Crime Correspondent: Florida

Cuong D. Nguyen,Dung Minh Tran, Christopher Leventis charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of mar

Cuong D. Nguyen,Dung Minh Tran, Christopher Leventis charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of mar

Six local men were arrested yesterday morning on drug conspiracy charges following a raid at a McCandless home.The arrests are part of an on...

Otis "Cowboy" Carden,Terry "Ox" Gilmore Thirty people have been arrested, identified as part of the Carden organization.

A cache of weapons that included the launcher, fully automatic rifles, an "elephant gun," and handguns of various sizes and shapes was put on display today by the sheriff and law enforcement officers from other jurisdictions that participated in the nearly year-old probe.The investigative team focused its attention on Otis "Cowboy" Carden, 26, and Terry "Ox" Gilmore, 34, who are accused of being the ringleaders. Sgt. Ian Floyd said everyone else arrested worked for these two. "Some stole vehicles," Floyd said. "Others broke into houses and stole guns."The investigation began last summer after a vehicle theft, he said. From there, it led to drugs and guns and stolen property.Judd said there was no evidence the ring was smuggling guns.The ring bought and sold stolen goods and dealt mainly in methamphetamine, he said. Although the public was undisturbed by the ring, Judd said members would be very violent to those who didn't pay debts or tried to rip them off. Judd said victims were fearful of coming forward. "One guy had the pudding beat out of him," Judd said. "This is one of the more violent groups we've encountered recently. They were violent toward each other and those who dealt drugs and stole property if they didn't pay up." Three members of the ring remained at large, he said."But our guys are coming after you," he said. The ring made money off drugs and the sale of stolen property. The guns mostly were bought and sold among the members, Judd said, and were used for protection and intimidation.The origins of the bomb launcher remained a mystery, he said. The ring member who procured it said he bought it for $100, Judd said, "and sold it to a ring leader buddy for $400. But we don't know where it came from."Charges against those arrested included dealing in stolen property, drug possession and dealing, and theft. Carden was arrested Jan. 23 in Osceola County by the U.S. Marshals with 11 grams of meth and $9,000 in his possession, authorities said. He was charged by a federal grand jury this week with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a machine gun.Gilmore, who authorities said described himself as the "muscle" of the organization, was arrested Feb. 8 on charges including grand theft auto, resisting an officer without violence and drug possession. Thirty people have been arrested since last summer, identified as part of the Carden organization.

Otis "Cowboy" Carden,Terry "Ox" Gilmore Thirty people have been arrested, identified as part of the Carden organization.

A cache of weapons that included the launcher, fully automatic rifles, an "elephant gun," and handguns of various sizes and shapes...

Sport utility vehicle stopped 25 bags of heroin inside.

State troopers are searching for the driver of a sport utility vehicle in which 25 bags of heroin were found in plain sight.Florida Highway ...

Rafael Pacheco

Rafael Pacheco, an agent with the U.S. Customs Service in Florida. And the database in question is the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, or TECS, which contains more than a billion records used by Customs and other federal police. Pacheco was, to put it bluntly, a corrupt cop. He sold access to TECS for money. He got caught when a Mexican man named Fidencio Estrada was nabbed by state police in a traffic stop near Houston. Estrada had Pacheco's business card with him, and the state trooper asked him about it. After receiving a suspicious answer, the trooper phoned Pacheco, who called back and said that Estrada was a "huge" confidential informant and demanded that the trooper "let him go now." You can imagine what the truth was. The U.S. Customs Service, which was subsequently renamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would later say that Estrada was never a confidential informant. Instead, Estrada and his family had sent about $18,000 in Western Union money transfers to the Customs agent, who deposited the cash in his personal bank account and used it to pay off a vehicle loan with the Florida Customs Federal Credit Union. Estrada is, according to ICE, a drug trafficker. In return, in February 2000, Pacheco accessed TECS to check for records on Estrada. He searched for Estrada under two aliases and looked up records for those aliases in the NCIC database, which lists outstanding warrants against a person. He also helped Estrada's family members in Mexico obtain visas. TECS, by the way, is described in a Justice Department report as including a watch list mechanism and, more generally, is: "Designed to identify individuals, businesses, and vehicles suspected of or involved in violation of federal law. TECS is also a communications system permitting message transmittal between law enforcement offices and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The database provides access to the FBI's NCIC and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. The TECS database serves as the principal information system supporting border management and the law enforcement mission of the DHS's U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other federal law enforcement agencies." So what eventually happened? Thanks to the happenstance of the traffic stop, the access-for-cash scheme unraveled, and Pacheco was convicted of receiving a bribe, hindering law enforcement, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and unlawfully accessing restricted federal computer databases. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison (and a separate 60-month sentence to be served at the same time). As for Estrada, a U.S. permanent resident, he was found guilty by a jury of conspiring to bribe a public official, conspiring to launder money, 5 counts of bribery, and 10 counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison, followed by 36 months supervised r

Rafael Pacheco

Rafael Pacheco, an agent with the U.S. Customs Service in Florida. And the database in question is the Treasury Enforcement Communications S...

