Thread: Isabel Garcia doesn't separate job and personal views!

Published: 08.19.2008

No added jail time for five in ID case
Authorities say they used others' Social Security numbers
By Kim Smith
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Five of 11 Panda Express employees who pleaded guilty last month to criminal impersonation were sentenced Monday to the time they've already served in jail.
Their charges were designated misdemeanors by the court.
One of the five was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, said Assistant Attorney General John Evans.
The remaining six will be sentenced later, Evans said.
According to court documents, the Arizona Department of Public Safety received a tip in December 2007 that Marlen Yobana Moreno-Peralta, 24, had gotten a job at the Panda Express, 2485 N. Swan Road, Suite 101, using a fictitious Social Security card.
Authorities obtained a list of all of the employees working at the restaurant, along with their Social Security numbers.
An investigation revealed 11 of the employees were using Social Security numbers that didn't appear to be associated with their name, and they were arrested on March 18, Evans said.
All 11, who are also suspected of being in the country illegally, were indicted on a single count each of aggravated taking the identity of another but pleaded guilty last month to criminal impersonation.
On Monday, Pima County Superior Court Judge Frank Dawley had to decide whether to place the defendants on probation or sentence them to up to two years in prison. He also had to decide if the crime should be designated a felony or a misdemeanor.
All of the defendants' attorneys told Dawley their clients never intended to hurt anyone — they just wanted to work so they could provide for their families. At least two of the defendants sentenced Monday came to the U.S. as children and graduated from local high schools.
During Monday's hearing, Pima County Legal Defender Isabel Garcia, who represented Moreno-Peralta, called the three-month investigation a "waste of taxpayer money."
Illegal immigrants have contributed $200 billion to Social Security and it is because of them that baby boomers will be able to collect Social Security upon retirement, Garcia said.
Moreover, they have also paid local, state and sales taxes — taxes that "contribute to the well-being of all of our society," Garcia said.
Generations of people have bought or created Social Security numbers, but it's only recently become a crime, Garcia said.
The Social Security number that Moreno-Peralta used belonged to a dead person; no one was hurt, Garcia said.
According to court documents, Moreno-Peralta told probation officers she was told the number was fictitious. She also said she didn't remember how much she paid for the card or who told her how to obtain it. She said she didn't realize obtaining the card was a crime.
Moreno-Peralta came to the U.S. with her family 11 years ago. She possessed a border- crossing card at the time and entered the country legally, court records indicate.
Evans said investigators were unable to determine where the defendants got their Social Security cards and declined to comment when asked if there is an ongoing investigation.
At least one of the Social Security numbers belonged to a Las Vegas resident, Evans said. Other numbers had not been assigned.
Most of the defendants were released from the Pima County jail on their own recognizance because they have been in the country more than five years, are in the process of obtaining their citizenship and have family members who are U.S. citizens. They also have no prior criminal records.
Several of those released from the Pima County jail were then taken into custody by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
One of those sentenced Monday has been returned to Mexico and "appeared" in court by telephone. Of the remaining 10, four are in federal custody, four have posted federal bonds and the status of the other two was not available.
Earlier, Evans said the plea agreements saved the state the expense of going to trial and allowed the defendants to begin their fight in immigration court.
"This is an identity-theft case, not an immigration case," Evans said. "Our priority is people who steal identities."
In addition to Moreno-Peralta, those sentenced Monday were Artemio Marin Bustamante, Rosa Nohemi Gutierrez Parra, Omar Alfredo Espino-Lara and Francisco Domingo Mondaca-Duarte.
The six remaining defendants are Roselia Araceli Torres-Ruiz, Jose Guadalupe Pichardo-Rivera, Juan Alejandro Fontes-Trujillo, Rudy Garzal-Salas, Dario Cruz Diaz and Norberto Ochoa Hernandez.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/253416

P.S. As this case has gone on, they've virtually not brought up the immigration status of these individuals and just focused on this as an" identity theft" case. Disgusting!

