crime

Many of the suspects arrested in the food stamp fraud bust known as Operation Gold Card appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. Future dates were set, but the cases did not advance much behind scheduling the next steps in the sprawling legal proceeding.

As of Tuesday, 49 suspects had been arrested for allegedly trading their state benefits for cash. Sixty-five suspects were identified in the investigation, which means 16 people are still being sought by the authorities.

Operation Gold Card was launched last spring in the wake of the multi-agency drug bust known as Operation Trojan Horse.

A source pointed local and federal law enforcement officers to a meat market and taco stand in Klamath Falls where the owners were allegedly ringing up customers with phony purchases in order to trade them cash for the electronic benefits contained on their Oregon Trail Cards, at the rate of 50 cents on the dollar.

Arrests began early in the morning of May 10 at several locations. The three alleged ringleaders in the operation — Jose Moreno-Hernandez, Rafael Ortega-Vargas and Severo Toro-Castellon — were arrested in the first day.

Detective Eric Shepherd, Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, said all the identified suspects are Klamath County residents. The 16 who are unaccounted for are still thought to be in the area as well.

“They’re all locals. These guys are not going to flee … I don’t think they have the means to relocate,” Shepherd said. “They may not even know that they’re wanted.”

Some of the wanted suspects are transients, making them hard to locate, or frequent guests of the county jail, meaning law enforcement officers will probably run into them eventually.

The food stamp fraud operation is thought to have made $12,000 to $20,000 a month. It may have been running for the past five years.

“It’s an easy system to defraud; it’s temptation. People are out of work, out of money, they’re looking for a way to get an extra dollar,” Shepherd said of the lure of the fraud operation. “You can’t buy certain things on a Oregon Trail Card you can buy with cash.”

Court hearings

Judge Marci Adkisson’s courtroom was packed Tuesday afternoon with Gold Card suspects and other, unrelated defendants. It was standing room only as people stood in the aisle and spilled out into the hallway.

Moreno-Hernandez and Ortega-Vargas were both present in restraints, as neither has posted their bail amounts.

Currently held in lieu of a $1 million bail bond, Moreno-Hernandez had previously pleaded not guilty to 10 charges. His trial date was set for July 2 at 9 a.m.

A settlement offer in the case should be prepared by the end of the week. District Attorney Rob Patridge said in court the state is waiting for additional information from the KCSO.

“It will take a while,” Patridge noted. “We believe there are funds stashed elsewhere as well.”

Ortega-Vargas, held in lieu of $750,000, had his trial also set for July 2. Patridge noted there might be pending immigration issues with both suspects.

According to Patridge and his deputy DAs, offers and discovery information should be completed for the rest of the Gold Card suspects by the end of this week.

Other cases

Detective Shepherd said several other food stamp fraud cases have sprung up around Oregon. Last week in Beaverton, a man accused of running a scheme similar to the alleged dealings in Klamath Falls was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

According to the Oregonian, 42-year-old Mahmoud Tajgerdu was trading cash for benefits out of his meat market and gas station. He may have been able to steal more than $1 million from the welfare system.

Several of Tajgerdu’s employees were charged in the case as well, according to the Oregonian. Read more about Food stamp fraud defendants flood the court

BEND, Ore. - As about a dozen supporters rallied outside, a man and woman protesting Republicans' inaction on immigration reform staged a sit-in at Rep. Greg Walden's Bend office Wednesday, saying they won't leave until they are arrested -- and they were.

After police were called to the Bond Street office of the congressman, Greg Delgado and Ann Havill still refused to leave, were cited for criminal trespass and released, said Officer Rob Emerson.

Here's the news release issued earlier by Causa, a statewide Latino immigrant rights organization:

It’s been nearly a year since the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan immigration bill, and during that time, House Republicans have used nearly every excuse in the book as to why they can’t finish the job and pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.

