested are members or associates of the following violent street gangs: MS-13, Sur-13, and Zoe Pound. Nine are from El Salvador, three are from Mexico, one is from Honduras and one is from Haiti. Twelve are in ICE custody on administrative immigration charges and will be placed into deportation proceedings. Two are in the DuBois County Jail pending local charges. For privacy reasons, ICE does not release the names of those arrested on administrative immigration charges.

During the operation ICE agents seized two semi-automatic handguns, each with two magazines of ammunition. Also seized were two machetes and 300 rounds of ammunition. Many of those arrested have criminal histories in addition to their immigration violations. Some of their arrests and convictions include: battery, resisting arrest, drug dealing, sexual battery, felony intimidations, and aggravated assault with a weapon.

The following agencies assisted ICE with the operation: the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Indiana State Police; the police departments of Jasper, Huntingburg and Evansville; and the sheriff's departments of Gibson, Dubois and Vanderburg counties.

"Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to Indiana's rural communities," said Daniel T. Dill, resident agent in charge of the ICE HSI office in Indianapolis. "With each gang member we arrest and remove from the United States, we make a positive impact in our communities. We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their invaluable support."

ICE's National Gang Unit 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.

Through Operation Community Shield, the federal government uses its powerful immigration and customs law enforcement authorities in a coordinated, national campaign against criminal street gangs in the United States. Transnational street gangs have significant numbers of foreign-born members and are frequently involved in human and contraband smuggling, immigration violations and other crimes with a connection to the border.

Since ICE began Operation Community Shield in February 2005, more than 18,000 gang members and associates belonging to more than 900 different gangs have been arrested nationwide.

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling the ICE toll-free hotline at: 1-866-347-2423 . This hotline is staffed around the clock.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100811indianapolis.htm

MADISON, Wis. - Agents with the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in close partnership with the Madison Police Department (MPD), arrested 11 illegal alien gang members and gang associates on Tuesday. This is the latest joint local action of an ongoing national ICE HSI effort to target foreign-born members of violent street gangs.

The arrests were made Aug. 11 under an initiative by ICE's National Gang Unit dubbed "Operation Community Shield." As part of the initiative, ICE partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational street gangs. Partnerships with local law enforcement agencies are essential to the initiative's success, and they help further ensure officer safety during the operations.

All 11 men arrested are members or associates of the Chicano Pride and C-14 street gangs; all are Mexican nationals. They have been charged with administrative immigration violations and are being processed for deportation. Five of those arrested have previous criminal convictions in addition to their immigration violations. Some of their arrests and convictions include: carrying a concealed weapon, resisting or obstructing a police officer, battery, theft and criminal damage to property. For privacy reasons, ICE does not release the names of those arrested on administrative immigration charges.

In addition to the Madison Police Department, ICE received assistance from the following agencies: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Wisconsin; and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS).

"Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to communities in the Madison area," said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of the ICE HSI office in Chicago. "With each gang member we arrest and remove from the United States, we're making a positive impact in our communities and improving public safety."

"The arrests during this joint operation with ICE are consistent with what the MPD has stated in the past: we are focused on removing violent gang members from the streets of Madison," said Madison Police Chief Noble Wray. "It is a matter of public safety, and we will work in concert with federal authorities to diminish potential threats. This in no way; however, changes our approach and philosophy in dealing with other members of our immigrant communities."

ICE's National Gang Unit 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.

Through Operation Community Shield, the federal government uses its powerful immigration and customs law enforcement authorities in a coordinated, national campaign against criminal street gangs in the United States. Transnational street gangs have significant numbers of foreign-born members and are frequently involved in human and contraband smuggling, immigration violations and other crimes with a connection to the border.

Since ICE began Operation Community Shield in February 2005, more than 18,000 gang members and associates belonging to more than 900 different gangs have been arrested nationwide.

