By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Just hours after the FBI accused a former police chief in New Mexico of stealing federal money, the suspect was found dead, possibly of a suicide. The Associated Press reports that former Rio Grande City Police Chief Byron Piper, who retired in December, was found dead at his home with a…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI’s facial recognition technology helped nab a man wanted on child sex abuse charges, Gizmodo reports. Neil Stammer, who speaks more than 10 languages, was wanted for 14 years and seemed to have no problem evading authorities. That was until recently when he submitted a visa application at the U.S. Embassy…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com New CBP documents raise more pressing questions about how the federal government is handling complaints of abuse by Border Patrol agents, the Arizona Republic reports. The reports show that only 13 of 809 complains of abuse filed against agents from January 2009 to January 2012 resulted in CBP action. Of those, one…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Medical marijuana cardholders in New Mexico are running into trouble in New Mexico courtesy of the Border Patrol. The Albuquerque Journal reports that patients are afraid to travel in the state because of Border Patrol checkpoints and crackdowns of marijuana, which is still illegal nationally. The crackdown comes as the Justice Department,…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Homeland Security arrested more than 600 suspected gang members in what is being called the largest gang crackdown ever by the agency, the Associated Press reports. The operation, dubbed “Project Southbound,” involved Ice agents and local authorities in 179 cities, leading the arrest of 638 suspected gang members between March and April….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Department of Homeland Security, which was created in November 2002 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has gone far beyond its original purpose and is being used to investigate crimes unlearned to terrorism, the Albuquerque Journal reports. The new law was simple: “The primary mission of the department is to prevent…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Sean R. Waite, a longtime DEA agent, has been appointed as a new agent in charge of the agency’s Albuquerque, NM, office, the Republic reports. Waite replaces Keith Brown, who left to become the agent in charge of the DEA’s New Orleans field office last year. The office is part of the…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Border Patrol is experiencing a sharp increase in apprehensions at the New Mexico border, the Albuquerque Journal reports. The Border Patrol took into custody nearly 8,000 people for illegally crossing the border in fiscal 2013 – compared to about 5,700 in fiscal 2012. Although the New Mexico numbers were on the rise, Texas…
