Law Enforcement

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced 15 arrests in a large-scale U.S.-Mexico prescription drug trafficking organization that used its proceeds to fund criminal activity in the United States.

The California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement initiated the investigation after conducting numerous border stops of members of the drug trafficking organization, some of whom were validated gang members. The group would acquire wholesale quantities of controlled pharmaceutical drugs, such as OxyContin and Hydrocodone, smuggle the drugs to Mexico where they were sold, and then smuggle the cash back into the United States to finance their criminal operations.

“Prescription drug diversion is a growing challenge for law enforcement, and one increasingly coordinated by well-funded criminal organizations,” said Attorney General Harris. “The people of California are safer now that our brave law enforcement officers have disrupted and dismantled this prescription drug diversion network.”

Anthony Wright, the leader of the organization, boasted that he earned $1,000 a day for the several years the operation was running. In the San Diego area, the organization brought upwards of $400,000 into the United States from Mexico in just a six-month period.

Since 2009, numerous border stops have been conducted on members of the drug trafficking organization, resulting in the seizure of approximately 1,288 OxyContin pills and 9,500 Hydrocodone pills, with an estimated street value of $78,000.

Wright, the primary source for this drug trafficking organization, frequented Dabney’s Pharmacy in South Central Los Angeles, which is believed to have provided large quantities of Hydrocodone and other controlled substances pharmaceuticals without reporting the transactions to the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. This pharmacy has failed to report filling any scheduled prescriptions to the state’s prescription monitoring program since November 2009, as required by state regulations. Agents also believe Wright acquired significant amounts of pharmaceutical controlled drugs by utilizing a large network of individuals to obtain prescriptions in return for money.

The controlled substance pharmaceutical drugs were acquired from San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties through drug diversion programs, and prescription and insurance fraud. The pharmaceuticals were then smuggled into Tijuana, Mexico, where they were sold to illicit pharmacies. The traffickers smuggled the money back into the United States and used it to continue financing criminal activities.

Additionally, approximately $66,200 has been seized from members of the drug trafficking organization upon re-entry into the United States and Fatina Hicks and Derrick Belser were arrested on felony warrants for the transportation of controlled substances pharmaceuticals.

Five federal indictments were unsealed today, and earlier this month nine felony arrest warrants were issued by the Los Angeles and San Diego District Attorney’s offices.

Other agencies participating in the investigation include Homeland Security Immigration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, the Los Angeles and San Diego Counties District Attorney’s Offices, the California Department of Health Services, California Board of Pharmacy, and Los Angeles Police and Oceanside Police Departments, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, California Medical Board, Drug Enforcement Administration and the LA County Sherriff’s Office.

SAN FRANCISCO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that Richard John Schwalbe of Mill Valley was sentenced last week for embezzling at least $1.3 million from his employer and ordered to pay approximately $1.3 million in restitution and to serve two years, eight months in state prison.

Schwalbe, a former employee of Solectron Corporation, now Flextronics International Ltd., was convicted of two counts of grand theft. One count was for the embezzlement of certain funds that were owed to his employer into accounts that he controlled. The second count was for his acts in taking over and collecting in his personal account a debt owed by Insiphil, a Singapore based company, to Solectron.

“Embezzlement is a serious crime and comes with serious consequences,” Attorney General Harris said. “White-collar criminals must be held to the same standards as everyone else.”

A Department of Justice investigation found that Schwalbe had taken advantage of his position at Solectron Corporation to collect in his own account over $800,000 in obligations owed to Solectron. In a second scheme, Schwalbe was responsible for collecting an obligation owed to Solectron by Insphil. Misusing his position as credit manager, Schwalbe renegotiated the obligation owed by Insiphil, directed Solectron personnel to write down the obligation, and then caused Insiphil to continue making payments to an account controlled by Schwalbe. In total, Schwalbe embezzled more than $1.3 million from Solectron.

Schwalbe entered no contest pleas to two counts of grand theft, admitted taking more than $1.3 million, and admitted committing two or more related offenses involving theft. He was arrested on January 26, 2010 and entered his no contest pleas on June 24, 2011.

The case was prosecuted by Ronald D. Smetana, Senior Assistant Attorney General of the Special Crimes Unit. Special Agent Hal Berman and Investigative Auditor Robert Smith also assisted with the case. The case is People of the State of California v. Richard John Schwalbe, No. C1066702 (Santa Clara Superior Court).

