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LA employment agency owner gets 2-year prison term for visa fraud
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 04, 2014
FREE
Volume 2, No. 5
Glendale: Nine years ago this week 11 lost their lives in second deadliest Metrolink train disaster
Defendant named unwitting hospitals, non-profit organizations in bogus visa applications The owner of a Los Angeles employment agency was sentenced Monday morning to two years in prison on charges stemming from a probe that revealed she filed bogus work visa petitions on behalf of dozens of aliens she falsely claimed had been recruited for positions with prominent hospitals and non-profit organizations. Lilia Tabafunda, 58, owner of People’s Resources International Services in the Wilshire Center district of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for making erroneous statements on an employment visa petition for an alien she claimed was going to work for a local respiratory hospital. U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins also sentenced Tabafunda to serve a concurrent prison term of 12 months and one day for lying during her own interview for U.S. citizenship. In addition to the prison term, Judge Collins ordered Tabafunda to pay more than $54,000 in restitution. Finally, the defendant will face deportation upon completion of her prison term. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Please see page 3
John Scott selected as Interim Sheriff of LA
-Courtesy Photo
-Photo by Terry Miller
Then sheriff Lee Baca tours the wreckage where11 people died as a result of one man’s actions 9 year’s ago this week
by terry miller The 2005 Glendale train crash was the second deadliest incident in the history of Metrolink, the commuter railroad in the Los Angeles. The 2008 Chatsworth train collision
was even deadlier. On January 26, 2005, at 6:03 a.m, southbound Metrolink commuter train collided with a sport utility vehicle that had been abandoned on the tracks on the Chevy Chase Drive grade crossing by an alleged sui-
cidal man who changed his mind moments before. The train jackknifed and struck trains on either side of it – one a stationary Union Pacific freight train, and the other a northbound Metrolink train traveling in the opposite direction. The chain-
reaction collisions resulted in the deaths of 11 people. In 2008, Juan Manuel Alvarez, the man who abandoned his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks, was convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder and was given 11 consecutive life sentences.
Southern California artist creates a peace of Sochi history
Artist donates sculpture to Olympic host city
-Courtesy Photo
If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many messages can be conveyed by a 22 foot tall, 8,000 pound, stainless steel ballerina sculpture. According to acclaimed architectural artist and sculptor Ron Taybi, the most important message is Peace. Moved by the thought of cultures and countries from all over the world peacefully coming together this February during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Taybi was inspired to create. And that he did, producing a monumental one-of-a-kind stainless steel, self-lit ballerina, featuring an ever-changing
color panel and majestic pose, named “Gracious – Beacon of Peace.” “My highest aspiration is to promote peace across the world with my art and to encourage other artists to do the same, since art is a universal language.” said Taybi. “It is my way of starting a grassroots effort to advocate for worldwide peace." Set to be donated to the Olympics’ host city, Taybi will accompany the sculpture to its new home in Russia where it will serve as a beacon of hope in front of the Ballet Museum. To date, in addition to the countless hours of time that he and his
tireless team have devoted to the project over the last four months, Taybi has invested close to a quarter of a million dollars in the Ballerina. “It’s an honor to bring ‘Gracious’ to Sochi,” continued Taybi who was able to masterfully blend his technical, engineering and artistic prowess into one aesthetic masterpiece. “It is my contribution toward achieving ultimate and permanent peace. “ Marking the first largescale, international, physical art endowment since the Statue of Liberty, “Gracious Beacon of Peace,” will be unPlease see page 4
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors selected Orange County’s number two ranking undersheriff to temporarily run the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department after the retirement of Sheriff Lee Baca. Undersheriff John Scott has worked 36 years with the LASD including heading its Custody Operations Division. Baca, who took office in December 1998, is stepping down on today after serious investigations about his department’s handling of the Los Angeles county jail system became public. The primary election to choose the new sheriff is June 3.
Drought prompts CAL fire to increase statewide staffing With unseasonably high temperatures, limited rainfall and moisture levels resembling the state’s peak fire season, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced today that it has hired 125 supplemental firefighters in Northern California and extended seasonal firefighting forces in Southern California due to dry winPlease see page 2