From the Los Angeles Times

Release of photos in Grim Sleeper case brings major response

LAPD is flooded with calls, e-mails and other tips after images of women found on the suspect's property are made public. Five tentative identifications have been made.

By Joel Rubin and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

December 18, 2010

The Los Angeles Police Department was inundated with hundreds of phone calls, e-mails and other tips a day after detectives released photographs of unidentified women found in a trailer belonging to alleged serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr.

"The information coming in is voluminous," said Det. Dennis Kilcoyne, who headed the task force that searched for Franklin. Officers, he said, have fielded "hundreds upon hundreds" of phone calls, as well as e-mails and text messages that flooded in through various hotlines and online accounts the department uses.

PHOTOS: Images found in possession of Grim Sleeper suspect

When Franklin, who is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 10 African American women in South L.A., was arrested in July, authorities found a disturbing trove of about 1,000 photographs and hundreds of hours of video of women. Some of the images appeared to be innocent snapshots, but most showed the women in various states of undress and striking sexual poses.

Fearing that some of the women could be additional victims, detectives set out to identify them. Some of the material dated back to the 1980s and included video and digital camera images, Polaroids, conventional prints and even undeveloped film. The LAPD estimates that it is trying to identify about 160 people.

Attempts to find the women in missing persons databases and coroner's photographs went nowhere. With no other options, detectives began considering releasing the images to the public in hopes that the women themselves, family members or acquaintances would recognize them and contact investigators.

The decision to do so was not made lightly. Detectives said they were concerned about how the images should be presented to the public given the explicit nature of the material, and understood that the photo release could force the women to revisit encounters with Franklin from periods in their lives they would rather forget.

In the end, the LAPD opted to release closely cropped versions of the images that show the women's faces. Detectives also wanted to be sensitive to the families of the 10 women Franklin is alleged to have killed. Before the announcement, they invited members of the victims' families to LAPD headquarters to view the images that would be released.

Kilcoyne acknowledged that some might be offended by the decision to go public with the pictures and video stills. In the end, though, the need to know the fate of the women and how Franklin had come to collect the images outweighed the potential embarrassment to the women. For similar reasons, The Times has published the images.

"We are just trying to do what is right and decent," Kilcoyne said. "We are very cognizant of not causing embarrassment or anguish to the people depicted in the photographs."

Franklin has pleaded not guilty and is in custody awaiting trial.

The release of the images appeared to pay off. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference Friday that information gathered from callers had led to tentative identifications of five of the women.

"We are working to verify that. I cannot give you any update on their well-being or status, but we have names to connect to some faces," Beck said. "I encourage the public to continue to bring us names."

Franklin is charged with killing seven women from 1985 to 1988 and three more between 2002 and 2007. He is linked to the killings through a combination of ballistics and DNA evidence, police and prosecutors have said.

It is the 14 years of apparent dormancy between the two sets of killings that has most confounded police and that led the LA Weekly to dub Franklin the Grim Sleeper. Before identifying Franklin as the alleged Grim Sleeper, Kilcoyne and others said it was unlikely the killer stopped preying on women during this period. More likely, they said, is that police did not find any evidence to link him to the bodies. So the discovery of the photos and videos was all the more unsettling, as detectives wondered whether they were looking at an eerie montage of women Franklin encountered during the period.

Beck said the photos may address the apparent gap in the killings. "One of the things Dennis [Kilcoyne] is hoping to determine from the public's response to these photos is what he was doing during the 14 years. Obviously we have a hole in his history, and we are trying to fill that hole," the chief said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grim-sleeper-20101218,0,3747223,print.story

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Alan Bakor, left, and Stacy Roberts demonstrate response tactics to protect a client at a recent conference of bodyguards in San Diego.

Bodyguard business is booming 'The more uneasy the country is, the more work we tend to have,' says an organizer of an industry event in San Diego this month. by Shan Li Los Angeles Times December 18, 2010 When bodyguards around the nation flocked to San Diego recently, the talk was all about paparazzi, terrorists and the latest tech gizmos, with seminars like "Surviving the Kill Zone — Human Factors Are the Key." Guards trained in martial arts showed the latest techniques for subduing nightclub troublemakers, joked about the challenges of guarding celebrities like Paris Hilton and compared notes on the latest technology borrowed from the military. The 29th annual Executive Protection Institute Conference this month came at a time when demand for bodyguards has soared in lockstep with increasing global unrest spurred by wars and economic turmoil and rising public curiosity about the private lives of celebrities.

