Charges dismissed for one of four Liberian boys charged with rape

A Phoenix  judge has dropped the charges against one of the youngest refugee boys initially charged with the gang rape of an 8 year old girl, also a refugee, here.  The oldest of the four boys is being charged as an adult.

PHOENIX — Sexual assault charges against a 9-year-old Liberian boy accused in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old girl were dismissed on Wednesday by a juvenile court judge in Phoenix.

The ruling issued by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dawn Bergin came after she spent weeks considering if the boy could be made to understand the charges against him. In the seven-page decision, she ruled that the boy could not and is incompetent to stand trial. The charges, sexual assault and sexual contact with a minor, can’t be refiled.

Bergin noted in her ruling that because the offense was “serious” the boy is considered a dependent child under Arizona law and programs are available to rehabilitate him and protect the public. He was held in juvenile detention for a month after his arrest and then placed in a Child Protective Services’ foster home, where he remains.

If you are a new reader and don’t know this story, start at this recent post and follow links to our earlier posts.

Fraud Digest, very cool site

Maybe you heard yesterday that the Feds had busted Medicare fraud schemes in three cities, Detroit, Miami and Brooklyn, totaling about $60 million in taxpayer rip-offs.

But, since the mainstream media seems generally unwilling to name names when one of these busts occur, especially when they are busts of immigrant run home health care operations (you know, something the SEIU is really into), I found this cool site.  Apparently they run a continuous blog-like list of fraud information.   So, I couldn’t find a permanent link for the December 16th entry, but at the moment it’s at the top of the page, here.

On December 15, 2009, the Justice Department announced that thirty people had been charged in three cities for their alleged roles in schemes to submit more than $61 million in false Medicare claims as part of the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.

Here are some of the names from Miami:

Yudel Cayro

Courtesy Medical Group
Lissbet Diaz
Fred Dweck
Marlenys Fernandez
Alain Fernandez
Arturo Fonseca
Teresita Leal
William Madrigal
Antonio Ochoa
Francisco Portillo
Eduardo Romero
Shelilah Rotta
Silvio Ruiz
Armando Sanchez
Isis Torres

That reminds me, since we were just hearing about Somalis in Lewiston, ME a few hours ago here, most readers probably don’t know that Lewiston had a Somali home health care bust back in the summer here.

And, aren’t you glad that the Obama Administration is cracking down on Medicare fraud even when the alleged perpetrators are immigrants?

Somali ‘youths’ randomly attacking and robbing people in Lewiston, ME

This is an incredible story coming to us today from the Sun Journal in Lewiston, ME, hat tip to Jane for sending it.  It is so incredible I’m tempted to post the whole thing, but it’s important that readers follow the link back to the Sun Journal so that they get lots of readers (lots of readers could result in more good reporting!)

Before I give you the shocking story, you might want to revisit this post I wrote on November 18th about Minneapolis ‘boys in the hood’ and click on the youtube link and watch that video.  I’m guessing that what is on the film is just like what is going on in Lewiston, although it sounds like the Lewiston ‘gangs’ are more destructive and are causing more injuries.

Here is how it begins:

LEWISTON — In the early evening on the first day of summer, a large group of Somali boys approached a woman on the corner of Ash and Pierce streets. According to police reports, they intimidated the woman and slapped her in the back of the head before scattering into the downtown.

Five days later, shortly after midnight, a man was accosted by a group of Somali boys outside the Big Apple on Main Street. Police reports say several members of the group punched the man and took money from him. They then fled in a car.

Later that night, a woman in her late 60s was beaten by a group of Somali boys and relieved of cash while walking in Kennedy Park.

Five nights later, another man was jumped by a group of similar description. He resisted the gang and was beaten badly. He required surgery.

Throughout the summer, similar reports have come into the Police Department. Witnesses and investigators say swarms of Somali boys, some as young as 8, others in their late teens, overwhelm solitary victims through sheer numbers.

