Federal, state and local authorities arrested 33 individuals and seized guns and drugs during a 90-day concentrated enforcement initiative in the South King County area dubbed "Operation Down in the Valley."
The initiative was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Valley Gang Unit.
"Drug trafficking, and the violent crime it spawns, is not limited to our urban areas," said U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. "We must make our neighborhoods places for people to thrive. ‘Hot spot' initiatives such as this seek to identify and root out the bad actors who are making our communities unsafe. I congratulate ATF and Homeland Security Investigations for their leadership, and our local partners who worked to get dangerous and violent offenders off the street."
At a press conference Tuesday, October 23, 2012, officials highlighted four offenders nabbed during the operation, Jorge Fernandez-Muñoz, Cedric Jackson, Terrance Jackson and Alonso Enrique Pelayo.
Fernandez-Muñoz is charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and was arrested Oct.17 outside the Southcenter Target store in Tukwila. He had set up a two-pound methamphetamine deal in the store's parking lot with a person working with law enforcement.
Cedric and Terrance Jackson are charged with conspiracy and multiple counts of distributing cocaine and crack cocaine. When arrested at his home on Oct. 18, Cedric Jackson had four firearms including a Tek-9; a Glock with an extended magazine; a Taurus .357 revolver and a Russian-made revolver. He now faces additional charges for being a felon in possession of firearms.
Pelayo was arrested Oct. 22 after selling several firearms to a person working with law enforcement. One of the guns was a sawed-off shotgun and two of the handguns had been reported stolen in Snohomish County.
"Criminals don't pay attention to jurisdictional lines or borders, which is why law enforcement partnerships that bring together a variety of enforcement authorities are incredibly important," said Brad Bench, special agent in charge, HSI Seattle. "HSI is committed to disrupting criminal enterprises at every level of their operation, from their associates in the U.S. to their leadership abroad."
In all, authorities took 28 guns and nearly 14 pounds of methamphetamine off the street as well as cocaine, heroin and prescription narcotics.
The charges contained in the complaints are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The Valley Gang Unit includes police officers from the cities of Kent, Renton and Tukwila, the King County Sheriff's Office, the Port of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Corrections. The Seattle Police Department, the FBI and the Washington State Liquor Control Board also participated in the initiative. The cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington and the King County Prosecutors Office.
A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted a suspected Bay Area gang member Tuesday, July 31, 2012, for allegedly attempting to kill three special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) when they went to his residence in May seeking to arrest him on racketeering charges.
Victor Flores, aka Little Creeper, 20, of Petaluma, Calif., is charged in a second superseding indictment that adds additional counts to the charges he already faces. The indictment alleges Flores attempted to kill three HSI special agents May 3. He is further alleged to have used a firearm during that incident.
According to the second superseding indictment, Flores is a member of the 500 Block/C Street Gang, which is a racketeering enterprise. Its members and associates agreed to conduct the affairs of the enterprise through, among other crimes, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery and murder. The 500 Block/C Street Gang was a Norteño gang that warred not only with Sureño gangs, but also with rival Norteño gangs.
"As this incident illustrated, our special agents put their lives on the line every day in their ongoing efforts to promote public safety," said ICE Director John Morton. "We want to thank the law enforcement officers who've worked tirelessly to investigate the shootings and we are gratified the alleged perpetrator will now be held to answer for those crimes."
Of the three HSI special agents who were wounded during the May enforcement action, one has returned to duty full time. The other two are continuing to undergo therapy and both are making progress on their recovery.
The defendant has been in federal custody since May 4, when he was arraigned on charges alleged in the first superseding indictment. The defendant's next scheduled court appearance is Aug. 3 for a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of attempted murder of a federal agent is 20 years. The maximum statutory penalty for using and possessing a firearm is life in prison.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the FBI, HSI, and the police departments of Petaluma, South San Francisco and Daly City. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Acadia L. Senese and W.S. Wilson Leung with the support of Kevin Costello and Daniel Charlier-Smith.
