Thread: U.S. agents raid Anaheim illegal alien drop house

Published: May 2, 2011
Updated: 5:45 p.m.

U.S. agents raid suspected Anaheim illegal immigrant drop house

BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ANAHEIM – Federal agents raiding an Anaheim apartment arrested a man suspected of being the ringleader of a maritime illegal immigrant smuggling operation that stretches from San Diego to as far north as Los Angeles County, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reported Monday.

On Friday afternoon, immigration agents discovered what they said was a drop house in an apartment complex in the 3400 block of Ariel Place in Anaheim. They found four men who are suspected of being part of a maritime smuggling operation and eight men and one woman– still in wet clothes and with sand caked onto their bodies -- who were smuggled into the country illegally, immigration officials said.

A suspected human smuggling organization is accused of hosting a drop house at this apartment complex located on W. Ariel Place in Anaheim, immigration officials said.

H. LORREN AU JR., THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

Some of those smuggled into the country illegally said they paid up to $6,000 to their smugglers, according to a federal affadavit.

The arrests were the result of a multi-agency law enforcement operation that started Friday morning, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

Immigration agents tracking the movements of the smuggling organization had expected a smuggling boat to land at Rancho Palos Verdes and were conducting surveillance in the area. However, the boat never arrived because it developed engine problems and stopped in Carlsbad, Kice said. That's where immigration agents discovered an abandoned vessel on the beach.

About six hours later, immigration agents tracked the smuggling van from the Carlsbad site to an Anaheim apartment complex where Kice said they found the drop house, the suspects and their human cargo.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security say the latest operation offers further evidence that maritime human smuggling is escalating and expanding from the San Diego area into Orange and Los Angeles counties. Recently, suspected human smuggling boats have come ashore as far north as Malibu.

One of most recent incidents was on Feb. 14, just off of Dana Point, where the crew on the Haddock Coast Guard cutter – in coordination with U.S. Border Patrol agents – apprehended 18 people on a small boat who had entered the country illegally.

Many of these boats are apprehended in the San Diego area. But as federal agents have become more successful there, smugglers have been increasingly inching their way north, officials say. In early February, agents apprehended a boat at San Onofre State Park with 18 people on board. In December, a smuggling boat washed up on the beach at Crystal Cove State Park.

"The surge in maritime smuggling here in the Los Angeles area poses a significant security and safety threat, which is why it demands an aggressive response," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE HSI in Los Angeles in a written statement. "We know these criminal organizations' clients include previously deported felons and others we don't want in our communities. Beyond that, there are serious safety issues for the smuggled aliens themselves, who are being transported in overloaded, often unseaworthy boats, risking injury or even death."

At Friday's operation, agents arrested the following men on suspicion of conspiring to bring, transport and harbor people who are in the country illegally.

Mario Echeverria, 24, a U.S. citizen, is suspected being one of the ringleaders of the maritime smuggling organization.

Javier Gomez-Dominguez, 30, of Mexico, is suspected of being the caretaker of the Anaheim drop house

Jose Sevilla, 26, of Mexico, is suspected of being the captain of the smuggling boat. Sevilla told immigration officials that he agreed to help out the other suspected smugglers because he wanted a discount on his own smuggling fee. In an federal court affadavit, Sevilla told officials he'd initially wanted to simply be smuggled into the country but was inticed with a discount off his fee upon speaking with a man named "Gordo" in Sonora.

Fermando Medina-Gonzalez, 43, of Mexico, is suspected of being the smuggling boat navigator and fuel man

All four are scheduled to make an appearance in federal court Monday.

Immigration officials said they believe the organization has been active in maritime human smuggling. Agents have been tracking the smuggling operation for several weeks, which led them to spot the van that ultimately took them to the Anaheim apartment complex.

In an attempt to combat the smugglers, authorities last year formed the Orange County/Los Angeles County Maritime Unified Command to focus specifically on ocean-based smuggling activity. ICE Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the sheriff's departments of Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Los Angeles Police Department make up the Maritime Unified Command.