North Korea threatens another attack on island

South Korea plans another live-ammunition drill on Yeonpyeong Island, where an artillery strike by the North killed four people last month.

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times

December 18, 2010

Reporting from Seoul

Tempers flared Friday as North Korea warned South Korea to cancel artillery drills planned for the same island the North shelled in November, pledging it would answer any provocation with a strike even harsher than last month's deadly attack.

Sometime between Saturday and Tuesday, Seoul plans a live-ammunition drill on Yeonpyeong Island, where similar drills on Nov. 23 prompted a northern artillery barrage that killed four people.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that officials in Pyongyang sent a notice to Seoul warning that further drills on the island would bring "unpredictable self-defensive strikes." The notice added that "the intensity and scope of the strike will be more serious than the Nov. 23" shelling, the news agency said.

North Korea dismissed the drills as an effort to "save the face of the South Korean military, which met a disgraceful fiasco" in the shelling of Yeonpyeong, the news agency reported.

But South Korea pledged Friday to carry out the exercises, which Defense Ministry officials characterized as part of "routine, justified" military practice for national defense.

Many fear that the newest belligerence from the North may signal a possible slide closer to war on the Korean peninsula.

"What you don't want to have happen out of that is for us to lose control of the escalation," Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington.

The Obama administration has supported Seoul's planned drills, saying they pose no threat to the North. "North Korea should not see these South Korean actions as a provocation," State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told reporters Thursday.

But in Moscow on Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin summoned U.S. and South Korean envoys to urge the South "to refrain from the planned firing to prevent further escalation of tension in the Korean peninsula," according to a ministry bulletin.

"I think these plans are counterproductive and very dangerous," Andrei Klimov, deputy head of the foreign relations committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said in an interview. "You simply can't scare these … fanatics with a mere demonstration of force or, in other words, with a provocation like this."

The most recent back-and-forth between the Koreas came as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson arrived in Pyongyang on a private mission to try to ease tensions, which have been heightened since North Korea allegedly torpedoed a South Korean patrol ship in March, killing 46 crewmen.

Richardson, who has in the past served as unofficial envoy to North Korea, planned a four-day visit that reportedly includes a tour of the North's main nuclear complex at Yongbyon.

"My objective is to see if we can reduce the tension in the Korean peninsula," he said upon arriving in Pyongyang, adding later that the situation was a "tinderbox" and urging the North Koreans to not overreact to the drills.

U.S. officials stressed that Richardson, who was invited to North Korea, was not acting in any official capacity, but many analysts hoped that his talks with officials there might help persuade the North to finally give up its nuclear weapons program.

American diplomats also fanned out across the region Friday in an effort to lessen the likelihood of renewed hostilities. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met in Beijing with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo to continue pressure on China to rein in North Korea.

Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for six-party talks on the North's nuclear program, met Friday with South Korean nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac.

Both North and South claim ownership of Yeonpyeong, a tiny island about seven miles from the North Korean coast and home to fishermen and a South Korean military base.

In its missive sent to Seoul on Friday, Pyongyang referred to the area around the island as "our sacred territorial waters."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korea-drills-20101218,0,3121677,print.story

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(Video on site)

Mother shot dead at anti-crime vigil in Chihuahua

Video shows the brazen killing outside the Chihuahua governor's office of a woman who had been protesting the freeing of the confessed killer in her daughter's 2008 slaying.

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

December 18, 2010

Reporting from Mexico City

Outraged when judges freed the main suspect in her daughter's killing, Marisela Escobedo Ortiz launched a one-woman protest across the street from government offices in northern Mexico.

Now she is dead too.

In a brazen killing caught on video, a gunman chased Escobedo and shot her at close range Thursday night in front of the governor's office building in the capital of Chihuahua state.

