Local lawmen push to prevent crime

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard came to Nogales Oct. 29 to listen to local residents sound off about crime.

During a forum at Nogales High School, Goddard and local law enforcement officers spoke about crimes, civil and criminal, that challenge them and their personnel. Then they asked for questions from the audience of some 30 people.

Fraud and identity theft topped the list.

“With the down economy, people are taking advantage and victimizing other people,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Antonio Estrada. "Identity thieves are going through mailboxes and marketing scams to the elderly."

Nogales Police Chief William Ybarra agreed. “People are looking for innovative ways to pay their bills.”

Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva described a scam that promises a lottery jackpot to a person who will cash an enclosed check and wire the money to Canada.

“My gut feeling is that it's a fraud,” he said. The check-casher could get into hot water if the bank can't collect on the check.

In the past year and a half, the Nogales Police Department received some 400 complaints about identity theft or fraud, Ybarra said. “Our kids are being scammed on the Internet and their phones.”

Gale Nellans of Nogales said it was essential to educate young adults. He teaches soldiers at Fort Huachuca how to avoid fraud and the credit pitfalls, he said.

“Young people are uniquely vulnerable,” Goddard said. “They're being deluged with credit card offers. They often trash their credit before they get through college.”

A current bill in the Legislature would bar credit offers to people under 21, Goddard said. His office publishes a consumer guide for 18-year-olds.

People over 65 are often targets for mortgage fraud and work-at-home schemes, Goddard said. The No. 1 scam is a call to a person listed as behind on their mortgage payment, he said. The caller will promise help and ask for a fee up front.

His office is recruiting “senior sleuths” to teach people how to avoid fraudulent scams, Goddard said. “We can't arrest or prosecute our way out of crime. We have to prevent.”

Mayor Octavio Garcia-Von Borstel agreed. “Crime and fraud prevention is critical,” he said. “The most effective weapon is to educate people.”

When Silva speaks in classrooms about drug use and drunk driving, he tells students, “You have the power to make the right choices.”

How will law enforcement agencies cope with the state budget crisis? asked State Rep. Patricia Fleming.

Goddard said his office took a 20 percent cut in funding and laid off 100 of 900 employees. Now the state wants each department to come up with another 15 percent reduction, he said. The Department of Public Safety would lay off 500 officers, Goddard said. “To me, that says we put up a sign at our border that says ‘criminals welcome.’”

What can law enforcement do about illegal immigrants burglarizing homes in Rio Rico? asked resident Lourdes Mendez.

“It's very rare they're going to break into your house and take anything large,” answered Sheriff's Lt. Raoul Rodriguez.

The sheriff's office will investigate any crimes and notify the Border Patrol if the suspects could be in the country illegally, Rodriguez said.

“Working together, we hope to minimize it,” he said. “Will it go away? Not in my lifetime.”

Silva said some burglaries are committed by “groups of U.S. kids who take advantage of residents not being home.”

“If I contribute to a (fraudulent) charity and write it off, am I in trouble with the IRS?” asked an audience member.

“If you didn't know, I don't think they would prosecute you,” Goddard answered.

Donors can check out the organization on the Charity Watch Web site, but Arizona has no oversight for its 22,000 nonprofit organizations, he said.

When audience member Bob Fleming noted that charities must register with the Secretary of State and file reports, Goddard said, “It's a requirement that has no teeth. There's no penalty.”

Nogales City Manager Jaime Fontes asked, “Is there a policy at the federal level to channel drugs through certain corridors?”

About 50 percent of the drug traffic from Mexico comes through the Tucson Sector of the border, Goddard said. “It's the result of policy initiatives that closed down other border areas.”

While the policy was not deliberate, the trafficking of drugs and people through Arizona has been “a huge drain to health care facilities, sheriff's office and jails in border counties,” Goddard said. “We're not being reimbursed for it.”

He's preparing a lawsuit to demand federal reimbursement for the expenses the border agencies incur, he said.

Goddard urged federal agencies to unite against the sophisticated Mexican drug cartels and cooperate with Mexican law enforcement instead of focusing only on their specific area of drugs, people-smuggling, weapons or illegal cash.

Mexican cartels are active in 230 U.S. cities, Goddard said. “We have a crime threat and it's not just at the border.”

Two NPD officers who work with Customs and Border Protection agents at the DeConcini Port of Entry recently seized more than $204,000 in cash headed for the cartels, Ybarra said.

“If we're not working together, there's no way we can win the war on drugs,” Silva said.