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From the Los Angeles Times

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Suspect in Chasen's death kills himself

Under surveillance in the publicist's death, he pulls out a gun as police approach him in his apartment building in Hollywood.

By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

December 2, 2010

A man described as a suspect in the slaying of veteran Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen fatally shot himself at a Hollywood apartment house Wednesday evening as Beverly Hills police were serving a search warrant there.

The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. at the Harvey Apartments on Santa Monica Boulevard.

It was not immediately clear if police suspected the man of shooting Chasen or of being an accomplice, but four law enforcement sources told The Times that detectives considered him a suspect.

The sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because the investigation was ongoing, said detectives received information suggesting the man would be in his apartment Wednesday evening. He had been under surveillance for some time, they said.

When police officers approached the man in the lobby of the apartment building, he backed up and refused their orders to raise his hands. He pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the head, the sources said. He died at the scene.

The identity of the man, who was believed to be in his 40s, was not released. Residents at the apartment building said they knew him only as Harold.

Brandon Harrison said Harold described himself to other tenants as an ex-convict who served two stints in state prison, the most recent for firearms and drug convictions. Harold vowed that he would never go back to prison, according to Harrison.

"He told me several times, 'If it ever came back down to me going to prison, I would die first,'" Harrison said.

The man moved into the building three months ago, Harrison said, but was evicted. Harold had returned to the building repeatedly and asked Harrison and others if police had been looking for him.

He said Harold told him that he was supposed to be getting $10,000, at one point saying it was for a job he did and on another occasion saying it was from a lawsuit.

Harrison said he had no way of corroborating Harold's claims. "I don't [know] if anything he told me was true," Harrison said. "The man was very strange."

Chasen's slaying shocked Hollywood and sparked endless speculation.

The publicist was shot to death early Nov. 16 while driving her Mercedes-Benz near the intersection of Whittier Drive and Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

She was on her way home from a party after the premiere of the movie "Burlesque."

Chasen is believed to have left the event about midnight and was traveling west on Sunset.

Friends believe she planned to head south to her condominium on Wilshire Boulevard near the grounds of the Los Angeles Country Club.

Several residents dialed 911 at the time of the attack, saying they heard gunshots. Moments later, another resident called 911 to report hearing the car crash into a light pole.

People living on Whittier Drive who heard the crash ran to the scene and found Chasen slumped over the steering wheel, bleeding. The passenger-side window was shattered.

Detectives have repeatedly stated that the case was wide open and that they had neither a motive nor a suspect.

Beverly Hills police issued a statement Wednesday night saying that its officers were at the apartment when the shooting occurred but declined to provide further details.

The Harvey is home to a diverse array of tenants who pay month-to-month rents, including a number of elderly people and others on fixed incomes, as well as younger people.

Terri Gilpin, 46, said she stepped out of the elevator on the ground level of the building and saw blood splattered on the floor.

Gilpin said she had heard what she thought was a car backfiring. "I really didn't think anything of it," she said, "because I was kind of drowsy."

Then a neighbor knocked on the door saying someone had been shot.

Gilpin said the entryway had been cordoned off as LAPD officers gathered near the door.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1202-ronni-chasen-20101202,0,5921254,print.story

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State ordered to reveal source of its lethal-injection drug

Judge gives attorney general's office a week to disclose documents relating to the state's acquisition of 12 grams of sodium thiopental, which is no longer available from the sole U.S. manufacturer.

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

December 2, 2010

A San Francisco judge has given state corrections officials until Tuesday to explain how they obtained fresh stocks of sodium thiopental, the key drug used in lethal-injection executions that is no longer available from the sole U.S. manufacturer.

The state reported in October that it had acquired 12 grams of the drug — enough for four executions. On Nov. 22, the office of Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown reported that the state had ordered an additional 521 grams and expected delivery this week. That would be enough to put to death more than 170 other inmates on California's teeming death row.

The origin of the drug has infused the capital punishment debate with new controversy and legal challenges as death penalty states across the country face lawsuits from condemned inmates claiming that the sodium thiopental supplies apparently acquired overseas aren't approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and could inflict unconstitutional pain and suffering.

Arizona acquired the drug from a British source in October for the execution of convicted killer Jeffrey Landrigan. British officials last week announced that they would bar further exports of the drug for use in executions, which all European nations have renounced as human rights violations.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a public records request with the state last month, deeming the execution drug's source a matter of important public interest.

"When the business at hand is execution, there could hardly be a more compelling argument for transparency," said Michael Risher, a staff attorney for the rights group.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte W. Woolard on Tuesday ordered the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to comply with the ACLU's request for all records of its "acquisition, use and destruction of sodium thiopental."

An attorney retained by the corrections department, Kenneth C. Mennemeier, responded with an objection to that deadline, urging postponement until Dec. 14 to give officials time to collect and evaluate the requested documents, including whether some of that information should remain confidential.

The nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental has delayed executions in a number of states, including Tennessee, Ohio and Oklahoma.

California corrections officials scheduled what would have been the state's first execution in nearly five years for Sept. 30, but had to call it off when a federal judge reviewing recent revisions to the three-drug lethal injection procedures rejected the state's timing of the execution to beat the expiration date for its last few grams of sodium thiopental.

California has 713 inmates on death row, by far the largest condemned population in the country. Only six have exhausted all appeals and could be subject to death warrants once the new lethal injection procedures are cleared in federal court, likely to occur early next year.

The Port of Los Angeles

Violent heist at cargo depot near Port of L.A. the work of sophisticated gang, detectives say December 1, 2010 It began with a man posing as a lost driver asking for directions from a security guard outside a cargo depot in Wilmington. Within seconds, the guard on duty Sunday night discovered it was a ruse, detectives said. As he stepped outside the cargo depot to give directions, two other men overpowered him and hit him in the face. They warned him they were armed and prepared to use their weapons. A small fleet of big rigs pulled into the yard and with military precision began hauling three loaded trailers away from the depot near the Port of L.A. “It appeared they were looking for specific trailers,” said Los Angeles Police Lt. John Pasquariello. Investigators say the crime known as a “terminal robbery” is typically done by organized gangs and is one of the ways cargo thieves make off with merchandise valued at more than $10 billion annually nationwide.

