crime

Woodburn police arrested a man on assault and other charges early Tuesday after they witnessed a man fighting with a woman.

Police responded to 1274 N Fifth St. on a report of a man armed with a knife and a hitting a female victim. The man apparently knew the woman, who did not sustain serious injuries, police said.

According to police, the man fled on foot after he spotted officers, and he led them through an apartment complex.

Officers and a police dog tracked the man to the 1100 block of N Third Street, where he hid behind a door. After several commands to surrender, officers took him to custody.

Police identified the suspect as Alfonzo Felipe-Jacinto, 25. He was held in the Marion County jail on charges of an outstanding warrant, attempted burglary, assault and strangulation. He also was being held on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

Alcohol might have been a factor, police said. Read more about Man faces charges in connection with assault

Four people were arrested in Hermiston on Saturday for possession of methamphetamine, unlawful possession of weapons and frequenting a place of drugs.

Miguel Angel Alvarado Samaniego, 44, of Hermiston, Laurie Estrada Galindo, 35, of Hermiston, Juan Castillo Gordian, 29, of Mt. Hood, and Obispo Enriquez Valesquez, 21, of Mt. Hood, were arrested on multiple accounts of unlawful possession of controlled substances, forged instruments, weapons and firearms. Samaniego had a warrant in Umatilla County for failure to appear to court and Galindo is a registered felon.

ICE HOLD - Miguel Angel Alvarado Samaniego, Juan Castillo Gordian, Obispo Enriquez Valesquez

Read more about Four arrested near elementary school

Advocates for a U.S .Border Patrol agent sent to prison for arresting a suspect carrying 75 pounds of drugs into the United States are seeking a presidential pardon after an appeals court affirmed the agent’s 24-month sentence.

Jesus E. “Chito” Diaz Jr. was convicted of using extra force in the apprehensive of the suspect, identified as “MBE,” despite the fact the juvenile suspect was returned to Mexico almost immediately without any complaint “that he was injured, hurt, or in pain.”

On appeal, Diaz’ defense argued the trial judge said the case looked like nothing more than a misdemeanor, but the conviction was on a felony.

“Yet, the court affirms the lower court’s decision?” wrote Andy Ramirez, president of the Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council. “Just as it has in prior cases where the government has been hellbent to make victims out of illegal alien narco-terrorists, and turn law enforcement officers into out of control, vicious thugs with badges? We don’t buy it, for this case fits the pattern and does not pass the smell test.”

The reaction came after the conviction of Diaz was affirmed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ramirez said his organization now will seek a presidential pardon “as this purely political case against Agent Diaz is a travesty sought out by the Mexican government in another message prosecution.”

“The Diaz case and decision by the appellate court to affirm the conviction against him continues a pattern of overreaching prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice especially in the Western District of Texas that include well documented cases against former USBP Agents Gary Brugman, Ramos and Compean, Noe Aleman, former FBI Special Agent in Charge Hardrick Crawford, Jr, and former Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez,” Ramirez said.

Diaz issued a statement through the organization: “My family and I are deeply disappointed in the 5th Circuit’s decision on my appeal considering the fact that the presiding judge during oral commented during oral arguments that this looked more like a misdemeanor than a felony.”

Sign a petition demanding Jesus Diaz be freed from a case launched because of pressure from the Mexican government.

E. Grady Jolly, the trial judge, said: “Nobody’s arguing, really, that the officer did the right thing or that it can be justified so much. The question is it just sounds more like a misdemeanor instead of a felony to me.”

Ramirez said the goal is a presidential pardon, after Diaz’ trip through the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution and an El Paso Texas halfway house and since he’s just days ago been restored to his wife and children.

“It is unconscionable that the case, which was pushed by the Mexican government, and included documented suborned perjury, could be affirmed in the favor of the so-called victim, MBE, a narco-terrorist illegal alien,” said Ramirez.

The organization said the drug-running suspect was covered with gang tattoos and had been the subject of a “be on lookout” warning from the Border Patrol already.

Also, far from being injured in the arrest, the only “markings” on MBE were “those from the straps on his shoulders … while carrying 75 lbs of bundled marijuana,” the organization said.

WND reported Diaz was found guilty of denying the teenager his constitutional rights by applying excessive force during the arrest. He was accused eventually of violating the smuggler’s rights by forcing him to the ground during his arrest, handcuffing him, then pulling on his arms to coerce him into complying with orders.

