Thread: AZ-Sheriff's office searches Chicanos por la Causa

Sheriff's office searches Chicanos por la Causa

December 11, 2009 9:22 AM
AMANDA LEE MYERS

PHOENIX (AP) — The Maricopa County Sheriff's office on Thursday searched the Phoenix headquarters of the statewide nonprofit Chicanos por la Causa in connection with its investigation of a local politician.

The search stems from the criminal indictment earlier this week against Maricopa County supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

Wilcox is accused of voting on contracts involving Chicanos por la Causa, which had given her loans for her downtown Phoenix restaurant, and never filing conflict-of-interest statements. She is charged with 36 counts, including conflict of interest, perjury and forgery.

Wilcox, who is heavily involved in the Hispanic community, did not return a call for comment Thursday.

Chicanos por la Causa is an affiliate of the National Council of La Raza and provides social and educational services for the local community. The group's spokeswoman, Amanda Roberson, said it lent Wilcox's Mexican restaurant, El Portal, $177,500 between November 2000 and October 2008. She said the loans were made in accordance with "strict underwriting guidelines" and that Wilcox did not receive any special treatment.

Hispanic community activist Salvador Reza, who videotaped part of the sheriff's office search of Chicanos por la Causa, said Arpaio has "gone totally crazy" and clearly has a personal vendetta against Wilcox.

"It's not fighting crime, it's a media show," he said. "Chicanos por la Causa is a public entity, so all their records are open to public. He didn't have to go through what he did."

Arpaio dismissed critics who say he and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas have any vendettas.

"I think if a grand jury comes back with a true bill, I don't know why they say it's a vendetta," Arpaio said. "We're just doing a job we took an oath of office to do."

Thomas also denied having a vendetta at a news conference Tuesday, adding: "Nobody is above the law in this county."

The indictments of Wilcox and another county supervisor, Don Stapley, intensified a nasty dispute between county officials and Thomas and Arpaio, the county's top two law enforcement officials.

Stapley is accused of getting mortgage loans under fraudulent pretenses and of misusing campaign funds he raised to run for president of a national association of county officials. Prosecutors say Stapley spent some of the money on hair implants, tickets to Broadway plays, massages and vacations.

Thomas and Arpaio sought an earlier indictment against Stapley, alleging omissions and misstatements on his financial disclosure documents. Those charges were dismissed after it was discovered that the county never properly put in place rules on financial disclosure. Prosecutors won a second indictment against Stapley last week, charging him with 27 criminal counts, including fraudulent schemes, theft and perjury.

Stapley attorney Paul Charlton said Tuesday that his client will plead not guilty to the charges and that the second indictment is a reflection of a "fruitful imagination."

Wilcox, a Democrat serving her fifth four-year term as a supervisor, was shot in the buttocks in 1997 as she left the Board of Supervisors auditorium after a meeting.

Larry Naman told reporters he shot her because she supported a controversial tax to help pay for a baseball stadium for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arpaio describes himself as the "toughest sheriff in America" and is known for making inmates wear pink underwear, eat green bologna and work on chain gangs. More recently, his illegal-immigration sweeps in some heavily Latino areas of metro Phoenix have led to allegations of racial profiling.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Arpaio's office over allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures.

http://www.yourwestvalley.com/articles/ ... canos.html

"Chicanos por la Causa is a public entity, so all their records are open to public. He didn't have to go through what he did."

That's a lie. They never publicly disclose the types of records they are looking for.

Dixie

Joe Arpaio's Goon Squad Blasted by Chicanos Por La Causa, MCSO Fishing Expedition Under Way
By Stephen Lemons

Fri., Dec. 11 2009 @ 5:03PM


Chicanos Por La Causa officials and their supporters held a press conference today to blast the MCSO's recent day-long raid on CPLC's headquarters in Phoenix. CPLC CEO Edmundo Hidalgo and attorney Danny Ortega, Board Chair of the National Council of La Raza, were joined by the leaders of organizations such as Valle Del Sol, Friendly House, and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in the parking lot of the CPLC complex.

There, 24 hours before, about 20 MCSO deputies confiscated computers and files related to CPLC and its relationship with Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, who is the subject of an indictment ginned up by Sheriff Joe and his willing accomplice Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. According to Hidalgo and others present, MCSO gendarmes confiscated far more than was under the purview of their subpoena in what's obviously a fishing expedition on the part of Arpaio and Thomas.

"They took copies of hard drives," explained Hidalgo, "of e-mails of any document that provides any possible conversation between CPLC and the Wilcoxes. It was not limited to just those individuals who worked in our small business lending. They accessed every e-mail that all 800 employees have sent over the last six to twelve months. So the information that was gathered, we believe that was way beyond...the scope of the warrant."

Indeed, Jose Martinez, CPLC's VP of strategic initiatives told me after the presser that the MCSO made off with seven computer hard drives, including a backup of CPLC's entire e-mail system, which included anything present in any employees e-mail files, as well as "anything deleted in the last couple of weeks or so."

Chief Operating Officer Argie Gomez explained that the MCSO was on the property from about 9 a.m. to around 3 p.m., disrupting the CPLC's entire operation for the day, and intimidating CPLC employees.