The Los Angeles area has long been an epicenter of cargo crime with the LAPD, L.A. County Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol all operating special teams of investigators to combat it.

In Sunday night's heist at 1000 Farragut Ave., the assailants hustled the security guard and another employee into an office, where they bound and gagged them. With the employees secured, several big rigs began hooking up trailers.

Detectives said the thieves stole a white Freightliner with a Tennessee license plate of T716959, a blue '90s Peterbilt with a Maine license plate 2332123, and a green '90s Peterbilt with a Tennessee license plate of T950491.

They did not disclose the contents of the trailers.

Eventually the security guard and employee, one of them a woman, were discovered and taken to a Long Beach hospital with minor to moderate injuries.

Detectives said they are also looking for a big rig and two other trailers stolen earlier that day about 6 p.m. Thieves got away with a white Mack tractor with a California license plate number of 9E35712 and two additional trailers with Tennessee plates T771784 and U054162. It is unclear if the thefts were related to the robbery.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/violent-heist-at-la-port-cargo-depot-work-of-sophisticated-gang-detectives-say.html

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OPINION

Where are the police we paid for?

Increased garbage fees were supposed to put more hundreds more officers on the street. But that hasn't happened.

By Paul M. Weber

December 2, 2010

When the City Council voted to raise trash fees in 2006, the action came with a promise to Angelenos that the money would be put toward expanding the Los Angeles police force to more than 10,000 officers. But even as we've moved closer to meeting that goal on paper, the number of officers on the street is being eroded.

Because of attrition, early retirement incentives and mandatory furloughs, the number of police officers doing actual police work is gradually declining, and the problem is becoming more acute.

One huge reason is that the city is no longer paying officers for overtime. There is no way to avoid overtime in police work: An officer making an arrest, say, can't simply let a suspect go because a work shift has ended. But now, rather than paying for that overtime, the department requires officers to "bank" the extra hours for future use in the form of time off. In order to avoid having to pay out overtime money, the LAPD has begun to force officers to use their banked time off as soon as they reach overtime balances of more than 250 hours. This overtime compensation change alone has meant that, over the course of a month, about 540 fewer officers are performing their regular duties.

Another big problem is the use of sworn officers to do jobs that should be performed by civilians. With a city hiring freeze in effect, essential administrative jobs previously held by civilians can't be filled and so are being performed by police officers. Some 154 officers are now carrying out the work of civilians. Come February, things will get even worse as the LAPD implements its plan to pull nearly 90 officers off the streets to staff the new Metropolitan Detention Center in lieu of hiring civilian jailers.

In total, the LAPD will have removed more than 775 officers from the streets come February.

City leaders very well know they could not have passed their plan in 2006 to charge higher trash fees without the promise to increase the size of the LAPD. What voters don't realize today is that the promise has turned into a sham because of the huge number of officers being sent home or put to work in capacities other than protecting the community.

No matter how one looks at it, reassigning police officers to non-law enforcement duties while touting an expansion of the police force is disingenuous and dishonest.

If the department continues enforcing its overtime policy, the number of officers forced to take time off will climb as the overtime balances of many more officers reach the 250-hour mark. In response, and in a graphic demonstration of their desire to serve the people of Los Angeles, a number of experienced and dedicated homicide detectives have donated some of their banked time off to a Catastrophic Leave Fund that benefits officers in need of time off for extreme family emergencies or illness. The detectives have done this to lower their overtime balances so they can stay at work and do their jobs. But police shouldn't have to work for free.

Everyone agrees that the closure of the Parker Center jail is long overdue. But it is not prudent or fiscally responsible for sworn police officers to work as jailers at the new detention center. It isn't the job they were hired to do. Moreover, it represents a poor return on the significant investment that city taxpayers have made in training the men and women of the LAPD.

So what can we do? It is time to end the shell game. City leaders must revisit their policy decisions that force Chief Charlie Beck to staff civilian assignments with sworn LAPD officers. The overtime policy also should be revisited. It's time to consider temporarily halting the hiring of new officers in order to be able to afford to fill vital administrative jobs with civilians and allow LAPD officers to be deployed in their proper law enforcement roles.

The residents of Los Angeles placed their trust in city leaders to keep their word when they were told in 2006 that the higher trash fees they'd be paying would be used to expand police service. They also trusted their city officials to be good stewards of the general fund by using that money for what it was intended and by using city employees in accordance with their job classifications. That trust has been violated.

Having officers, detectives and specialized resources working on the street is particularly important today, given heightened terrorism concerns both locally and abroad. On top of that, a growing number of parolees are back out on the streets after being released as part of the state's drive to save money. The department has done an excellent job of reducing crime in recent years, but maintaining those gains requires a full contingent of officers doing the work they've been trained to do.

Paul M. Weber is president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-weber-lapd-20101202,0,6972305,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Police in Spain and Thailand Arrest 10 in Qaeda-Linked Ring

MADRID — The police in Spain and Thailand arrested 10 people suspected of operating a counterfeiting network that provided fake European passports to terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda in order to smooth their entry into Western countries, the Spanish Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Seven people — six Pakistanis and one Nigerian — were arrested in Barcelona in raids late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday, and three more — two Pakistanis and one Thai — were arrested in Bangkok in the same period, the ministry said in a statement.

One of the Pakistanis arrested in Bangkok, a 42-year-old named Muhammad Athar Butt, known as Tony, directed the forging operation from Thailand, according to a Spanish security official. Mr. Butt was also in charge of cells in Brussels and London, the security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was talking about a current investigation.