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling the ICE toll-free hotline at: 1-866-347-2423 . This hotline is staffed around the clock.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1008/100812madison.htm

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From the FBI

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Kidnappings Escalate Kidnappings by the cartels and the gangs who work for them have become a serious problem in several U.S. cities on the Southwest border. In the past, kidnap victims were usually rivals in the drug trade. Sometimes victims were kidnapped for revenge, sometimes to intimidate. And paying a ransom was no guarantee the victim would be released. But when the gangs realized how easy—and profitable—kidnapping could be, they started abducting anyone who looked wealthy enough to command a hefty ransom, and that included Americans on either side of the border. In the Texas border town of McAllen, for example, the rate of kidnapping has nearly quadrupled. Between October 2008 and September 2009, 42 people were kidnapped in the McAllen area, compared with 11 the previous year. And many kidnappings go unreported because the victims may be involved in illegal activity and don't want to contact authorities.

ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER When Violence Hits Too Close to Home 08/12/10 Emerging from the port of entry's administrative offices into a sunny San Diego morning, Special Agent Dean Giboney spoke in fluent Spanish with the man whose temporary U.S. visa he had just helped renew. The man was smiling, happy to be out of Mexico, even though he understood that being on U.S. soil was no guarantee of safety from the Tijuana drug cartel that has put a price on his head. The kidnappings, beatings, and murders that mark the extreme drug-related violence of Mexican border cities such as Tijuana and Juarez have increasingly spilled over the border. Agent Giboney is hoping the man—we'll call him José —can provide information that will help in the Bureau's efforts to dismantle the cartels and the criminal enterprises they fuel. A few years ago, José started working for the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO) in Tijuana to earn extra money. But when he saw how routine the act of murder was for the cartel—leaders thought nothing of having even their own people killed for real or perceived insubordination—he started to fear for his life and contacted the FBI to help him flee the country. Sources like José are just one of many ways the Bureau gathers intelligence to combat border crime. Agent Giboney is particularly interested in gaining information regarding fugitives in the Los Palillos case, one of San Diego's most notorious examples of so-called “spillover violence.” Los Palillos—the “Toothpicks”—was a rogue spinoff from the AFO. From 2004 to 2007, the San Diego street gang carried out a brutal crime spree in which 13 people were abducted and nine were killed. Bodies turned up in cars, on jogging paths, and inside houses in quiet, residential neighborhoods.

About This Series FBI.gov recently visited the Southwest border region for a firsthand look at what the Bureau and its law enforcement partners are doing there to combat crime. Part I: Border Crime | Gallery  | Video Part II: Public Corruption | Video By the Numbers The Southwest border crime problem measured in numbers. - View infographic Next: A Trip to Tijuana

The group's leader, Jorge Rojas-Lopez, is serving a life sentence without parole for the crimes, and several of his henchmen are also in prison. But five members of the gang are still at large. Rojas-Lopez—a former AFO member—was fighting the cartel for a piece of the billion-dollar drug trade, but he was also fighting for revenge, because the AFO had ordered the murder of his brother. “This level of extreme violence is very typical of the way the cartels operate south of the border,” Giboney said. Unfortunately, Los Palillos is not an isolated case north of the border, either. What explains this level of brutality? “The cartels and the gang members they employ want to be Al Pacino in the movie Scarface,” Giboney said. During raids on the homes of cartel members, he has seen movie posters of the machine-gun-wielding Pacino, who played a vicious drug kingpin. “They want to live that lifestyle—the nice cars, going out to clubs, throwing money around. But once you're in that lifestyle,” he explained, “it's hard to get out, even if you want to.”

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/august10/border_081210.html

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From the DEA

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Nine Members of Oxycodone Distribution Ring Charged by Feds

Doctor-Led Drug Ring Allegedly Distributed Approximately 11,000 Oxycodone Pills Purchased With Close To $1 Million In Medicaid Funds

AUG 12 -- (MANHATTAN, NY) JOHN P. GILBRIDE, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division ("DEA"), PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"),  RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, MICHAEL LITTLE, the Deputy Medicaid Inspector General for Investigations of the New York State Office of Medicaid Inspector General ("NYS-OMIG"), and ROBERT DOAR, the Commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration ("NYC-HRA"), today announced the unsealing of charges against nine members of a Manhattan-based drug ring that allegedly distributed thousands of oxycodone pills obtained through Medicaid fraud. Eight of the nine defendants -- DIANA WILLIAMSON, LENNY HERNANDEZ, MIGUEL ANGEL HERNANDEZ, FRANMI SAETA, IVETTE ARROYO, REYNOLDO COLON, ANTONIO MARTINEZ, and CARL GUILFORD – were arrested earlier today and are expected to appear in Manhattan federal court later today. JUNIOR JAQUEZ remains at large.

