Local Yuma, Arizona DHS-ICE's Office of Investigations need to be revamped

Yuma, AZ – The local Yuma’s DHS-ICE’s Office of Investigations need to be revamped

"Ethical Decisions: Am I acting out of anger, lust, greed or peer pressure?  Would My love ones be proud or ashemed?  Is it worth my job, career, and reputation? Is my cloice legal" - Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, Pima County, Arizona

In my previous postings, I identified one particular rogue Yuma, AZ group supervisor as being Jay Creed. My mistake and apology, his real and complete name is JAY ALAN CREDE. I obtained his complete name from a Yuma Police Department (YPD) case number 08-65686, involving a subordinate of CREDE, a special agent who was being groomed to become a group supervisor thanks to the “good-old boy system network” operating for years in Arizona, Texas, California, and in other parts of our great country.

On December 20, 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) group supervisor JAY CREDE’s subordinate special agent (I will respect his privacy on this report but unfortunately his name is available on the YPD report which is a public record) was arrested by the YPD for DUI. Somehow, the agent called CREDE on his cell phone and CREDE immediately responded. CREDE’s wife drove him to the arrest’s scene. Good for JAY. This is what supervisors are supposed to do for their subordinate agents; especially if they also have been drinking with the arrested agent and his companion, a young DEA female agent. The police report reflects that the drunken ICE special agent was stopped by the finest YPD on December 20, 2008 at 2:24 a.m. for erratic driving.

As soon as the ICE special agent pulled over, got out of his car and flashed his ICE official credentials and badge. The agent’s fate was sealed by just doing what he did. Then again, when one “had too many” our judgment considerably diminish and we tend to do some odd things that we later regret, as this ICE special agent soon was to find out. For those federal law enforcement officers who think that your big federal badge will get you out of trouble, you must think twice.

I am sorry for this young ICE special agent who was booked for DUI. Fortunately he was released to his wife and I don’t believe he spent any time in an inmate’s cell. However, he still had to go through the system. He is a former YPD officer also and he should have known better; never get out of the car after being pulled over at 2:24 a.m. by a marked police unit and flash your federal badge and credentials. It is also possible that the Yuma County District Attorney later dismissed the DUI charges or the ICE agent pled to a much less reduced petty traffic offense.

Now, if the “new” ICE were to take the right approach as to disciplinary actions, regardless if the agent was convicted of any crime or civil offense, the agent and CREDE committed several serious acts of ICE misconducts, one of which is using your badge and credentials and CREDE for obstructing the YPD officers. The YPD reports depict CREDE as being drunk and being very hostile toward the police officers; he tried to release the agent by force and became abusive. I commend the YPD officers and commanding officer who arrived at the scene for showing CREDE how a professional law enforcement officer and a supervisor is expected to behave under extreme pressure.

I believe also that the poor ICE agent who was arrested for DUI finally gave up and decided to fully cooperate by finally surrendering his inner will of trying to convince the YPD officers to give him a brake. He became obedient and docile.

In my 4 years as city police officer, I forgot how many times I transported off-duty drunken fellow police officers, federal law enforcement officers and private individuals. As a federal law enforcement officer, I was given once a brake during my divorce. It has been a long time. It is not like the two top ICE managers who were caught in a Dallas strip joint bar by the local police. I was blamed for having hired one of them years before.

Recently a 62-year old U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agent was arrested by Deputies of the Yuma County Sheriff’s Department for impersonating an Arizona Peace Officer. Allegedly, USBP while off-duty equipped his own private vehicle with law enforcement lights and decided to stop and pull-over traffic violators. The following is what Sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said about the arrest:

"I don't care what he does for a living, he still broke the law," Sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said. "That's one of our philosophies ... for many years. Nobody is too big to fit inside this jail. If they break the law they're going to be charged with it."…"Obviously this individual broke the law and we're charging him with it."

You can find more about the above referenced arrest of the U.S. Border Patrol agent and other incidents involving DHS enforcement employees at the following website:

https://www.checkpointusa.org/DHS/articles/articles.htm

Another Yuma Daily Sun story I encourage you to read is the following interesting REAL and hard to believe story, involving the Yuma’s ICE Office of Investigation. My question to Matthew Allen, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) and overseer and senior executive manager (allegedly a veteran ICE and Legacy U.S. Customs Service manager), and the current ICE-HQ administration: how many more millions of dollars the average American taxpayer will be used to settle a number of lawsuits being filed against “rogue” ICE enforcement employees for violating ICE or DHS’s employees and private citizens’ rights? If not settled, cases lost in U.S. District Courts after trial juries found that an employee or employees at DHS violated someone’s Constitutional rights?