The arrests struck at “an important passport operation for Al Qaeda, weakening its international counterfeiting apparatus, and therefore, its capacity to operate,” the ministry statement said, adding that the raids came after a year-and-a-half-long international investigation, which is continuing.

The police said the network was linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based terrorist group behind attacks in Mumbai, India, in November 2008 that killed at least 163 people. The network also provided counterfeit passports and other documents to the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan separatist group defeated last year by the government after decades of war, the police said.

The terrorist organizations would request forged passports from the network according to nationality and age, the authorities said. Members of the network would then steal passports from tourists, mainly in Barcelona, and send them to Thailand where they were forwarded to the terrorist groups, they said.

The ministry statement hinted at how the plot was discovered, saying that officials had “detected the transport to Thailand of numerous passports stolen from Spain.”

The raids come at a time of heightened concern among American and European officials over a possible terrorist strike in Europe. In October, the State Department in Washington issued an alert for American travelers to Europe to be vigilant about possible attacks.

The arrests in Spain and Thailand offer a window into the shadowy nexus between terrorist organizations and loose criminal networks in Europe and Asia that facilitate terrorist activities by helping provide militants with transportation, weapons or logistical support. Some terrorist groups use in-house facilitators — to raise money, for instance — while they outsource other needs for their illicit operations.

Counterterrorism specialists say that disrupting facilitators who provide militants valuable services can sharply disrupt terrorist groups, at least until they find replacements.

The police seized nine passports awaiting shipment to Thailand and another that had already been forged, along with a computer and 50 cellphones in raids on the suspects' homes in Raval, a downtown neighborhood that is home to a large immigrant community. Spanish television showed images of one of the arrests, with a man taken away in handcuffs at dawn by the police. The man was heard repeatedly saying, “I'm not a terrorist, that is a lie.” An Interior Ministry official familiar with the case said further arrests could not be ruled out.

In January 2008, Spain's military police arrested 14 men in Raval, who were accused of being part of a vast, coordinated suicide plot that officials said demonstrated the growing threat of terrorist activities migrating from Pakistan to Continental Europe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/world/europe/02spain.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Pope Sought in Past to Punish Errant Priests, Report Says

By RACHEL DONADIO

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI pushed for “more rapid and simplified” procedures to punish errant priests as far back as 1988, when he was the Vatican's chief doctrinal officer, but his request was not met, according to documents released by the Vatican on Wednesday.

At the height of the sexual abuse crisis last spring, Benedict's defenders said he had long argued for disciplining priests who had been found guilty of grave misconduct, while other Vatican officials advocated more lenience. The new documentation is the most comprehensive made public to date supporting those claims.

It comes amid new reports in the German media questioning the pope's record as archbishop of Munich when a known pedophile priest was transferred to his diocese.

The new documentation, released online Wednesday by the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, appeared to defend the pope against claims that as head of the Vatican's doctrinal office he was part of a culture of inaction and delay that failed to swiftly discipline priests who had abused minors.

The article cited in particular a 1988 letter that the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, sent to the Vatican calling for “a swifter and simplified” procedure for disciplining priests “found guilty of grave and scandalous conduct.”

In the letter, he added that such procedures “ought in some cases, for the good of the faithful, to take precedence over the request for dispensation from priestly obligations, which, by its nature, involves a ‘grace' in favor of the petitioner.”

In reply, his interlocutor suggested that such reforms might infringe on a priest's ability to defend himself against false accusations, and the Vatican did not immediately adopt the cardinal's request.

The letters appear in a lengthy article by Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, the deputy of the Vatican's office of legislative texts, about changes to the Vatican penal code. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that the letters had emerged in discussions about the code, and that “it seemed useful to publish them now.”

Last month, the Vatican said it would soon issue new guidelines to bishops explaining how to discipline abusive priests, including by cooperating with civil authorities when required.

For years, bishops had complained of widespread confusion about how to handle abuse accusations and said they faced a daunting bureaucratic and canonical process with overlapping jurisdictions in Rome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/world/europe/02pope.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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$30 Million Is Awarded Over Abuse by Priest

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

A jury in Delaware on Wednesday awarded $30 million in compensatory damages to a man who said he was sexually abused more than 100 times by a Roman Catholic priest — the largest such award granted to a single victim in a clergy abuse case, victims' advocates said.

In an unusual outcome, the jury decided that the parish where the abuse occurred, St. Elizabeth in Wilmington, must pay $3 million of the damages, while the perpetrator is liable for the rest. Parishes have previously been held liable in only one or two cases involving abuse by Catholic priests, according to records kept by an advocacy group for victims known as bishopaccountability.org.

It is usually the diocese or the religious order, not the parish, that is held responsible for damages. But the Diocese of Wilmington, which covers all of Delaware, declared bankruptcy last year just as the lawsuit was going to trial, so this lawsuit as well as more than 100 pending lawsuits against the diocese was frozen.

The jury is set to hear evidence on punitive damages on Monday. Thomas S. Neuberger and Stephen J. Neuberger, father-son lawyers for the plaintiffs, say they have saved the most damning evidence for this phase, and that the award to the plaintiff could grow substantially beyond the compensatory damages.

The abuse occurred in the 1960s. But Delaware and California passed “window” laws in recent years that temporarily lifted the statutes of limitations, allowing old cases like this one to be filed. Catholic dioceses in several other states, including New York, have successfully lobbied against such laws.

The plaintiff, John M. Vai, is one of seven people who have filed lawsuits alleging abuse by Francis DeLuca, a former priest whose defrocking was announced by the diocese in 2008.

St. Elizabeth parish is a large church with an elementary school, a high school, and three resident priests. The Rev. Norman Carroll, the parish pastor, said he could not talk about the case because it was continuing. Mr. Vai, the plaintiff, testified that the parish was negligent in his abuse. He said that when he was a small boy being hauled up the stairs to his abuser's bedroom in the rectory, he was spotted by another parish priest, who is now a diocesan official. The official, Msgr. Thomas Cini, testified that he was unaware of the abuse.

