AZMEX SPECIAL 19 JAN 2019
Note: another day on the border.
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Note: As usual there will be no info on immigration status if any.
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PCSD : Traffic stop leads to $400K drug bust
Posted: 10:35 PM, Jan 17, 2019 Updated: 10:35 PM, Jan 17, 2019
By: Sarah Covey
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/pcsd-traffic-stop-leads-to-400k-drug-bust
Photo by: Pima County Sheriff's Department
TUCSON — The Pima County Sheriff's Department has arrested a man and allegedly located over $400,000 worth of drugs in a search warrant in the 1000 block of N. Euclid Rd.
On Tuesday, PCSD officers pulled over a vehicle in for a traffic investigation in northeast Tucson, leading them to discover $1,916 and several bags containing cocaine, heroin, suspected fentanyl, and methamphetamine.
The driver, 34-year-old Jesus Maria Lopez-Verduzco, was subsequently arrested and booked for five counts of criminal activity : two for drug possession, one for transportation of sale, another for prohibited possessor and, lastly, a count for firearm possession during narcotic transportation.
After his arrest, the deputies then served a search warrant at a home on North Wilmot Road, near Pima Street. Inside, deputies found 10,000 suspected fentanyl pills, 11.3 pounds of heroin and 5.76 lbs. of cocaine, about 9 pounds of methamphetamine, and a stolen handgun, all with a combined estimated street value of over $400,000.
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Note: Edinburg a few mile from McAllen, TX. No details yet on the rifles, nor quantity of cocaine .
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Raid nets drugs, rifles, arrests in Edinburg
J. Edward Moreno - January 19, 2019
https://www.themonitor.com/2019/01/19/raid-nets-drugs-rifles-arrests-edinburg/
Crime Scene
A narcotics raid netted Edinburg police cocaine, Xanax and several rifles Friday morning, according to an agency news release.
A vehicle was also among the items seized at a property located in the 4500 block of West Rogers Road around 9:47 a.m. Friday, the release read. Edinburg police spokesman Jesse Moreno has not returned calls seeking additional information.
"… An undetermined amount of cocaine, several rifles, handguns, two Xanax pills and a vehicle were seized," the release also read, further indicating that criminal charges "will be pending upon the completion of this investigation."
On Saturday, three suspects arrested in the case were arraigned on multiple charges. Gabrielle Nicole Nino was charged with possession of marijuana and given a $5,000 bond by Edinburg Municipal Court Judge Toribio Palacios. Her brother, Juan Laurensio Morales, was charged with manufacturing and delivering cocaine, and his bond was set at $50,000.
Their father, Juan Laurenzo Morales, was in the hospital for unknown complications before his arraignment Saturday morning. He was charged with tampering with physical evidence, manufacturing and delivering and possession of a controlled substance. His bonds were set at $25,000, $50,000 and $5,000, respectively.
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Note: as usual, the "migrants" are illegal aliens.
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4 convicted of entering refuge in quest to aid migrants
Associated Press
8:16 am
January 19, 2019
https://kvoa.com/news/local-news/2019/01/19/4-convicted-of-entering-refuge-in-quest-to-aid-migrants-2/
PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge has found four women guilty of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit as they sought to place food and water in the Arizona desert for migrants.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco's ruling Friday marked the first conviction against humanitarian aid volunteers in a decade.
The four found guilty of misdemeanors in the recent case were volunteers for No More Deaths, which said in a statement the group had been providing life-saving aid to migrants.
The volunteers include Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick.
Hoffman was found guilty of operating a vehicle inside Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, entering the federally protected area without a permit, and leaving water jugs and cans of beans there in August 2017. The others were found guilty of entering without a permit and leaving behind personal property.
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State lays out evidence against kidnap-assault defendants
By Genesis Lara
Nogales International Jan 18, 2019 Updated 17 hrs ago
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/state-lays-out-evidence-against-kidnap-assault-defendants/article_6741a85c-1aa7-11e9-b650-9b5b5bae53eb.html
County prosecutors are in the midst of establishing probable cause to try three men for an array of crimes that reportedly began with a dispute over drugs and resulted in them kidnapping a man in Rio Rico, burning his car and releasing him in exchange for a ransom in May 2018.