CBP agent files lawsuit against DHS by the Yuma Daily Sun

March 25, 2009

“A Customs and Border Protection agent is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over a search of his Yuma home that he and his wife alleged violated their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix by attorney Robert Cook on behalf of Yuma residents Jimmy and Sheila Slaughter. According to the lawsuit, the DHS violated his clients' 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
The Sun tried to contact Cook on Wednesday seeking comment on the article, but he was not available.
Agent Vince Picard, spokesman for DHS in Arizona, said the agency cannot comment on any pending litigation. 
According to the lawsuit, on July 24, 2008, at about 5:30 p.m., seven agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Slaughters' home in search of a suspect.
"I was at home with my wife when the doorbell rang," Slaughter wrote in an affidavit included in the eight-page lawsuit. "I opened the door and noticed approximately seven uniformed ICE agents with vests and guns standing at my door. I could only see three unmarked cars in front of my home.
"I said what is up fellas? Not having a clue as to what was happening. The lead agent stated that, 'We have received information that Guadalupe Uolla is residing at the residence.' I opened the door to look at the paperwork and five entered my house."
Slaughter, who has worked as a K-9 handler at the San Luis port of entry for the past six years, in his affidavit wrote that the agents made his wife stand in the center of the living room and that they said were going to search his home. At no time did any of the agents say they had a warrant, he claims.
"That is when I stated I was a K-9 handler at the port of entry. All of the agents stopped in their tracks looking at each other and the lead agent asked, 'You are?'" according to Slaughter's affidavit. "I could tell they were confused and I asked to look at their file on the subject they were after."
The affidavit says Slaughter told agents that he and his wife bought the house new in 1998 after he retired from 23 years in the Marine Corps and that they reported to the post office that for the past five years, they have been receiving mail for the lady the agents were searching for.
After clearing up the matter, the agents left. Slaughter also wrote that he informed his port director about the incident the following day and about how angry he was over it.
In his sworn affidavit, Slaughter said he phoned the agent in charge of the operation and spoke to him about the incident. He says he was told that the agency had tracked the woman they were looking for to Slaughter's house by mail.
The lawsuit also names ICE, supervisor Neil Baker and the seven agents as defendants. The Slaughters are asking for $500,000 in damages from each of the nine named defendants.
According to the lawsuit, the actions of the ICE agents exacerbated his wife health conditions, causing her to be hospitalized for several days, and also tarnished his professional reputation.
"Is this the agency that protects our country? It was clearly obvious to me he really didn't care that my reputation had been tarnished," Slaughter wrote. "Now you may say it was just a foul up on the addresses, which is true. But it didn't embarrass or scare your family. It did mine."

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.

Please refer to the following story I authored: which was redacted by the organization that posted the story:

http://www.brownpride.us/forum/arizona-ice-special-agents-violated-criminal-laws-obtain-federal-search-warrant-t20461.html?s=622ab05690347a32fed9ba724460c0f0&amp

The U.S. District Court' Office of the Clerk, Phoenix, AZ conducted an extensive manual search for the original returned federal search warrant executed at the warehouse shed by ICE’s CREDE and his group of special agents but none was found. One or two things happened: the warrant was never returned and/or the warrant was lost on purpose. Now if the FBI decided to refer the CREDE’s matter to the DHS’ OIG, who in turn referred the case to the ICE’s OPR, I can see how once again, the ICE’s Office of Investigations is basically running the ICE’s OPR. We need ACCOUNTABILITY and TRANSPARENCY at DHS, ICE, CBP (U.S. Border Patrol included)

If you don’t believe me, look at www.ice.gov and check the ICE’s leadership. OPR is way down on the bottom right of the website home page. Now if you look at the ICE’s “ABOUT US” section, OPR is not even listed. I rest my case.

KEVIN JETER

KEVIN JETER’s former office was in Phoenix, AZ where he was a group supervisor, GS-1811-14. He started with the Legacy U.S. Customs somewhere and in Phoenix he became a very aggressive retaliator and discriminator. A white special agent filed an EEO complaint, and after a long process, his case went before a federal jury trial in a U.S. District Court. For some reason, the victims of discrimination and retaliation (federal employees) always have to use their own money, while the discriminator and retaliator who already violated our federal and administrative laws is represented by our federal agencies’ attorneys, AUSA’s etc.

In any event, during mid-trial ICE and DOJ attorneys decided to settle the lawsuit. My understanding is that the employee (victim) retired rich and KEVIN JETER got promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC), GS-1811-15 and sent to Yuma, AZ, where he continues to discriminate, retaliate and harass his employees. The latest is that numerous good agents have transferred out to CBP, other federal agencies, or retired.

The cooperation that for years existed between Legacy Customs-ICE (OI) with all of the state, county and local police departments is non-existent in Yuma County. 

MICHAEL J. STROM

MICHAEL J. "MIKE" STROM is a former railroad and Yuma PD cop who has never been transferred from his hometown of Yuma, AZ.  His wife is the head of the Yuma's ICE's administration.  When JETER is on leave sometimes for weeks, STROM becomes the acting ASAC.  This was the problem when retired Customs RAC STEVE D. ARIZAGA was in charge of the office.  When you have a housband and wife acting in such capacity there is a big conflict of interest.

KEVIN EVANS

KEVIN EVANS after being promoted to group supervisor GS-1811-14 in Yuma under ARIZAGA, he was laterally tarnsferred to the RAC's Office of Internal Affairs, El Centro, CA but later one he was back in Yuma, AZ.  EVANS still need to answer as to why he violated the Customs IA non-disclosures laws in May 2002.  He will not be alone,  RICHARD BAILEY is in the same boat.  However, this is a different story that requires a new title.

Until then…..