Read about a sea crew trying to stem the human-smuggling tide.

Last fiscal year, federal agents intercepted a record number of watercraft – 110 – and people – 867 – trying to sneak into the country illegally. Those numbers are about double what they were the previous year, according to records dating back to when they first started tracking the data in 2008.

Numbers so far this year suggest the record may be broken again. As of mid-February of this fiscal year, federal agents have apprehended 265 people in 40 smuggling vessels – including three boats off south Orange County.

Follow Cindy Carcamo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thecindycarcamo

http://www.ocregister.com/news/-298783--.html

Alleged smuggling-ring members charged with using boats to ferry immigrants from Mexico into L.A. area

May 2, 2011 | 5:22pm

An alleged ringleader and three accomplices charged with using a boat to smuggle illegal immigrants from Mexico into Southern California were making appearances Monday afternoon in federal court.

Mario Echeverria, 24, a United States citizen who lives in Tijuana, is charged with being one of the leaders of a large-scale smuggling ring that used panga-style boats to smuggle the immigrants, according to federal authorities.

Last week, the smugglers dropped off illegal immigrants at a beach in Carlsbad in San Diego County and took them by van to a drop house in Anaheim, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Investigators with a multi-agency task force raided the apartment Friday and found nine illegal immigrants from Mexico whose clothes were still wet and caked with sand.

Also charged were Mexican residents Javier Gomez-Dominguez, 30, the alleged caretaker of the drop house, as well as Jose Sevilla, 26, the suspected captain of the boat, and his navigator, Fernando Medina-Gonzalez, 43.

The four men were making an initial appearance in federal court to determine whether a bond would be issued and they would be released from custody, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said. They were not scheduled to enter pleas.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... arged.html

Investigators with a multi-agency task force raided the apartment Friday and found nine illegal immigrants from Mexico whose clothes were still wet and caked with sand.

That's what you call fresh off the boat! See ya later illegal invaders!

Now they're dropping 2 kinds of anchors! With all the invaders here, have you thought about the diseases that come with them? Another thing they "contribute" to our Country!

Usually hear about drop houses in Arizona. Guess they are moving to more friendly territory.

Originally Posted by jean

Usually hear about drop houses in Arizona. Guess they are moving to more friendly territory.

I believe that are all over the Country! I was convinced I had one next door to me in NC. I kept calling Johnston Co. Sheriff's office to report the newest happenings. After about a year I was finally free of that "neighbor". When the owner went into the house ( the occupant was deported for DUI, no license and destruction of private property. He plowed thru about 1/8 th of a mile of mailboxes.) he found bedroom doors with deadbolts and a secret compartment in the master bedroom and another one in the living room.

I knew they were dealing drugs, they stood in the driveway doing "business" and smoking joints out in the open. My brother told me the other day there are A LOT of our "neighbors" moving out all at once! That news made my day...LOL! But it also makes me wonder if they were "tipped" to something that's going to happen?

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Investigators with a multi-agency task force raided the apartment Friday and found nine illegal immigrants from Mexico whose clothes were still wet and caked with sand.

That's what you call fresh off the boat! See ya later illegal invaders!

FOB's

I.C.E. News Release

May 2, 2011
Santa Ana, CA

4 charged after feds thwart maritime alien smuggling attempt in Orange County

Carlsbad vessel landing leads investigators to Anaheim smuggling 'drop house'

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A key figure in a large-scale maritime human smuggling organization and three alleged accomplices made their initial appearances in federal court here Monday to face charges after a multi-agency law enforcement operation Friday, that began with the discovery of an abandoned vessel on a San Diego County beach and culminated with the arrest of the boat's illegal alien passengers in Anaheim, Calif., six hours later.

