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  Criminal Defense Law Firm - Austin

• When working out just isn’t enough…

  from chron.com

  Fort Bend holds suspects in alleged steroid ring
  By JAMES PINKERTON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
  May 28, 2009, 5:43AM

  A complaint about steroid use in local gyms more than two years ago culminated Wednesday in the arrests of 66 bodybuilders and personal trainers accused of distributing hundreds of thousands of doses of anabolic steroids, human growth hormones and other substances in what authorities called the largest drug operation in Fort Bend County history.

  Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright said none of the 73 charged in the investigation were sports celebrities or high school athletes. One of those arrested, authorities said, was a Houston firefighter. Late Wednesday, Fort Bend sheriff’s deputies, U.S. marshals and drug agents were still searching for seven people named in warrants. (See a map of where the arrests happened here.)

  “The majority of this thing is built around body trainers at fitness centers,” said Wright. “Their livelihood is getting customers they can develop physically - legally or illegally. It doesn’t matter in their eyes, as long as they get the job done.”

  In all, 51 defendants were indicted on state charges in Fort Bend County, while another 22 were indicted on federal charges, authorities said. The investigation involved street dealers, distributors, importers and manufacturers, according to law enforcement officials.

  “There’s been other offshoots from it because sometimes the steroids cause severe muscle pain and that leads to painkillers,” the sheriff said.

  Acting U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson identified one of the principal defendants facing federal charges as Charles Falkenhagen, who operated a Sugar Land business called Fitness Consulants. He is free on bail.

  Officials said the investigation that led to Wednesday’s sweep began shortly before the arrest of Falkenhagen in late 2006, adding that a large inventory of steroids, HGH and diverted pharmaceutical drugs were found in his storage facility.

  Charges facing the 22 federal defendants include money laundering and conspiracy to possess, distribute and manufacture a controlled substance, Johnson said. The 51 defendants charged by Fort Bend officials face charges of conspiracy to deliver, manufacture controlled substances or dangerous drugs, and could face up to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

  Zoran Yankovich, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Houston, said the Fort Bend investigation led agents to other suspects illegally importing raw products from China and elsewhere that were used to make batches of steroids and human growth hormone.

  “The investigation started here with the sheriff’s office and we ended up following it to other areas where they were bringing in raw products, or were connected otherwise,” said Yankovich. “And it led us into California, Indiana, Louisiana, Georgia, and internationally where raw products were being imported from Mexico, Canada and China.”

  Sheriff’s Lt. Glen Dening, of the Fort Bend County Narcotics Task Force, said authorities were concerned that those arrested could have recruited younger clients in local gyms.

  “They (suspects) work out at all the local gyms in Fort Bend County, so, of course, the high school students have access to those gyms. So, inevitably, it’s going to happen. They’d end up customers of these steroid dealers,” Dening said.

  He said a complaint about steroid use in local gyms two years ago led to surveillance of dealers selling hundreds of thousands of doses of anabolic steroids, human growth hormones, Ecstasy and other controlled substances, including Xanax, Viagra and other drugs.

  “The fact that’s there is anabolic steroid usage in Fort Bend County - or anyplace, really - shouldn’t be surprising,” Fort Bend District Attorney John Healey said. “Hopefully, it will send a fairly strong message that law enforcement and prosecutors are happy to combine to bring the folks who bring it into our county to task.”

• Honey, what did you do with my receivers and ammo?

  Man, I wish I knew the real story. Who throws away thousands of dollars worth of gun parts and ammunition?

  from statesman.com

  AUSTIN

  Gun parts, ammo found in trash

  Gun parts and about 2,000 rifle rounds were discovered in a Dumpster near a North Austin apartment complex Tuesday afternoon.

  Agent Francesca Perot of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the Austin Police Department contacted the agency after a man found the parts in a Dumpster on Swanee Drive, near Airport and Lamar boulevards.

  The parts were eight upper receivers for an AR-15 rifle, worth about $500 each, Perot said.

  The ATF is investigating.

  “We don’t understand why someone threw them away, unless they were involved in some type of criminal activity,” Perot said. “Ammunition is very expensive right now.”

• Another use for GPS devices

  from the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com)

  High-tech sleuth helps reduce truancy
  By RENÉE C. LEE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
  May 25, 2009, 7:52PM

  Seventeen-year-old Clarissa Curry, a New Caney High School student, is a repeat-offender truant which, in Judge James Metts’ court, likely would have landed her in jail.

  But the judge found a high-tech alternative.