SAN FRANCISCO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that the number of reported hate crimes in California held steady in 2010. In 2010, there were 1,107 hate crime events reported statewide, and in 2009 the number of hate crimes reported statewide was 1,100.

“A crime that is motivated by hate is a crime against all people,” Attorney General Harris said. “We will monitor and prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Attorney General’s report, “Hate Crime in California 2010” was accumulated using data collection programs developed by the California Department of Justice, police agencies, and district attorney’s offices in all of the state’s 58 counties.

In 2010, there were 7 more reported hate crimes events than in 2009, an increase of 0.6 percent.

Anti-Jewish hate crimes decreased by 20 percent from the previous year, anti-black crimes decreased by 13.8 percent, and anti-gay crimes decreased by 10.8 percent. However, anti-Hispanic hate crimes increased 46.9 percent, from 81 in 2009 to 119 in 2010.

A total of 361 hate crime cases were referred to prosecutors in 2010, fewer than the 479 cases referred in 2009. Of the 361 criminal cases that were filed, 230 were hate crimes. Of the 166 hate crimes with dispositions in 2010, there were 151 convictions (70 hate crime convictions and 81 other convictions).

The hate crime reporting system was implemented by the Department of Justice in 1994. Law enforcement agencies are required to submit copies of initial crime reports to the department, and each agency has established procedures incorporating a two-tier review process. The first level is done by the initial officer who responded to the suspected hate crime incident. Then each report is reviewed by at least one other officer to confirm that the event was, in fact, a hate crime.

The California Attorney General’s Office published its first hate crimes report in 1995. All previous reports can be found at: http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/publications/hatecrimes/pub.php

'Today, as part of the 28th annual National Night Out, thousands of communities across California and across our nation stand with law enforcement to re-affirm our commitment to keeping our neighborhoods safe. Achieving that shared goal, and being smart on crime, requires that we build relationships of trust between communities and the sworn officers who work tirelessly to protect them. National Night Out provides an opportunity to strengthen those ties and engages community members, faith leaders, local businesspeople and service providers. I encourage all Californians to participate in National Night Out.'

LOS ANGELES --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, joined by nearly two dozen local, state and federal partners, today signed a Memorandum of Agreement to participate in a first-of-its-kind system that provides law enforcement agencies with a clearinghouse of data on the neighborhoods they are sworn to protect, as well as extensive links to community-based resources.

Launched by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca in September 2010, the Community Based Information System (CBIS) is a robust database that primarily serves law enforcement in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The announcement was made at a meeting of law enforcement from Zone 1, which is composed of Los Angeles and Orange counties. This is the fourth of eight zone meetings the Attorney General will convene this year, to encourage collaboration and the sharing of resources among the state’s law enforcement community.

“Our goal is to collect the data we need to predict, and prevent, the next crime,” Attorney General Harris said. “CBIS is an innovative data-mapping project that paints a comprehensive and real-time picture of crime statistics and community characteristics from social services to demographic profiles.”

“The Attorney General signing the CBIS memorandum of agreement represents a significant milestone in bringing this valuable tool to the law enforcement community throughout the State of California,” Sheriff Baca said. “This system has the capability to empower police agencies to effectively identify and assess problem areas, without regard to jurisdictional boundaries, just like crime.”

Attorney General Harris also presented Attorney General’s Awards to brave officers, units and members of the public who were nominated for the honor by local law enforcement agencies.

CBIS takes the standard model of a law enforcement technology system a step further by adding demographics and other information that provides context to the crime occurring in a community. A training tool and research library assists officers in understanding and dealing with criminal and transnational gangs – the state’s most significant public safety threat.

In addition to data on the socioeconomic dynamics of individual communities, CBIS has a searchable database of thousands of community-based resources – thus allowing law enforcement to connect individuals with support services to prevent crime from occurring and intervene as needed.

In March, Sheriff Baca co-chaired an Organized Crime, Gangs & Gun Crime working group that prepared a briefing paper for the Attorney General. That group – made up of dozens of veteran, bi-partisan district attorneys, members of law enforcement, academics and non-profit leaders from across the state – presented their findings and recommendations at a Smart on Crime policy summit. CBIS was included as a “promising practice” of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; it was recommended that the Attorney General join and contribute to CBIS.

To join CBIS, law enforcement agencies enter into a cost-free agreement with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department by which they enter crime, parole and other data into the system. The California Department of Justice will contribute statewide crime research, crime and gang trend data and other valuable information to the database.

