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LAPD seizes $65 million in cash in laundering raids Nine arrested in raids in 70 locations
BY VICTORIA KIM AND JOE MOZINGO MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
LOS ANGELES — Federal agents launched a series of raids in the downtown Los Angeles fashion district on Wednesday and seized an estimated $65 million in cash and other assets they allege were part of a widespread attempt by Mexican drug cartels to launder narcotics profits. Nine people were arrested in raids targeting 70 locations, many of them businesses in the fashion district. Federal officials said they believe the drug organizations have used numerous businesses in the garment district to convert their vast earnings into pesos, turning Los Angeles into a hub for “trade-based money laundering.” “Los Angeles has become the epicenter of narco-dollar money laundering with couriers regularly bringing duffel bags and suitcases full of cash to many businesses,” Robert E. Dugdale, the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of federal criminal prosecutions here, said in a statement. Wednesday’s seizures included piles of cash and money stashed in bank accounts around the world, federal authorities said. Agents with the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement infiltrated several peso brokerages operating in Los Angeles, officials said. The undercover
AL SEIB MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Swarms of law enforcement officers descended on dozens of businesses in Los Angeles’ downtown fashion district on Wednesday as part of an investigation into suspected money laundering related to drug trafficking. officers delivered bundles of cash, sometimes shrinkwrapped in grocery bags, to storefronts in the fashion district, even telling business owners that the money came from drug trafficking. Operations that launder drug money through legitimate trade have soared since Mexico restricted the use of American dollars in 2010, forcing the cartels to convert their dollars to pesos without tipping off authorities. Black market peso brokers suddenly found themselves in high demand. The brokers contact legitimate Mexican importers who want to buy goods in Los
Angeles. If an importer wants to buy $30,000 worth of shirts, for example, the broker directs a drug contact in the United States to pay the bill to a shirt wholesaler in dollars. The importer in Mexico then pays the broker in pesos, who takes a cut, and pays the rest to a cartel. In the most harrowing scheme detailed in the three indictments released Wednesday the Sinaloa cartel allegedly directed ransom money to be delivered to Q.T. Fashion Inc., a maternity apparel wholesaler on East 12th Street. The ransom involved a drug distributor who had
fallen into debt to the cartel when U.S. agents intercepted a shipment of 100 kilograms of cocaine he was responsible for. He was allegedly kidnapped and tortured at a ranch in Sinaloa until he could pay off the debt. His family and friends delivered at least $140,000 in bulk cash to the Los Angeles business, according to the indictment. Q.T. then sent clothes to a retail business in Culiacan, Sinaloa, prosecutors allege. The indictments also accuse three other businesses — Yili Underwear, Gayima Underwear and Pacific Eurotex Corp. — of laundering drug trafficking proceeds.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
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VISAS County holds large Asian, Latino and Congolese immigrant populations, and these foreign-born residents create their own communities within the county. “For example, the Congolese community, which speaks French, are active in the Stone Creek Church in Urbana and First Presbyterian Church in Champaign,” Flowers said. “Immigrant communities from Mexico and Guatemala are active in the Catholic Church, but also in several Evangelical congregations, as is the Filipino community, while immigrants from Korea and China are more closely connected to networks that can be best reached through the University of Illinois faculty, staff and students.” But only one in four, or 26.5 percent, of foreign-born residents are naturalized citizens in Champaign County, Flowers said. Meanwhile, in the Chicago area, about 45 percent of the foreign-born residents are naturalized citizens. “Champaign County lags behind almost all other communities in Illinois when comparing the percent of foreign-born residents who are naturalized citizens,” Flowers said. With large numbers of noncitizen residents in the Champaign-Urbana area, the YMCA strives to create a more immigrant-friendly community, Flowers said. The YMCA works at this goal by reaching out to other immigrant organizations in the area, such as the C-U Immigration Forum, a group that works toward improving the lives of immigrants in Champaign County. “I’m here because I’ve been involved in immigration issues pretty much all my life as a secondary immigrant here in the U.S.,” said Tom Garza, president of the C-U Immigration Forum. “It
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was really delightful for me to discover that other people have to deal with these kinds of things, too, and that they were actually trying to invent this place where we could all get together and talk.” The YMCA also offers programs such as La Linea, a helpline that assists people by connecting them to resources for legal consultation, health care, deportation, housing, educational resources and translation. “The most fulfilling part of this program is helping people start the process of becoming a U.S. citizen by giving them information about the process and clearing any doubts they may have,” said Muong Saeteurn, MSW intern at the University YMCA. “For many people, there is a lot of hesitance to apply because they either don’t know the requirements or they are concerned about other things, like cost and the tests they must take. That’s where we come in and assist people by providing them information about naturalization and referring them to local resources that can aid them with the civics tests.” Although some workers at the YMCA are paid for assisting people under the New Americans Initiative, the YMCA also relies on volunteers to do outreach, connect people to resources, coordinate events and provide oneon-one consultation. “Anyone can volunteer, and we are always looking for help with publicity, outreach, translation of documents into different languages, and assistance at monthly citizenship information and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival) workshops,” Flowers said. The YMCA also hosts a monthly citizenship clinic for permanent residents; this month’s is today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oscar Romero Parish Center, 207 N. Wright Street.
Meghan can be reached at mewebbe2@ dailyillini.com.
