By Steve Neavling

A CBP officer who worked out of El Paso is accused of using excessive force in two separate incidents while he was on duty at the Bridge of Americas Port of Entry. 

Miguel Delgado Jr. was indicted on charges of deprivation of rights, the falsification of a document in a federal investigation, and false pretenses, KFOX14 reports.

The alleged assaults occurred in October 2019 and June 2020. 

Both victims were injured, according to the indictment. 

“The Defendant submitted a CBP Incident Log Report for the use of force incident involving R.E. (1) falsely claiming that he ‘turned [R.E.] around while sitting in the chair in order to place [R.E.] in hand restraints;’ and (2) falsely claiming that R.E. ‘kept trying to push back and push’ the Defendant ‘off of [R.E.’s] back.’ In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1519,” the indictment read.

If convicted, Delgado faces up to 20 years of prison for submitting a false report.

By Steve Neavling

A deputy U.S. Marshal was indicted in federal court with unlawfully obtaining cell phone location information by misusing a law enforcement service for personal reasons and later lying about it, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. 

Adrian Pena, 48, of Del Rio, Texas, is accused of obtaining cell phone location information about multiple people with whom he had personal relationships and their spouses. 

To obtain the information, Pena allegedly uploaded false and fraudulent documents to Securus Technologies Inc. 

When authorities became aware of the allegations, Pena is accused of lying to investigators about his use of the service. 

He went even further by persuading a person to sign an affidavit attesting that he or she had given Pena unlimited access to his or her personal cell phone information at all times, prosecutors allege. 

Pena was indicted on 11 counts of obtaining confidential phone records, two counts of false statements, and one count of falsification of a record, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein

The Justice Department on Friday announced the indictments of 13 Russians and three Russian groups accused of waging a sophisticated, covert propaganda campaign to help get Donald Trump elected.

Special counsel Robert Mueller unveiled the 37-page indictment, which you can read here. 

Special counsel Robert Mueller

The indictment alleges the Russians stole the identities of Americans, spread falsehoods on social media, staged political rallies and exploited flashpoint issues, such as race, immigration and religion, to sow divisions.

“The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rod  Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the investigation, said in a brief news conference announcing the charges. “We must not allow them to succeed.”

The indictment amounted to a detailed rebuttal of President Trump’s claims that Russian interference was a “hoax” peddled by the “fake news.”

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates may face another indictment in the Trump-Russia probe headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Daily Beast reports that Washington D.C. lawyers anticipate Mueller will file a superseding indictment of Manafort and Gates to replace the current indictment. 

“I would expect a superseding indictment to come down relatively soon,” said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law school professor.

“There was much in the narrative of the indictment that referenced crimes not charged,” he added. “Prosecutors will often issue a superseding indictment as the grand jury continues its work. There’s also a tactical reason for this, that superseding indictments tend to grind defendants a bit more over time.”

Both men pleaded not guilty to an Oct. 30 indictment that alleges conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, being an unregistered agent of foreign principal, false and misleading statements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and false statements.

Manafort’s foreign financial transactions may draw potential new tax charges, the indictment hinted.

Other Stories of Interest

• Trump Continues Attack on FBI, Calls Dossier a ‘Crooked Hillary Pile of Garbage’
• Watergate Reporter: Trump Presidency Is Tainted, Not FBI
• Cities Sue After Pentagon Failed to Report Crimes to FBI Gun Check System
• Cops, FBI: Still ‘Actively’ Investigating Fatal Harrisburg Shooting Spree
• Drug, Immigrant Smuggling Increases in Texas’ Big Bend

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A former Homeland Security Investigations agent faces numerous federal charges alleging he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug cash and laundered it through real estate transactions and banks.

Tyrone Cedric Duren, 46, and his wife, Jennifer Lynn Duren, face charges of money laundering, bank fraud conspiracy, making false statements to federal agents and structuring financial transactions, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. 

Authorities arrested the couple on Nov. 30.

“The evidence obtained during the investigation and detailed in the complaint, paints Duren as an intelligent but deceitful person, sophisticated in the art of concealing assets and engages in international travel to hide assets,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Rapp wrote in a motion arguing for Duren’s detention. “He has used his position as a law enforcement agent for illegal financial gain to support himself and family with a lavish lifestyle.”

The couple was released on bail after pleading not guilty.

In 2008, Durant began his career with Homeland Security and was assigned to the Bulk Cash Smuggling Task Force, which focused on drug trafficking.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Border Patrol agent is among a group of men charged in the death of a man whose decapitated body was found floating near South Padre Island in Texas, the Associated Press reports. 

Joel Luna, who was placed on indefinite leave from the Border Patrol, and four other men were indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday, charging them with capital murder, murder and two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity.

The defendants are lodged in the Cameron County jail without bond.

When Luna was arrested in March, law enforcement found nearly $90,000, a kilogram of cocaine and handguns inside his safe at his Hebbronville home.

In March, the decapitated body of Jose Francisco Palacios-Paz was found.

Other Stories of Interest

• Former Allentown Controller Plans to Plead Guilty in FBI Probe
• FBI Investigating ISIS Threat Against UFC Fighter Tim Kennedy
• FBI Is Hunting for New CIO to Tackle Evolving Law Enforcement Challenges
• Border Patrol Confiscates Drugs Dropped by Drone in Arizona
• Homeland Security Director Reaches Out to Muslims in Dearborn, Mi

By Editorial Board

The encouraging message in the indictment Thursday of former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka on charges of obstructing an FBI investigation into the jails is that wrongdoers at the highest level of county government will be held accountable.

The indictments of Tanaka and former Capt. William “Tom” Carey, who oversaw the department’s internal criminal investigations, end the worry that federal prosecutors only went after the frontline deputies. So what about then-Sheriff Lee Baca? Did he direct Tanaka to frustrate the FBI probe? Or was he perhaps so detached and clueless that he could not see what Tanaka and other top department officials were doing under his nose?

That’s important, because for months it appeared that top leaders of the Sheriff’s Department might escape consequences for any role they played in separating a jailed bank robber-turned FBI informant from his handlers in a 2011 federal probe into abuse of inmates by deputies. Seven deputies were convicted and sentenced last year in the scheme to conceal the informant while Tanaka, rumored to be the mastermind of the operation, campaigned to become the new sheriff. Jim McDonnell easily defeated him, but in the ensuing months there were only occasional hints that Tanaka ultimately might be held to answer for any misdeeds.

It’s necessary to keep in mind that although Tanaka and Carey were indicted on suspicion of obstruction of justice, the underlying investigation targeted brutality in the jails; that investigation is ongoing. The structure, culture and oversight of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department all contributed to a pattern of abuse of inmates and substandard jail conditions, problems that were so severe that they overshadowed the coverups, aggressive deputy cliques, racially biased patrolling in the Antelope Valley and other intolerable practices.

Some of those problems appear to have been exacerbated upon Baca’s appointment of Tanaka as undersheriff, and it will be tempting to believe they began at that point and ended with Tanaka’s 2013 retirement, last year’s election, Thursday’s indictment or some future indictment or conviction.

Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

State Sen. Thomas W. Libous and his son Matthew were indicted Tuesday on separate charges, the New York Times reports.

Sen. Libous, 61, of Birmingham was charged with lying to federal agents, while his son was charged with filing false tax returns.

Libous, who first won a seat in the Senate in 1988, is the chamber’s second-highest-ranking Republican and is considered a powerbroker in politics.

Libous denied any wrongdoing.

“I am innocent from all these charges,” Libous said. “It’s very disappointing and we are going to fight them.”