Published: 08.19.2008
Time served, fees for 7 in identity theft case
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Seven of 11 former Panda Express employees charged with criminal impersonation were sentenced Monday by Superior Court Judge Frank Dawley to time served in jail, $400 in attorney fees and a $25 indigent fee.
Eight pleaded guilty, admitting they used fake Social Security cards to help them gain employment at a Tucson restaurant.
The men and women were arrested March 18 by Department of Public Safety officers after a three-month investigation into alleged identity theft by workers at Panda Express, 2485 N. Swan Road.
One defendant, Francisco Mondaca Duarte, 22, retained his own attorney. He told the Tucson Citizen following his sentencing that he will apply for permanent citizenship status. He was sentenced to time served in jail, which was 55 days, and 100 hours of community service.
He told the Citizen "someone" offered him a free phony Social Security card and he took it.
Dawley used his prerogative to sentence the defendants on a misdemeanor charge.
Omar Alfredo Espino-Lara, 24, wept as he told the judge, "I wanted to be successful. I didn't plan to steal nothing. I just want to apologize for what I did."
He had lived in the United States illegally for 11 years and graduated from Sunnyside High School, his attorney said. He faces possible deportation, as do most of the other defendants.
According to investigators, Espino-Lara and 10 other employees of Panda Express were working with phony Social Security cards, some under aliases.
One card held the Social Security number of a person who is deceased.
The defendants were allowed to plead guilty to "undesignated" criminal impersonation, a felony, which Dawley reduced to a misdemeanor.
Margo Cowan, defense attorney for Rosa Nohemi Gutierrez- Parra, 29, said her client and the other defendants "are the victims of the federal government's inability to (pass) comprehensive immigration reform."
Cowan said they also are "victims of state laws that criminalize their conduct."The defendants were charged under an Arizona law which makes it a felony to steal someone's identity.
Gutierrez-Parra, 29, wept as Cowan spoke about the burden on her client as she spent 153 days in jail separated from her 6-year-old son.
"She is like so many immigrants who come to America," Cowan said. "She makes the community better. What she faces (a criminal conviction) is shameful," Cowan said.
Gutierrez-Parra's felony charge was reduced to a class one misdemeanor and she was sentenced, like the others, to time served and attorney fees.
Isabel Garcia, Pima County's legal defender and the attorney for Marlen Yobana Moreno-Peralta, 23, said her client used someone else's valid Social Security number to get a job and a car loan. The car she bought has been repossessed, Garcia said.
"I submit to you (this case) is a waste of taxpayer money," Garcia said. "Someone at work (at the restaurant) called (the Department of Public Safety) to report them because of a poisonous atmosphere at work."
"There is not one penny of harm to anyone involved in this case," Garcia said.
Three of the 11 indicted in the case will be sentenced Sept. 22 or earlier. They are being detained as flight risks by Customs and Border Protection at the federal detention facility in Eloy and were unable to appear by telephone or in person for sentencing Monday.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/94149.php

Margo Cowan is a known partner in crime with Isabel Garcia. You will notice how these women continue to use the criminal courtroom as a forum for their warped political views!

Authorities say they used others' Social Security numbers

Imagine what would happen to an American IF we stole identities!

What about the people's lives they have ruined for quite awhile?

Illegals get way less time than we would and it's NOT FAIR.

Gutierrez-Parra's felony charge was reduced to a class one misdemeanor and she was sentenced, like the others, to time served and attorney fees.
Isabel Garcia, Pima County's legal defender and the attorney for Marlen Yobana Moreno-Peralta, 23, said her client used someone else's valid Social Security number to get a job and a car loan. The car she bought has been repossessed, Garcia said.

This is an outrage! No doubt these charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors so as not to harm their applications for US Citizenship!!

Isabel Garcia, Pima County's legal defender and the attorney for Marlen Yobana Moreno-Peralta, 23, said her client used someone else's valid Social Security number to get a job and a car loan. The car she bought has been repossessed, Garcia said.
"I submit to you (this case) is a waste of taxpayer money," Garcia said. "Someone at work (at the restaurant) called (the Department of Public Safety) to report them because of a poisonous atmosphere at work."
"There is not one penny of harm to anyone involved in this case," Garcia said.

Garcia calls herself an attorney? Where did she get her degree, a Cracker Jack box?
How can she stand there and say not one penny of harm was involved to anyone??? The felon who took out a CAR LOAN using someone else's ss number has just affected that persons credit rating!!! That person will also get a letter from the IRS demanding back taxes on a job she never worked!

Garcia MUST go! She MUST be disbarred! What a lunatic!

Here is one of the better responses in the paper's blog:

33. Comment by Anna S. (alstark) — August 19,2008 @ 7:51AM
Rating: 29 Thumbs Up

"I submit to you (this case) is a waste of taxpayer money," Garcia said. "Someone at work (at the restaurant) called (the Department of Public Safety) to report them because of a poisonous atmosphere at work."

FOR THE RECORD:

I submit to the courts and the citizens of Pima County that Isabel Garcia is unable to serve in the capacity of legal defender insomuch as Ms. Garcia fails to comprehend the difference between right and wrong.