Jesus Diaz Jr.

The audio of the trial judge’s comments have been posted on the LEOAC site.

In it, Jolly stated, “Nobody’s arguing, really, that the officer did the right thing or that it can be justified so much. The question is it just sounds more like a misdemeanor instead of a felony to me.”

According to the FreeAgentDiaz.com website, Diaz was “maliciously prosecuted at the request of the Mexican consul in Eagle Pass, Texas.”

The legal case against the officer was “solely motivated by politics and is yet another example of prosecutorial abuse and misconduct while protecting Mexico’s narco-terror influences,” organizers of the website said.

According to the discovery documents, other agents, hours after the alleged incident, claimed to an off-duty Border Patrol officer that Diaz used “excessive force” on the drug smuggler. That’s even though the suspect “was processed for voluntary return to Mexico by BPA Marco A. Ramirez, and subsequently returned to Mexico on the same date.”

None of the other agents thought the case significant enough to try to stop it at the time.

Several members of Congress, including Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Lamar Smith of the House Judiciary Committee, had been asked to look into the case.

Diaz’ wife earlier said she was outraged because the government told her that her husband would not be allowed to return home even after serving his prison term.

That’s because she also is a Border Patrol agent and is armed.

“I have to ask what does the DOJ want me to do? I can’t retire, I’m too young. Divorcing him is not an option as he would still have to come around for the children. What is Chito going to do about his brother, not see him for the next five years? He carries a gun,” Diana Diaz said in a statement released at the time.

The group has called for the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate the case.

WND reported when the federal government started reaching into the prison commissary fund belonging to Diaz to address part of a $7,000 fine imposed by the judge. That’s even though the court earlier told Diaz the fine would not be paid until after his jail sentence.

Border watchers will remember the extended battle fought by Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean after they were prosecuted, convicted and jailed, again at the request of the Mexican government, for shooting at and striking a drug smuggler who reportedly dropped a load in the U.S. and was fleeing back to Mexico.

Their punishments ultimately were commuted by President George W. Bush, although they did not receive pardons, leaving the convictions on their records.

Their original case stemmed from the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting of Oswaldo Aldrete-Davila. The two officers said they thought Aldrete-Davila was armed and made a threatening move.

WND was among the first to report Aldrete-Davila then committed a second drug offense, smuggling a second load of 750 pounds of marijuana across the border while he was under the protection of immunity from federal prosecutor Johnny Sutton’s office and in possession of a border-pass card authorized by the Department of Homeland Security.

WND also reported when Aldrete-Davila admitted to federal drug smuggling charges, was convicted and sentenced to federal prison for 57 months.

Aldrete-Davila was granted immunity for his drug smuggling by federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against the agents. He had crossed the Rio Grande and picked up a marijuana-loaded vehicle near El Paso. After a car chase in which he fled from the officers, he abandoned the vehicle and ran back across the border on foot. He was shot in the buttocks as he ran. Read more about Appeals court continues border agent's 'Twilight Zone'

On Friday, the Obama administration quietly issued a memo stating that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency will no longer detain or seek to deport illegal aliens charged with misdemeanor crimes.

Among the conditions under which ICE agents are now allowed to issue a detainer, is if "the individual has three or more prior misdemeanor convictions."

Supposedly, there are a few exceptions to the new policy, including those charged with, or convicted of a DUI and sexual abuse.

The memo was signed by John Morton, the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and released on Friday evening.

The Obama administration has become very fond of the infamous so-called 'Friday night document dump,' a long-practiced attempt to not draw attention to the unpopular or damning information contained in the release.

This latest policy, Morton said, restricts action "against individuals arrested for minor misdemeanor offenses."

Read the latest 'Morton memo' in its entirety...

What are some of the crimes that will now be overlooked by ICE?

The following is a partial list of misdemeanors as defined by the state of California:

-Trespassing
-Petty theft
-Disorderly conduct
-Shoplifting
-Receipt for stolen property
-Probation violations
-Driving without a license
-Prostitution
-Reckless driving
-Assault and battery without minimum injury

See a more complete list of California misdemeanors...

Not surprisingly, this decision from the Obama administration has been completely ignored by the mainstream press.