According to the Complaint and other documents filed in Manhattan federal court:

Between September 2009 and August 2010, WILLIAMSON, a Manhattan-based primary care physician, wrote oxycodone prescriptions to patients who had no legitimate need for the medication. Co-defendant LENNY HERNANDEZ recruited the individuals to obtain oxycodone prescriptions from WILLIAMSON. He also helped the individuals fill the prescriptions and arranged to resell the oxycodone to third parties. Three others-- MIGUEL ANGEL HERNANDEZ, SAETA, and ARROYO, a/k/a “Bori” -- assisted LENNY HERNANDEZ in obtaining and distributing oxycodone pills. Finally, MARTINEZ and GUILFORD obtained oxycodone prescriptions from WILLIAMSON -- despite having no medical need for the medication -- then used their government-provided health benefits to fill their prescriptions and sold the pills to LENNY HERNANDEZ and WILLIAMSON.

According to records obtained from the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, over the course of the conspiracy $997,128 of $4,392,832 in Medicaid drug expenses for medications prescribed by WILLIAMSON was attributable to Oxycontin prescriptions. Analysis of patient prescription data and surveillance during the course of the investigation established that approximately 11,000 oxycodone pills were obtained through health care fraud and distributed by members of the conspiracy.

Earlier today, law enforcement officers executed court authorized search warrants on four locations where certain of the defendants distributed oxycodone, conducted health care fraud, or stored the proceeds of this illegal activity.

The defendants each are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and maximum fine of $1,000,000. WILLIAMSON, LENNY HERNANDEZ, MARTINEZ, and GUILFORD each are also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the FBI's New York Health Care Fraud Task Force -- which includes agents and officers of the FBI, the New York City Police Department, the NYS-OMIG, and the NYC-HRA -- and the DEA in the investigation of this case. The Task Force was formed in 2007 in an effort to combat health care fraud in the greater New York City-area and also includes agents and officers of the New York State Insurance Fraud Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Inspector General, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Mr. BHARARA added that the investigation is continuing.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: "Diana Williamson allegedly exploited her medical license by engaging in a scheme to prescribe profits for herself and her coconspirators. In so doing, she betrayed the practice of medicine and, moreover, cheated an already-strapped Medicaid system out of almost a million dollars. This Office is committed to working with our partners on the New York Health Care Fraud Task Force and the DEA to combat the big money drain that fraud is to the multi-billion-dollar health care industry."

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYK stated: "A doctor who commits Medicaid fraud by writing illicit prescriptions violates the law -- and the physician's oath to do no harm. Williamson and her co-defendants harmed the public by defrauding a taxpayer-funded program and by facilitating the abuse of a potentially dangerous drug. Health care fraud is an FBI priority because of its dual threat to the economy and to public safety."

DEA Special Agent-in-Charge JOHN P. GILBRIDE stated: "Law enforcement has combined multiple resources in order to fight the increased abuse of pharmaceutical drugs. Through concerted efforts with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners DEA has focused on those individuals who illegally purchase and distribute pharmaceutical drugs. Medication legally prescribed for individuals in pain is beneficial pain management, but like any illicit substance when it is abused and sold for no other reason than to make a profit it becomes a danger to the public and a violation of law."

New York City Police Commissioner RAYMOND W. KELLY stated: "The oath to 'do no harm' is turned on its head when a doctor's prescription pad is used for drug dealing. I want to commend our detectives and their Federal partners for their outstanding work in this important case."