The slaying drew condemnations from politicians and human rights activists and appeared to be fresh evidence of the impunity with which criminals operate across much of Mexico.

Amnesty International blamed "the negligence of state and federal authorities" for what it called reprisal attacks against activists and relatives of crime victims. "The deficiencies of the judicial system in cases of murdered women and girls have been demonstrated once again," the group said in a statement Friday.

Escobedo's 16-year-old daughter, Rubi Frayre, was slain and dismembered in 2008. The main suspect was her live-in boyfriend, Sergio Barraza, who was captured a year later in the state of Zacatecas.

Although Barraza confessed to the killing, he was exonerated in May by a three-judge panel that found insufficient evidence after a U.S.-style trial with oral arguments in the state capital, also called Chihuahua. Another court reversed the verdict, finding Barraza guilty, but he remains at large.

Escobedo loudly denounced the first court's ruling and has begged state authorities for justice. This month, she planted herself in front of the governor's office.

She had said she received threats from Barraza and his family but refused to hide.

"What's the government waiting for — that he come and finish me?" Escobedo said in an interview outside the governor's palace that was posted on a website. "Then let him kill me, but here in front to see if it makes them ashamed."

Chihuahua Gov. Cesar Duarte said Escobedo had gathered evidence that Barraza was in Zacatecas with members of the Zetas drug gang. Authorities indicated that Barraza was a suspect in the mother's slaying.

Duarte said he would seek the removal of the three judges in the case and ask to have them stripped of immunity from possible prosecution.

"He confessed to the killing and reported the place where the remains of Mrs. Escobedo's daughter could be found. This is what no one can understand — the irresponsibility of these judges who set free a highly dangerous subject," Duarte said in a radio interview.

The video, aired on Mexican television, shows a man in dark clothing chasing Escobedo in the darkness as she sprints across the street toward the governor's office, which was closed at the time. Escobedo flops to the sidewalk as the shooter races to jump into a waiting sedan.

Chihuahua has been a pioneer in Mexico in rolling out a new system of trials, which resemble U.S. adversarial proceedings because prosecutors have to prove cases in open court.

The new system means tougher standards of evidence than under Mexico's traditional trials, which are decided behind closed doors by judges relying largely on written filings from both sides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-mom-20101218,0,5162480.story

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Man carrying water nozzle was shot 10 to 12 times by Long Beach police, family's attorney says

Long Beach police had ample time to identify themselves before firing fatal shots at a 35-year-old man holding a water nozzle, according to the findings of an investigation conducted the family's attorney.

Police fatally shot Douglas Zerby, 35, on Sunday when they believed he posed a threat to their safety. Zerby was carrying a metal-tipped water nozzle and pointed it at officers, authorities said. They believed it to be a gun.

At a news conference Friday in Long Beach, attorney Brian Claypool said it is inaccurate to describe the officer-involved shooting as a tragedy.

"The word tragedy suggests this was an unavoidable event," Claypool said. "It was not a tragedy; it was an ambush. This young man never had a chance."

Claypool said there were three wounds flush down Zerby's chest, which leads him to believe that Zerby was not stretching his arms to point the nozzle at officers.

He said Zerby's body also was found leaning against the banister, leading him to believe that Zerby was not being aggressive and already was incapacitated when the shots were fired.

"That area looks like a shooting range," Claypool said. "It was target practice on Dec. 12, 2010, target practice for the Long Beach Police Department."

Zerby's family said it believes he was intoxicated and had stopped at his friend's house instead of driving home. He was sitting on the stoop waiting for his friend when neighbors spotted him and called 911 because they thought he was armed with a gun.

Claypool said his four-day investigation -- based on the scene and witness reports -- showed that officers had ample time to identify themselves to Zerby and determine that he was not holding a real gun. He said they also had enough time to ask neighbors if they recognized him.

Claypool said he believes there were at least five to six officers on the scene and that three probably shot Zerby. Some shots were fired as close as 12 feet away, he said, from positions of protection behind brick posts.

Police have said they ordered Zerby to drop the weapon because they believed he posed an immediate threat. They said two rounds were fired from a shotgun and six were fired from a handgun.

