Mexican drug cartel with ties to Southern California revealed

This from an overnight update:

California’s attorney general and the Imperial County District Attorney will file charges against more than a dozen members of a drug cartel that may have had operations in the Inland Empire, officials at the attorney general’s office said.

Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. will announce the indictments today in Imperial County. The indictments come following an eight-month investigation during which a state narcotics officer worked his way into a Mexican drug cartel.

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Silver Fox,” included surveillance operations in Colton, Rialto, Fontana, Ontario and Riverside.
Officials in Brown’s office said the indictments, which should offer a glimpse at the cartel’s Inland Empire operations, will be released today.

Along with more than a dozen indictments, the investigation netted weapons, drugs and drug-smuggling vehicles, including a truck with a 1,100-pound cocaine vault.

Following today’s announcement, which is scheduled for 10 a.m., Brown will meet with local law enforcement officials, including members of the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and Imperial County Narcotic Task Force, and with his cross-border counterpart, the attorney general of the Mexican state of Baja California.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email

Jerry Brown sets sights on Maywood PD

California Attorney General Jerry Brown will unveil the findings of a 16-month probe into the Maywood Police Department this afternoon. Here’s the AP’s version of the story:

LOS ANGELES–A small police department that patrols two gritty cities engaged in widespread use of unlawful force and routinely lacked probable cause to justify arrests and searches, the state attorney general said Tuesday.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown released a lengthy report detailing the findings of a 16-month investigation of the Maywood Police Department.

The report slammed the department on several fronts, criticizing its hiring of officers with misdemeanor convictions and its fostering of what it called an endemic attitude of discourtesy, sexism and racial insensitivity.

“The Maywood Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprived persons of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution,” the report states.

Maywood Police Chief Frank Hauptmann’s executive assistant Evelyn Ruedas said the chief was declining comment on the report.

Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Linkedin Email