PIMA'S NEW BORDER UNIT TARGETS DRUG CRIME

Prosecutors, Police Work Closely to Seize Assets, Get Evidence

For the better part of two years, prosecutor Richard Wintory devoted
98 percent of his time to helping law-enforcement officers destroy two
of the most prolific and dangerous drug-trafficking organizations they
had ever seen in Tucson.

They were successful, said Pima County Attorney Barbara
LaWall.

Maria Isabel Dominguez, Donna Greenwell and Timothy Owens are
currently serving lengthy prison sentences, along with dozens of their
underlings. Still, LaWall and her law enforcement counterparts weren't
satisfied. They realized that targeting one or two drug organizations
every couple of years would do little to stem the 700,000 or more
kilograms of drugs traveling through Pima County every year or the
violence that is associated with the drug trade.

So LaWall applied for a $1.2 million federal grant that was created
with President Obama's stimulus package.

She promised to use the money to hire three new attorneys, a legal
secretary, a paralegal and two part-time law clerks for a new Border
Crime Prosecution Unit that would prosecute five to seven large
drug-trafficking organizations over the next two years.

She also promised to prosecute 200 of the area's most prolific
individual drug offenders over the next two years.

LaWall's office was awarded the grant. LaWall made some staffing
changes, and the unit, which is made up of Wintory and three other
prosecutors, has been up and running for two weeks.

An important aspect of the border crimes unit is enhanced
communication, LaWall said.

Because more prosecutors will be working border crimes, they'll be
more readily available to the detectives working the cases, LaWall
said. Prosecutors and detectives will be in constant communication,
discussing who should be targeted, what intelligence has been
gathered, and what evidence needs to be collected and the best way to
accomplish that, said Deputy Pima County Attorney Chris Ward, who is
the unit's project manager.

In addition, regular training sessions will be held.

Typically, 50 percent of all cases presented to LaWall's office are
rejected for prosecution, often because there's not enough evidence,
LaWall said.

Police have a lower burden of proof than do prosecutors, LaWall
explained.

"If cops and prosecutors could work hand-in-hand in every unit, we'd
really be able to effectuate the evidence we need," LaWall said.

The unit will also work closely with a prosecutor who specializes in
forfeitures, LaWall said.

"We want to take away all of the assets they've accumulated as a
result of their criminal activities," LaWall said.

Ward, the unit's project manager, said the unit will go after
drug-trafficking organizations that consist of more than 30
individuals who can be prosecuted under the state's criminal
enterprise statutes.

The organizations will have an established supply source, most likely
an actual drug cartel, and will have importation and distribution
plans in place, Ward said.

Although it's hard to determine just how many such organizations are
operating simultaneously, Ward said the unit already has targets in
mind.

The importance of the unit can't be understated, LaWall
said.

While 10 percent of all crimes prosecuted nationally are drug-
related, the number in Pima County is 28 percent, LaWall said.

Over the last year, the Tucson Police Department's new home-invasion
unit investigated 150 invasions, LaWall said. An estimated 70 percent
of those were drug-related.

Authorities believe the drug-trafficking organizations are trying to
protect their territory and their product, LaWall said.

"Home invasions and drug trafficking are not going to stop because we
have this grant, but we anticipate we'll make a significant dent in
what we see here in Southern Arizona," LaWall said.