Claypool does not believe Zerby even knew the officers were there. He said witnesses told him that police made a noise "and that's what triggered Doug Zerby to turn toward the officers and that turn is what caused them to open fire."

The family is planning a lawsuit that alleges wrongful death, negligence and battery. Claypool said the family hopes to make police training reforms as a result of the suit.

"Lethal force being utilized was unnecessary," said Eden Marie Biele, Zerby's older sister. "The things that the Long Beach Police Department are saying are not corroborated by what the scene is saying nor by what Douglas' body is saying ... things are not lining up.... I think in this situation and in this incident there were other steps that could've been followed that would have resulted in a very different outcome."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/man-carrying-water-nozzle-was-shot-10-to-12-times-by-long-beach-police-familys-attorney-says.html

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O.C. prosecutors seek other possible victims of accused child molester

Investigators sought the public's help Friday in identifying other potential victims of a Mission Viejo man charged with molesting three young girls.

Omar Alirio Guzman, 43, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of  nine felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and one felony count of aggravated assault on a child under 14.

He also faces additional sentencing enhancements for substantial sexual conduct against a child and committing a sexual offense against multiple victims, a spokesman for the Orange County district attorney's office said Friday in a statement.

Guzman allegedly met the first victim, then 5 years old, in 1995 when he was working as a house cleaner at the girl's Dove Canyon home. He is accused of sexually assaulted her multiple times while working in her family's home, the spokesman said.

More than a decade later, in February 2009, Guzman allegedly became acquainted with two girls, aged 9 and 10, when they visited his daughter at their Mission Viejo home, Salcedo said.

“They lived adjacent to him…. He wasn't a housekeeper in the case of the two girls,” he said.

Guzman is accused of sexually assaulting the older girl in his home on several occasions over the next two years.

Guzman also allegedly touched the younger girl's chest over her clothes on several occasions beginning in May 2009, prosecutors said.

The older girl reported the sexual assault to her mother, who notified police.

During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered that Guzman was named as a person of interest in the 1995 case, Salcedo said.

“What the investigators did was they re-interviewed the girl who was 5 years old at the time,” Salcedo said. “She reiterated the allegations that occurred way back when.”

“That case, coupled with the fresh case” prompted detectives to make the arrest, Salcedo said.

Guzman was being held in the Orange County jail on $1-million bail and was to be arraigned Monday in Santa Ana.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/oc-prosecutors-seek-additional-victims-of-accused-child-molester.html

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Video: Stop anti-gay bullying, mother of boy who committed suicide pleads

In a tearful YouTube video, the mother of a 13-year-old boy from Tehachapi who committed suicide after enduring harassment for being gay called upon schools to stop anti-gay bullying.

The video, released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union, shows Wendy Walsh reading her son Seth's suicide note and is interspersed with pictures of him hanging out with friends and smiling shyly for the camera. (Warning: The video included some strong language.)

“Mom … thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure,” Walsh said, reading from the note. “I know this will bring you much pain, but I will hopefully be in a better place.”

The video ends with Walsh describing finding her son Sept. 19 hanging from a plum tree. Eight days later, doctors declared Seth brain-dead.

“Wendy wanted to get the word out about what happened to her son,” said James Gilliam, the deputy executive director for the ACLU of Southern California. “She was hoping to spread the word that there are resources for people in need.”

In a letter sent Thursday to the Tehachapi Unified School District, the ACLU demanded the district take steps to address and stop bullying students endure because of their sexual orientation.

“We hope we can work with them to craft anti-bias and anti-bullying policies,” Gilliam said. “To make sure there is a complaint process and that students like Seth know that their complaints will be taken seriously.”

Gilliam said a lawsuit against the district is not out of the question, but the ACLU hopes to work peacefully and cooperatively to address the concerns.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/stop-anti-gay-bullying-mother-of-tehachapi-boy-who-committed-suicide-pleads-on-video.html

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The Dennis Ferguson example

What we might learn from a man who sent California $10,000 to cover jobless aid he got in 1964.

December 18, 2010

Dennis R. Ferguson is an overnight media celebrity because he did something that almost no one else would consider: He paid the government back for services it had provided him.