  Instead of spending a three-day weekend in the Montgomery County Jail, Curry must spend six weeks carrying around a handheld device the size of a cell phone that tracks her every move.

  Several times every day the New Caney High School sophomore is required to log her whereabouts by pushing a button on the Global Positioning System and cellular device, which transmits her location to a computer every two to five minutes. If she’s not where she should be, she’ll get a call from a counselor to get back on the right path.

  The device is part of a program called AIM, or Attendance Improvement Management. Metts, justice of the peace in Montgomery County Precinct 4, is piloting the program to curb truancy in his precinct. He ordered Curry and nine other students to enroll in the program in April.

  Truancy is a consistent problem every school year, but this year Metts said he has seen more repeat offenders and wants to help change their behavior.

  “They can either be an asset or liability to their community,” Metts said. “I would rather see them graduate from high school and be productive citizens.”

  Metts said he turned to AIM because it teaches students responsibility, provides one-on-one mentoring and appears towork.

  Developed four years ago at the request of a Dallas County truancy court, AIM has seen a 98 percent attendance rate among its students, said Travis Knox, chief executive of AIM, the Dallas company that manages the program.
  Harris County interested

  AIM began expanding to other parts of the state in January. It is now in six cities, 26 middle schools and high schools and five courts, Knox said. Metts is the only judge in the Houston region using the program, Knox said. Metts is not being charged for the program this year, but next year the court will pay about $16 per day per student, he said.

  The program has caught the attention of the truancy section of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Michael Moore, the county’s chief truancy prosecutor, said he is considering the program to augment the section’s Stay in School program.

  Dealing with truancy is often less about getting a body in school and more about addressing underlying issues that cause students to miss school, say court and school officials. Many students have family issues, are homeless or have drug problems.

  Knox said a key feature of AIM is the “human contact” students get from the program’s coaches who call during the week to provide support and guidance.

  The personal relationships established in AIM are helping turn around Curry and four other New Caney school district students who had habitual attendance problems, said Morris Fuselier III, the district’s associate superintendent for administrative services. Since April 25, only one student has missed a school day and that was for a doctor’s appointment, Fuselier said.

  “They’ve been punished before with court-ordered programs and threatened with juvenile detention and they did not respond the way they have with this program,” he said.
  Jail time a possibility

  The punishment for truancy can vary depending on the judge, but state law enables them to put 17- and 18-year-old students in jail for up to 72 hours for violating a court order to go to school.

  Similar monitoring programs are being used around the country, including one by a Midland judge that requires students to wear an electronic bracelet to monitor students.

  The programs appear to have gained some momentum over the past five years, said Terry Cash, assistant director of The National Dropout Prevention Center.

  Pressure to meet requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act has forced schools to find innovative ways to keep students in school, and some see the monitoring programs as one way to target at-risk students, Cash said.

  So far, the results are mixed. Short term, the programs have some positive impact, but their long-term effectiveness is unknown because data is lacking, he said.

  Curry ended up in AIM because she defied a court order to go to school.

  She said the routine she must follow every day as part of the program is becoming second nature. She pushes the button on her device when she wakes up,five more times throughout the day and again when her 9 p.m. curfew rolls around. At curfew, she also must call a call center and read a code number. Her voice and location are then verified by the computer.

  To ensure Curry is going to class, her teachers must sign a daily attendance sheet.

  Curry said she likes talking to her coach, who calls four times a week to check on her progress.

  “It’s not that bad,” she said. “It teaches me a lot of responsibility and that there are consequences for your actions.”

  Her mother, Melanie LaBluff, said she and her husband own two businesses that keep them busy and sometimes they don’t ask their three children about school. She said she did not know Clarissa was repeatedly skipping her English class until she was cited for failure to attend school this year.

  She said Clarissa is not a troubled student and that AIM has taught her repetitive behavior and responsibility.

  “I’m thankful she’s getting the help that will push her,” LaBluff said.

• “I can’t help it. I’m a junkie,”

  From statesman.com

  Man accused of breaking into Spaghetti Warehouse for wine

  By Isadora Vail | Friday, May 22, 2009, 01:20 PM

  A man was arrested Thursday after police say he was stealing wine from the cellar of the Spaghetti Warehouse on Fourth Street, an arrest affidavit said.

  An Austin police officer who was dispatched to the restaurant found Joseph Martinez, 29, placing bottles of wine on the edge of the basement near the door, the affidavit said.

  The officer said Martinez kept saying, “I can’t help it. I’m a junkie,” while he was placing Martinez under arrest, the affidavit said.

