BROWNSVILLE, Texas An off-duty Matamoros, Mexico, police officer was one of four people arrested today during a drug raid at a Brownsville home where more than six hundred pounds of marijuana was seized.

The Brownsville Herald reported that agents found 663 pounds of marijuana in two closets in the home.

Agents also arrested 20-year-old Roberto Mesa, 22-year-old Jose Alvarez, and 35-year-old Julio Rincon, all from Mexico.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=6358856

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Michael Carlos Gonzalez, 34, of Vail, Ariz., was found guilty Monday of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking, said Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office of Arizona.

The case relates to a Dec. 6, 2005, incident in which an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer pulled over a pickup truck on Highway 83 near Sonoita.

When the truck came to a stop, the driver and passenger fled into the desert. They left behind numerous bundles of marijuana in the truck.

As the DPS officer and other authorities chased the suspects, authorities said Gonzalez arrived in his Border Patrol vehicle and stayed behind to watch the marijuana.

Prosecutors said a video camera inside a DPS car then filmed Gonzalez as he backed up his vehicle to the front of the truck, took a bundle of marijuana and put it in the trunk of his car. The video also shows him moving other bales to fill the space left by the missing bundle.

Gonzalez then left, and the marijuana was never recovered, authorities said.

Gonzalez faces 10 years in prison and fines of $500,000 when he's sentenced June 26.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

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Parole and Probation Supervisor Shadman Afzal invited his co-workers to his home to celebrate the holidays last December, but when the host pulled out a bong and began smoking marijuana, the party was over.

One of the shocked co-workers recognized the marijuana. It had been confiscated the month before from someone on probation.

With a few drags on the pipe, Afzal's 16-year career in Multnomah County law enforcement ended. His co-workers told him they would have to report it, despite their reluctance to injure a man respected for his hard work -- and a man visibly suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease.

Afzal confessed to his boss the day after the party, and he hasn't been at work since. His resignation was effective Monday, and prosecutors announced this week that he won't face criminal charges.

"If I could explain it, I would explain it," Afzal said in an interview with The Oregonian. "It was so out of character for me. It was really stupid. I made a mistake."

But Afzal says he was emotionally distraught over the disease and his future ability to support his family.

"I went from somebody who exercises religiously -- I used to love to play soccer -- to somebody who is hardly able to walk," Afzal said. "I can't change the fact that it happened."

Afzal said he has difficulty talking about the incident without crying. "I've shamed my family. I've shamed my friends."

The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office has decided not to file criminal charges because prosecutors believe that the degenerative neurological condition was a major contributing factor to Afzal's actions that night. Prosecutors believe Afzal was seriously depressed.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Norm Frink said Afzal did not get special treatment. He said his office has vigorously prosecuted other law enforcement officers for stealing drugs, but Afzal's illness made this case different.

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Anna Nicole Smith Judge Caught Smoking Marijuana

Remember Judge Lawrence Korda? He was the Florida judge who heard evidence in the Anna Nicole Smith DNA paternity test. Well, Judge Korda likes the wacky weed and has been arrested on marijuana charges.

Judge Lawrence Korda was busted in a Hollywood, Florida park on Sunday after a passing beat cop traced the smell of marijuana to the bench he was sitting on.

"They smelled marijuana and they basically followed their noses, which led them to Judge Korda, who was sitting next to a tree inside the park with the marijuana joint still lit in his mouth," Hollywood Police Capt. Tony Rode told the New York Daily News.

The 59-year-old judge was issued a misdemeanor summons and will now have to face drug possession charges in court. His honor could also spend time in jail.

Last month, Korda rejected a paternity motion filed by one of Smith's ex-lovers, Larry Birkhead, who claims he's the father of the late Playboy Playmate's daughter, Dannielynn.

Korda ruled that Florida has no jurisdiction in the case. (c) WENN (c) tPC

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Written by WorldNetDaily    Monday, 07 August 2006

Officers prosecuted – wounded drug trafficker
given full immunity in exchange for testimony

When Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos pulled the trigger last February, all he knew was that his partner was lying on the ground behind him – bloodied from a struggle with a fleeing suspect – shots had been fired and now, it appeared, the drug smuggler he was pursuing had turned toward him with what looked to be a gun in his hand.

In the split-second he had to respond, Ramos determined the course of his and his partner's lives – federal prison for the next 20 years for assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, violating civil rights and obstruction of justice.

Ramos, 37, is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve and a former nominee for Border Patrol Agent of the Year.

Agent Jose Alonso Compean. Courtesy of KFOX-TV

On February 17, he responded to a request for back up from agent Jose Alonso Compean, 28, who noticed a suspicious van near the levee road along the Rio Grande River near the Texas town of Fabens, about 40 miles east of El Paso.

Ramos, who headed toward Fabens hoping to cut off the van, soon joined a third agent already in pursuit.

Behind the wheel of the van was an illegal alien, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila of Mexico. Unknown to the growing number of Border Patrol agents converging on Fabens, Aldrete-Davila's van was carrying 800 pounds of marijuana.

Unable to outrun Ramos and the third agent, Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on the levee, jumped out and started running toward the river. When he reached the other side of the levee, he was met by Compean who had anticipated the smuggler's attempt to get back to Mexico.

"We both yelled out for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop, and he just kept running," Ramos said. Aldrete-Davila crossed a canal.

"At some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired," Ramos said. "Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler."

At that point, Ramos said, Aldrete-Davila turned toward him, pointing what looked like a gun.

"I shot," Ramos said. "But I didn't think he was hit, because he kept running into the brush and then disappeared into it. Later, we all watched as he jumped into a van waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all."

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We don't need the Federal Government in our personal life's at all. All they should be doing is protecting our soil and wetlands, and dealing with foreign trade. We pay law enforcement to protect and serve. Harassing or arresting a cannabis user does not make me feel any safer. There are thousands of criminals getting away with harmful crimes while a police officer is doing paperwork one the cannabis consumer he just arrest.

Our law enforcement agencies need to get their priority straighten out.

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February 13, 2006

By Deitrich Curry
Montgomery Advertiser

A Montgomery police officer was arrested Saturday night on charges of drug possession after investigators burst into his southeast Montgomery apartment.

Donny Young, 25, who lives on Moorcroft Drive, was arrested at 11 p.m. and charged with felony possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. He served in the traffic division. His twin brother, Danny Young, also was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and felony possession of cocaine.

Police Chief Arthur Baylor ordered the arrest after learning the officer might be involved in criminal activity and a search warrant was issued.

Baylor, whom a witness saw at the arrest scene, said he wants to maintain the integrity of the Montgomery Police Department.

"It is unfortunate for me to have to conduct an arrest of a police officer," Baylor said in a news release. "However, I would like for this arrest to serve as notice that I am committed to ridding this community of illegal drug activity."

Police would not reveal how long they have been investigating Young or how they learned he might be involved in drug activity.

"We are very limited in what we can release because it is a narcotics investigation," said Capt. Huey Thornton, a police spokesman. "We are concerned about releasing information sensitive to the investigation."

Young resigned from the Montgomery Police Department while being interviewed after the arrest by investigators from the Internal Affairs Bureau.

He and his brother were placed in the Montgomery County Detention Facility on bonds exceeding $100,000 because they are both considered to be flight risks, according to the news release.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060213/NEWS01/602130338/1007

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Channel 4 Action News

Video: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/6181849/detail.html

Copyright 2006 by ThePittsburghChannel.

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