Ferguson, 74, doesn't live in California anymore, yet he sent the Golden State a check for $10,000 to repay it, with interest, for the four months of unemployment benefits he received after losing his job at L.A.'s Douglas Aircraft in 1964. He used that time to learn computer programming and get another job.

Two things about Ferguson's story spring to mind as Congress extends federal unemployment benefits and California lawmakers prepare for the painful process of trying to balance the state's budget.

First: Way to go, Dennis — retraining for a new career and finding a job in just four months is an impressive feat. But that was easier to accomplish in 1964 than in 2010. Today, job openings are so scarce that such a quick turnaround is vanishingly rare, which is why extending the federal benefits (which kick in after state contributions end, usually after 26 weeks) was so important.

Second: Wouldn't it be great if more people were so willing to give back? Incoming Gov. Jerry Brown, who promised not to raise taxes without a public vote, will probably call for a revenue-raising initiative, because the budget hole is so deep that it can't be filled with cuts alone without devastating consequences for schools, public safety and other services. Voters consistently say they want these services, but they're equally consistent about not wanting to pay for them. Next year, when confronted with the choice, we hope they'll keep Ferguson in mind.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gift-20101218,0,6845811,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Vatican Shielded Dublin Priest Until He Raped Boy in Pub, Inquiry Says

DUBLIN (AP) — The Vatican tried to stop church leaders here from defrocking a particularly dangerous pedophile priest and relented only after he raped a boy in a restroom at a pub, according to an investigation released Friday.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he fully accepted the findings of the latest chapter in Ireland's investigation into child abuse by priests in Dublin who were shielded from the law by Catholic leaders.

Archbishop Martin called the priest, Tony Walsh, an “extremely devious man” who should never have been ordained.

A state-ordered investigation into cover-ups by the Dublin Archdiocese reported last year that church officials had shielded scores of priests from criminal investigation over several decades and did not report any crimes to the police until the mid-1990s.

A chapter dealing with Mr. Walsh was censored from the original report because he was still facing a criminal trial at the time. It was published Friday, after Mr. Walsh's conviction on Dec. 6 for raping three boys over a five-year period three decades ago. He got a 12-year prison term.

The investigators concluded that Mr. Walsh raped and molested hundreds of boys and girls while serving as a priest in Dublin from 1978 to 1996. They described him as “probably the most notorious child sexual abuser” of the 46 cases they investigated.

Mr. Walsh often performed as an Elvis impersonator in a traveling Catholic song-and-dance production called the “All Priests Show,” which was popular with children. The report found this increased his access to victims, as did his interest in scouting groups and taking altar boys on visits to the Dublin seminary Clonliffe College.

The investigators based their conclusions on previously confidential Dublin and Vatican documents and interviews with church figures. They found that archdiocese leaders spent several years arguing over whether Mr. Walsh should be defrocked, sent to counselors in England or assigned to duties that kept him away from children.

Archbishop Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat appointed to clean up the Dublin scandals in 2004, handed over the archdiocese's previously secret abuse files to the investigators. His predecessor, Cardinal Desmond Connell, had refused to do so.

Archbishop Martin said the church concealed child abuse easily for so long because it had grown too powerful.

“It had often become self-centered and arrogant,” he said. “It felt that it could be forgiving of abusers in a simplistic manner and rarely empathized with the hurt of children.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/world/europe/18ireland.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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California couple schemed to kill mother, steal her baby

Merced County sheriff's deputies Wednesday arrested Teresa Ceja Robles, 33, and her husband, Jose Augustine Velarde, 37, and charged them with murdering Ana Lila Diaz DeCeja inside their Planada house. The victim's infant boy reunited with his surviving family members, including his father and grandmother, the following night -- nine days after being abandoned in frigid conditions on a stranger's front stoop.

Sheriff Mark Pazin told HLN's "Nancy Grace" that the pair killed the 26-year-old woman because they wanted to have her two-month-old boy, a desire that began after Diaz let Robles hold the baby in a medical clinic shortly after his birth.

"That's when she fell in love with the infant and had to have that baby," Pazin said of Robles. "The only word I can use to categorize (their actions) is despicable. It's just bizarre."