  Read more about ICE: Illegal aliens must now commit at least three crimes to be deported

Two of the top three men involved in Benton County’s second-largest known drug operation will spend the next 10 years in prison.

Benton County Circuit Court Judge David Connell handed down the sentences Thursday to Abel Gonzalez-Martinez, 32, and Juventino Santibanez-Castro, 25, as part of plea agreements negotiated by the Oregon Department of Justice, the Benton County District Attorney’s Office and attorneys for both men.

Gonzalez-Martinez, of Corvallis, will serve 120 months in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to charges of racketeering, delivery of heroin and delivery of methamphetamine — all felonies.

Santibanez-Castro was sentenced to 126 months in exchange for pleading guilty to racketeering, delivery of methamphetamine and conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine.

Both also were sentenced to 36 months of post-prison supervision.

Other drug and racketeering charges were dismissed.

Authorities said that Gonzalez-Martinez was second-in-command to the kingpin of the operation, his older brother, Rogelio Gonzalez-Martinez of Lebanon, who remains in custody.

The enterprise involved bringing in “substantial amounts” of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico for distribution throughout Oregon, according to court testimony.

Some of that activity involved sales to undercover officers who were building a case that culminated in a March 13 raid. Authorities executed more than three dozen search warrants and made 27 arrests, including Santibanez-Castro and the Gonzalez-Martinez brothers.

The raid came almost five years to the day after another huge drug bust, dubbed Ice Breaker, which remains the largest criminal sweep in Benton County’s history. Some of the people arrested in the Ice Breaker 2 raid this March had ties to the earlier drug ring, authorities said.

Police said that Abel Gonzalez-Martinez and Santibanez-Castro acted as runners by supplying dealers with drugs.

On Thursday, Salem attorney Jeff Jones, who represented Abel Gonzalez-Martinez, said his client “got into something and is remorseful.” A father of three children, ages 4, 6 and 9, Gonzalez-Martinez “knows he won’t hug them tonight — or for the next 10 years,” Jones said.

Neither Gonzalez-Martinez nor Santibanez-Castro had anything to say when Judge Connell asked him if he had a statement.

After the sentencing, the men were led away to be turned over to the state Department of Corrections. They wore black and white prison stripes. Their wrists were bound to belly chains, their legs hobbled by ankle shackles.

 Abel Gonzalez-Martinez - ICE HOLD Read more about 10-year terms for drug ring roles

CORVALLIS — A couple who pleaded guilty to various charges in connection with a distracted driving crash that left a motorcyclist dead were sentenced to three years’ probation on Friday in Benton County Circuit Court, but they remained in custody awaiting possible deportation.

Veronica Avila Diaz, 28, and her husband, Jose Antonio Cejas Gutierrez, 31, have been in jail since Oct. 11 on charges stemming from a Sept. 30 collision that took the life of a 72-year-old Eugene man, Kenneth Douglas Carroll.

The wreck occurred on Highway 99W north of Monroe. Avila Diaz, who had little driving experience and no license, was behind the wheel of the couple’s Ford Windstar van, with her husband in the passenger’s seat and their three children riding with them.

According to the account presented in court, she was distracted by Cejas Gutierrez, who was photographing her with his camera phone as she drove south toward Monroe.

She started to drift off the road and then overcorrected, veering into oncoming traffic. The van struck Carroll’s motorcycle, killing him. A third vehicle, with three people inside, swerved off the road to avoid the wreck.

“Jose was taking video of her driving, asking her to look at him,” prosecutor Shani Krumholz said in court on Friday. “The last shot that was taken prior to her hitting the shoulder is a shot of her looking directly at the camera.”

In a plea bargain negotiated with the Benton County District Attorney’s Office, Avila Diaz pleaded guilty on Friday to a single felony count of criminally negligent homicide. Six misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment, related to the other people involved in the crash, were dismissed along with a charge of reckless driving.

Cejas Gutierrez pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution, also a felony, and four misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment.

The couple, who came to the United States from Mexico about nine years ago, were being held by order of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending further proceedings on their immigration status.
  Read more about Couple sentenced in distracted driving case

Gustavo Martinez-Aquepucho will be 70 years old before he is eligible for parole.

The sentencing hearing for the 22-year-old foreign exchange student, who killed his 1-year-old son and the baby’s 19-year-old mother last year, was scheduled to last five days.

