06/8/07 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom

Seven arrested in probe of gangs
Picked up in Morristown, 4 men face drug charges

BY TIEN-SHUN LEE
DAILY RECORD

MORRISTOWN -- Seven men were arrested Wednesday in connection with a year-long investigation on gang activity led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, authorities said Thursday.

Four of the men --Harold Medina, 19, a Morristown resident, Menfil Calderon, 22, a Guatemalan national, Jose Diaz, 26, a Mexican national, and Cesar Rincon, 22, a Colombian national -- were charged with possession and intent to distribute drugs, according to a statement issued by the ICE.

The other three men were charged with immigration violations, ICE spokesman Adam Puharic said. One of them, Edward Castellanos, 29, had two past felony convictions for possession of a weapon and resisting arrest, officials said. He is from Honduras and is in the country illegally, they added.

Puharic declined to identify the other two men, saying that the ICE typically does not release names of people arrested solely on immigration violations "for privacy reasons."

"Everyone arrested in the operation was related to the gang investigation,"Puharic said, including those who were charged administratively for immigration violations.

The men all are suspected members of the MS-13, Nietas, Bloods and 18th Street transnational gangs, ICE officials said.

High school student

Eric Carreto, an organizer with the Wind of the Spirit immigrant resource center, said Juan Carlos Cabrera, an 18-year-old Morristown High School student from Guatemala, also was arrested Thursday as part of the ICE operation, called Operation Community Shield.

Cabrera had participated in various Wind of the Spirit activities, including Thanksgiving dinners and pro-immigration rallies, Carreto said. Cabrera's family members called the Wind of the Spirit Wednesday after he was arrested.

According to an account given to Carreto by family members, Cabrera was getting ready for school on Wednesday at around 7 a.m. when five plain-clothed authorities armed with guns knocked on the door of his home at 42 Sussex Ave. After Cabrera's mother, Pilar Velasquez, opened the door, authorities rushed upstairs and arrested Cabrera, who was not yet fully clothed.

"They didn't ask for any ID, they just took him," Carreto said. "They didn't show any warrant to get into the house. They just pushed through the door and went in."

Puharic said the ICE would not comment on such allegations.

In addition to arresting Cabrera, authorities seized telephones and phone cables from the house, Carreto said.

No one was at Cabrera's home on Thursday afternoon, and family members could not be reached for comment.

Neighbors said Sussex Avenue is peaceful, and they hadn't had any problems with the Cabreras.

"They all seemed like nice people as far as I could tell," said Geoffrey Gogan, an architect whose office is next to the Cabreras home.

At another home

At Edward Castellano's home at 20 Martin Luther King Ave., five plain-clothed authorities armed with handguns knocked on the door at around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to Castellano's brother-in-law, Oscar Cabrera, who said he is not related to or acquainted with Juan Carlos Cabrera.

After Oscar Cabrera opened the door, the authorities said they were looking for "Dimis," which is the first name of a cousin who was deported to Honduras two years ago, Oscar Cabrera said.

When authorities did not find Dimis, they went into a bedroom where Castellano was sleeping with his girlfriend, and demanded identification from him, Oscar Cabrera said. Castellano produced a Temporary Protected Status immigration document, which is typically granted to immigrants from areas that are in armed conflict, or areas that have suffered from a natural disaster. Authorities then arrested Castellano.

"I thought they were going to kill us," Oscar Cabrera said. "My little boy, 4 years old, was sleeping in my bedroom. They came and opened the door and pointed a shotgun at him, at my little boy."

Authorities also raided Castellano's sister's house at 22 Willow St., but did not arrest anyone there.

"They broke the door and ransacked everything," said Saida Castellanos, who lives with her 6-year-old daughter.

Saida Castellano said authorities were looking for a man named "Angel," who she identified through a photo as a relative who was deported a long time ago.



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Tien-Shun Lee can be reached at (973) 989-0652 or tslee@gannett.com.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs...ES32/706080372

Puharic declined to identify the other two men, saying that the ICE typically does not release names of people arrested solely on immigration violations "for privacy reasons."
WHAT???. are you freakin kidding? PRIVACY REASONS??? I smell a big steaming pile of bullshit.