Another witness testified that other priests in the parish were aware of Mr. DeLuca's behavior.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest who was an expert witness for the plaintiff in this case and many others, said, “This was egregious because of the level of direct knowledge imputed to priests who lived there at the time.”

The bishop of Wilmington, W. Francis Malooly, apologized in a statement to Mr. Vai and other victims. But he said that the bishop of the diocese, not the parishes, should be held responsible for the actions of priests.

“It is unfortunate that the parish community of St. Elizabeth's is being made to pay for the criminal and sinful acts of someone who was assigned by the diocesan bishop at the time to be one of their priests,” he said.

But Thomas Neuberger said that the diocese had so far promised in bankruptcy proceedings only $2 million toward settlements with victims.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/02church.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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South Korea Warns of New Attack

By MARK McDONALD

SEOUL, South Korea — As the United States and South Korea ended four days of joint naval exercises off the North Korean coast, the South's intelligence chief on Wednesday warned that the North was likely to repeat a Nov. 23 artillery attack that left four South Koreans dead.

“There is a high possibility that the North will make an additional attack,” Won Sei-hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service, was quoted by Reuters as telling a parliamentary committee meeting.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young has also warned there was an “ample possibility” the North might stage another provocation once the maritime maneuvers ended, Reuters said.

The artillery attack last week killed two marines and two civilians on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, close to the countries' disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea. The barrages from the North, which claimed it was provoked by live artillery fire by the South, was the first attack on a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, through its official news agency, called the joint drills involving dozens of allied fighter-bombers, surveillance planes and an aircraft carrier strike group “a dangerous act” that came “at a time when the danger of war is mounting.” Pyongyang said the exercises were “aimed at invading” North Korea.

A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said more military exercises were being planned but he declined to say if they would be staged next week. “They will be held at the appropriate time and under the appropriate conditions,” he said.

In Beijing, meanwhile, a senior member of the North Korean regime met on Wednesday with Chinese officials in what both sides said was a previously arranged visit. Choe Tae-bok, the chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, arrived for a five-day visit that also was scheduled to take him to China's Jilin Province, which borders North Korea and where most of the North's defectors make their escapes.

China, North Korea's only major ally, has twice called for an emergency session of the so-called six-party talks that include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. That request has so far been rejected by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

In Washington, plans were under way for a meeting next week of American, South Korean and Japanese officials to discuss the allies' options for a diplomatic response to the North Korea situation.

“I think the Chinese have a duty and an obligation to greatly impress upon the North Koreans that their belligerent behavior has to come to an end,” Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said on Tuesday. “I think you'll see progress on multilateral discussions around this over the next few days.”

It was still unclear if diplomatic progress would be complicated by some of the disclosures in diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks, a group that finds and publishes secret documents. Some of those cables were made available to The New York Times and other publications.

Some of the documents revealed that American and South Korean officials had discussed a chain of events that included the fall of the communist regime in Pyongyang and the subsequent prospects for a unified Korea. Seoul even considered commercial inducements to China, according to Kathleen Stephens, the American ambassador to South Korea. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believed that strategic business deals would help allay Beijing's “concerns about living with a reunified Korea.”

The WikiLeaks cables end in February, a month before the North is believed to have launched a torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. That incident and others, including the recent revelation of a new uranium enrichment program in North Korea, have badly frayed inter-Korean relations and heightened tensions in the region.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/world/asia/02korea.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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F.T.C. Backs Plan to Honor Privacy of Online Users

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By EDWARD WYATT and TANZINA VEGA

WASHINGTON — Signaling a sea change in the debate over Internet privacy, the government's top consumer protection agency on Wednesday advocated a plan that would let consumers choose whether they want their Internet browsing and buying habits monitored.

Saying that online companies have failed to protect the privacy of Internet users, the Federal Trade Commission recommended a broad framework for commercial use of Web consumer data, including a simple and universal “do not track” mechanism that would essentially give consumers the type of control they gained over marketers with the national “do not call” registry.

Those measures, if widely used, could directly affect the billions of dollars in business done by online advertising companies and by technology giants like Google that collect highly focused information about consumers that can be used to deliver personalized advertising to them.

While the report is critical of many current industry practices, the commission will probably need the help of Congress to enact some of its recommendations. For now, the trade commission hopes to adopt an approach that it calls “privacy by design,” where companies are required to build protections into their everyday business practices.

“Despite some good actors, self-regulation of privacy has not worked adequately and is not working adequately for American consumers,” Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the trade commission, said. “We'd like to see companies work a lot faster to make consumer choice easier.”

Many of the problems the F.T.C. is trying to tackle involve third parties that use technology to surreptitiously follow a user around the Web, collecting data and then selling it, usually without the user's knowledge.

“Our main concern,” Mr. Leibowitz said, “is the sites and services that are connecting the dots between different times and places that a consumer is online and building a profile of what a consumer is doing.”

The recommendations, which were contained in a 79-page report, were cautiously received by browser makers including Google, Mozilla and Microsoft , who said they would examine the report and provide feedback to the commission.

Mike Zaneis, the senior vice president and general counsel of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, said the industry generally supported the concepts proposed but opposed some of the strict measures preferred by consumer advocates.

The online advertising industry, Mr. Zaneis said, would suffer “significant economic harm” if the government controlled the do-not-track mechanism and there was “a high participation rate similar to that of do not call.” Mr. Zaneis said the industry would continue to build upon a self-regulatory framework and had recently put in place the use of icons on select online advertisements that allow users to opt out of customized advertising.

“If your goal is to have a red flashing icon that says, ‘Click here to opt out of targeting,' and to incentivize people to opt out, then we don't share that goal,” Mr. Zaneis said.

