~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the L.A.Daily News

Nonprofit offers mortgage-free homes for veterans, service members

by Jim Camden

Washington National Guard veteran Keelan Southerland and his wife, Arlene, are the first family in the United States to occupy a donated house from Homes for the Homefront.

The program offers mortgage-free homes for veterans and members of the armed forces who meet certain criteria. It was set up with the gift of 100 houses from JPMorgan Chase to Operation Homefront, a San Antonio, Texas-based charity.

Keelan Southerland served in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. He sustained back and eye injuries that eventually required him to be medically evacuated. The Southerlands have moved into their Liberty Lake house, north of Spokane, Wash.

Read more about the Southerlands and Homes for the Homefront in the Spokesman-Review.

Find an application for the program here.

http://www.americanhomecomings.com/news/2012/06/17/nonprofit-offers-homes-for-veterans/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Washington Times

Alcohol plays role in reports involving the Secret Service

Records show DUIs

by Jim McElhatton

One U.S. Secret Service special agent drank too much alcohol and got caught after a minor traffic accident. Another agent got nabbed after driving into a telephone pole. Yet another got arrested after getting stuck in a ditch.

As the Secret Service deals with the ongoing fallout from an embarrassing prostitution scandal, newly released records are laying bare the extent of drunken driving and other alcohol-related misconduct over the years.

Arrests spanning nearly a decade were revealed in a highly redacted log on file with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, which released the 229-page document to The Washington Times and other media organizations through a Freedom of Information Act request.

When the records first became public last week, Secret Service officials were quick to point out that the vast majority of misconduct accusations received by the agency involved numerous complaints and did not specifically target Secret Service employees.

But while many of the log entries may seem frivolous, the records also revealed more than 40 individual entries that described arrests of agency personnel over their off-duty behavior, with about half of the cases involving alcohol.

The case log redacts the names of the agency employees, the dates of the criminal charges and the names of the law enforcement agencies making the arrests. In some cases, officials just described receiving information about an employee's arrest, and those records often but do not always make clear whether an arrest occurred.

But in other instances, agency notations about pending court dates, arrests and specific charges leave little doubt that some Secret Service employees have had serious run-ins with law enforcement.

The documents also provide a window into the ongoing investigation into Secret Service agents preparing for President Obama's trip to Colombia earlier this year who were implicated in a prostitution scandal. The report, confirming already public details, said 11 Secret Service personnel were potentially involved in the suspected misconduct.

The scandal prompted both a public apology and defense of the agency by Mark Sullivan , director of the Secret Service , who testified before a Senate committee in May. In his testimony, Mr. Sullivan suggested that alcohol may have played a role in the scandal.

“I have tried to figure this out for a month and a half - what would ever possess people to exhibit this type of behavior?” he said. “And I can tell you that I do not think this is indicative of the overwhelming majority of our men and women. … But I just think that between the alcohol, and I don't know, the environment, these individuals did some really dumb things.”

Most of the records provide scant information about the outcomes of the cases and to what extent the employees faced disciplinary actions after arrests, if any.

Max Milien , a spokesman for the Secret Service , said the agency has its own internal Office of Professional Responsibility that investigates misconduct.

Citing agency policy, he declined to discuss any individual personnel actions but said federal rules allow for sanctions ranging from verbal or written warnings to suspension and dismissal.

“Allegations of misconduct, whether they are received at the Secret Service , at [Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General] or an anonymous hotline are taken seriously and fully investigated,” he said in a statement.

Secret Service officials also said in a statement that overall, the complaint log “simply reflects an intake log … that in some way either mention or have been referred to the Secret Service . It includes allegations compiled over an eight-year period of time. The vast majority did not involve alleged misconduct by Secret Service agents or officers.”

But dozens of entries contained in the newly released complaint log do refer specifically to agency employees.

In May 2010, for instance, officials opened an investigation over a report that a special agent serving on the “Clinton Protective Detail” had been arrested in 2009 for driving while intoxicated in a personal vehicle during off-duty hours. The documents stated that the agent submitted to a Breathalyzer test and remained on full duty while awaiting a court appearance.

In a separate case, a special agent was arrested in July 2006 for “resisting arrest, public intoxication and reckless damage,” records show. A year later, another officer in the Secret Service 's White House branch was arrested for driving under the influence.

One log entry said an employee was arrested for driving while intoxicated after hitting a telephone pole, while another described the arrest of a special agent by the Department of Wildlife Services in an unnamed jurisdiction for “operating a watercraft while intoxicated and reckless operation of a watercraft.”

In 2009, a special agent was arrested for driving under the influence after a minor traffic accident with another driver, who also was arrested on the same charge. In 2005, in an incident that did not result in criminal charges, an employee who was assigned “as the detail leader for the president of the Dominican Republic” was relieved from duty “after reporting for work apparently under the influence of alcohol,” records show.

Not all of the arrests were alcohol-related. Other entries described arrests involving assault, domestic violence, disorderly conduct and burglary.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/18/alcohol-plays-role-in-reports-involving-the-secret/?page=all#pagebreak

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American Scene: U.S.-born terrorist pleads guilty in ‘mini al Qaeda' case

A New Yorker accused of trying to start what prosecutors called “a mini al Qaeda cell” pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of conspiracy and providing material support to a terrorist organization.