"They asked us not to move [from the offices]," she related. "They wanted us to stay confined within the building. There's a factor of intimidation there."

During the press conference proper, NCLR board chair Ortega explained that CPLC is one of NCLR's "oldest and most trusted affiliates," and that NCLR helps fund CPLC. Indeed, I suspect that in going after CPLC, the MCSO's bigger fish is NCLR itself. That would make the "investigation," if you can call it that, a national story and fodder for wing-nut nativists from sea to shining sea.

Asked whether or not he believed Mary Rose Wilcox had violated the law in not disclosing a potential conflict of interest, CPLC honcho Hidalgo stated that he was not an expert in county procedures, and so could not say.

"What I can tell you," he said, "is that on our end Mary Rose and [her husband] Earl Wilcox are eligible borrowers."

As to the specifics of the three loans to Wilcox from CPLC's lending arm Prestamos totaling $177,500 (according to the CPLC), Hidalgo explained that the first loan $7,500, taken out in November of 2000, carried a 12 percent interest rate. The second, dated July 2005 for $50,000, was at eight percent interest. The third, for $120,000, was for eight and a half percent.

The CPLC insists the first two loans have been paid back in full. The third is still outstanding. Obviously, the interest rates quoted do not indicate a sweetheart deal. By its own admission, CPLC has been granted more that $1 million by the county for "outreach services to minority populations with HIV AIDS." I suppose if the Wilcoxes had been given cash by CPLC or allowed a loan at some incredibly low interest rate, the MCSO might have something. As it is, all they've got is some case about Wilcox not doing her paperwork properly.

Hidalgo also pointed out that the MCSO could have simply asked for the docs or hit CPLC's lawyers with a subpoena without raiding the place. Sure, but the MCSO is all about retaliation, retribution, and heavy-handed tactics: The iron hand in a lead glove.

Interestingly, when I asked Hidalgo afterwards if CPLC had any suspicion a raid on their property was imminent, he said that one news outlet seemed to know something was coming: ABC 15.

"Channel 15," said Hidalgo,"about three weeks ago through another interview, they had commented that this was coming down, but they didn't give us a timeline. They knew ahead of everybody that this investigation was going on."


http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastar ... aid_bl.php

Threatening comment below the article above:

I hope these racist anti-immigrant Xenophobe vigilantes types will dare patrol the U.S./Mexico border as the Mexican ZETA cartels will cease to kill their own citizens and focus their high power gun sights on ALL non-law enforcement MINUTEMEN TERRORISTS, White Supremacists and their "Paint Job" RACE TRAITOR lackeys, ...especially on the U.S. Arizona/Mexico sector!
These "civilian" border vigilantes are NOT authorized law enforcement personnel, thereby they are fair targets to be dealt with EXTREME PREJUDICE!
LET THE RACE WAR COMMENCE!
E.F. Mohammed Martinez - A Chicano Freedom Fighter

Go to GOOGLE; efmohammedmartinez.com

Just noticed that there's a whole thread about ef mohammed martinez on Alipac.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-78601-days0-orderasc-0.html

This guy should have been put away a long time ago!

Originally Posted by Mayday

Threatening comment below the article above:

I hope these racist anti-immigrant Xenophobe vigilantes types will dare patrol the U.S./Mexico border as the Mexican ZETA cartels will cease to kill their own citizens and focus their high power gun sights on ALL non-law enforcement MINUTEMEN TERRORISTS, White Supremacists and their "Paint Job" RACE TRAITOR lackeys, ...especially on the U.S. Arizona/Mexico sector!
These "civilian" border vigilantes are NOT authorized law enforcement personnel, thereby they are fair targets to be dealt with EXTREME PREJUDICE!
LET THE RACE WAR COMMENCE!
E.F. Mohammed Martinez - A Chicano Freedom Fighter

Go to GOOGLE; efmohammedmartinez.com

What a racist thug spewing hatred and venom. Chicano "freedom" fighter?? LMAO!! Then why isn't he in mexico fighting against the drug cartels? Probably too scared and it's easier hiding out here. LOL, what a loser!

"Indeed, Jose Martinez, CPLC's VP of strategic initiatives told me after the presser that the MCSO made off with seven computer hard drives, including a backup of CPLC's entire e-mail system, which included anything present in any employees e-mail files, as well as "anything deleted in the last couple of weeks or so."

This could turn out to be very interesting.


"During the press conference proper, NCLR board chair Ortega explained that CPLC is one of NCLR's "oldest and most trusted affiliates," and that NCLR helps fund CPLC. Indeed, I suspect that in going after CPLC, the MCSO's bigger fish is NCLR itself. That would make the "investigation," if you can call it that, a national story and fodder for wing-nut nativists from sea to shining sea".


I hope MCSO finds information on those computers that will make the ACORN scandal look like a walk in the park. La Raza needs to be exposed for the corrupt organization it is. I am willing to bet they (MCSO) find some very interesting conversations on those computers.

Maybe someone should send a "Hooker and Pimp" to NCLR.

Dixie