Currently, millions of Internet users who want to opt out of behavioral tracking have to navigate their browser privacy controls, download plug-ins or opt out by clicking on an icon near an ad that is part of the industry self-regulatory program.

The report recommends that companies adopt simpler, more transparent and streamlined ways of presenting consumers with their options rather than the “long, incomprehensible privacy policies that consumers typically do not read, let alone understand.” And the report recommends that data brokers give consumers “reasonable access” to any data they have collected.

Mr. Leibowitz said the commission's report was not a call for legislation but a guide to lawmakers and regulators.

“Most of us on the commission believe it is time for a ‘do not track' mechanism,” Mr. Leibowitz said. But at least one commissioner refused to support the issuance of a report that included requiring the mechanism.

In addition, David C. Vladeck, director of the commission's consumer protection bureau, said Wednesday at a conference sponsored by Consumer Watchdog, “I do not think that under the F.T.C.'s existing authority we could mandate unilaterally a system of ‘do not track.' ”

The F.T.C. report asks for the public and industry to comment on its recommendations and to make other suggestions over the next two months.

On Thursday, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing to examine the feasibility of a simple method of opting out of online tracking.

If Congress were to mandate a “do not track” feature, it could upend the business models of some advertising agencies and companies who gather consumer data and build profiles of Internet users. But it would not prevent basic targeted advertising, where an individual site serves up ads related to a search terms.

Marc Rotenberg, the executive director for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the proposal of a ‘do not track' mechanism was an important step but not the end of the conversation.

“There's a growing sense that the online ad industry is out of control from a privacy perspective and that some rules need to be put in place,” said Mr. Rotenberg, whose organization has not decided whether to support the ‘do not track' proposal. “I don't think we're at the point yet where we can say ‘do not track' is the silver bullet when it comes to online advertising.”

The makers of the most widely used Web browsers said Wednesday that they supported consumer privacy and had already made efforts to protect it as part of their products.

In a statement, Google said, “We agree with the F.T.C. that people should be able to understand what information they share and how it's used. That's why we simplified our privacy policies earlier this year, offer control through our privacy tools, and explain our approach to privacy in plain language and through YouTube videos in our privacy center.”

Harvey Anderson, general counsel for Mozilla, stated in a blog post: “While we'll need more time to digest and evaluate the details, we're encouraged by what we've seen so far. In particular, the F.T.C. has proposed a set of principles that align well with the Mozilla manifesto and our approach to software development.”

Apple, which makes the Safari browser, declined comment. In a statement, Microsoft said that the latest version of its browser, Internet Explorer 8, “has some of the most robust privacy features on the market,” including features it calls InPrivate Browsing and InPrivate Filtering, which allow a user to browse the Web without being tracked.

But those types of features also illustrate some of the shortcomings that the F.T.C. found in current industry efforts. The Microsoft browser requires a user to set those enhanced privacy controls at the start of every new browsing session.

Chris Soghoian, a privacy and security researcher, said using privacy options in most Internet browsers “doesn't do much.”

At the Consumer Watchdog conference, Mr. Soghoian said that because many of the companies that make Web browsers are also supported by advertising networks, “the design decisions are motivated by a desire not to hurt their advertising divisions.”

“The situation right now is laughable,” he added. “There certainly isn't a single one-stop shop.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/business/media/02privacy.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Polygamist Sect Leader Extradited to Texas for Trial

HOUSTON — Warren S. Jeffs , the jailed leader of a polygamous sect of Mormons, was transferred Tuesday to West Texas to stand trial on charges of bigamy and sexual assault after fighting extradition from Utah for two years.

Prosecutors say Mr. Jeffs had sex with under-age girls among his followers after ceremonies in which he took them as “spiritual” wives at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Tex. Mr. Jeffs founded the ranch in 2004 as a community for his followers, who practiced polygamy there and arranged marriages between under-age girls and male elders, according to testimony.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Jeffs was arraigned in San Angelo on two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of bigamy. The indictments said one of the victims was 14 years old when she was assaulted in 2006. The judge sent Mr. Jeffs to a jail in Big Lake, Tex., to await trial.

The state raided the ranch in 2008 and gathered evidence that has led to the convictions of seven other men in the sect on similar charges. About 400 children were initially taken into state custody in the raid, but they were later ordered returned to their parents because there was no evidence they had been abused.

In 2007, Mr. Jeffs was convicted in Utah of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her older cousin. But in July, the Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sent it back to a trial court in St. George, Utah.

Mr. Jeffs was still in prison last week, awaiting a decision by prosecutors about whether to retry his case, when the State Supreme Court said it would not block his extradition to Texas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/02jeffs.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the Toledo Blade

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John Skelton, 39, appears in Lucas County Common Pleas Court where he is fighting attempts to have him returned to Lenawee County to face child-abduction charges.

Boys' father fights extradition; Lucas Co. judge sets $3M bond by Ignazio Messina and Mark Reiter The Toledo Blade MORENCI, Mich. -- Hundreds of volunteers fought bitter cold and growing frustration Wednesday during another day of searching miles of farmland and wooded areas for three young brothers now presumed by many to be dead. At the same time, their father, John Skelton, was ordered held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of $3 million bond as he fought extradition to Michigan, where he faces charges of child-abduction. Even after five days of searching, and six days since Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, Skelton were last seen on Thanksgiving Day, some volunteers refused to give up hope. "Everyone keeps quiet and hopes for the best," Luke Yager of Somerset, Mich., said after trudging through hip-high water along a Fulton County road. Bill Foster, a family friend of the Skeltons who has baby-sat the three boys, said he would not give up hope. "They go to school with my youngest daughter and we watched Alex while Tanner was being born -- so it's rough, but we are here for as long as it takes and we are not going to quit," he said. "It's a very personal search for me."