  Martinez was charged with felony burglary of a non-residence, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in a state jail. He remained in the Travis County Jail with bail set at $5,000.

• Man accused of stealing from woman who didn’t answer “booty call”

  from statesman.com

  By Isadora Vail | Friday, May 22, 2009, 11:32 AM

  Four men have been accused of breaking into a woman’s home and stealing a flat-screen television, jewelry and her pit bull puppy, according to an arrest affidavit.

  Diego Eduardo Lugo-Davis, 18, Fabian Santos Luevano, 19, Jonathon Louis Miles, 18, and Paul Torres, 18, were charged with felony engaging in criminal activity and burglary of a habitation in connection with the May 19 incident, the affidavit said.

  According to the affidavit, a neighbor called police and reported that a house was being broken into on Caleb Drive in eastern Travis County. A sheriff’s deputy saw the men leaving in a car that matched the description of the one seen at the home and pulled them over, the affidavit said.

  The television, jewelry and puppy were found in the car, the affidavit said.

  In an interview, Lugo-Davis told deputies that earlier that day he had broken into a woman’s home in the 8800 block of McCann Drive after he had gone there on a “booty call,” the affidavit said.

  “Diego said (the woman) wasn’t there and he didn’t want to go home without something so he broke in the door using his shoulder,” the affidavit said.

  All four men were in the Travis County Jail, court records show. If convicted, the men face up to life in prison. Several of the men told deputies that they belong to the Crips street gang, the affidavit said.

• When good lawyers turn bad

  There are a alot of things (all legal) that we  do here at Granger and Mueller to get our clients cases dismissed or reduced, but this guy took it way too far…
  from www.nydailynews.com
  

  Former federal prosecutor, Paul Bergrin, accused of ordering execution of key witness

  Jose Martinez
  Daily News Staff Writer

  Wednesday, May 20th 2009, 10:05 PM

  A former federal prosecutor-turned-flesh peddler was charged Wednesday with having a witness in a drug case whacked.

  Disgraced lawyer Paul Bergrin - who recently pleaded guilty to running a notorious Manhattan escort service - was accused of ordering the execution of a federal witness who was going to testify against one of his clients.

  Fresh off the wrist-slap in Manhattan that merely put him on probation, Bergrin faces federal racketeering charges in New Jersey that could land him in prison for life.

  “The conduct alleged is simply shocking,” said Ralph Marra, the acting New Jersey U.S. attorney. “A licensed lawyer, a former prosecutor, essentially became one of the criminals he represents.”

  Bergrin, a one-time lieutenant to self-proclaimed “King of All Pimps” Jason Itzler, had a government informant gunned down in an attempt to derail a federal case against one of his drug-dealer clients, prosecutors say.

  “The allegations in this indictment make Bergrin no different than a street gangster,” said Gerald McAleer, special agent in charge of the New Jersey Division of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

  The informant, known as Kemo, was shot three times in the head on a Newark street in March 2004.

  “No Kemo, no case,” Bergrin told his client’s cousins, prosecutors contend.

  Kemo’s killer is doing 30 years in prison after turning on Bergrin’s cocaine-dealing client, who is in prison for life.

  Bergrin, who was an assistant New Jersey U.S. attorney from 1985 to 1990, also is accused of trying to hire a Chicago hitman last year to kill a “rat” known as Junior the Panamanian. “Paul Bergrin met with the hit man and instructed the hit man to make the murder of Junior the Panamanian appear as if it were part of a home invasion robbery rather than the execution of a witness,” the indictment charged.

  The “hit man” turned out to be a confidential informant.

  Bergrin’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, did not return a phone call.

  Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/21/2009-05-21_bergrin_in_slay_rap.html#ixzz0GFBjXiUr&B

• Another gun left in a bathroom

  from dallasnews.com

  DA investigator leaves loaded handgun in jail restroom in Dallas

  06:52 AM CDT on Thursday, May 21, 2009

  By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
  kkrause@dallasnews.com

  People often leave something behind in a restroom after a quick pit stop.

  What you don’t want to leave behind is a loaded handgun. Especially in a criminal courthouse - in a restroom that’s only feet from the entrance to a large jail.

  That’s exactly what happened to Dallas County district attorney’s investigator Thad LaBarre earlier this month, according to a county security department report.

  LaBarre left his Glock 30 Austria handgun loaded with .45-caliber hollow-point bullets in the second-floor restroom of the Frank Crowley courthouse in Dallas, according to the report.