Aaron Daniel Kane, 31, and Rudy Ray Rojo, 30, are two of four defendants who allegedly kidnapped a 23-year-old man in connection with drug-related activities, defense lawyer George Damon said during a preliminary hearing on Dec. 12.
The NI obtained recordings this week from Nogales Justice Court of the hearing and another one held before it.
"There's information where (the victim's) girlfriend was interviewed, where she basically indicated that (the victim) has been involved in drug trafficking and that, allegedly, he stole some marijuana from a mafioso," Damon said during a cross-examination with a witness.
The other two defendants in the case were identified as 41-year-old Thomas Alberto Alegria, whose case has already advanced to Santa Cruz County Superior Court, and Guadalupe Pillado, who was killed in Mexico on June 17, according to the testimony of Sheriff's Detective Jorge Ainza.
A story published in the June 18 edition of the Nogales, Sonora newspaper Nuevo Dia reported that a 38-year-old man identified only as Guadalupe P. had died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained in the city's Buenos Aires neighborhood. The story did not suggest a motive for the shooting or say if police had any suspects.
Kane and Rojo face a total of nine charges, which include kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, arson, sexual assault, three counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of theft of means of transportation. The County Attorney's Office is in the process of presenting evidence for those alleged crimes to Justice of the Peace Emilio Velasquez in hopes that he will find probable cause to send their cases to Superior Court.
County Prosecutor Kimberly Hunley said during her opening statement at a hearing on Nov. 8 that the victim was "lured" to Rio Rico on May 31, 2018 under the impression that Kane wanted to sell him a gun. But when he arrived at the planned meeting location, Kane, Rojo and Pillado attacked him.
"They pistol-whipped him and beat him while he was in a ditch," Hunley said, adding that the three men then drove the man to the house where Kane and Rojo were living at the time, bound him with copper wire and threatened to light him on fire.
Alegria joined the group at the house under the impression that he was going to pick up methamphetamine from Kane, Hunley said. Instead, the group used Alegria's van to take the victim to another location.
"Alegria has a very unique van. He's modified it for his plumbing business and it has his plumbing logo on the side, but it used to be a detention transport vehicle, so it has some caging inside of it," Hunley said, adding that the victim was sexually assaulted by his captors while inside the vehicle.
More to come
After driving the victim to Pillado's house and leaving him on a mattress in the garage, Kane and Alegria allegedly torched the victim's Jeep, which was later found by a passerby around midnight on June 1.
The four suspects reportedly called the victim's girlfriend on two separate occasions, asking for a bag filled with guns, jewelry and other items. During the second call, they demanded that she take another car and meet them at a specific location in Rio Rico, where the girlfriend exchanged the car for the victim's release, Hunley said.
"(The victim and his girlfriend) started running toward the desert toward a warehouse that was nearby and called for (the victim's) mother to pick them up, and went to the closest law enforcement office, which was a Homeland Security office," Hunley said.
Authorities began the investigation on June 1, the day that the victim was released and filed the report, and were able to find evidence in Pillado's house, as well as phone calls and message records that supported the victim's allegations.
However, in his defense of Rojo, Damon told the judge that there were allegations that were not supported by evidence.
"(The victim) made an allegation that the suspects shot at him when he was initially apprehended, but officers went out to the scene where he was allegedly shot at, and found no bullet cases," Damon said, adding that there was also no evidence that his client participated in the torching of the car.
Kane and his lawyer Jeffery Thorpe have been present at the preliminary hearings on Nov. 8 and Dec. 12, but Thorpe has yet to actively participate.
The evidence presented so far has consisted of detectives' interviews with the victim, his girlfriend and Alegria, who agreed to give his testimony as part of a plea deal for less prison time.
The preliminary hearings are scheduled to continue on Wednesday, Feb. 13.
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