4 Texas Policemen Charged with Drug Conspiracy

Two complaints were filed Thursday, December 13, 2012, charging two Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) deputies and two Mission Police Department (MPD) officers with a drug trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

MPD officer Alexis Espinoza, 29, of Alamo, was arrested Wednesday, December 12, 2012, and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos Thursday, December 13, 2012. A decision on his bond has not yet been determined by the court.

A second complaint was filed Thursday, December 13, 2012, charging MPD officer Jonathan Trevino, 28, of McAllen; Fabian Rodriguez, 28, of Edinburg, and Gerardo Duran, 30, of Pharr, both with HCSO. They were arrested Thursday, December 13, 2012, and appeared before Judge Ramos Friday, December 14, 2012.

According to court records, in early 2012 agents learned that members of HCSO's Panama Unit were involved in distributing narcotics. The Panama Unit is a task force designed to target narcotics trafficking in Hidalgo County, and is comprised of law enforcement officers from HCSO and MPD.

This investigation revealed that members of the Panama Unit, including Trevino, Espinoza, Rodriguez and Duran, allegedly used their law enforcement positions to escort and protect loads of smuggled narcotics; and they were paid for their services.

The case is being investigated by the following agencies: the Drug Enforcement Administration; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, the FBI, the Texas Rangers, and the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anibal Alanis and James Sturgis, Southern District of Texas, are prosecuting the case.

HSI Arrests Texas Man Who Threatened Murder of Local Law Enforcement

A local man who threatened to kill area law enforcement officers and members of their families remains in federal custody after special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested him Tuesday, November 27, 2012.

Jacob Ramos Esparza, 30, of Pecos, was arrested about 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 27, 2012, outside a Pecos truck stop.

He was scheduled to have his detention hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday, November 29, 2012, in Alpine, Texas, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dwight Goains.

A federal complaint filed Tuesday, November 27, 2012, charges Esparza with unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally using interstate communications to threaten to injure a person. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the criminal complaint, Esparza was responsible for posting several death threats to Internet chat forums that targeted the Fort Stockton (Texas) Police Department officers and their families, as well as Texas police departments in Pecos, Big Spring and Midland, and the Midland County Sheriff's Office. Additional threats were made through emails, and several contained videos depicting graphic violence to taunt law enforcement. Some of the threats included the intent to use chemical weapons, car bombs and high-caliber munitions.

HSI special agents believe that among the threats Esparza allegedly made, were some posted by username "El Diablo," offering a reward for the head of a local police officer. El Diablo further threatened to "unleash 15 pipe bombs" around the Texas cities of Pecos, Midland and Odessa. He also threatened to place pipe bombs in public places Dec. 25 to "create carnage unimaginable," and kill Fort Stockton police officers and their families using large-caliber weapons, chemical weapons and car bombs.

Dennis A. Ulrich, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso, said: "HSI takes seriously all threats against law enforcement officers. Our special agents in west Texas worked cooperatively and vigorously with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners. This arrest exemplifies the efficiency and force-multiplying effect of law enforcement agencies working together."

The following law enforcement agencies assisted with this investigation: the FBI; Fort Stockton, Pecos and Midland police departments; and Ector and Midland county sheriff's offices.

A criminal complaint is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. The defendant is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

ICE Trip Provides Insight into U.S. Detention and Deportation Practices

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently hosted a familiarization trip for Honduran and Guatemalan immigration officials to learn more about the United States' detention and removal process and policies, and to strengthen ties between the United States and both countries.

During a three-day trip, the officials, along with foreign service nationals and representatives from foreign nongovernmental organizations, traveled to south Texas to gain personal insight into the lifecycle of the detention and removal process.

"From the safe and humane treatment of detainees in detention facilities to the detailed planning that goes into each repatriation flight, they [the officials] now have a greater understanding of the processes," said Marlen Pineiro, ICE assistant attaché in Guatemala. "The tour also gave them an opportunity to address any questions and concerns about treatment, the facilities and property issues."

Marta Munoz, Guatemalan director of consular affairs, found the tour to be educational. She said she is now able to better, "explain [to] the population in general the conditions that people who will be deported are living in and able to clarify the wrong concepts [some people] have regarding the treatment [of] Guatemalans [who] are deported."

After arriving in San Antonio, the contingent visited two ICE adult detention centers – the South Texas Detention Center and the Karnes County Civil Detention Center, ICE's newest detention facility in Pearsall, Texas. This visit gave participants the chance to see firsthand where detainees are housed, the wide-range of services offered and the many protocols that are followed.

The group also toured the Baptist Child and Family Services Juvenile Shelter, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. It houses juveniles during the tenure of their immigration court proceedings. Throughout the facility tours, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers were on hand to answer questions about facility operations.