Along with the Department of Justice, law enforcement partners participating in CBIS include: the Los Angeles Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, US Department of Justice – Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School Police, Tustin Police Department, Anaheim Police Department, South Gate Police Department, University of California, Irvine, Los Angeles County Probation Department, Los Angeles County Housing Authority, Buena Park Police Department, California Highway Patrol – Westminster Office, California Gang Investigators Association, and the Kansas Gang Investigators Association.

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today that George Samuel Bronk, 23, of Citrus Heights, was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in state prison for stalking women on the social networking site Facebook.

Bronk plead guilty in Sacramento Superior Court to seven felonies, including computer intrusion, false impersonation and possession of child pornography. Bronk received four years, eight months in state prison and will have to register as a sex offender.

"For all of the conveniences the Internet offers, it has also opened a new frontier for crime. Cyber-predators, like Mr. Bronk, must be held accountable for their criminal activities,' Attorney General Harris said. 'Let this be an example for all those who will stoop to steal other people's identities.'

From December 2009 through September 2010, Bronk accessed e-mail accounts and Facebook pages of people in 17 states, as well as residents of England. He essentially found answers to the women’s e-mail security questions in information they had posted on their Facebook sites.

Bronk searched the victim’s “sent mail” folder for nude or semi-nude photographs and videos, which he often sent to the victim’s entire e-mail address book. He also gained access to some victims’ Facebook accounts by clicking the “Forgot Your Password?” link and asking for a new password to be sent to the victim's e-mail account, which he now controlled. In many cases, he posted the photographs to victims’ Facebook pages and to other Internet sites and made comments on the Facebook sites of friends.

Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown rejected a defense request for probation and sentenced Bronk to state prison. Judge Brown sentenced Bronk to four years in state prison for the crimes of computer intrusion and false impersonation and then added an additional consecutive term of eight months for Bronk's possession of child pornography.

The investigation began after one victim contacted the Connecticut State Police, and the agency then contacted the California Highway Patrol because the suspect appeared to be operating here. The CHP requested the Attorney General's assistance.

On the hard drive of Bronk’s desktop computer, which was confiscated from his Citrus Heights home during a search in September, investigators found more than 170 files containing explicit photographs of women, including a film actress, whose e-mail accounts he had commandeered. Finding victims, however, proved a challenge. CHP and Attorney General agents were able to use location tagging information embedded on the photographs on Bronk’s hard drive to assist in identifying victims, and e-mailed 3,200 questionnaires to potential victims asking them to come forward.

Some 46 victims did, including one who described Bronk’s actions as “virtual rape.”

IMPERIAL VALLEY --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the seizure of 18 kilograms of cocaine worth $360,000 by Department of Justice Border Interdiction Team Special Agents and Imperial County Sheriff’s Deputies from a vehicle crossing into the United States through the Calexico Port of Entry.

“I saw firsthand, just a few months ago, the sophisticated way in which drugs are being trafficked through the border and into California communities” Attorney General Kamala Harris said, “I am so proud of these brave Department of Justice Special Agents and their work to shut down the flow of drugs across the border and into our communities”

On July 10, Department of Justice Special Agents with information regarding possible drug trafficking activities identified a suspicious vehicle crossing into the United States from Mexico at the Calexico Port of Entry. The Agents then followed the vehicle along Highway 111 where they worked with the Imperial Valley Sheriff’s Office who set up a traffic stop near the city of Brawley.

After the suspicious vehicle was pulled over for a code violation, a K-9 unit alerted to the rear seat floorboard of the vehicle where agents later discovered a hidden compartment containing 18 kilograms of cocaine wrapped in red tape.

The driver, Hariberto Armenta Gamez of Mexicali, Mexico, was arrested and is being charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, and transportation of a controlled substance into the state. He is currently being held in Imperial County Jail on $1,000,000 bail. The investigation is still ongoing.

Photos of the vehicle and 18 kilograms of cocaine are attached.

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that a Department of Justice task force arrested two people and seized 28 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $1.27 million.

“Every day, Department of Justice agents are on the front line of our effort to stop the trafficking of guns, drugs and humans from Mexico through California,” Attorney General Harris said. “We are all safer and better off without these 28 pounds of methamphetamine on our streets.”

Martin Pinedo Cedillo and Alfonso Gutierrez Ibarra of Mexico were arrested on July 15th after attempting to sell 28 pounds methamphetamine to an undercover Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) agent in Riverside. The methamphetamine is believed to have originated from Mexico and was transported to Riverside from Yuma, Arizona.