Father expected to be charged with murder BY CHRISTINE MAI-DUC MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
A South Carolina father killed his five children “early on” after they went missing and drove their bodies, wrapped in plastic bags, in the back of his car through several states before dumping them in Alabama, investigators now believe. The bodies of the five children, ages 1 to 8, were found Tuesday afternoon in a wooded area off a dirt road near Highway 10, east of Oak Hill, Ala., said Lewis McCarty, sheriff of Lexington County, S.C. The father, Timothy Jones Jr. of Lexington County, led investigators to the bodies, which McCarty said were wrapped in individual plastic bags and in an “advanced state of decomposition.” Jones is expected to be charged with five counts of murder in the coming days, McCarty said. Officials believe the children were killed all at once in South Carolina, and that Jones had driven through five states over “several days” before leaving the bodies, wrapped in individual plastic bags, in a wooded clearing. Authorities said they still don’t know why Jones may have killed his children, and no cause of death has been determined. Speaking to reporters, authorities displayed photos of the five smiling children,
but declined to name them until autopsy results confirm the identities of the remains. Records released by the sheriff’s department describe the children as an 8-year-old girl, a 7-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy, a 2-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl. The children were reported missing by their mother on Sept. 3 and were last seen with their father, who had primary custody of them. On Aug. 28, sheriff’s deputies said, Jones picked up his three kids from school and then retrieved the younger two from daycare. Authorities say that same day, he forced all five of his children out of his car near a Wal-Mart store in Lexington County, putting them “in unreasonable risk of harm,” according to a warrant issued for his arrest on unlawful neglect. It was the last time anyone reported seeing the children alive. Jones’s children failed to show for school the next day, and were absent again the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend. On the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 3, the mother reported to sheriff’s deputies that she had not been able to contact her ex-husband for several days, and the children’s school became concerned after they did not show up, McCarty said. Neighbors had told deputies that Jones said he was moving his children
GERRY MELENDEZ MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty, right, talks about Timothy Ray Jones, who is accused of killing his five children in Lexington County and dumping the bodies in Alabama. The news conference was conducted at the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Training Center, Wednesday in Lexington, S.C. to another state. Lexington County Sheriff’s officials on Wednesday defended the fact that they had not issued an AMBER alert for the children’s disappearance, citing the fact that Jones had legal custody of the children, and that the mother had stated she’d had
trouble reaching her ex-husband in the past. Jones was arrested at a DUI checkpoint in Raleigh, Miss., on Saturday night. Officers there noticed an odd chemical smell coming from his car, said Charlie Crumpton, sheriff of Smith County, Miss.
Inside, they found blood, bleach and other cleaning materials, McCarty told reporters. They also saw children’s clothes, but no sign of the children, McCarty said. After arresting him Saturday night, officers ran his license plates and discovered
Jones and his five children were on the National Crime Information Center’s missing persons database. McCarty, who was visibly shaken while speaking to reporters, said he’d never seen a case like this in his career. “I’m a father and I’m a grandfather,” he said.
Disabled pilot soars to top of his field BY FRED MANN MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
WICHITA, Kan. — The first time Randy Green interviewed about becoming the company’s pilot, it was over the phone. He knew he had to tell his prospective boss that he was born without hands or feet. He didn’t want to waste the man’s time. “How do you fly?” he was asked. “The same as everybody else does, only better,” Green replied. He got the job. Green was hired as a corporate pilot a month ago by Stuart B. Millner and Associates of Union, Mo., which markets, appraises and sells assets from industrial facilities, power plants and mines. Green was in Wichita last week training in the company’s Cessna 421, an eight-seat, complex airplane that puts a heavy workload on pilots. Pilots normally multi-task. Green flies using a few thick rubber bands around his wrist and the yoke. He uses his prosthetic legs and feet on the rudder pedals and
brakes. Over the years he’s learned to acquire a feel for braking systems while wearing his prosthetic legs. He must perform tasks in the Cessna 421 sequentially instead of multi-tasking. His ability to do that has impressed his instructors in Wichita. One of them, Dave Dewhirst, said Green “has an amazing ability to prioritize what needs to be done first, then immediately turn around and do something else. He does sequentially perfectly what the rest of us do at the same time.” Green, 42, has earned ratings for private, instrument, commercial single and commercial multi-engine, flight instructor, instrument flight instructor and multi-engine flight instructor. He’s also passed the written test for the airline transport pilot rating, the pinnacle of pilot ratings. He soon will take the check ride for the rating. He has earned medical approvals after proving to FAA inspectors that he can
operate planes. Green said it was always his dream to fly. His father was a pilot in Pueblo, Colo. He offered Green lessons to see where it led when Green was about 19, and Green was instantly hooked. Green started out in a simple Ercoupe. His first FAA inspector was impressed with the way he handled the plane, encouraged him, and gave him guidance. He transitioned quickly to more complicated planes. He had only 58 hours in his log book when he got both his private single-engine and private multi-engine ratings. FAA inspectors encouraged him about flying all along the way. Convincing business owners he could fly has been more of a challenge, Green said. Some turned him down, and although he has no proof he was rejected because of his disabilities, it was always in the back of his mind. “It would be in the back of anybody’s mind,” Green said. Green worked for several months for another company
FERNANDO SALAZAR MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Randy Green sits in the cockpit of the Cessna 421 he had been training with on Sept. 4 at Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kan. He is training to become a corporate pilot despite being born without hands or feet. before landing the job with Stuart B. Millner. He has about 2,600 hours in his log book today. He’s come up with innovations to help him in the cockpit. He came up with a device
to pick up items off the floor if they drop. He uses a special set of pliers to pull and reset circuit breakers. Green is thinking of becoming a motivational speaker. Success through
determination is something he knows. Green hunts, fishes, shoots trap and skeet, and used to be a top-rated competitive pool player. “I don’t let anything stop me,” he said.