Deputy Medicaid Inspector General for Investigations MICHAEL LITTLE stated: "The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General is proud of the work we did to contribute to these arrests. As an active member of the Task Force, the OMIG collaborates with members of law enforcement to stop fraudulent activities such as the use of Medicaid funds to purchase highly addictive drugs and then re-sell them for a profit. This case demonstrates clearly that New York State and the federal government will not tolerate this kind of behavior from health care professionals or recipients."

NYC-HRA Commissioner ROBERT DOAR stated: "New York City has zero tolerance for Medicaid providers who prey on the public and our health system through prescription drug diversion schemes. Not only is this criminal offense a drain on tax dollars, but it endangers public health. We look forward to continued cooperation with the Task Force to ensure that providers and others who set out to commit Medicaid fraud will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

This case is being handled by the Office's Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys JANIS ECHENBERG, JUSTIN ANDERSON, SHANE T. STANSBURY and KAN NAWADAY are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2010/nyc081210.html

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Doctor Convicted on 45 Counts of Unlawfully Distributing Narcotics

AUG 12 -- Memphis, Tennessee - A federal jury in Memphis today returned a verdict finding Rosaire Michael Dubrule and Kim Dubrule guilty of conspiracy to distribute Schedule II and III controlled substances in violation of Title 21, United States Code, § 846 announced Lawrence J. Laurenzi, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Field Division, and John Mehr and Steve Phelps, Special Agent in Charge and Assistant Special Agent in Charge, respectively, of the Tennessee Bureau of investigation's West Tennessee office. The maximum penalty for a violation § 846 in this instance is no more than 20 years imprisonment, a fine of no more than $1,000,000, or both, and a term of supervised release of no more than 3 years. Rosaire Michael Dubrule was also found guilty of 44 counts of unlawfully distributing Schedule II and III controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) by issuing written prescriptions for the drugs outside the usual course of medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose. The maximum penalty for a violation § 841(a)(1) in this instance is no more than 20 years imprisonment, a fine of no more than $1,000,000, or both, and a term of supervised release of no more than 3 years. In addition, the jury found that $1,068,000 worth of the defendants' assets should be forfeited to the government.

According to the indictment, Rosaire Michael Dubrule was a medical doctor who operated Reelfoot Family Medical Center, a medical practice located in Tiptonville, Tennessee. The indictment further charged that Kim Dubrule, the wife of Rosaire Michael Dubrule, assisted Rosaire Michael Dubrule in the operation of the medical practice. The indictment charged the Dubrules with participating in a conspiracy to illegally distribute Schedule II and III controlled substances from December of 1998 through August of 2004 in violation of Title 21, United States Code, § 846 by issuing written prescriptions for the drugs outside the usual course of medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose. The indictment also charged Rosaire Michael DuBrule with 44 counts of unlawful distribution of the controlled substances Loritab and Loracet Plus, which are classified as Schedule III controlled substances, and Percocet, which is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance, between September of 2002 and August of 2004, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, § 841(a)(1). In each instance the indictment charged that the controlled substances were distributed by way of a written prescription issued outside the usual course of medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose.

Count 46 of the indictment sought the forfeiture certain property from the Dubrules as the proceeds of the illegal activity charged in Counts 1 through 45 of the indictment. Rosaire Michael Dubrule was taken into custody immediately following the verdict. Kim Dubrule was allowed to remain on bond pending sentencing. Sentencing in the case for both defendants is set for Tuesday, November 16, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. before United States District Judge S. Thomas Anderson in Memphis.

The case was investigated by Special Agents Brent Booth and Doug Pate of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, DEA Diversion Investigators Rhonda D. Phillips, David Graham and Heather Wehrley, and DEA Special Agent Mike Woodham. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Murphy.

DEA Atlanta's SAC Benson encourages parents, along with their children, to educate themselves about the dangers of legal and illegal drugs by visiting DEA's interactive websites at www.justhinktwice.com , www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com and www.dea.gov .

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2010/atlanta081210.html

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