On Duty Government Officer Arrested with 9.7 lbs of Marijuana

A state government employee is in federal custody after his arrest Wednesday, September 26, 2012, on a drug charge. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents are investigating the case.

Saul Velasco, 37, of Alamogordo, N.M., is charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He was arrested Sept. 26 at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 70 west of Alamogordo.

According to court documents, Border Patrol agents found 9.7 pounds of marijuana in the state government vehicle Velasco was driving. As New Mexico juvenile probation officer, Velasco was on official duty when he was arrested.

There were 10 bundles of marijuana in a gym bag inside Velasco's vehicle, according to court documents. He allegedly paid $2,500 for the nearly 10 pounds of marijuana from a man whom he met near a restaurant on U.S. Highway 54, north of El Paso, Texas.

Velasco had his initial appearance in federal court Thursday, September 27, 2012, in Las Cruces; he was scheduled for a preliminary and detention hearing Friday, September 28, 2012. HSI special agents assigned to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) in Las Cruces continue to investigate the case.

BEST is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE-led initiative that operates along the U.S.-Mexico border. BEST in Las Cruces was formed in June 2009, and is one of 32 BEST teams with locations around the U.S. and Mexico. HSI is charged with enforcing a wide array of immigration and customs laws, including those related to securing the border and combating criminal smuggling.

Las Cruces BEST members include the following law enforcement agencies: HSI, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), CBP's Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Doña Ana Sheriff's Office.

BEST members are co-located so that they can effectively share information among their partner agencies. Close coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies helps to identify and eliminate cross-border criminal organizations and the infrastructures that sustain them.

$22 Million of Cocaine Seized; 3 Dominican Republic Nationals Arrested for Drug Trafficking

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with other members of the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF), arrested three Dominican Republic nationals for drug trafficking and seized 918 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $22 million Monday, September 17, 2012, off the southern coast of Puerto Rico.

"In less than one month HSI and its partners in the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force have seized more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine," said Angel Melendez, acting special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. "These seizures and related arrests are clear proof that HSI, along with our state and federal partners, are vigilant and will not tolerate the importation of illegal drugs into the United States through Puerto Rico."

On Sept. 17, Puerto Rico Police Department's (PRPD) United Forces for Rapid Action (FURA), working jointly with CCSF partners, detected a suspicious vessel with two outboard engines reaching the shores of Tuna Beach in the town of Maunabo, Puerto Rico. Immediately after detection FURA, with the assistance of the U.S. Border Patrol, proceeded to intercept the vessel which had made it to the beach with 811 bricks of cocaine inside.

Three Dominican Republic nationals, Cecilio Mercedes-De la Cruz, Jose Miguel Guzman-De los Santos and Victor Manuel Carela, were arrested in conjunction with the seizure. They had their initial hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille Velez-Rive Tuesday and were transferred to the Guaynabo, Puerto Rico Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting the outcome of their case.

CCSF is an initiative of the U.S. Attorney's Office created to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations operating in the Caribbean. CCSF is part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force that investigate South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics using the Caribbean as a transshipment point for further distribution to the United States. The initiative is composed of HSI, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Coast Guard, CBP and PRPD's FURA.

International Drug Trafficker Convicted After Decades of Drug Conspiracy

A drug trafficker believed to have been operating since at least the 1980s was convicted by jury Monday, May 21, of a federal drug conspiracy charge for his role as the leader of an international drug trafficking and money laundering ring that operated at least 14 years out of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Bahamas, France, Italy, Spain and other countries.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Gregory Joel Sitzmann, 61, who was born in Iowa and most recently resided in Colombia, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

The verdict followed a six-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sitzmann faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. A status hearing is scheduled for June 12.

"Mr. Sitzmann was the leader of an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization and is a career criminal with multiple narcotics felony convictions in the United States and elsewhere," said John P. Torres, special agent in charge for HSI Washington. "HSI and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who continue their illicit activities even after prior convictions."

According to the government's evidence, Sitzmann has used and conspired to use numerous individuals and methods to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia and Mexico into the United States and into numerous countries around the world.

For example, he used commercial and private airplanes, automobiles, trucks and luggage with secret compartments to move the drugs. He also contemplated using Colombian air force planes to smuggle cocaine into Canada.

Evidence showed that Sitzmann has been involved in drug smuggling and money laundering since at least the 1980s and that he provided hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to a Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Montreal, Canada, throughout the 1990s. He maintained corporations and bank accounts in Panama, Switzerland, Luxembourg and elsewhere to facilitate his money laundering and the purchase of assets.

"Gregory Sitzmann was a high-flying international cocaine trafficker who eluded justice for decades," said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., for the District of Columbia. "Thanks to a District of Columbia jury, Mr. Sitzmann is no longer free to smuggle cocaine and cash from one country to the next. He will now remain behind bars to contemplate the countless lives destroyed by the drugs he distributed for so many years."

"This case demonstrates that the District of Columbia cannot be used as a platform for distributing drugs throughout the United States," said Cathy L. Lanier, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. "This defendant smuggled drugs worldwide for years. A jail cell is far less exotic than some of the countries he operated in – but fitting."

Sitzmann was indicted Aug. 7, 2008, by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for activities that took place during the 1990s and at least until 2004. The day after the indictment, Sitzmann was deported from France to the United States, where HSI special agents arrested him. He has been in custody ever since. The defendant delayed trial for years, using numerous attorneys while alternating with demands to represent himself.

The prosecution grew out of the efforts of the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency team that conducts comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the nationwide program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.

In recent years, investigations by this task force have led to the arrests and indictments of dozens of people from drug organizations that operate in the Washington, D.C., area.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the French National Police, French Customs, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Royal Bahamas Police assisted in the investigation.

MS-13 Gang Members Indicted

An indictment was unsealed Thursday, April 19, against five members or associates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang on racketeering, drug trafficking and firearms violations. These indictments were announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas, and Robert Rutt, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston.

The arrests took place Wednesday, April 18, throughout the Houston area by officers from the following law enforcement agencies: HSI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Harris County Sheriff's Department, and the Houston Police Department. The arrests followed the conclusion of a two-year investigation.

The indictment was returned April 11; it was unsealed April 19 following the arrests of Rodney Zaid Mejia, Pedro Melendez and Hector Villarreal, all 20-year-olds from Houston. They will make their initial appearances Thursday, April 19, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances H. Stacy.

Two other defendants, Hector Abarca, 21, and Johnnie Sanchez, 31, also from Houston, were already in state custody and are expected to appear on these charges before a U.S. magistrate judge in the near future.

Those arrested April 18 are alleged members or associates of the MS-13 street gang. According to the indictment, the word "Mara" is the term used in El Salvador for gang, while the phrase "Salvatrucha" is a combination of the words "Salva" (an abbreviation for Salvadoran) and "trucha" (a slang term for the warning "fear us," "look out" or "heads up"). The gang allegedly makes money by trafficking in narcotics and protects its territory from rival gang members through violence.

The indictment alleges Mejia, Abarca and Melendez engaged in racketeering by attempting to commit murder to gain entry to or advance membership in MS-13. Sanchez and Villarreal allegedly participated in narcotics trafficking. The indictment also alleges various firearms charges.

If convicted of the racketeering charge, the defendants face up to 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of post-prison supervised release; the narcotics charges carry up to 20 years in prison. The firearms charge carries a term of up to 10 years imprisonment.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tim S. Braley and Mark Donnelly, Southern District of Texas, are prosecuting the case.