The smuggling investigation leading to the arrests shifted into high gear at around 7 a.m. Friday after the Carlsbad Police Department located an abandoned panga-style boat near Ponto Beach in Carlsbad, Calif. Local authorities alerted federal agents from the Los Angeles Border Enforcement Security Task Force (LA BEST) and U.S. Border Patrol who had been tracking the movements of this smuggling organization for several weeks.

According to investigators, a van believed to belong to the organization spent Thursday night parked in a coastal neighborhood in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., but agents suspended surveillance when the vehicle left at sunrise without picking up any passengers. Investigators say the Ensenada-based vessel that came ashore in Carlsbad was originally supposed to make landfall farther north. However, the smugglers had to abort the plan after the boat developed engine trouble.

Upon receiving information about the boat landing in Carlsbad, agents with the LA BEST and the Border Patrol resumed surveillance on the cargo van believed to belong to the smuggling organization, ultimately tracking it to an apartment building in Anaheim, Calif. When investigators entered the residence, they encountered nine illegal aliens from Mexico whose clothes were still wet and caked with sand from the morning's boat landing. Agents also detained four alleged members of the smuggling ring, including one of the organization's suspected leaders. Those charged in the case are:
Mario Echeverria, 24, a naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Tijuana, Mexico. Echeverria is suspected of being one of the ringleaders of the maritime smuggling organization;
Javier Gomez-Dominguez, 30, of Mexico, the alleged caretaker of the Anaheim drop house;
Jose Sevilla, 26, of Mexico, the suspected captain of the smuggling boat; and
Fernando Medina-Gonzalez, 43, of Mexico, the alleged smuggling boat navigator and fuel man.

The defendants are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to bring, transport and harbor illegal aliens. The violation carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security say Friday's events offer further evidence that maritime human smuggling has expanded from the San Diego area into Orange and Los Angeles counties. In recent months, suspected human smuggling boats have come ashore as far north as Malibu.

To combat this dangerous trend, last year authorities formed the Orange County/Los Angeles County Maritime Unified Command to focus specifically on ocean-based smuggling activity. Among the agencies participating in the Maritime Unified Command are ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine, Office of Field Operations, and Border Patrol; the sheriff's departments of Orange and Los Angeles counties; and the Los Angeles Police Department. The Command's targeted enforcement efforts include expanded use of marine patrols, land-based surveillance and collaboration with the Government of Mexico.

"The surge in maritime smuggling here in the Los Angeles area poses a significant security and safety threat, which is why it demands an aggressive response," said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE HSI in Los Angeles. "We know these criminal organizations' clients include previously deported felons and others we don't want in our communities. Beyond that, there are serious safety issues for the smuggled aliens themselves, who are being transported in overloaded, often unseaworthy boats, risking injury or even death."

"The arrests made in Anaheim are the outcome of exceptional collaboration within the federal law enforcement community," said U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott. "Our efforts to fuse intelligence and operational planning capabilities have and will continue to produce successful results in deterring illegal maritime border crossings. We will continue to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the transnational criminal organizations operating within the San Diego Sector area of influence whose criminal activities endanger both our citizens as well as those who are smuggled through treacherous ocean waters."

The heightened enforcement targeting maritime human smuggling has resulted in an increase in the prosecution of these cases. In the last year, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Orange County has brought charges against at least 17 individuals tied to maritime smuggling schemes. In one of those instances, a female passenger suffered injuries, including a broken leg, when attempting to climb out of the boat and flee law enforcement.

The LA BEST was launched in 2008 to investigate a variety of maritime-related crime in the Los Angeles area, such as drug, alien, currency and weapons smuggling; trade fraud; and cargo theft. The LA BEST is made up of officers from nine federal, state, and local agencies, including ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine, Office of Field Operations, and Border Patrol; the Los Angeles Police Department; the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; the U.S. Secret Service, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the Los Angeles Port Police; and the California Highway Patrol.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1105/1 ... ntaana.htm