An indictment had alleged that Wesam El-Hanafi pledged loyalty to al Qaeda and sought to teach the terror group how to evade detection on the Internet after he went to Yemen in 2008.

The Brooklyn-born El-Hanafi admitted in federal court in Manhattan to having conversations in 2009 with a co-defendant about “seeking out additional contacts within al Qaeda.” The co-defendant, Sabirhan Hasanoff , pleaded guilty to similar charges earlier this month.

Prosecutors had portrayed the two U.S. citizens as a new, more sophisticated breed of homegrown terrorist: Both had earned college degrees and landed well-paying jobs before trying to share their expertise with al Qaeda.

El-Hanafi, 37, faces up to 20 years in prison.

The National Border Patrol Council , which represents all 17,000 of the agency's non-supervisory agents, called for the resignation Monday of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for his role in the botched “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation that resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Council President George E. McCubbin III , a 25-year Border Patrol veteran himself, described Mr. Holder 's actions in the case as “a slap in the face to all Border Patrol agents who serve this country,” adding that the attorney general has shown “an utter failure of leadership at the highest levels of government.”

Two semi-automatic AK-47 assault weapons found at the scene of the Dec. 15, 2010, killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry were traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) to “straw buyers” who bought the weapons as part of the Fast and Furious investigation.

Agent Terry died during a gunfight with heavily armed Mexican bandits along the U.S.- Mexico border south of Tucson. More than 2,000 weapons purchased during the ATF-led Fast and Furious operation were “walked” to drug smugglers in Mexico . More than 600 of them are still missing.

Mr. McCubbin said Border Patrol agents are indoctrinated from day one of their training that “integrity is their most important trait … and that without it, they have little use to the agency.” He said agents who lie or show a lack of candor are quickly disciplined.

“The standard that applies to these agents should at a minimum be applied to those who lead them,” Mr. McCubbin said. “If Eric Holder were a Border Patrol agent and not the attorney general, he would have long ago been found unsuitable for government employment and terminated.

“The heroism that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry demonstrated on that cold night in the desert of Arizona was in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Border Patrol and will never be forgotten by those who patrol this nation's borders,” he said.

Mr. McCubbin said the “political shenanigans” surrounding the Fast and Furious operation and “passing the blame” must stop.

He noted that a Border Patrol agent cannot accidentally step foot in Mexico without myriad U.S. and Mexican government agencies being made aware, so Fast and Furious had to have been conducted with the knowledge and tacit approval of the Justice Department and the Obama administration.

“It is time for Attorney General Holder to show the least shred of responsibility and leadership and resign his post,” Mr. McCubbin said. “Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry deserves nothing less.”

Last week, Mr. Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee he had “no intention” of resigning, adding that he heard the White House press officer say the president has “absolute confidence in me.”

His defiance came after Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and a senior Judiciary Committee member, called on him to quit, saying Mr. Holder had failed “the basic standards of political independence and accountability” in determining who knew about or approved the “walking” of guns into Mexico .

“Americans deserve an attorney general who will be honest with them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch, the Washington-based public watchdog group, has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against ATF seeking access to Fast and Furious records detailing communications between ATF officials and Kevin O´Reilly, former White House director of North American affairs at the National Security Council.

The lawsuit was announced Monday by Judicial Watch spokeswoman Jill Farrell, who said CBS News reported that Fast and Furious documents released by the Obama White House in September 2011 “show extensive communications” between ATF officials and Mr. O'Reilly. She said the requested records include a flowchart showing the ultimate destinations of the Fast and Furious weapons.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/18/border-patrol-group-calls-holders-resignation/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From ICE

Wisconsin couple who kept modern-day slave for 19 years deported to the Philippines

MILWAUKEE – Two husband-and-wife doctors from the Milwaukee-area, who kept a Filipina domestic servant in their home as a virtual slave for nearly 20 years, were deported this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). The investigation leading to their arrest and conviction was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and partner law enforcement agencies.

Jefferson Calimlim Sr., 67, and his wife Elnora, 66, both former medical doctors in Milwaukee, were deported June 12 from the United States under ICE escort, arriving in Manila June 14.

The Calimlims were convicted May 26, 2006 in the Eastern District of Wisconsin for forcing a woman to work under conditions of servitude for nearly two decades in their Brookfield home. They were sentenced to six years in federal prison on human trafficking charges, and ordered to pay more than $900,000 in restitution to the victim.

On Dec. 7, 2010, a federal immigration judge in Chicago ordered the Calimlims removed to the Philippines after they complete their prison sentences. On June 1, 2012, the Calimlims were released from the Bureau of Prisons and turned over to ICE to be deported.

During a federal jury trial in Milwaukee, it was determined that the Calimlims recruited and brought the victim from the Philippines to work for them in 1985 when she was 19 years old. In September 2004, HSI special agents, with assistance from the FBI and the Brookfield police, rescued the then 38-year-old victim from the Calimlim's residence after receiving a tip that the doctors were keeping a maid in their basement as an indentured servant. The victim was found hiding behind the door in a basement closet.