  Luckily, a jail guard found the gun. On May 8 at 10:25 a.m., the guard turned it in to the courthouse security booth. It’s unclear how long the gun was in the restroom, which is often used by criminals leaving the Lew Sterrett jail.

  At 11:22 a.m., LaBarre went to the security booth to ask about his gun. The security officer told him it had been turned over to Chief Alonzo Banks, the head of county security. LaBarre said he would call Banks to get his gun back.

  Banks declined to discuss the incident.

• FBI: Texas drug cell trains on own ranch

  From www.chron.com:

  The FBI is advising law enforcement officers across the country that a Texas cell of Los Zetas - an increasingly powerful arm of the Mexican Gulf Cartel drug trafficking syndicate - has acquired a secluded ranch where it trains its members to “neutralize” competitors in the United States.

  In order to ensure its share of the lucrative illegal drug trade, the cartel’s members reportedly are operating north of the border to collect debts and spy on competitors. They have also protected cocaine and heroin shipments that were bound for Houston, where they were repackaged and shipped on to Alabama, Delaware, Georgia and Michigan, according to the FBI.

  The information, which was disseminated Monday to state, local and federal agencies, does not provide specifics, such as the location of the ranch, but includes a notation that the information came from reliable FBI contacts.

  Trainees are reportedly taught about home invasions, firearms and ways to run vehicles off the road in order to kidnap occupants who owe drug debts.

  The Zetas have achieved almost mythical status in Mexico, as the small band of military deserters has become a managing partner for the Gulf Cartel, terrorizing rivals with beheadings, torture and mass killings.

  They are said to have a presence in large swaths of Mexico and are often described as being the most ruthless gangsters in Mexico’s underworld.
  Not much U.S. bloodshed

  The bulletin continues that although the Zetas establishing cells in Texas and other parts of the United States increases the likelihood of clashes with U.S.-based competitors, there hasn’t been much bloodshed on U.S. soil, an indication the gangsters realize violence here would be bad for business.

  The cartel also maintains a network of boats and rafts along the Rio Grande to help move drugs and assassins northward into the United States as well as covertly move kidnap victims southward back into Mexico, the bulletin continues.

  It notes that the Zetas have learned the kidnapping is a more effective way to collect debts and control territory.

  In April, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that the Zetas had warned their traffickers that if they abandoned loads when confronted by U.S. law enforcement, they would be subject to execution by the cartel.
  Lack of hard evidence

  Lt. Dan Webb, of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s narcotics division for the Houston regional office, said Zetas do operate in Houston and other parts of Texas, but they try to limit their time on U.S. soil in order to avoid being arrested by authorities who are far less corrupt than in Mexico.

  As for whether the organization has a training ranch in Texas, Webb said there have long been rumors, but he is not aware of hard evidence.

  “It very well could be true, but as far as us having a location for the ranch, it is all conjecture,” said Webb, who believes it is more likely they train in Mexico than Texas. “If we had any hard evidence, we’d be all over it.”

  He said a lot of drug activity by U.S. gangs, such as the Texas Syndicate or the Mexican Mafia, is mistakenly attributed to Zetas.

  “We are trying to keep them over in Mexico and discourage them from coming to America in any form or fashion,” he said.

  Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Trevino said drug-trafficking-related violence has been going on along the border for decades and that while he hadn’t seen the FBI bulletin yet, it doesn’t surprise him.

  “This is nothing new to us,” he said. “It is new to the rest of the country because of horrific events in the Republic of Mexico,” referring to increased media attention.

  “South Texas used to be the back door to the United States,” he added. “Now we are the front door.”

• Woman injured man who was hanging on to her moving car

  from statesman.com

  A woman was charged with intoxication assault after police say she didn’t stop driving when a man who was holding on to the side of her moving vehicle in a parking garage hit his head, causing a severe injury, according to an arrest affidavit.

  Police say Thomas Gal, 29, got out of a Nissan Xterra that Mary Ireland, 29, was driving to open a parking gate at the Domain shopping center Saturday night, the affidavit said. After Ireland drove through the gate, Gal chased down the sport-utility vehicle and jumped on the side, holding on to the luggage rack, the affidavit said.

  Ireland did not slow down, a witness told police in the affidavit, and Gal hit his head on part of the garage. After she parked, witnesses say Ireland got out to check on Gal, whom she insisted was faking his injuries despite a large amount of blood, the affidavit said.

  Although police, an ambulance, and fire personnel were called out to the garage, Ireland said all the emergency personnel were actors, the affidavit said.

  Gal was transported to University Medical Center at Brackenridge with a serious head injury and brain hemmoraging, both of which were considered to be life-threatening, the affidavit said.