Unlike in past days when searchers were deployed to specific areas, people now were told to sweep across an expansive swath of land with specific sites. They spent hours looking in ditches, under bridges, and scanning farm fields. The search area covered roadsides in Williams and Fulton counties spanning 16 miles from east to west and about five miles north to south.

Rhett Westfall of Adrian joined the first bus load of volunteers Wednesday morning but admitted hope for a happy ending was dwindling.

"We still have to look because even if the kids are not okay, at least they will have a final resting place," Ms. Westfall said.

Morenci firefighter Steve Meller uses a colleague's back to write on as he organizes searchers who are seeking three Morenci brothers who were last seen on Thanksgiving Day. Wednesday's searchers fanned across a wider area.

Steve Meller, a Morenci volunteer firefighter who coordinated the buses of volunteers, said a dozen area religious leaders and all of Morenci churches were on standby to counsel searchers if needed. "That is just in case they find something or something tragic happens," he said. Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks would not officially switch his focus from finding three boys to recovering three bodies. "I refuse to believe that at this point [they are dead]," the chief told reporters. "It is my desire to maintain hope, but as I said [Tuesday] the information we have does not indicate that this is going to have a positive outcome." Mr. Skelton has not offered Morenci police any new information recently concerning the whereabouts of his sons and authorities declined again to discuss what clues he has offered, if any. "We have not spoken with John in some time and we have not developed any additional information about where they are at," Chief Weeks said. "As far as any details that he has provided us, we will not be offering that information at this time." Chief Weeks ordered the volunteer searches to end at sunset Friday.

"I'd like the opportunity to process what we've collected through the weekend, what's been searched, what hasn't been searched, re-evaluate our direction for the following week," he said.

He called for property owners to search their own lands.

Morenci resident Susan Crawford, who searched ditches and woods near Holiday City in Williams County, was among the last people looking last night. She said frustrations were mounting over not finding the brothers and because their father is seemingly unhelpful to authorities.

"I am hearing a lot of frustration on the bus, and I am upset after hearing he is fighting extradition," Ms. Crawford said.

Mr. Skelton initially told police he had given his three sons to a woman named Joann Taylor and said she was to deliver the boys to their mother, his estranged wife, Tanya Skelton. On Monday, Chief Weeks said Mr. Skelton recanted that story about Joann Taylor.

The Skelton brothers, Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, as seen in this 2008 photo, were last seen at their father's home in Morenci, Mich., on Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. Skelton was hospitalized at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after a failed suicide attempt Friday. He was arrested Tuesday and booked into the jail by FBI agents from Toledo. The Rev. Donna Galloway, pastor of Morenci United Methodist Church, which the boys attended, said she spoke to their mother recently and acknowledged how painful the ordeal has been. "Everyone is supporting her ... I know the people in this community will not stop looking until the boys are home," Ms. Galloway said. "She wants her boys home. We all want her boys home." She said Mr. Skelton appeared "like any other dad" when she saw him with Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner in the church on Nov. 21 when they arrived to help decorate for Advent. Wednesday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Mr. Skelton, 39, asked Judge Gary Cook for a hearing to determine if he should be sent back to face charges in Lenawee County. Judge Cook scheduled a Dec. 14 hearing and ordered Mr. Skelton held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of $3 million bond during his court appearance. The bond amount is a total of $1 million for each of the three counts. Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathan Poer on Tuesday filed three counts of felony parental kidnapping in Lenawee County District Court related to the disappearance of the boys.

Judge Cook appointed attorney Merle Dech to represent Mr. Skelton for the extradition hearing. Mr. Dech declined to comment.

After the court hearing, Jeff Lingo, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, said Mr. Skelton did have the option of waiving extradition and being transported to Lenawee County, but instead he contested that move.

Mr. Lingo said Michigan officials must now obtain a governor's warrant from their state to have Mr. Skelton returned to stand trial on the charges.

He said two issues will be addressed at the extradition hearing in two weeks -- whether Mr. Skelton is the person wanted in the fugitive warrant from Michigan and whether Ohio has a similar crime to the offenses that Mr. Skelton faces in Michigan.

"Those are the only standards we have to meet at the hearing," he said.

Morenci police officers were in the courtroom for the hearing, prepared to take Mr. Skelton into custody if he had waived his right to the hearing.

The defendant, who reportedly injured himself after he attempted to hang himself at his Morenci home, had a soft cast on his left foot and was seated in a wheelchair during the hearing.

He was wearing a special smock designed to prevent inmates from committing suicide or hurting themselves.

The anti-suicide smock exposed Mr. Skelton's back, revealing a large tattoo that stretched across his shoulders.

Five Lucas County sheriff's deputies surrounded Mr. Skelton while he was in the courtroom. Television and newspaper reporters and photographers crowded into the courtroom for the hearing.

Mr. Skelton kept his head down and made little if any eye contact with Judge Cook or others in the packed courtroom.

His answers to the judge's questions were barely audible.

At this point, Mr. Skelton is not charged with any crimes in Ohio, Mr. Lingo said.

http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20101202/NEWS02/12020308

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Applauds Expansion of "If You See Something, Say Something" Campaign to Mall Of America

December 1, 2010

Partnership with Minnesota Will Also Bring Campaign Statewide

WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in partnership with Mall of America and the state of Minnesota, today applauded the expansion of DHS' national “If You See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign throughout Minnesota—to include Mall of America as well as other public venues across the state.

“Homeland security begins with hometown security, and every citizen plays an important role in ensuring America's safety,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The ‘If You See Something, Say Something' campaign will provide the citizens of Minnesota and the many shoppers and visitors to Mall of America with the tools to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper law enforcement authorities.”

The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign—originally implemented by New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from DHS' Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.

The expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to Mall of America will include both print and video advertisements throughout the mall's shopping and amusement park areas to help the thousands of daily tourists and shoppers to identify potential threats and suspicious situations. “If You See Something, Say Something” materials were unveiled at Mall of America today by DHS Protective Security Advisory Glenn Sanders, Mall of America Security Director Major Doug Reynolds, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek and Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion.

“We are excited to partner with Mall of America and the Department of Homeland Security on their ‘If You See Something, Say Something' campaign,” said Commissioner Campion. “We value our private partners and the work they do. Their efforts will go a long way to enhancing our statewide ‘If You See Something, Say Something' campaign.”

The state-wide expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign will begin in Minneapolis and St. Paul and will leverage Minnesota's participation in the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative—an administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to specific terrorist threats and related crime.

Since this summer, DHS has worked with its state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice, to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign and Nationwide SAR Initiative to communities throughout the country—including the recent state-wide expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign throughout New Jersey and new partnerships with organizations including the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the general aviation industry and six state and local fusion centers across the Southeastern United States that participate in Southern Shield.

In the coming months, the Department will continue to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign nationally with public education materials and outreach tools designed to engage America's businesses, communities and citizens to remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the county safe.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1291224227819.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Former NOPD Officer Sentenced in Connection with Shootings on Danziger Bridge

WASHINGTON – A former officer with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), was sentenced today to eight years in prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice and for misprision of a felony (for concealing a known crime), in connection with a federal investigation of two police-involved shootings that left two civilians dead and four others seriously wounded in the area of the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina. In addition, Michael Hunter was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and serve three years supervised release. On April 7, 2010, Hunter, 33, entered a guilty plea in federal court in New Orleans before U.S. District Court Judge Sarah S. Vance.

According to court documents, Hunter drove to the Danziger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, in a large Budget rental truck carrying officers in response to a radio call that said officers on the nearby I-10 bridge had come under fire. Hunter has admitted that officers on the east side of the Danziger Bridge fired at civilians even though the civilians did not appear to have any weapons. According to Hunter, one officer (Sergeant A) leaned over a concrete barrier, held out an assault rifle and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians, who were at that point lying wounded and apparently unarmed on the ground. Hunter also has admitted that he fired his weapon repeatedly at civilians who were running away over the bridge. In addition, Hunter has acknowledged that he did not see any weapons on these civilians, and that the civilians did not appear to pose a threat to officers as they ran up the bridge.

Hunter further admitted that he was present on the west side of the Danziger Bridge when an officer, identified as Officer A, shot and killed Ronald Madison, a civilian who was running away from officers with his hands in view, and did not have a weapon or pose a threat. Without warning, Officer A fired a shotgun at Madison's back as Madison ran toward a motel at the bottom of bridge. Hunter also has described watching Sergeant A physically abuse Ronald Madison as he lay on the ground injured, but still alive.

Hunter has admitted that, in the wake of the shootings on the Danziger Bridge, he participated in a conspiracy to cover up the truth about what happened on the bridge. Specifically, he admitted, among other things, that he and other officers provided false statements about what happened on the Danziger Bridge; that before giving formal statements on tape, he and other officers met in a gutted-out police station and discussed their false stories; and that he lied to a state grand jury about what happened on the Danziger Bridge.

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. Attorneys Julia K. Evans and Theodore Carter of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/December/10-crt-1370.html

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From ICE

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Border Enforcement Security Task Force cracks down on crime at Miami Seaport

MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton hosted a press conference in Miami Wednesday to announce enforcement efforts by the Miami Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) in protecting U.S. maritime borders, including the latest indictments and arrests related to a narcotics trafficking conspiracy through the Port of Miami.

 BEST was established in Miami in November 2008 and at other major seaports because U.S. ports and maritime borders are subject to significant threats to national security. The local Miami BEST has three teams covering the Miami Seaport, Miami River, Port Everglades Seaport and all maritime smuggling activities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The mission of the BEST program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle organizations that seek to exploit vulnerabilities in the U.S. border through increased information sharing and collaboration among partner agencies. The 21 BESTs around the country incorporate personnel from ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations and Office of Border Patrol; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Attorney's Office; and other key federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies. Together, BEST is focused on the identification, prioritization, and investigation of emerging threats.

ICE Director John Morton said, "HSI Border Enforcement Security Task Forces have continuously proven themselves to be a model law enforcement partnership in our efforts to confront national security threats to our ports of entry across the country. By leveraging the combined investigative expertise of our domestic and international partners on the BEST, we are able to fully and effectively address criminal activity that could undermine and threaten the Port of Miami. Most recently, ICE HSI special agents and task force officers assigned to the Miami Seaport Border Security Task Force uncovered, infiltrated and dismantled a conspiracy circumventing the security and Customs protocols established at the Port of Miami."

U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer stated, "Since September 11, the number one priority of the Department of Justice and this U.S. Attorney's Office has been to protect our national and domestic security. This includes helping our law enforcement partners keep our borders, including our seaports and airports, safe."

On Tuesday, ICE HSI special agents, assisted by DEA special agents, arrested six individuals, who were charged with conspiracy to import cocaine, heroin, and marijuana and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Arrested were longshoremen Albert W. Hines, 30, of Pembroke Pines, Fla.; Michael Canada, 30, of Miramar, Fla.; Alexander Terrell Pratt, 33, of Miami; Santonio Riou, 33, of Miami; Jessie Lamons, 58, of Miami; and Morris Henderson, 32, of Miami, who is currently in federal custody on ecstasy trafficking and weapons charges.

Francisco Gonzalez, 52, of Coral Springs, Fla. Devin Jackson, 42, residing in Costa Rica; Climaco Asprilla, 37, residing in Panama; and Mickey Honeyghan, 39, of Jamaica are also charged in the 20-count indictment. Longshoreman Vondre Asbury, 24, of Miami, was also previously arrested in February 2009, and is currently in federal prison on cocaine trafficking and importation charges.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Gangplank," began in July 2007 after ICE HSI agents and task force officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department, DEA agents, and CBP officers at the Miami Seaport uncovered that longshoremen were actively involved in an international conspiracy that involved the importation of multiple kilograms and millions of dollars worth of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana through the Port of Miami and Port Everglades.