Allan Guedes Sharif

Allan Guedes Sharif, 28, is charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum life sentence, and other c...

Luis Garcia

Luis Garcia, 52, of Miramar, Fla., was charged with murder Thursday. Investigators said Jones met Garcia to buy cocaine, but Jones was fatally shot and left in the parking lot of the rest area. Jones went to Garcia's Miramar, Fla., home that Friday to buy cocaine, the Miami Herald reported, citing a complaint affidavit filed Wednesday. Garcia drove Jones to the rest stop, where Jones tested the cocaine and handed over money to Garcia. Garcia admitted Wednesday to counting the money and then shooting Jones and leaving him at the rest stop to die. But Jones' mother, Glynis Jones of Lexington, said her son was in Broward County to visit his 1-year-old, Justus Armone Jones. Jerome Jones traveled to Florida often to visit Justus and the child's mother, Talonda Ingram. "It was supposed to be a surprise when he came this time," Glynis Jones said. She said Jerome Jones was a good son and good father. He graduated from UK last year with a degree in kinesiology. "My son was smart," Glynis Jones said. "People try to discredit him, and I'm not going to let that happen." Jerome Jones' best friend, Johnathan Huguely of Lexington, said they had a cleaning service called J&J Mobile Washing. Jones and Huguely had a van for nearly a year and, mostly in the summer, cleaned cars and the bricks of homes. "He was like a brother to me," Huguely said. "He had a lot of good in him." Services for Jones will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church. Visitation starts at noon. Burial will follow at Bluegrass Memorial Gardens. Fender Funeral Directors are handling arrangements. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luis Garcia

Luis Garcia, 52, of Miramar, Fla., was charged with murder Thursday. Investigators said Jones met Garcia to buy cocaine, but Jones was fatal...

Byron A. Jimenez Castaneda

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2DBRJ7_bsR6Z4_qtzG17UT9BV_JePiuhyphenhyphen_2enxRDHkDuU9WHnVMjZAuI1qeBBE1AXMtXbtP5BiQ5t4SYZlUDg9yuHOxy6ZmepCAOBNg1KNPM5OWXvAFNSlw126BETIIZgGJY2k4bV4/s1600-h/castaneda.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149561323374962626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2DBRJ7_bsR6Z4_qtzG17UT9BV_JePiuhyphenhyphen_2enxRDHkDuU9WHnVMjZAuI1qeBBE1AXMtXbtP5BiQ5t4SYZlUDg9yuHOxy6ZmepCAOBNg1KNPM5OWXvAFNSlw126BETIIZgGJY2k4bV4/s320/castaneda.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> ICE and FBI agents executed a warrant to arrest Byron A. Jimenez Castaneda, 44, a citizen of Colombia, in Orlando, Florida for conspiracy to possess, distribute and import narcotics into the United States. In the 15-count indictment, Jimenez Castaneda is alleged to have coordinated the kidnapping of an undercover ICE agent in Medellin, Colombia, on December 13, 2005. Jimenez Castaneda acted as "judge" in a "narco trial" to determine the undercover ICE agent's responsibility for the cartel's loss of cocaine and currency to law enforcement. The indictment also alleges that a ransom of $2,000,000 was requested for the release of the undercover ICE agent. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Julie L. Myers and United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez announced the arrest today for violations to Title 21, United States Code (USC), Sections 841 and 846; Title 18, USC Sections 952 and 963, and Title 18, USC, Section 1203. The arrest of Jimenez Castaneda comes following a two year ICE investigation that has resulted in the arrest of 23 cartel associates and the seizure of more than 1,900 kilograms of cocaine, numerous foreign and domestic bank accounts, more than 3 million dollars in U.S. currency and six vessels. "This case demonstrates how ruthless this Medellin-based cartel is," said Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers. "Arresting Jimenez Castaneda on kidnapping and drug charges brings us one step closer to justice and strikes a severe blow to their criminal organization.

Byron A. Jimenez Castaneda

ICE and FBI agents executed a warrant to arrest Byron A. Jimenez Castaneda, 44, a citizen of Colombia, in Orlando, Florida for conspiracy to...