But after last-minute negotiations between attorneys Monday, Circuit Court Judge Locke Williams decreed that Martinez-Aquepucho would serve two life sentences for the murders and would not be eligible for parole until he has served 50 years in prison. The former Oregon State University student from Peru was 20 years old when he was arrested for the crime.

Martinez-Aquepucho averted the death penalty when he pleaded guilty Sept. 7 to two counts of aggravated murder for slashing the throats of his son, Theo Aquepucho, and the baby’s mother, Kelsey Baker, on April 29, 2011, in a residence they shared outside Philomath.

A narrative of the crime, based on investigators’ reports and the defendant’s confession, is outlined in court documents from the case.

On the day of the murders, Baker told Martinez-Aquepucho that she had had sex with another man and planned to move out. Martinez-Aquepucho attempted to buy a gun in Philomath. When that failed, he drugged his ex-girlfriend and son with cold medicine mixed in juice and baby formula, then slit their throats with a sharpened kitchen knife as they slept.

He then slit his own wrist; he later told authorities that he planned to die and join his victims in the afterlife. He passed out, and when he awoke hours later, he called 911.

For each count of aggravated murder, the prosecution and defense agreed to recommend to the court a sentence of life in prison with a possibility of parole after 30 years. However, the attorneys could not agree on whether the sentences should run concurrently or consecutively.

On Monday morning, they reached a compromise. Williams sentenced Martinez-Aquepucho to two life sentences and decreed that he serve at least 50 years before he is eligible for parole.

During the sentencing hearing, defense attorney Mark Sabitt described the contrast between the details of the crime and the positive comments about Martinez-Aquepucho in character references. Although the murders were gruesome, people who knew the defendant described him as a sensitive, compassionate young man.

“It’s unprecedented in my 25-plus years in court,” Sabitt said. “It’s a strange dichotomy.”

When it was Martinez-Aquepucho’s turn to speak, he described Baker and Theo as the two most important people in his life. He talked of Theo’s birth and his trip with Baker and Theo to visit his parents in Peru.

“The reason I’m telling you this is because I don’t think this case is about me as much as it is about Kelsey and Theo,” he said. “They were the most wonderful people. The world lost so much without them.”

He spoke of his remorse, guilt and loss, although he also referred to the murders as a “collapse of logic,” a phrase reminiscent of the defense’s forensic mental health evaluation. The report asserted that Martinez-Aquepucho could not be held legally accountable for his actions because he suffered a major depressive episode that distorted his mental health and left him unable to recognize the wrongfulness of his actions.

“It was not an act of anger but an act of desperation, hopelessness that I had,” Martinez-Aquepucho said. “I could see that I was losing my son forever. … All that was in my mind was that we were going to be happy and safe together as a family.”

Martinez-Aquepucho chose not to use a mental disease defense, Sabitt said in a later interview, because the District Attorney’s Office was insistent that if the case went to a jury trial, the state would seek the death penalty.

District Attorney John Haroldson noted at the hearing that aspects of the case were grisly and disturbing, but that, out of respect for the victims’ family, he would not go into detail about the murders. Instead, he held up a photograph of Baker and Theo when they were alive.

“The loss to the Baker family, not surprisingly, has been devastating,” Haroldson said.

Baker’s sisters had harsh words for Martinez-Aquepucho.

“I hope your misery eats away at you until you don’t have the will to open your eyes anymore,” Jordan Savage said. “I think you deserve a greater punishment than our legal system has given you. It is my hope that your mind punishes you in a greater way.”

Noelle Cummings lamented that sometimes it’s difficult to think about good memories of Baker and Theo because images of the brutal murders go hand in hand with the memories.

“When remembering my sister and my nephew, it’s impossible to forget how they died. It wasn’t an accident. It was an intentional, planned attack,” she said. “You took the life of not one but two innocent people — a mother and her infant child. You didn’t have that right; it wasn’t yours. You stole them from me, from my brother, from my sisters, from my family and friends.”

Before handing down his sentence, Judge Williams spoke to Martinez-Aquepucho.

“It’s difficult for the court to come to grips with your background and your seemingly very bright future,” he said, “that through your desperation you thought this was your only remedy, the only proper out, to take the lives of your loved ones.”

Gustavo Martinez-Aquepucho - ICE hold
  Read more about Man sentenced to 2 life terms