July 2006 - Posts
The El
Paso County Attorney's Office will be among several local agencies training new
volunteers of the El Paso Police Department's Victim Services Response Team
(VSRT). The training is intended to give volunteers the knowledge necessary to
fulfill victims' needs, and includes legal education on crime victims'
protection and the protective order system.
Jesus Rodriguez, chief of the Family Violence Unit at the County Attorney's
Office, explained that proper training of VSRT volunteers is crucial because it
guarantees victims will get proper access to programs and services made
available by the state and the courts.
"By thoroughly training victim's advocates, our office
fulfills its mission of protecting the most vulnerable members of our society",
Rodriguez said.
WHO: County Attorney's Office-Family Violence Unit
WHAT: VSRT Volunteers Training
WHEN: Tuesday August 1st, 2006 at 7:45 PM
WHERE: El Paso Police Headquarters
911
N. Raynor
News
outlets interested in learning more about the El Paso Police Department's
Victims Services Response Team need to contact Letty Trejo at 564-7368.
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For those interested members of the media, the
El Paso Police Department has authorized photographers to record the training
session and to follow a member of the VSRT to a crime scene (However there are
certain restrictions, like not photographing the victims). For more information,
you need to call Letty Trejo or the EPPD Public Information Officer Javier
Sambrano at 564-7307.
Victim Services Training Press Release.pdf
Illegal dumping, water pollution and illegal burning are not
only three of the biggest problems affecting rural areas of El Paso County,
they are also environmental crimes that often go unreported and unpunished.
Fighting those crimes in the El Paso area has been difficult in the past because
the small incorporated cities within our county have few code enforcement
officers and lack the funds to train them properly.
The Solid Waste Advisory Committee, through the Rio Grande
Council of Governments, has granted our region funds to hire and train code
enforcement and peace officers on Texas
environmental laws.
The purpose of the training is to give officers the
necessary knowledge to pursue actively residents who break environmental laws and
how to properly gather evidence to successfully prosecute in court these types
of offenses.
The Environmental Prosecutor for the El Paso County
Attorney's Office, Cristina Viesca-Santos
will conduct a training session for nearly a dozen code and law enforcement
officers from Anthony, Clint, Alpine and Marfa,
Texas.
WHO: County
Attorney's Environmental
Unit
WHAT: Environmental Enforcement
Training
WHEN: Wednesday July 26th, 2006 @ 1:30 PM
WHERE: Rio
Grande Council of Governments
1100 N. Stanton, 6th Floor Conference Room
For more information about the seminar, please call
Evaristo Cruz at the Rio Grande Council of Governments, at 533-0998 ext. 138.
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Members of the media interested in searching for
polluted areas of the desert need to contact the local law enforcement agencies
directly, or make arrangements with some of the participants.
Environmental Enforcement Training.pdf
El Paso Extreme Weather Task Force
organizes fan drive and fundraiser.
The
high temperatures are back, as we expect to reach near triple digits today and
tomorrow. Unfortunately the County
Attorney's Elder
Protection Unit is running low on fans to give relief to needy families.
Without
the community's support we cannot help prevent more heat-related emergencies. That
is why the County
Attorney's Elder
Protection Unit in collaboration with the El Paso Fire Department, the El Paso
County Sheriff, the Area Agency on Aging and all members the El Paso Extreme
Weather Task Force are organizing a fan drive and fundraiser this coming Friday.
Please
help us protect needy families from the heat by promoting the event. A small $10
donation is enough to buy a fan and could make the difference in saving a life!
What: Fundraiser and Fan Drive
When: Friday,
July 21, 2006 from 6:00 AM until 12:00 PM
Where: King's Aire
1035
Kessler St.
Fan drive cont. page 2
Why: To collect money and fans to help needy
families and individuals to beat the heat.
We
are also urging El Pasoans that are 65 years of age or older needing a fan to
call the County Attorney's Elder Protection Unit at
546-2239 or the Area Agency on Aging at 533-0998.
-
30 -
Fan Drive Press Release.pdf
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List
contains nearly 5,000 individuals who face criminal charges
El Paso County Attorney José
Rodríguez announced today a new service that will allow the public to easily
check the current county's hot checks warrants list. The list is available
starting today from any computer with internet access by visiting the El Paso County web page:
www.epcounty.com.
The Chief of the Criminal Unit, Kent Sutton said the publication of the warrants
list is the first step towards increasing hot check collections in El Paso County.
"We believe the public display of
the names of individuals with warrants might serve as a deterrent for hot
checks writers, and will motivate some of them to come forward to pay any
outstanding amounts" Kent Sutton
said..