As an officer of the court, Ms Garcia is legally bound to uphold the laws of this nation and she is unwilling to do so as demonstrated time and time again by her utter and total disregard for the law. She promotes, endorses and encourgages illegals to enter this country. She fails to understand that stealing is a crime. USING SOMEONE ELSE'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS A CRIME. IT'S CALLED FRAUD AND INNOCENT PEOPLE BECOME VICTIMS OF THIS CRIME. Falsiying documents for the purpose of obtaining goods, services, health care, education or employment is a crime. Aiding and abetting those who would steal and misuse social security cards is a crime!

Ms Garcia has allowed her personal bias and misdirected beliefs to dictate her actions. She has abused and misused the office to which she was appointed. Her lack of judgement and inability to adhere to the law has tarnished the legal defender's office of Pima County.

Ms Garcia's disresptful, disgraceful and deplorable behavior is an embarassment to Pima County and reflects poorly of her supervisor who has chosen to ignore the inexcusable and seditious activities of his employee. It has become apparent to the tax paying citizens of Pima County that there is ABSOLUTELY NO accountability when it comes to the actions of Isabel Garcia. ("on or off the clock") I hold her supervisor, Mr. Huckleberry personally responsible.

I submit to the good citizens of Pima County that Ms. Garcia be removed immediately from the office of Legal defender.

Most of the defendants were released from the Pima County jail on their own recognizance because they have been in the country more than five years, are in the process of obtaining their citizenship and have family members who are U.S. citizens. They also have no prior criminal records

So you are safe if you have been here more than 5 years?

again are they telling us that people in this country illegally are applying for citizenship from within this country.

I am sick of hearing the excuses for the why it is ok that these people broke the law.....every last one of them should have been deported.

I think I miss understand here or there is alot going on behind our back

More and more people who hold a position such as a lawmaker, judge, policeman, attorney, government agency etc., ALL OF THEM, are failing to represent the American people. Our country is resembling 3rd worldism more each day.

This was posted on the Derechos Humanos web-site. (Isabel's radical, activist group) It is hard to believe she holds her job. Write Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry about this too.

"Support the Panda Express 11!
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
1:30pm
Superior Court, 5th Floor, Judge Dawley
Tucson, Arizona

Please come show your support of the Panda Express 11, the workers who were arrested on March 18, 2008 for obtaining work with social security numbers that the state alleges are fictitious.

These workers have suffered being separated from their families and loved ones, and we are hopeful for a just outcome in this case.

Thanks to the generous donations of more than $5,000 from Tucson Samaritans and other local allies, most of the workers were released on bond. We are especially grateful to Mo Goldman, who has acted as the pro-bono immigration attorney to all 11 of the workers.

We will be meeting at Public Defender's office (33 N. Stone , 6th floor) at 12:30pm, then walking over to the courthouse together, for those who wish to accompany us.

Please come to show solidarity for the Panda Express 11 and their families and stand with us against the criminalization of hardworking women and men."


She's even using the county provided building as a rallying point for her group!

Originally Posted by mapwife

Here is one of the better responses in the paper's blog:

33. Comment by Anna S. (alstark) — August 19,2008 @ 7:51AM
Rating: 29 Thumbs Up

"I submit to you (this case) is a waste of taxpayer money," Garcia said. "Someone at work (at the restaurant) called (the Department of Public Safety) to report them because of a poisonous atmosphere at work."

FOR THE RECORD:

I submit to the courts and the citizens of Pima County that Isabel Garcia is unable to serve in the capacity of legal defender insomuch as Ms. Garcia fails to comprehend the difference between right and wrong.

As an officer of the court, Ms Garcia is legally bound to uphold the laws of this nation and she is unwilling to do so as demonstrated time and time again by her utter and total disregard for the law. She promotes, endorses and encourgages illegals to enter this country. She fails to understand that stealing is a crime. USING SOMEONE ELSE'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS A CRIME. IT'S CALLED FRAUD AND INNOCENT PEOPLE BECOME VICTIMS OF THIS CRIME. Falsiying documents for the purpose of obtaining goods, services, health care, education or employment is a crime. Aiding and abetting those who would steal and misuse social security cards is a crime!

Ms Garcia has allowed her personal bias and misdirected beliefs to dictate her actions. She has abused and misused the office to which she was appointed. Her lack of judgement and inability to adhere to the law has tarnished the legal defender's office of Pima County.

Ms Garcia's disresptful, disgraceful and deplorable behavior is an embarassment to Pima County and reflects poorly of her supervisor who has chosen to ignore the inexcusable and seditious activities of his employee. It has become apparent to the tax paying citizens of Pima County that there is ABSOLUTELY NO accountability when it comes to the actions of Isabel Garcia. ("on or off the clock") I hold her supervisor, Mr. Huckleberry personally responsible.

I submit to the good citizens of Pima County that Ms. Garcia be removed immediately from the office of Legal defender.

It is for statements like the above that we really NEED a standing ovation emoticon.