Today, in solidarity with actions happening around the nation, members of the Central Oregon community are holding a sit-in and rally at Congressman Greg Walden's District office in Bend. They are demanding that Congressman Walden take action immediately on reforming our nation's broken immigration system.

“He has admitted that the system is broken, but he has yet to do anything”, said Greg Delgado, Causa's Central Oregon Organizer. “ We urge him to sign the discharge petition, take action on the Immigration Reform Bill already passed by the U.S. Senate or have the U.S. House create a bill.”

Delgado added, “It’s now or never for the GOP. We’re here today to remind Congressman Walden and Republicans: your time is nearly up. They either heed the calls of their constituents and call Speaker Boehner to demand he schedule a vote by June 28^th, or sit idly as their party kisses the White House—and eventually Congress—goodbye for decades to come.”

“The future of the Republican Party is on the line," he added." "Doing nothing will sever their ties with Latino, Asian, and immigrant voters for decades. Unless they come out publicly against the Republican obstruction, every House Republican is responsible for blocking immigration reform, and they will be blamed for tearing apart our families and communities.”

STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES: We are calling on Congressman Greg Walden and Republicans to show moral courage and leadership by calling for a vote in the House on Comprehensive Immigration Reform with a path to citizenship.

Who: Human rights advocates, farmworkers, students, faith leaders, labor community and Central Oregon residents committed to passing immigration reform that respects the dignity and the rights of all immigrants and includes a path to citizenship. Read more about Sit-in protesters arrested at Walden's Bend office

According to the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Inmate Population Profile dated May 1, 2014 DOC indicated there were 14,657 prisoners incarcerated in DOC’s 14 prisons (See attachment).

Not included in DOC’s May 1st Inmate Population Profile was DOC data indicating there were 1,133 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in its prison system (See attachment).

All 1,133 criminal aliens incarcerated on May 1st by DOC had United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), detainers. The U.S. DHS–ICE is responsible for indentifying whether a DOC inmate is a criminal alien or a domestic inmate. If an inmate is identified as being a criminal alien, at U.S. DHS–ICE’s request, the DOC places an “ICE detainer” on the inmate that directs DOC officials to transfer custody to ICE following completion of the inmate’s state sanction.

Criminal aliens made up approximately 7.73% of the DOC May 1st prison population (See table).

  Read more about Six year report: Criminal aliens incarcerated in the Oregon Dept. of Corrections

It's been exactly one year since Princess Irina Walker, the daughter of the last king of Romania, was indicted on federal charges that she and more than a dozen co-defendants were involved in a cockfighting business in eastern Oregon...

...Apolinar Munoz-Gutierrez, also known as Polo. He has been in custody since his arrest and has an immigration hold.

At least three defendants pleaded guilty in a companion case from Washington state ...

Authorities say the couple staged at least 10 cockfighting derbies...

They have pleaded not guilty.

...trial is set for July 14.

Walker, 61, has lived in Oregon for decades. She is the third daughter of former Romanian

  Read more about Princess Irina co-defendant 'Polo' to change plea in eastern Oregon cockfighting case

A man arrested Wednesday night for allegedly shooting a BB gun at a car in Oregon City turned out to be an convicted felon who had been deported to Mexico two years ago...

...The detained driver provided a Mexico driver license that was later determined to be fake with a false name and date of birth. Subsequent investigation also led to the discovery of a BB gun in the pickup, approximately 5 grams of suspected heroin, and over $6,600 cash.

...The suspect provided another name and date of birth that also proved to be false. He said he was deported over 2 years ago and had illegally returned about a month ago...

  Read more about Convicted felon deported to Mexico 2 years ago, arrested after shooting BB gun at car

Nearly 200 murderers, over 400 rapists, and 300 kidnappers in the U.S. illegally were released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting deportation proceedings, according to a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies.

A total of 36,007 criminal illegal immigrants that were being processed for deportation were freed in 2013. Together, they committed nearly 88,000 crimes, according to the report, published Monday.

