Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Kidnapping of New Jersey Woman and Her Young Child

TRENTON, NJ—Jayen I. Patel, 41, of Southampton, Pa., admitted today to engaging someone he thought was a white supremacist to kidnap a New Jersey woman and her child, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Patel pleaded guilty to an Indictment charging him with one count of soliciting an individual to aid in a kidnapping. The defendant entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In September 2010, Patel reached out to an FBI agent acting in an undercover capacity (“the UC”) through an Internet-based social networking site. As the relationship between the UC and Patel developed, Patel identified a woman and her daughter whom he wished to have kidnapped, claiming that the child’s father wanted custody of the child. Patel’s plan involved forcing the woman to do things ‘to make her loose [sic] custody of her child.’

Patel indicated that if the UC—who he thought was a white supremacist—and his associates aided in the abduction, they would be paid from money they obtained from the victim, whom they would all share as a slave following her abduction. During his guilty plea, Patel admitted that he provided instructions to separate the child from her mother, to restrain the mother with handcuffs, and to knock the mother unconscious with a handgun if she resisted. Patel also provided the victims’ names and address, urging the UC to conduct surveillance on the victims to determine their schedules and how many people lived in the residence. He also gave instructions regarding the makeup of the group that should engage in the kidnapping.

The solicitation charge to which Patel pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

Sentencing before Judge Wolfson is currently scheduled for June 1, 2012. The defendant remains under house arrest and electronic monitoring pending sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised the outstanding work of special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward, as well as the other members of the Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). He also thanked the Oklahoma City FBI, Franklin Township, N.J., Police Department, South Brunswick Police Department, and the Hopewell Township Police Department for their roles in the investigation. The JTTF is made up of agents and officers of the U.S. Department of State: U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection; New Jersey State Police; Jersey City Police Department; Bayonne Police Department; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other law enforcement agencies.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis C. Carletta of the U.S. Attorney’s Office National Security Unit in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Robert J. DeGroot Esq., Newark

"Operation Smokeout" leads to seizure of thousands of untaxed cigarettes and criminal charges

NEW YORK - A three-month investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) into the smuggling of cigarettes from overseas through John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport has resulted in the arrest of a dozen individuals who have been charged with state tax violations and falsified business records.

In addition to the criminal charges, law enforcement authorities have seized more than 4,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes, 22,000 untaxed cigars and nearly $400,000 in cash and property in the past three months. The investigation dubbed "Operation Smokeout" revealed the bootleg cigarettes and cigars were coming primarily from China, South Korea, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Haiti and Guyana (Map of Distribution Network).

"This investigation targeted individuals who were bringing thousands of cigarettes from overseas with the intent of reselling them right here in New York City. No reporting, no taxes, no customs duties, just pure profit from the smuggler's perspective," said Mona Forman, deputy special agent in charge of ICE HSI in New York. "Cigarette smuggling can be a lucrative enterprise with the illicit proceeds used to fund other criminal behavior. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to dismantle organizations behind this illegal activity."

"Cigarette smuggling to evade state and local taxes is a multi-million dollar industry. It is a highly profitable tax-free cash business for those involved in it. However, it cheats taxpayers who must dip into their pockets to pay higher taxes," said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, whose office is prosecuting the cases. "It cheats the government as well by fueling an underground economy which does not pay much needed State and City taxes. In today's cases, it is estimated that the twelve defendants shortchanged New York State and New York City out of approximately $270,000 in tax revenue."

All cigarette packages sold in New York City must bear a joint New York City/New York State tax stamp and only a licensed stamping agent can possess untaxed cigarettes and affix the tax stamp on the packages. The Queens District Attorney's office has formed a new unit specifically to investigate and prosecute those who violate the law by failing to pay any type of tax obligations - such as excise, sales and income - associated with legal and illegal activities including cigarette smuggling.

In one of the cases announced Thursday, it is alleged that Bobirjon S. Shakirov, 36, of Queens, arrived at JFK Airport from the Republic of Uzbekistan on April 3. He was carrying 170 cartons of cigarettes, which he did not declare on his customs declaration form or verbally mention to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer. The tax value on those cigarettes is $10,982.

In another case, Kwang Soo Lee, 67, of Flushing, N.Y., is alleged to have received a package by U.S. mail on March 24 that was intercepted at the airport's international mail facility. The package was addressed to Eden Cleaners/Maggie Lim and contained 30 cartons of untaxed "Paran" brand Korean cigarettes with a tax value of $1,938. When the package was delivered to Lee, he signed for it and told the postman, who was in fact an undercover U.S. postal inspector, that he was not Maggie Lim but Maggie Kim.