“It’s not gang activity in the traditional sense,” Deputy Chief James Minkowsky said. “We’re not seeing the colors or the monikers, but it’s still a gang mentality.”

Often, these gang members carry sticks and rocks with which to intimidate their victims. There are often four or five of them, sometimes as many as a dozen. Typically, they threaten or beat their victims until they give up the goods: money, bicycles, cell phones, prescription drugs, or other items of value.

Then they scatter.

Read on, there are a lot of cases described right up to some in recent weeks.

Attacking unsuspecting victims just for the “thrill!”

Police say group robberies are almost unheard of in Lewiston. In the past, when multiple people have attacked a lone victim, two or three assailants were reported and the assault was typically prompted by intoxication or old rivalries.

Not so with the Somali attacks.

“We haven’t seen that it’s been fueled by alcohol or drugs,” Minkowsky said. He added that robbery appears to be a primary motivation among the Somali gangs. “But in some cases, they seem to do it for the thrill of it.”

Not considered a hate crime?   Are the victims all white Mainers?  The article doesn’t say.

Stephen Wessler, director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, said he was not aware of the Somali assaults in Lewiston. After hearing the nature of them, he said the attacks likely were not the type that involve his group. The motive appears to be robbery, rather than race.

Mr. Wessler, we just heard they were not all robberies—-they were just getting their “thrills” in some cases.

Nothing to compare it to?  Deputy Chief Minkowsky check with the authorities in the Minneapolis area about their similar gangs (article I cited above).

While investigating the ambush-style attacks, police have little to compare them with, at least locally. A search of assaults dating back to spring revealed no incidents of a similar nature involving non-Somalis.

“This is unique,” Minkowsky said.

No kidding!  And, how do these 8 year olds get away with running with 20 year olds on the street?   Where are the school authorities?  Probably too afraid that Mr. Wessler’s group will come after them if they make the Somalis follow the law and send their kids to school!

There have been a few arrests since the attacks began. Minkowsky said many of the suspects had dropped out of school. Their parents seemed to have no idea that their children had become part of a roving gang.

Seeing children as young as 8 running the streets with teens closing in on 20 is something police are not used to seeing. There is a lot about the attacks investigators have not seen before.

How many times have we heard that everything is just going great with the Somalis of Lewiston?   Use our search function for the keyword ‘Lewiston’ and see what I mean!

For new readers :

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.  That specific program has not yet been reopened, but will be soon.  Nevertheless, thousands of Somali Muslims continue to be resettled as I write this.

Just now dawning: Homegrown Jihadists in America

But, you can just hear the wails of anguish from “officials” who have been maintaining for the last few years that America is different.  We are a melting pot, therefore our Muslims are better than Muslims elsewhere.  The theory goes that once we give them a nice education and a shot at upward mobility they will forget all about the Jihad imperative—NOT!

Judy reported the dawning in the New York Times the other day, and I told you about the Wall Street Journal, here.   Now here is National Public Radio (NPR) on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearings on Tuesday on the issue of homegrown jihad.

NPR:

A spate of incidents where homegrown militants allegedly plotted or committed acts of terrorism has a growing number of officials, lawmakers and experts worried about how to prevent more incidents of radicalization in America’s Muslim communities.

[…..]

“In these cases, terrorist organizations not only successfully recruited Americans, but they provided the requisite training for those Americans to carry out attacks,” Rep. Jane Harman, a Democrat from California, said Tuesday during a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing that she chaired. “We don’t have too many more chances to get this right.”

[….]

But even as the threat of homegrown extremists becomes more apparent, U.S. intelligence officials and outside terrorism experts alike concede that they still don’t understand the process by which a tiny number of Muslims become radicalized toward violent acts.

DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS!   Why the hell doesn’t the Homeland Security Subcommittee invite in Robert Spencer, or Andrew Bostom, or Daniel Pipes, or Patrick Poole, or Paul Spherry?  The list is very long of experts who can explain the process! 

