Thread: Illegal gets probation for human smuggling

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=70885



E-mail Print Save License

August 2, 2006
Illegal gets probation for human smuggling
By Gary Grado
Tribune


A Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced a 23-year-old illegal immigrant Tuesday to three years of probation for his conviction on a human smuggling charge. Javier Ruiz-Lopez was considered the smuggler in the first case in Maricopa County in which illegal border crossers were charged with conspiracy to smuggle.

Ruiz-Lopez was behind the wheel of a van filled with illegal immigrants in a remote part of the county March 2 when they were arrested.

Ruiz-Lopez told a grand jury that he wasn't a smuggler, but he got a discount on crossing the border from a "coyote" for driving.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas have been criticized by immigrant advocates for arresting and charging border crossers with conspiracy under a year old anti-coyote law.

Both officials said they were disappointed by the sentence. "Coyotes should do some prison time," Thomas said.

So far, 232 people have been charged with conspiracy, many of them taking plea bargains and being deported.

Ruiz-Lopez's codefendants, Gustavo Unbalejo Gomez, 29, and Antonio Hernandez Lopez, 21, were the first to go to trial under the conspiracy charges, which Judge Thomas O'Toole threw out after finding that the state failed to prove its case. A jury then convicted Ruiz-Lopez of his lone charge. Copyright © 2006 Freedom Communications / Arizona. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.
You may forward this article or get additional permissions by typing http://license.icopyright.net/3.7220?icx_id=70885 into any web browser.

http://ww

Email this article Click to send
Print this article Choose File Print or Ctrl P or Apple P
Most popular pages Today | This Week


Arpaio orders deputies to remain armed 24/7

Associated Press
Aug. 2, 2006 04:39 PM


Sheriff Arpaio is ordering deputies to carry firearms 24 hours a day.

Arpaio says his decision to make the controversial change is a result of the escalation of homicides, as well as burglaries, thefts, sexual assaults, and drug trafficking crimes occurring as a result of a growing Valley.

Arpaio says the policy change may make the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office the only law enforcement agency in Arizona and among the few in the entire nation to require its law enforcement officers to carry weapons 24 hours a day.

The sheriff says he has "full confidence in the professionalism, the training and the judgment" of his deputies to act in the safest manner possible.



Email this article Click to send
Print this article Choose File Print or Ctrl P or Apple P
Most popular pages Today | This Week



w.azcentral.com/news/articles/0802az-deputies-guns02-ON.html

Another "slap on the wrist" for lawbreakers!

Arpaio rocks!

I think I'll just get a tan, die my hair, change my name, and go on a huge free-for-all and get a slap on the wrist.

I think that we need to look at the liberal judges in this country and start trying to get rid of some that are not administering the law.