During the criminal trial, the victim testified that for 19 years she was hidden in the Calimlim's home in an affluent Milwaukee suburb, forbidden from going outside, and told that she would be arrested, imprisoned and deported if she were discovered. She was not allowed to socialize, communicate freely with the outside world, or leave the house unsupervised. She was also required to lock herself in her basement bedroom whenever the Calimlins had visitors. In addition, she was required to work seven days a week every day of the year from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

This is the second-longest indentured-servitude case investigated by HSI. This was one of the first federal cases to be prosecuted under the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), and the first human trafficking conviction whose elements did not stem upon physical abuse, but rather through fraud and threatened deportation.

"The removal of the Calimlims concludes one of our most significant human trafficking investigations," said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of HSI Chicago. "Most people don't believe that this form of modern-day slavery occurs in the United States. Our HSI agents vigorously target human traffickers, but we also provide support and assistance to the traumatized victims of this heinous crime."

The case against the Calimlims was initiated by an anonymous call to HSI's national hotline: 1-866-DHS-2ICE. Law enforcement personnel staff the hotline around-the-clock to take leads from the public about suspicious activity or reports of crimes. Leads generated from hotline calls have resulted in the arrests of a wide range of criminals, including aggravated felons, smugglers, fugitives, sexual predators, and aliens who have re-entered the country after being deported.

Some human trafficking indicators include:

• Does the victim possess identification and travel documents? If not, who has control of these documents?
• Did the victim travel to a destination country for a specific job or purpose and is the victim engaged in different employment than expected?
• Is the victim forced to perform sexual acts as part of employment?
• Is the victim a juvenile engaged in commercial sex?
• Does the victim owe money to an employer or does the employer hold wages?
• Did the employer instruct the victim on what to say to law enforcement or immigration officials?
• Can the victim freely leave employment or the situation?
• Are there guards at the work/harboring site or video cameras to monitor and ensure no one escapes?
• Does the victim have freedom of movement? Can they freely contact family and friends? Can they socialize or attend religious services?

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1206/120615milwaukee.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

Journey Through Indian Country
Part 3: Murder on the Zuni Reservation

06/18/12

Special Agent John Fortunato walked behind the abandoned house on the Zuni Reservation in western New Mexico and pointed out where Floyd Yuselew dug a grave to bury the friend he had murdered with an ax to the head.

The two had been drinking, and investigators believe the murder was committed because Yuselew thought his buddy had been flirting with his girlfriend. When tribal police and the FBI learned of the crime in March 2009, they found the victim still sitting in the chair where he had been killed months earlier. Because the house was unheated throughout the cold winter, the body—and the crime scene—had been perfectly preserved.

Uncertain what to do with the body, and not wishing to live in his house with a corpse, Yuselew and his girlfriend moved in with friends. Periodically, he returned to dig in the frozen backyard to make a grave. Later, Yuselew was afraid his girlfriend would turn him in for the murder when their relationship ended badly, so he called the Zuni police, told them about the body, and tried to pin the crime on her.

As unusual as the case may seem, in many ways it is a common Indian Country crime: a tragic killing successfully investigated and prosecuted thanks to the strong relationships between tribal authorities, the FBI, and federal prosecutors. Criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country is a complicated web of tribal, state, and federal rules. The sovereign status of many tribes precludes most states from exercising jurisdiction. Instead, that authority resides with the tribes, but only for non-felony offenses. It is the FBI's responsibility to investigate major crimes such as murder, and tribal authorities rely on the muscle of the federal judicial system to prosecute those crimes to the fullest.

“By law these major crimes are federally prosecuted, and the FBI is the vehicle for getting them to federal court,” said Special Agent Mike Harrigan, who supervises a squad of Indian Country investigators. “But the successful investigation of such crimes isn't just a Bureau role,” he added, “it is a tribal and Bureau partnership.”

“We have a close relationship with all the tribal police,” Fortunato said. “It would be difficult for us to do our jobs without that partnership, and they depend on us as well.” In the Yuselew case, for example, Fortunato called in the Bureau's Evidence Response Team (ERT) to help work the crime scene.

“When ERT processed the scene,” he explained, “there was a lot of blood and other evidence, like alcohol cans we were able to pull fingerprints from. The blood spatter and other evidence inside the house made it clear it was not the girlfriend who did the crime.”

In the end, Yuselew pled guilty to second-degree murder and is currently serving a 17-year sentence. The case is one of many senseless crimes Fortunato and his colleagues investigate in Indian Country. “We invariably see the bad side of things here,” he said. “We are constantly seeing tragedy, loss, and people who hurt family members. That is the hardest thing for me about working in Indian Country.”

Still, Fortunato is pleased that justice was served in the Yuselew case, and he believes in the goodness of the vast majority of Native Americans. “Anyone who has visited the Navajo and Zuni reservations and spent time here will tell you that most of the people are terrific, very friendly, and welcoming.”

Next: A team effort makes a difficult job easier.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/june/journey-through-indian-country-part-3/journey-through-indian-country-part-3