Neighbors last saw Diaz and her young son together December 2, getting into a blue 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche in Planada, the sheriff's office said.

Pazin said that Robles and Velarde got Diaz to come over to their house, where the mother "was "immediately attacked by the husband, savagely strangled ... and lit on fire to hide the evidence."

A charred body, identified using dental records as that of Diaz, was found later that day in an almond orchard in Snelling, less than a 30-mile drive to the north.

Pazin said Friday that the couple had "an absolute plan (for) every move they made." Beyond befriending Diaz, the sheriff said that store surveillance video shows Robles shopping for baby items on the same day -- December 2 -- that she and her husband allegedly kidnapped the boy and killed his mother.

Robles had three children of her own before the incident, and she and her husband even introduced the baby to them. But eventually, the couple decided to change course.

The couple told detectives that they planned to tell Robles' children that the infant had gone to a nearby Fresno hospital and, in a few days, "were going to then tell the children that the little infant had died," according to Pazin.

"They were compounding what they had already done," the sheriff said. "And here, they had wanted to raise this little infant."

Pazin credited "intense media scrutiny" with turning up the heat on Robles and Velarde, who eventually dropped the baby off on a doorstep four days after allegedly kidnapping him.

On Thursday, members of Diaz's family -- including her husband and mother -- gathered for a bittersweet reunion with the baby boy, whom they had not seen in nearly two weeks.

"This is really a joyful moment, and we are really happy to have (the baby) here," the victim's brother Rodolfo Diaz told CNN affiliate KPGE. "But still, we want justice for my sister."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/17/california.baby.snatching/

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U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was fatally shot north of the Arizona-Mexico border

Napolitano confirms gang killed border agent in battle by Daniel González and Dan Nowicki The Arizona Republic An elite Border Patrol squad was pursuing a gang that preyed on drug smugglers when agent Brian Terry was shot and killed Tuesday night in a remote canyon near Rio Rico, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday. "They were seeking to apprehend what's called a 'rip crew,' which is a name given to a crew that it is organized to seek to rip off people who are drug mules or traversing the border illegally," she said during a meeting with The Arizona Republic's editorial board. "That's why they were in that area." Her comments were the first official confirmation that Terry and other members of the Border Patrol's specially trained tactical unit known as BORTAC were pursuing bandits the night the 40-year-old agent was killed in a gunbattle, which occurred in a remote canyon near Rio Rico.

Four suspects, including one who was wounded in the shootout, are in custody. A fifth suspect is at large.

Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, state attorney general and U.S. attorney, declined to provide details about the suspects or elaborate on the circumstances of Terry's death, citing the ongoing investigation. She was joined at the meeting by Alan Bersin, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security agency that includes the Border Patrol.

Napolitano toured parts of the border Friday and met with some of Terry's colleagues as part of a trip to Arizona that had been planned before Terry was killed. But she reworked her schedule to meet with agents and praise the work they have done to increase security along the border, where the number of agents is at an all-time high.

"Here's the message that I gave to our Border Patrol agents down there, which is that the work they are doing is producing very, very strong results," she said. "And you can see that in every metric. … There is no doubt that that border, which I know very well, having dealt with it since '93, when I became U.S. attorney here, is a very different place than it was five years ago, six years ago."

Napolitano cited FBI crime statistics showing that violent crime in Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico has declined sharply in recent years. She said that agents have been, and still are, surging into the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector in Arizona and that the National Guard will continue to maintain a border presence.

"We're seizing more currency, we're seizing more drugs, we're seizing more guns, and so those numbers are going up," she said. "And the illegal-immigrant apprehensions are down, which, again, is a measure that overall illegal immigration is down. So the numbers that need to be going up are going up and the numbers that need to be going down are going down, and substantially so."

The number of illegal-immigrant apprehensions in Arizona have plummeted from a high of 725,093 in fiscal year 2000 to 219,318 in fiscal year 2010, which ended on Sept. 30, Homeland Security statistics show.

Napolitano said she thinks the trend will continue.