Just this morning Paul Spherry has a lengthy explanation of the process at Frontpage magazine.  Here is one of the many important things he says:

How do Muslims raised in America become so radicalized?

They’re steeped in the anti-American hate of mosques and national front groups (like CAIR, ISNA and the Muslim Students Association) controlled by the radical Muslim Brotherhood and funded by the Saudis. Through sermons and Saudi literature and the media, they teach them that America is the enemy.

This is the jihad factory, fueled by jihadi websites, churning out homegrown terrorists. And the FBI is only now trying to dismantle it.

Who do they have testifying in Congress?   The Rand Corporation, some professor from Illinois (not a surprise!) and Zogby!  Here is Rand’s non-answer, “outside sources!”  Yes, some for sure, but you better be checking the inside sources!

“Research suggests that no single pathway towards terrorism exists, making it somewhat difficult to identify overarching patterns in how and why individuals are susceptible to terrorist recruitment, as well as intervention strategies,” Kim Cragin, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corp. think tank, said at the hearing.

One thing that is clear is that the process usually involves outside, active forces, and that they are rarely so-called self-radicalizations, where people become violently militant merely by absorbing Internet postings.

“Overwhelmingly, there is a mentor involved in the radicalization process,” Cragin said.  [Mentor! Just say it Mr. Cragin, the mentors are in the mosques in every city in America!]

Then we have spin-meister Zogby who is one of them if he is promoting the America -is-different-so-it-won’t-happen-here myth.

“America is different in concept and reality,” James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, said at Tuesday’s hearing. But, he added, “some alienated young men from these communities have become susceptible to radicalization.”

What the heck is he talking about, alienated young men?  The Somalis who left Minnesota and the DC-5 Pakistanis most recently were integrated, well educated, with an excellent shot at the American dream.

Back to Spherry:

The secularity of the American Muslim community is a myth. In fact, a larger share of American Muslims (80%) say their religion is an important part of their daily lives than British Muslims (70%), according to a recent Gallup poll. And our Muslims are nearly as militant in their faith as Iranians.

The same survey finds a disturbing percentage of American Muslim youth — 26% — are seething with anger compared with the national average among respondents aged 18 to 29.

These findings dovetail with a 2007 Pew Research poll finding an alarming 26% — or roughly 100,000 — of U.S. Muslims aged 18 to 29 condone suicide bombings against non-Muslim “civilian targets.” That roughly tracks the 35% of young Muslim Brits who told Pew the same thing after some of them bombed the London subway.

Clearly, young Muslim Americans are as prone to radicalization as their European counterparts.

Spherry:  More radicalization will occur as more Muslim refugees enter the country!

As we dig in deeper in Afghanistan, hostility among our own Muslim population will only grow deeper. And as we import more refugees from Muslim countries, demands for Shariah (think: Taliban) law will only grow shriller.

But, we aren’t going to curtail Muslim immigration anytime soon (maybe only after some Muslim refugees or asylees blow something up bigtime, will we even consider it).  Back to NPR now and the politically correct notion that its all about working with the immigrants and doing research in their American immigrant communities.

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been studying radicalization, but a number of experts say that prevention efforts have to be focused on the local level with outreach programs and community policing.

“No government entity exists that is committed to sponsoring this research,” said Stevan Weine, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois [in a not so subtle plea for more research funding!], referring to “investigations into the family and community dimensions of violent radicalization in the United States.”

[….]

“Somalis are not our only concern,” he said in a prepared statement for the hearing. “Our concern should include all of those from failed states that house extremist militant movements. At present, that includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.”

With that last part I agree with Professor Weine, but I don’t agree we need more psychological research—it is Islam stupid!  Just be brave enough to say it!

For new readers :

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.  That specific program has not yet been reopened, but will be soon.  Nevertheless, thousands of Somalis continue to be resettled as I write this.