“I was astonished at not only the huge number of convicted criminals who were freed from ICE custody last year – an average of almost 100 a day — but also at the large number of very serious crimes they had committed,” said Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, in a statement.

ICE gathered the statistics — which include a breakdown by crime — in response to congressional inquiry following another report released earlier this year by the Center of Immigration Studies.

That report, which was based on internal Department of Homeland Security documents, showed that ICE encountered over 193,000 illegal immigrant convicts. Charging documents were issued for 125,000, and nearly 68,000 were released.

That review also found that 870,000 illegal immigrants had been removed from ICE dockets despite being in defiance of the law. The number of illegal aliens targeted for deportation fell 28 percent between 2012 and 2013, according to the documents.

The 36,007 illegal immigrants reported Monday were freed by ICE during the final disposition of their cases. The 68,000 from the previous report were criminals who encountered ICE agents — often in jails — but were released without undergoing deportation proceedings.

The 36,007 were released by bond, parole, unsupervised release, or on their own recognizance.

Besides violent criminals, ICE released nearly 16,000 illegal immigrants convicted of driving under the influence. The report also shows that ICE released nearly 2,700 illegal immigrants convicted of assault, 1,300 convicted for domestic violence, and nearly 1,300 convicted for battery.

“These figures call into question President Obama’s request to Congress for permission to reduce immigration detention capacity by 10 percent in favor of permission to make wider use of experimental alternatives to detention,” reads the report.

In June 2011, the administration began applying “prosecutorial discretion” to many deportation cases. This has led to a 40 percent decrease in the number of deportations.

“Congress should resist further action on immigration reform until the public can be assured that enforcement is more robust and that ICE can better deal with its criminal alien caseload without setting them free in our communities,” said Vaughan in a statement. Read more about Murderers, Rapists, Kidnappers: Over 36,000 Criminal Illegal Immigrants Released In 2013

There was one less drug-related death in Oregon last year, compared to 2012.

What stood out: The fewest number of people died as a result of cocaine use in more than a decade, but the greatest number of people lost their lives as a result of methamphetamine use since 2000...

...123 methamphetamine-related deaths did not result from overdoses of the drug, but the result of other traumatic incidents, such as a drowning or a car crash. Methamphetamine use is also linked to seizures and sudden elevation in blood pressure, which can cause strokes or a heart attack.
...Superlabs in Mexico took over production of methamphetamine after domestic U.S. production was essentially eliminated due to the limits placed on the key ingredient, pseudoephedrine, he said.

"Meth is probably the most plentiful drug in the western United States,'' Kruger said...

Dr. Karen Gunson, state medical examiner, said illicit drug deaths dropped by one in 2013, to 222 deaths from 223 in 2012. Last year, the state recorded the highest number of methamphetamine-related deaths since 2000, Gunson said.Stuart Tomlinson/The Oregonian/2012...

  Read more about Oregon drug deaths: More people dying from meth use, cocaine-related deaths at a low

A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that local law enforcement agencies must not comply with ICE detainers, a key tool used by ICE to take custody of criminal aliens for investigation and possible removal. As a result, nine sheriffs in Oregon announced that they would cease honoring detainers and begin releasing any arrested aliens who complete their sentence or bond out of jail before ICE has a chance to charge them.

Judge Janice Stewart's ruling is one product of a years-long campaign waged by legal activists with the support of Obama administration officials. The central issue is whether locals should treat the detainer as something they "shall" comply with, according to the language of the federal regulation, or as a "request". Her decision is particularly controversial and problematic because she went farther than some other federal judges by saying that the ICE detainer is not just a request for local authorities to grant or leave, but that granting the request by holding the alien for ICE is a civil rights violation, thus taking away all discretion from local authorities. Her decision might still be appealed or overturned through legislation, policy adjustments at ICE, or further litigation, but the short-term consequences will make it difficult for those communities struggling to address the problems created by criminal aliens.