"I believe that by the end of next year, we will have cut these numbers from 219,000 down to near 100,000," Napolitano said. "That would be my prediction. It may be a little more. It may be a little less. But something in that zone."

The decrease in illegal immigrant apprehensions likely is a combination of the poor economy and the increase in Border Patrol agents, the improved technology and border fencing, she said.

Congress has authorized funding for an additional 1,000 border patrol agents, who are being hired and trained. Napolitano said a "big swath" of the new agents will be assigned to the Tucson sector.

Bersin cited the increased staffing and technology on the border as a crucial factor in the four suspects in Terry's slaying being apprehended so quickly in the remote canyon near Rio Rico. He concurred with Napolitano's characterization of the border as safer and more secure than it has been in years, but cautioned that the stepped-up enforcement efforts and aggressive steps taken "to dismantle these entrenched smuggling and organized crime groups" increases the danger for Border Patrol agents.

"They know that they stand between the American people and the Arizona community and this kind of danger," Bersin said. "That shooting, in fact, in some ways is the result of a challenge that is being made by law enforcement here to organized crime."

Terry's death this week has rekindled concerns about Mexico's bloody drug war spilling across the border into the United States.

But Napolitano said it would be wrong to conclude from Terry's death, as well as the killing of longtime southern Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, that drug violence is on the rise or rampant along the border. Krentz's March slaying in Cochise County remains unsolved. The Krentz killing became an issue in this year's congressional midterm elections and contributed to the Arizona Legislature's passage of the state's controversial immigration-enforcement law known as Senate Bill 1070.

"They were terrible crimes, and crimes occur, even when overall numbers are down," Napolitano said.

From the Department of Justice

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Woman Sentenced in Columbus, Ohio, for Role in Human Trafficking Conspiracy

WASHINGTON - Maria Terechina, a national of the Russian Federation, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, for her role in a human trafficking conspiracy involving guestworkers who worked in hotels as housekeepers and laundry workers.   Terechina was sentenced to 12 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $250,000 in restitution to her victims.  After her release from prison, Terechina will be on federal supervised release for three years.  

During her guilty plea hearing in April, Terechina admitted that she engaged in the harboring and transporting of dozens of illegal aliens from Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and other Eastern European nations.  The guestworkers who labored for Terechina worked in various hotels in and around Columbus. Terechina admitted that she agreed to hold some of the workers' passports and immigration documents in order to prevent them from leaving their employment. Terechina also admitted that she defrauded the United States of approximately $185,000 in taxes.

“The defendant participated in a scheme that created a condition of modern-day slavery, using intimidation to deprive the workers of their freedom for her own financial gain, ” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “ The Department of Justice is committed to vigorously prosecuting cases of human trafficking.”

Carter M. Stewart, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, stated “We will continue our efforts to stem the rising tide of involuntary servitude by bringing traffickers to justice and working to restore the rights and dignity of human trafficking victims.”

“The FBI is committed to protecting all persons, regardless of nationality, from slave trafficking. Those who profit from such activity should recognize the consequences of their actions,” said Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge of the Cincinnati Division of the FBI.

Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, IRS, Criminal Investigations, stated, “Employers who employ illegal aliens and do not withhold employment taxes are victimizing legitimate businesses by creating an unfair competitive advantage.”

The case involving Terechina is related to the case of United States v. Yaroslav Rochniak, et al., in the Western District of Pennsylvania. All six defendants in that case also have pleaded guilty.

The Terechina case was investigated by Special Agents of the FBI; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General; and the U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service. The case was jointly prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Brown from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio, and Trial Attorney Ryan R. McKinstry from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/December/10-crt-1460.html

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From ICE

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2 Colombian nationals sentenced to 15 and 25 years for distributing cocaine

208 kilograms of cocaine found aboard oil tanker

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Two Colombian men were sentenced on Wednesday for trying to distribute 208 kilograms (457 pounds) of cocaine. The joint investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

Esneider Hidrobo, 47, a Colombian national, unlawfully present in the United States, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for distributing a controlled substance, to be followed by 10 years probation. Additionally, Hidrobo received a concurrent sentence of 20 years for illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported. Luis Alberto Arias-Lopez, 39, Colombian national was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years probation. Both men are subject to deportation after they complete their prison sentences.

