Tag: Phoenix

Phoenix Liberian gang-rape case dragged on for five years due to cultural unawareness of US legal system

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Hey, how would you like to use that excuse if you were in trouble with the law, surely they all had American lawyers familiar with our legal system!

Result in most portions of the case—case dismissed.  No deportations!

‘Pungentpeppers’ spotted this update of a story we reported extensively back in 2009.  (Here are six posts dating from July to December 2009).  Why so many Liberians in America, they are “temporary” refugees, here.

The case involved 4 boys who lured an eight-year-old girl into a backyard shed and raped her.  Without going back and reading the old stories, I recall that her parents blamed the girl.  (Were they Muslims?)

And, isn’t this great news, after finding child abuse in the girl’s home, she is sent back to these same parents.

From Arizona Central:

Rape was led by a teenager who admitted guilt and was sentenced to probation. http://www.peopletopeople.info/id485.html

The child abuse case against two Liberian immigrants whose 8-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted at a Phoenix apartment complex in 2009 will be dismissed pending their compliance with the state Department of Child Safety.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen ordered that the couple, who were arrested in 2009 on unrelated allegations, meet with him three times over the next year to ensure that all child services requirements have been met.

After one year of compliance, the case will be dismissed, Cohen said.

Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb said such agreements are not uncommon.

The parents were arrested in July 2009 after their daughter was gang raped at their apartment complex near 43rd Avenue and Thomas Road by four underage boys, police records show.

The case against the parents is unrelated to the rape, but signs of child abuse surfaced as police investigated the sexual assault, records show.

During the investigation, detectives found evidence of abuse that dated back two years, records show.

The Republic is not publishing the names of the parents to protect the privacy of their daughter, who was returned to her parents’ custody last week.

The four boys, who are also Liberian immigrants, were arrested following the reported rape, records show. Police said the boys lured the girl into a shed at the apartment complex and took turns sexually assaulting her.

One of the boys was taken to a juvenile rehabilitation center and placed on probation, records show. The other three were ruled incompetent to stand trial because of their lack of cultural awareness of the United States’ legal system, records show.

The case against the parents took five years to resolve, mainly because they were unfamiliar with the U.S. judicial system. The couple was ordered to be educated in American court proceedings, as well as other cultural differences, records show.

Additionally, the two speak a language so obscure that the court had to call an interpreter from Minnesota to translate the proceedings over speaker phone on Friday.

Note this last line about an interpreter—all of you towns and cities “welcoming” refugees (Athens, GA!) must be aware of the fact that you are on the hook for the cost of interpreter services for just about anything your refugee needs (including when they end up in our criminal justice system).  Imagine what this case cost Maricopa County!

By the way, Phoenix is a “preferred resettlement site” chosen by the US State Department, ORR, and their contractors.

Phoenix police discover presence of refugee contractors in wake of murder of Burmese refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First I came across a story about how the police in Phoenix, AZ  had gotten together with refugee resettlement contractors to find ways to communicate better with the city’s mushrooming multi-ethnic refugee population, and that’s how I learned about how two Burmese refugees were murdered with kitchen knives as they confronted what appears to have been a gang of Hispanics.  (Ah, the joys of multiculturalism!)

Police investigate the crime scene back in April. Two Burmese refugees murdered outside their apartment building by a gang of youths shouting “derogatory names.”

Here is the get-together story.  I am amazed that at a preferred refugee resettlement city like Phoenix police are just now learning about the resettlement agencies that must have been working there for decades.  It further confirms to me that in many parts of the US there is virtually no consultation and communication between the myriad government agencies interfacing with large new non-English speaking populations in  target cities.

Arizona is the sixth largest US resettlement state, click here.  (18,415 went to Arizona in under 6 years!)

From the Arizona Republic:

Tuoy-Giel, the president of the South Sudanese Community Association of Arizona, leaders of other refugee groups, resettlement organizations and Phoenix police met Thursday in an effort to enhance communication and partnerships between refugees and police.

Detective Luis Samudio said he organized the meet-and-greet hoping officers will learn more about how to better serve a growing refugee population. About 2,500 refugees come to metropolitan Phoenix each year, officials said.  [Readers: that is a huge number for a city to absorb each year.—ed]

Police were caught “by surprise” by the language barrier when two Burmese refugees were recently murdered, Samudio said. The police are calling the double homicide at a central Phoenix apartment complex a possible hate crime.

The refugee population is scattered throughout Phoenix with the majority located in three of the department’s eight precincts—Cactus, Mountain View and Central City, Samudio said.

[….]

Representatives from the four resettlement organizations in Phoenix gave a brief overview of the refugee community and tips on how to help them.  [Learn more here about Arizona refugee resettlement—ed]

[….]

Officers also can use the resettlement organizations as a resource as they have staff members who speak different languages and have translators on-call, she said ( Donna Buckles of Refugee Focus, formerly Lutheran Social Services.)

That story led me to the story (also at  the Arizona Republic) about the latest arrests  (three days ago) in the murder of the two refugees in April.

Police have arrested the remaining three people suspected of fatally stabbing two Burmese refugees in Phoenix two months ago, but they continue to hunt for the woman who drove the three to Nogales, Mexico, to escape prosecution, officials said.

Investigators arrested Cassandra Devore, 18, Daniela Stone, 17, and her brother Michael Stone, 16, in Mexico on June 19, according to police. The two juveniles are being charged as adults, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Ofice. Two others were arrested May 7.

The arrests last week brought an end to a manhunt that started in central Phoenix in late April in a murder case that prosecutors are considering as a possible hate crime.

On April 28, a group of three males and two females were suspected of chasing three Burmese refugees, a 21-year-old man and two 16-year-old boys, with knives and metal pipes near 29th Avenue and Camelback Road, court records showed.

Earlier two males from the group had confronted the refugees and taunted them with “derogatory names,” documents say.

The Burmese refugees ran back to the Serrano Village Apartments near 28th Avenue and Camelback Road to a unit where a wake was being held and told those inside that a group with knives was chasing them, police records showed.

Ker Reh, 54, and Kay Reh, 24,  stepped outside to talk to the group, which was trying to force its way into the apartment, according to police documents.

Police said they believe the group used “large kitchen-type knives” to stab the Ker Reh and Kay Rey to death. The group then fled the scene.

Hispanic mom drove her kids to Mexico to escape the police (police are still looking for her!):

Police on May 7 arrested Johnny Romero, 22, on suspicion of second-degree murder and Jonathan Tineo, 16, on suspicion of aggravated assault. Tineo also is being charged as an adult, according to Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Romero’s wife told police that Lovonne De La Luz Ruiz, 40, the mother of Daniela and Michael Stone, drove her children and Devore to Nogales the day after the incident to avoid arrest, according to records.

Possible hate crime:

Cobb said prosecutors can present to a jury that the defendants committed the crime out of malice toward a victim because of the victim’s identity such as race, color, religion or sexual orientation.

This is not new to us.  Tensions run high in rough multicultural neighborhoods where refugees are usually dropped off by contractors believing that the now mythical American melting pot will work its magic.  The melting pot is broken because the numbers are too high!