The immediate impact is the release of many criminal aliens who will disappear rather than face charges. Some of these aliens will commit new crimes. The sheriff of Multnomah County, Ore., lifted 50 holds on the first day of the new policy and no doubt hundreds more will be released in the coming months. The ICE field office in Seattle, which covers Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, issued more than 7,500 detainers in 2013. We can expect that community groups and sheriffs will be interested in monitoring who is released and what happens as a result.

Stewart's decision affects only Oregon, but it is influential and many other jurisdictions will conclude that, for now, they have no choice but to cease holding arrested aliens for ICE in order to avoid lawsuits filed by local legal aid organizations on behalf of criminal aliens who are able to bond out on their local charges. A few states, including Arizona, Virginia, and New Jersey, may not be affected because they have already passed state laws that prohibit bail or allow higher bails to be set for illegal aliens (although these laws have been the target of litigation as well). Jurisdictions fortunate enough to have 287(g) agreements also should not be disrupted, because they are less dependent on detainers, since the designated officers have the authority to put criminal aliens on the path to removal without waiting for ICE.

The Obama administration has been directly complicit in facilitating this kind of litigation, which strikes a blow at ICE's highest priority task — the identification and removal of criminal aliens. Until recently, ICE's official position was that it expected local agencies to comply with detainers, even though it moved internally to soften the language used on the detainer forms to give locals a basis for refusing if they so choose. Those local partners that do comply have had to fend for themselves in dealing with any lawsuits on behalf of individuals they hold for ICE who turned out not to be deportable, but at least two courts have endorsed the position that detainers can reasonably be considered mandatory and sheriffs should be held harmless if they properly comply.

Enter Dan Ragsdale, the current deputy director of ICE. Several weeks ago, in response to a request for clarification submitted by the California State Sheriffs Association, which has been struggling to reconcile its view that detainers are mandatory with a new California law forbidding them to comply in certain situations, Ragsdale issued the following statement on behalf of ICE, but over the objections of senior career ICE personnel: "[W]hile immigration detainers are an important part of ICE's efforts to remove criminal aliens who are in federal, state, or local custody, they are not mandatory as a matter of law." The California sheriffs are still wondering aloud why Ragsdale made no mention of the federal regulation telling them that they "shall maintain custody" of an alien after a detainer is served.

While this development certainly will make it harder for ICE agents and officers to do their jobs, it does not necessarily mean that interior enforcement will decline any further. ICE need only make some adjustments in the way it requests the transfer of criminal aliens from local police and sheriffs, specifically by issuing warrants of arrest, and providing them as attachments to the detainers. In addition, ICE can revise the detainer form so that it can have more force when ICE has sufficient probable cause to arrest an alien, and serve as a request when that is more appropriate, for example when ICE needs to wait for a conviction. There is no reason whatsoever that ICE should not be able to maintain its current (anemic) pace of removals.

Sheriffs, on the other hand, have good reason to complain, especially if ICE does not follow through with the needed adjustments. Most sheriffs do not wish to return deportable criminals to their communities to continue preying on the people they protect. They have united to fight sanctuary policies imposed by legislatures and governors in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and other states. Most are perfectly agreeable to cooperating with ICE, but do not want to be held liable or to be stiffed by ICE and DOJ and left twisting in the wind in court in the occasional case where something goes wrong.

Congress can help by increasing funding and creating incentives for 287(g) programs, which the Obama administration has tried to shut down. In addition, Congress should pass the SAFE Act, which cleared the House Judiciary Committee last year and makes detainers mandatory, among other needed reforms. States, too, can enact various types of legislation that would blunt the reach of the Oregon ruling and preserve federal and local discretion to cooperate. Community activists and victims' rights groups also have a role to play, by obtaining information on criminal alien releases from local authorities and making sure that their neighbors and appropriate institutions are alerted. Read more about ICE Policy Change on Detainers Fuels Lawsuits to Obstruct Enforcement