"As a result of this investigation, two distributors have been put out of business and jailed. This seizure represents a significant amount of cocaine being kept out of our communities," said John Connolly, acting special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Houston. "The results were accomplished through the cooperative efforts of Department Homeland Security law enforcement personnel and prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office."

The investigation was initiated after information was received by ICE HSI regarding a large shipment of cocaine being smuggled aboard a sea-going vessel, along with two stowaways.

On May 20, Department of Homeland Security law enforcement personnel boarded the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Parnaso at Port Aransas, Texas, and discovering and seizing 208 kilograms of cocaine and the two stowaways.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1012/101216corpuschristi2.htm

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Juan Miguel Mendez

ICE removes former Argentine police officer wanted for alleged involvement in torture and disappearances at "Dirty War" clandestine detention centers from ICE BUENOS AIRES, Argentina Earlier today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) removed wanted war criminal Juan Miguel Mendez to Argentina, where he was transferred to the custody of the Argentinean government.

Argentina intends to try Mr. Mendez, a native Argentinean, for his alleged involvement in torture and extrajudicial killings in at least two clandestine detention centers during the so-called "Dirty War" in that country, which lasted from 1976-1983.

In May 2009, the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit (HRVWCU) identified Mr. Mendez, 67, as the subject of an Interpol notice which indicated that he had been involved in the operation of clandestine detention centers in Argentina from 1976 to 1979. On June 11, 2009, following an investigation led by the ICE Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), special agents arrested Mr. Mendez. ICE charged Mr. Mendez with overstaying his visa in violation of U.S. immigration law.

"ICE will not allow the United States to be a safe haven for those who have come to our country in an effort to evade prosecution and punishment for the crimes they have committed against others," said ICE Director John Morton. "We will not relent in our efforts to ensure that human rights violators are brought to justice and removed from our communities."

"The United States is proud to assist the Argentine government in bringing to justice alleged human rights violators," said U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Vilma Martinez.

During the "Dirty War" in Argentina, suspected members of the government opposition were routinely tortured and later disappeared or murdered. Official investigations determined that approximately 13,000 people were killed during this period. Recently released documents, however, indicate that this number should be higher; human rights groups assert that the true number killed is closer to 30,000.

In March 2006, a federal magistrate in Buenos Aires issued an arrest warrant for Mendez for his involvement in torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings in connection with at least two clandestine detention centers that operated in Buenos Aires from 1976 to 1979. It was alleged that Mendez, a former member of the federal police, was involved with the detention, torture and disappearance of detainees from the notorious "El Olimpo" clandestine detention facility, as well as the associated "El Banco" clandestine detention facility.

The arrest warrant was issued after the Argentinean Supreme Court's June 2005 ruling that annulled the broad amnesties of 1986 and 1987. These amnesties had precluded the investigation of most military, police, security services and penitentiary services personnel who were under the rank of colonel for their involvement in human rights abuses during the "Dirty War." The Argentinean Supreme Court, however, found that the laws under which the amnesties were granted were unconstitutional.

By deporting alleged human rights violators like Mr. Mendez, the HRVWCU and their counterpart, the Human Rights Law Division, not only help to protect the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, but also promote the rule of law in other countries as well.

Identifying and removing persecutors and human rights violators from the United States is a priority for ICE. To achieve this goal, ICE created the HRVWCU in 2003, which has national oversight over investigations of individuals alleged to have committed crimes such as genocide, extra-judicial killings, torture, suppression of religious freedom and other forms of persecution. The unit also seeks to prevent the admission of known or suspected human rights abuse suspects into the United States.

As October 2010, ICE has over 200 active investigations and is pursuing over 1,400 leads and removal cases involving suspects from approximately 95 different countries. These cases are predominantly focused on Central and South America, Haiti, the former Yugoslavia and Africa. They represent cases in various stages of investigation, criminal prosecution or removal proceedings.

ICE encourages the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding human rights abusers living in the United States. Nationwide, anonymous tips may be reported at 1-866-DHS-2ICE ( 1-866-347-2423).

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1012/101217buenosaires.htm

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