Jerry Seper

Audit faults DEA on management of flight assets, budget

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) needs to better use its fleet of more than 90 airplanes and helicopters, 100 pilots and $47.6 million aviation budget to ensure that priority cases within the agency receive the support they need, a Justice Department audit said Wednesday. Published December 14, 2011

U.S. indicts ex-Siemens execs on bribery charges

Eight former executives and agents of Siemens AG and its subsidiaries have been charged in a decade-long scheme to bribe senior government officials in Argentina to secure, implement and enforce a $1 billion contract with the Argentine government to produce national identity cards, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Published December 13, 2011

Napolitano faces contempt citation over list of immigrants ICE flagged

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano to provide a list of illegal and criminal immigrants who have been flagged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents but have not been detained or placed in removal proceedings. Published December 8, 2011

Foreign inmate transfer program has not worked

An inmate transfer program that began in 1977 aimed at returning foreign nationals held in U.S. federal prisons to their home countries to reduce inmate populations, cut costs and aid rehabilitation is not working, according to a government report that says few inmates are ever actually transferred. Published December 7, 2011

Grassley: Justice Dept.’s Breuer needs to go

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday called for the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who heads the Justice Department's Criminal Division, saying accountability in the botched Fast and Furious investigation was overdue. Published December 7, 2011

Virginian indicted in sex trafficking

A 23-year-old Virginia man described by authorities as a leader of a Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang was indicted Wednesday in federal court on charges of participating in a Northern Virginia underground prostitution ring involving underage girls. Published November 23, 2011

Feds sue to overturn immigration law in Utah

The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging Utah's immigration law, saying it illegally attempts to establish a state-specific immigration policy and creates immigration enforcement measures that interfere with the priorities and practices of the federal government. Published November 22, 2011

Armed illegals stalked Border Patrol

Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show. Published November 22, 2011

Feds probe Miami cops’ deadly force

The Justice Department has opened a civil investigation into accusations of excessive use of deadly force by members of the Miami Police Department (MPD) in the wake of the killing by police of eight black men over the past 16 months. Published November 17, 2011

House GOP challenge Border Patrol agent’s sentence

Thirty-seven Republican House members are challenging the two-year prison sentence being served by a U.S. Border Patrol agent for his conduct in the arrest of a drug-smuggling suspect, while a dozen other lawmakers are pressing Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to explain his role in the botched "Fast and Furious" weapons investigation. Published November 17, 2011

Smuggling suspect got immunity in case of convicted border agent

A suspected drug smuggler, whose 2008 arrest resulted in a two-year prison sentence for a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of violating his civil rights, was interviewed by officials at the Mexican Consulate in Texas and later made available to testify against the agent under a grant of immunity, records show. Published November 16, 2011

Grassley: Whistleblower cases stuck ‘in limbo’ under Holder

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is challenging the commitment to whistleblowers of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole as one FBI case "continues to languish" after nine years and another has "sat in limbo" for more than four years. Published November 15, 2011

Union: Show evidence against border agent

The union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents is challenging an effort by Texas prosecutors to block the release of information used to build a successful case against a Border Patrol agent convicted of wielding excessive force, saying the American public has a right to see the evidence. Published November 15, 2011

Terrorism top concern at Justice Department

Ten years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, counterterrorism remains the Justice Department's highest priority, according to a report released Monday. Published November 14, 2011

Senator says Justice won’t provide witnesses

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Justice Department has refused to make available 11 of 12 department witnesses called by the panel for transcribed interviews in the ongoing investigation of the botched Fast and Furious weapons operation. Published November 10, 2011

Grassley: Justice Dept. balking at making witnesses available

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Justice Department has refused to make available 11 of 12 department witnesses called by the panel for transcribed interviews in the ongoing investigation of the botched Fast and Furious weapons operation. Published November 10, 2011

Family of slain border agent wants Holder to take responsibility

The family of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry, killed by Mexican bandits at a site where investigators found weapons purchased during the Fast and Furious operation, said if Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. did not know about the investigation or its tactics, he should have and should now accept responsibility. Published November 9, 2011

International arms dealer convicted in conspiracy

International arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death," was convicted Wednesday in federal court in New York in a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to finance a fleet of aircraft to arm bloody conflicts and support rogue regimes worldwide. Published November 2, 2011

Agencies team up to hit drug ring in Arizona

More than $33 million worth of narcotics allegedly were smuggled through Arizona monthly. Published October 31, 2011

Justice Department IG erred in report of pricey muffins

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General might be eating a little, well, muffin today, having to admit in a report Friday that when it criticized the department for "extravagant and wasteful" spending on food, beverages and event planning for law enforcement conferences, including paying $16 each for muffins, it made a mistake. pricy Published October 28, 2011