The investigation revealed that certain members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) were smuggling narcotics through these ports for suppliers located in Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Panama. The narcotics were often secreted in the chassis that the cargo containers were loaded on and other hiding places throughout the ships.

The conspiracy alleged in the indictment began in 2007 and ended in January 2010, during which time the Miami Seaport BEST seized narcotics with a street value of more than $6 million, including approximately 72 kilograms of cocaine, 2.5 kilograms of heroin, and 1,648 kilograms or 3,625 pounds of marijuana.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Dobbins.

In addition to the "Operation Gangplank" arrests and seizures, the Miami Seaport BEST has led or taken part in investigations resulting in over 140 other arrests and the seizure of more than 11,000 pounds of cocaine, more than 8,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 3,000 ecstasy pills, more than $175,000 in cash, 19 vehicles, 16 weapons, and more than 1,400 rounds of ammunition.

Seaport security is a top priority for ICE and its DHS partners, and the officers and agents assigned to BESTs have the technical expertise, resources and technology to detect illegal merchandise and contraband passing through seaports and across land borders.

Director Morton added, "Those who seek to exploit our seaports, airports or border crossings should be on notice. We're watching, and we'll catch you. And when we do, be prepared to spend a long time behind bars."

If convicted on all charges, they each face up to life in prison.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1012/101201miami.htm

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From the FBI

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Jury Finds Connecticut Man Guilty of Making Grenades, Selling Guns Intended for White Supremacist Group

BRIDGEPORT, CT—A federal jury in Bridgeport, Conn., today found Alexander DeFelice, 33, of Milford, Conn., guilty of conspiracy and firearms offenses stemming from an alleged attempt to sell firearms and explosive grenades to what he thought was a white supremacist group located outside of Connecticut, announced David B. Fein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. The jury found DeFelice's co-defendants Kenneth Zrallack, 29, of Ansonia, Conn., and David Sutton, 46, of Milford, not guilty of conspiring with DeFelice and others in the same conspiracy. The trial began on Nov. 15, 2010, and the jury returned the verdicts this morning.

"We respect the jury's verdicts and are pleased that a previously convicted felon who was involved in the manufacture of grenades that he knew were intended for a white supremacist group now faces a significant term of imprisonment," stated U.S. Attorney Fein. "I want to thank the members of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for their diligent investigative work that has led to today's conviction, and the conviction of two other defendants who previously pleaded guilty to charges stemming from this criminal scheme. The U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to protect the safety of all Americans and prosecuting those who seek to harm anyone whose race, ethnicity or religious beliefs differ from his or her own."

According to the evidence at trial, in late 2008 and early 2009, DeFelice associated with a cooperating witness working under FBI supervision. DeFelice and the witness attended meetings of a white supremacist group known as the Connecticut White Wolves, and drove to and from meetings of another such group known as North East White Pride. The cooperating witness had identified himself to DeFelice as a member of a large, out-of-state white supremacist group known as the Imperial Klans of America (IKA). Also, the witness let it be known that he was a convicted felon. Over the course of a series of discussions about firearms, DeFelice offered to sell the cooperating witness semi-automatic weapons and ammunition.

On March 9, 2009, DeFelice advised the cooperating witness that he had a deal arranged and, later that evening, the witness went to meet DeFelice in the garage of his home in Milford. Also in the garage were William Bolton of Milford, Conn., and Edwin Westmoreland of Stratford, Conn. After some discussion, DeFelice and the other defendants sawed off the barrel of a shotgun and sold it to the cooperating witness for $300.

The evidence also showed that on March 23, 2009, DeFelice arranged a meeting with the cooperating witness in the parking lot of a Hamden, Conn., shopping plaza, and told the witness he could arrange to provide the witness' "people," referring to the IKA, with grenades and other live explosive devices. Eventually, DeFelice requested, and the cooperating witness provided, three empty grenade shells that DeFelice advised would be converted into live grenades.

On Nov. 11, 2009, DeFelice and Westmoreland sold a rifle and a shotgun to the cooperating witness.

On Jan. 23, 2010, DeFelice, with Westmoreland's assistance, completed making the explosive grenades and sold and delivered them to the cooperating witness for $3,000.

On Jan. 28, 2010, five days after the grenades sale, the FBI conducted a court-authorized search of DeFelice's residence, where they found and seized a 12-gauge shotgun, live rounds of ammunition of various calibers, and several items used to make the explosive grenades. DeFelice was arrested at that time.

Today, the jury found DeFelice guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of transferring a firearm to a convicted felon, one count of making explosive grenades and one count of transferring explosive grenades. Following the jury's verdicts, DeFelice also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 18, 2011, at which time DeFelice faces a total maximum term of 65 years in prison.

DeFelice has been detained in federal custody since his arrest on Jan. 28, 2010.

On June 29, 2010, Edwin Westmoreland pleaded guilty to one count of sale of a firearm to a convicted felon, and one count of conspiracy to sell firearms to a convicted felon and to make and transfer unregistered firearms consisting of explosive grenades. On Aug. 18, 2010, William Bolton pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, and one count of sale of a firearm to a convicted felon. Westmoreland and Bolton await sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Fein commended the joint investigation of this matter, which has been conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, notably the FBI, the Connecticut State Police, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Air Marshal Service, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service; the U.S. Army, Criminal Investigation Command, and the Milford, Ansonia, Stratford and New Haven Police Departments.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry K. Kopel and Peter S. Jongbloed, and Trial Attorney David Cora of the Department of Justice's National Security Division.

http://newhaven.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nh120110a.htm

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