  Ireland was also transported to Brackenridge, where a blood sample was taken, the affidavit said. Those results are still pending.

  Ireland was arrested on $15,000 bail, but is no longer at the Travis County Jail, court records show. She faces up to 10 years in prison for intoxication assault if she is convicted.

• Maybe it wasn’t worth the $80

  Okay, so next time someone offers you $80 to buy something for them, make sure it won’t land you in Federal Court first..

  Officials trying to stop flow of guns from Austin to Mexico
  Federal officials cracking down on potential traffickers.

  By Steven Kreytak
  AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
  Friday, May 15, 2009

  The surveillance video showed two women leaving Cabela’s in Buda and handing three guns they had just bought to a man, who then put the guns in the trunk of his black Lexus, according to a federal criminal complaint.

  The purchase and handoff in November piqued the suspicions of Cabela’s employees, who alerted federal firearms agents.

  According to court documents, the agents soon identified the man as Humberto Fernandez, 47, who splits time between Mexico and the Austin area and who in recent years has enlisted help in purchasing dozens of guns to ship south of the border.

  Last week, Fernandez, who has been arrested, and five of his so-called “straw buyers” were indicted in federal court in Austin on firearms conspiracy and other charges. His lawyer declined to comment.

  The case is just the type that the Obama administration is pursuing as part of a stepped-up effort to curb the flow of guns from the United States into Mexico - guns that officials on both sides of the border say are being used by Mexican drug cartels to fuel intense violence.

  In recent months, according to court records, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been watching Austin gun dealers and the monthly Austin Saxet gun show at the Crockett Center on North Lamar Boulevard carefully, looking for anyone illegally buying guns, including illegal immigrants and straw buyers who may be working with smugglers.

  There is no indication in court documents that the guns Fernandez is accused of obtaining through others were intended for drug smugglers - in fact many of those listed in his indictment are common hunting rifles. But Michael Reyes, resident agent in charge of the Austin ATF field office, said because of the recent federal effort, any potential gun trafficking cases are getting close attention. He would not discuss Fernandez’s case because it is pending.

  U.S. officials have said that 90 percent of the guns seized by Mexican authorities from drug traffickers and submitted to the United States for tracing had originated here. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have traveled to Mexico in recent months and announced that the United States shares responsibility for the bloody Mexican drug war, in part because many of the guns used by the cartels come from this country and because many Americans have an insatiable appetite for illicit drugs.

  The Justice Department in March announced the deployment of 100 ATF agents to the Southwest border states. Reyes said that several new agents are stationed in Austin under the program.

  Speaking generally, Reyes described how drug trafficking organizations gather guns in Texas for their trek south of the border. The traffickers send someone north with an order list to cities including Austin, he said. The lists are sometimes hundreds of guns long and include high-powered pistols and assault rifles, such as AK-47s.

  They find people to buy guns, often relatives or friends, and give them the money to complete the purchase, as well as a little extra for their trouble. Sometimes the smugglers go to gun shows, where they can buy guns from people who are not gun dealers without filling out a federal firearms form, Reyes said.

  The ATF for years has aggressively pursued gun cases in Austin, Reyes said, charging dozens of people a year, including many felons in possession of firearms. He could not say whether there has been an uptick in those who potentially could be buying the guns for gun smugglers but did say “we are looking further into the trafficking cases.”

  Charged in the indictment along with Fernandez are Claudia Pulido, Yahaira Banda, Laura Caraveo, Humberto Ruben Trevino and Astolfo Garza. None of them could be reached for comment. While Fernandez is being held without bond in federal custody, the other defendants have been issued summonses to appear in court next week.

  According to a criminal complaint, Fernandez was suspected of illegally exporting guns to Mexico in 1997, though no charges were filed. A Smith & Wesson revolver he once purchased was used in a crime in Mexico in 2003, the federal complaint said. The complaint said that Fernandez has made many trips between Mexico and the Austin area.

  After ATF agents were called to Cabela’s, they learned that Banda, 30, bought the guns that were handed off to Fernandez in November, the complaint said. In February, she told ATF agent Daniel Jones that she had purchased 10 guns for Fernandez and was paid $80 per gun, the complaint said. Banda told agents that Fernandez kept a storage locker near U.S. 290 and Interstate 35, where agents seized numerous gun boxes and receipts.

  Among the items in the storage locker, the complaint said, were business cards. On them, the complaint said, next to Fernandez’s name, was printed “Fernandez Imports & Exports.”