Later that day, a search warrant was executed at Lee's residence and investigators allegedly observed an open box containing 30 cigarette cartons plus 11 additional cartons of Paran cigarettes with a tax value of $691. It is alleged that in statements made by Lee at the time of his arrest that the March 24 box of cigarettes was the third such delivery of cigarettes he had received in the last three months on behalf of a third party.

Since 2005, the Queens District Attorney's office has targeted tax evasion, revenue and financial crimes. These investigations have to date returned more than $5 million in revenue to New York state.

ICE HSI was joined in this investigation by CBP, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Queens District Attorney's office, the Port Authority Police and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Former Law Enforcement Officer Sentenced for Mail Fraud

TRENTON, NJ—Michael Palermo, 52, of Jackson, N.J., was sentenced today to three years of probation and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution for committing mail fraud in connection with a civil lawsuit that he instituted against a contracting company, its principal, and others who constructed and sold him a house in 2006, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Palermo, a former task force officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, previously pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of mail fraud. Judge Sheridan also imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Palermo was an officer with the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) for over 16 years and was detailed to work with the FBI as a task force officer on violent crime investigations for the last 11 of those years.

Palermo admitted that from February 2007 to January 2009, he schemed to defraud the adverse parties in the civil lawsuit by misrepresenting the cost to clean up water damage in the basement of his home. To further the scheme, Palermo enlisted an individual serving as cooperating witness in cases with which he was involved in an official capacity. Palermo asked this individual to create a false bill indicating Palermo had paid him $10,000 for repairs, which Palermo later provided in civil discovery to the adverse parties. Palermo never actually paid the individual for any services related to the cleanup of his basement. Palermo also admitted that he made false, sworn statements in a relevant deposition and provided false answers to interrogatories in the civil lawsuit, including that he paid $10,000 for the repairs, and directed his attorneys to mail those answers to the adverse parties.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, with the investigation. He also thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James. E. Tomlinson, and the PAPD, under the direction of Superintendent Michael A. Fedorko, for their vital roles in the investigation.

This government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric T. Kanefsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division.

Defense counsel: Jack Arseneault, Esq., Chatham, N.J.

Police Omerta

May 28, 2008, 2008 (San Dimas, CA) On June 4, 2008, Conversations with Cops at the Watering Hole will feature an interview with Joe Sanchez a former NYPD police officer and the author of Latin Blues: A Tale of Police Omerta from the NYPD and A Tale of the Enemy Within.

Program Date: June 4, 2008
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: An Interview with Joe Sanchez
Listen Live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement

About the Guest
In 1965, Joe Sanchez was drafted into the United States Army, at the age of 18. On his twentieth birthday, he found himself with the First Air Cavalry Air Mobile Division deployed near the village of Phantiet in South Vietnam. On that day, his unit was engaged in a firefight with Viet Cong. Joe Sanchez and three of his comrades were wounded by a grenade during that firefight.

After discharge, Joe Sanchez served three years as a police officer with the New York Port Authority Police Department. He then applied for, and was accepted, as a police officer for the New York City Police Department. Joe Sanchez battled crime on the streets of New York, not realizing the most vicious enemy was within the NYPD.

In October of 1983, Joe Sanchez was indicted by a Special and Extraordinary Grand Jury in Manhattan for one count of Burglary in the First Degree; one count of Grand Larceny in the first Degree; one count of Grand Larceny in the second Degree; six counts of Grand larceny in the Third Degree; and, one count of assault in the Third Degree. Joe Sanchez would ultimately be exonerated of the charges because the true betrayal wasn’t Joe’s, it was his enemies within the NYPD that had set him up.

For a time, Joe Sanchez became a letter carrier and then reentered the criminal justice field as a correctional officer serving in both Sing Sing and Coxsackie State Prisons. If you ask Joe Sanchez, he will tell you, “It's a true story. I've been trying to tell it for a long time. It's my story, but not mine alone. It is also the story of those who lived and died alongside me, in Viet Nam and in that other battle, for justice and safety under the shield of the law; that is fought daily in the streets of every big city by every honest cop. In this case, the city is the Naked City, and the cop [namely, me] is a Latino. And the battle is neither for the civilians alone, nor just against the bad guys in the street. Some times the bad guys are in the Department. And sometimes the people who need protection are the honest cops.”

Joe Sanchez is the author of Latin Blues: A Tale of Police Omerta from the NYPD and A Tale of the Enemy Within.

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in law enforcement, public policy, law enforcement technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in law enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530