"We also think small business owners will find the list
useful in determining whether or not they should take a check from an
individual."
The Hot Check Unit of the El Paso
County Attorney's Office offers merchants and individuals free collection
services of the face amount of the hot check and an additional fee of $30 for
the benefit of the payee; they also prosecute hot check writers in court.
It is
estimated that currently hot check writers owe local businesses more than $5
million dollars. Just during the first 9 months of fiscal year 2006, and thanks
in part to hot check initiatives implemented along with the El Paso Police
Department, the El Paso Hot Checks
Warrants Cont. Page #2
Sheriff's Department and the local Constables, this office
has collected more than $1.25 million dollars in restitution and fees to local
merchants.
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For those interested members of the media, the Chief
of the Hot Checks Unit Kent Sutton will
be available for interviews later today at the County Attorney's
Office, 5th floor of the County
Building in downtown El Paso. Please call if
you are interested in talking to him.
Hot Checks Warrant List.pdf
Agreement
Avoids Lengthy and Costly Litigation Process
El Paso County Attorney José
Rodríguez announces that Commissioner's Court has approved an out of court
settlement with local activist Carl Starr, to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed in
federal court against the El Paso
County.
The lawsuit filed on May 26 and
amended on June 15 2006, alleged a violation of Starr's Fourth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the United States Constitution arising from a traffic stop on a
bus that was traveling on I-10 near Fabens and involving sheriff deputies.
The agreement in no way should be
considered an admission of liability from either party and its only purpose is
to avoid a costly litigation process.
The settlement on this case states
that, in exchange for the release of all liability by the County, the El Paso
Sheriff Office agrees to memorialize in writing its policy that prohibits
Sheriff's Department Deputies from enforcing civil immigration law.
As part of the settlement, the El
Paso County Sheriff's Department agrees to provide its peace officers with
training to help them understand the limits of their authority with regard to
enforcement of civil immigration law.
County Attorney
José Rodríguez says the settlement is important because it would help to
dissipate the concerns expressed by immigrant groups regarding activities
conducted by sheriff officers as part of "Operation Linebacker".
"We want to ensure the community
that Sheriff's deputies will not be enforcing civil immigration law; that is
the duty of the federal government. The
Sheriff's Department will continue to focus its efforts on crime prevention.
All citizens should feel confident in reporting crime without regard to their
immigration status," said Rodríguez.
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For those interested members
of the media, First
Assistant County
Attorney Joanne Bernal will be available for interviews Tuesday morning between
10 and 11 at her office downtown. Please confirm if you are interested in
talking to her or call to make further arrangements.
Operation Linebacker Settlement.pdf
The El Paso County Attorney José
Rodríguez has filed criminal charges against a Socorro notary public alleging
she conducted deceptive business practices.
Patricia Puentes Monroy, owner of "M
N Business Management" located at 1113 Horizon Blvd., is being charged with 3 counts of Deceptive Trade Practice,
a Class ‘A' misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year in jail and/or a $4,000
dollar fine.
Honorable
Judge Robert Anchondo has issued summons in each charge and set Puentes
Monroy's arraignment for August
10th, 2006 at 8:30
AM in the County
Criminal Court at Law # 2
The criminal
complaints filed allege that, on or about September 7, 2005, Puentes Monroy received more
than $2,000 to process the immigration applications for 3 residents of East El Paso, but the services were never provided.
El Paso
County Attorney José Rodríguez says that unfortunately this type of crime occurs
often in the borderland, and in many cases, it goes unreported because the
victims are generally undocumented immigrants or residents of Mexico that don't
know the function of a notary public in the United States is very different
from the function they have in Latin America countries.
"In Texas, public notaries are
only authorized to witness the signing of legal documents; they do not
necessarily have specialized legal training, and are not allowed to offer
immigration services", said County Attorney José Rodríguez.
We
encourage anyone who might feel has been a victim of an unscrupulous notary
public, to come forward and file a complaint at our office located at 500 E.
San Antonio Suite 503, or for additional information to call the El Paso County
Attorney's Office Deceptive Business Practices Unit at 546-2050.
Anyone
who feels they have been the victim of the crime of "Deceptive Trade Practice"
may file a police report by calling the El Paso Police Department at (915)
564-7000.
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For those interested members of the media, County Attorney
José Rodríguez will be available for interviews today between 11 AM and 12 PM at his office downtown. Please confirm if
you are interested in talking to him or call to make further arrangements. A
mug shot will be sent later today.
Notary Public Charged.pdf
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