Additionally, the delegates also observed an immigration court proceeding at the South Texas Detention Center, a program that is managed by the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

For the final leg of the trip, the delegates flew on a scheduled ICE ERO repatriation flight to their respective countries. Staffed by government contractors and ICE Air Operations ERO officers, these flights enable the agency to repatriate large groups of deportees, who have final orders of removal from an immigration judge, in an efficient, expeditious and humane manner.

On an average weekly basis, ICE Air Operations charters approximately eight flights to both Guatemala and Honduras. Each of these flights holds approximately 135 deportees.

Considering the high volume of removals both governments process every day, a familiarization trip like this one goes a long way toward improving coordination and process efficiency and communication channels.

"Any time we can help the host governments better understand what and why we do certain processes, it truly helps to continue to improve our relationships with them," said Pinero. "And, in turn, it helps us understand their needs as they receive their nationals."

Jose Zaldano, a Honduran immigration official on the trip, said he found learning about the administrative and operational procedures in the detention centers for adults and the shelters for minors, as well as the reception protocols of those who are repatriated to the Honduran Republic most beneficial.

"Overall, the trip provided a better understanding of the removal program, fostered communication and stimulated new ideas to improve the repatriation program with the governments," added Everett Chase, ICE assistant attaché in Honduras.

Life Sentence for Texas Cocaine Dealer

A Texas man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, July 10, 2012, for his participation in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Alabama, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

Frank James Abston, 40, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to life imprisonment in federal court after he entered a guilty plea to the charges in November 2011. Judge Callie V. S. Granade imposed the life sentence after conducting a hearing to determine the advisory guideline range applicable to Abston's case. Six witnesses testified to their extensive drug transactions with Abston, who was characterized as a major supplier of cocaine and crack cocaine in Mobile County.

"With Mr. Abston's previous criminal history, he should have known that severe consequences were in store for him should he continue to violate the law," said Raymond R. Parmer Jr., special agent in charge of HSI New Orleans. "HSI has had no better partners than the Mobile County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama in identifying and arresting significant drug traffickers in our area of operations. This significant sentence should put Mr. Abston's former colleagues on notice that they will either reform their ways or share his fate." Parmer oversees HSI activities in Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

According to the testimony, most of the drug transactions occurred in south Mobile County, in the Grand Bay area. Abston's co-defendant, Walter Lee Hodges, testified that Abston hired him to transport cocaine on the bus two days before they were arrested by Mobile County sheriff's deputies. Hodges testified that he and Abston's girlfriend each brought a kilogram of cocaine on the bus from Houston to Mobile. When they were stopped in a vehicle off Interstate 10 in Mobile, they had approximately 500 grams of cocaine in the car.

Hodges testified that Abston sold the rest of the cocaine the night they arrived and the next morning.

Abston testified at the hearing in his own behalf, and he claimed that he was only minimally involved in selling drugs and that his former defense attorney misled him about the terms of his guilty plea. After the testimony was concluded, Judge Granade found that Abston occupied a position of leadership in the conspiracy, that he was accountable for at least 127 kilograms of cocaine and 1.4 kilograms of crack cocaine (both figures she characterized as very conservative), and that Abston was not entitled to any mitigation in the guideline calculations because he had not been truthful in his testimony before the court.

Judge Granade found that his advisory guideline range was life imprisonment, and that because of his prior drug convictions, the federal enhancement statute also called for a life sentence.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gloria Bedwell.

ICE Seizes Almost $900,000 in Counterfeit Goods at Texas Flea Market

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Sunday, April 15, seized nearly 20,000 counterfeit items with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of nearly $900,000, at the local Fox Plaza flea market.

The enforcement operation was part of the continuing efforts of HSI's Commercial Fraud Group, and the Southwest Border Financial Operations and Currency United Strike Force (FOCUS) to track down individuals who sell counterfeit and pirated products.

It took HSI special agents a few days to count the following seized items and identify the MSRP:

·                             8,911 DVDs with an MSRP of $122,210.72;

·                             10,669 CDs with an MSRP of $128,454.76; and

·                             1,728 items, including handbags, NFL merchandise and NIKE-brand sneakers with an MSRP of   $648,409.15.

A total of 21,308 items were seized with an MSRP of $899,074.63.

The following Border Enforcement Task Force members also participated in the operation; U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission, and the El Paso Sheriff's Department. Trademark representatives were on site to authenticate merchandise. Representatives of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America also assisted.

"Counterfeiting is a significant problem that affects our economy, impacts American jobs, and puts the public's health and safety at risk," said Dennis A. Ulrich, special agent in charge for HSI El Paso. "Consumers who buy pirated products may also be funding criminal organizations with their purchases."

Operations such as the one conducted at the Fox Plaza Flea Market are coordinated through the HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. The IPR Center uses the expertise of its 20 member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions and conduct investigations related to IP theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public's health and safety, the U.S. economy and the war fighters. To report IP theft or to learn more about the IPR Center, visit www.IPRCenter.gov.