On Tuesday, Cedillo and Ibarra were charged with transportation and sales of methamphetamine by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. If convicted, each could face a maximum of 14 years in prison.

The Inland Crackdown Allied Task Force (INCA) is one of 51 task forces that may be eliminated due to recent budget cuts. Started in 1991, INCA is based in Riverside County but also serves San Bernardino County. BNE administers the task force, providing offices, three special agent supervisors, and four special agents towards the combined local, state, and federal effort to combat major drug and gang activity in the Inland Empire.

In the 2010 fiscal year, INCA arrested 111 major violators; seized 296.26 kilos of cocaine; 276.37 pounds of methamphetamine; and 9.78 pounds of heroin. The street value of these combined seizures is estimated at $42.5 million. Moreover, during the same time period, INCA seized approximately $4.7 million in drug proceeds.

The seven BNE agent personnel supervise and work alongside (alongside) task force officers from Beaumont Police Department, California Alcohol Beverage Control, California Highway Patrol, Corona Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, Murietta Police Department, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Riverside Police Department, and the San Bernardino Police Department.

MERCED --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the seizure of more than 200 pounds of cocaine worth $1.2 million by the Department of Justice-led Merced High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force and the Department of Homeland Security in Merced County.

“We cannot allow the I-5 corridor to serve as a conduit for transnational gangs trafficking drugs, guns and human beings into California communities,” Attorney General Harris said, “Department of Justice Special Agents up and down this state are essential in the fight to disrupt and dismantle these transnational drug trafficking operations.”

On July 6, the Department of Justice-led Merced HIDTA Task Force was called in to assist the Department of Homeland Security after a traffic stop in the area of Interstate 5 and Highway 165 in Merced County. Before towing the individual’s vehicle, Department of Justice Special Agents discovered a hidden compartment in the floorboard of the individual’s vehicle.

The vehicle was towed to the California Highway Patrol Office in Los Banos. One hidden compartment contained 31 kilos of cocaine, and upon further inspection, agents discovered a second hidden compartment in the floorboards of the vehicle with 52 additional kilos of cocaine. The total, 83 kilos, is the equivalent of 206.5 pounds and is estimated to be worth $1.2 million.

The Merced HIDTA Task Force is one of 51 California Department of Justice led task forces that coordinate the response to our State’s growing gang and drug trafficking problems. Department of Justice leadership in these task forces has been eliminated by this year’s budget.

Attached are two photos, one showing the hidden compartment in the vehicle and another showing the cocaine that was found.

Also attached is a list of the 51 task forces operated by the Department of Justice.

In June, the Attorney General announced the arrest of 101 leaders and members of two transnational gangs operating violent criminal enterprises in the Central Valley counties of Merced and Madera, including the cities of Madera, Los Banos, Livingston, Merced, Atwater and Dos Palos. http://oag.ca.gov/news/press_release?id=2512&

SAN FRANCISCO --- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the indictments of Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing and Wellness Centre and its former administrator on charges of felony abuse and neglect after the death of a patient.

“Skilled nursing facilities and other health care institutions should honor the trust that is placed in them or they will face consequences,” Attorney General Harris said.

A Los Angeles County criminal grand jury handed down the indictments in June, saying the actions of the facility and Phyllis Paver, the former administrator, caused the death of Charles Morrill. The arraignment was held on Friday, July 8 and the trial will begin on September 6, 2011.

The indictments stem from the admission of Charles Morrill, a suicidal 34-year-old man, to a skilled nursing facility which lacked the staff and training to care for him.

On January 22, 2009, Phyllis Paver, the administrator at Verdugo accepted Morrill as a resident at the facility. Morrill had a long history of psychiatric illness, including suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Paver knew Morrill’s psychiatric history when she accepted him as a resident, but the facility is not equipped to handle individuals with mental illness. Further, the staff lacks the training, education or ability to take on this kind of resident.

While in the facility, Morrill attempted suicide twice, was hospitalized and then accepted back into the facility. His third suicide attempt while at the facility was successful.

Verdugo Valley remains open while the charges are being prosecuted. If there is a conviction on the felony count, the facility will lose its license and federal funds.

The indictments charged Verdugo Valley and Phyllis Paver with one count each of felony Dependant Adult Abuse and Neglect Resulting in Death of victim Charles Morrill in violation of Penal Code Section 368(b)(1). The grand jury also found true the special allegation that Verdugo Valley’s and Phyllis Paver’s actions proximately caused the victim’s death, in violation of Penal Code Section 368(b)((3)(A).