Undercover Agent

For six months, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Paul Day worked undercover as a drug dealer and gun runner in Riverside, gaining the confidence of gang members with names such as Danger, Chaos and Godfather. The men routinely drew their weapons and taunted Day, trying to intimidate him. Once, moments after Day had purchased some rock cocaine, his backup team was discovered by the gang's members, who engaged in a shootout--and later bragged about it to Day.

Three Philippine men have been convicted of importing military weapons through a shipment to Long Beach in a plot to arm Mexican drug cartels and gang members, federal authorities said. Evidence presented during the four-week trial in federal court in Los Angeles showed that the men conspired to sell weapons that included machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as explosives including mortars and grenades, according to the FBI. The men, identified as Sergio Syjuco, 26; Cesar Ubaldo, 27; and Arjyl Revereza, 26, met with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a prospective buyer, federal authorities said.

An undercover agent who worked with Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates' intelligence unit said the sheriff had "a bounty" out on then-Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood and would "pay handsomely" for evidence that could convict the judge of involvement with cocaine, an attorney testified Thursday in U.S. District Court. Youngblood was a harsh critic of Gates in the mid-1980s and eventually ran against him for sheriff.

A day after meeting a pretty young woman working at a karaoke club in the Philippines, Marc Napolitano started getting text messages from her, he said. The woman, named Maui, wrote that she missed him, loved him and wanted to see him. Within days of their first meeting, Maui went to Napolitano's hotel room, where they had sex, he said. The room was paid for by American taxpayers, he said. So was the cellphone on which he got her messages, and so were the trips that took him to the Philippines.

FBI agents arrested Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson Monday night on a complaint of allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent, authorities said. FBI spokesman Dan Vogel said Thompson was arrested in Norman, Okla., on a federal complaint that he allegedly sold 17 grams of cocaine for $1,400 to an undercover agent Jan. 26. Thompson will appear before a U.S. magistrate today, Vogel said. Thompson was escorted from the Oklahoma County Courthouse to the jail elevator. He had no comment.

State Sen. Joseph B. Montoya, continuing to defend himself on corruption charges, contended Thursday he was set up by a federal undercover agent who gave him a $3,000 check at a videotaped breakfast meeting. Undergoing a second day of grueling cross-examination, Montoya also testified that he proposed the $3,000 figure in order "to put a little bit of a limitation" on the amount he would receive from the undercover agent, who was posing as a Southern businessman.

Special Agent Paul Seema had all the edges. Born in Thailand, he had worked its borders and jungle runs and at 51 was a unique and experienced hand on Asia, its drug dealers and their quickness to kill. But in Los Angeles, it wasn't enough. Special Agent George Montoya was younger but had caution. He was a meticulous arranger, an orderly 34-year-old with a knack for working any program and balancing its odds in his favor.

A pilot told a Senate hearing Wednesday that his firm contracted with the State Department to fly clothing to Nicaragua's Contras in 1986 at the same time he was operating as an undercover drug smuggler for two federal agencies. Michael Palmer, appearing under heavy guard, said that before he started working for the government in his extraordinary dual role, he had illegitimately smuggled $40 million worth of marijuana into the United States from South America over an eight-year period.

An undercover FBI agent on a case of weapons smuggling from the Philippines to the United States denied a defense attorney's allegation that he paid for sex for himself and the suspects using taxpayer dollars. The agent, a 16-year veteran who was not identified by name in court documents because he is working undercover in a separate investigation, in a sworn declaration strongly denied allegations of what a public defender contended was "outrageous government misconduct" and should be grounds for the case to be thrown out. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged that the government paid for $14,500 in expenses incurred by the agent for entertainment, cocktails and tips over the course of the investigation.

Police and prosecutors may trick a crime suspect into confessing by putting an undercover agent in his jail cell, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. Under the so-called Miranda rule, police officers may not force a suspect in their custody to confess but they may use deception to gain the same end, the court said as it reinterpreted the precedent-setting 1966 case of Miranda vs. Arizona.

Sergio Santiago Syjuco said he looked up to Richard Han, who was older, wealthy and clearly important. When Han went into karaoke clubs in the Philippines - which were widely known to double as brothels - he always got the biggest private rooms and the best service, Syjuco said. Managers would offer dozens of young women as paid companions for Han and members of his party, Syjuco said. Han boasted that he was an international arms dealer and he picked up the tab for all the booze and sex, Syjuco said.

An undercover FBI agent on a case of weapons smuggling from the Philippines to the United States denied a defense attorney's allegation that he paid for sex for himself and the suspects using taxpayer dollars. The agent, a 16-year veteran who was not identified by name in court documents because he is working undercover in a separate investigation, in a sworn declaration strongly denied allegations of what a public defender contended was "outrageous government misconduct" and should be grounds for the case to be thrown out. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged that the government paid for $14,500 in expenses incurred by the agent for entertainment, cocktails and tips over the course of the investigation.

An undercover FBI agent investigating weapon smuggling in the Philippines spent taxpayer dollars to pay for prostitutes for the suspects and himself at a club later raided for hiring underage girls, a defense attorney has alleged in court filings. Federal prosecutors acknowledged in court filings that the government reimbursed the agent for $14,500 for entertainment, cocktails and tips over a period of less than a year in 2010 and 2011 in connection with the case. The expenses included $1,600 on a night out in September 2011 at a club known as Area 51 in Manila.

An Illinois teen has been arrested on suspicion of trying to detonate a car bomb in front of a Chicago bar, authorities said Saturday. The device was inert and had been supplied by an undercover agent. Adel Daoud, 18, was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and to damage and destroy a building with an explosive, authorities said. He could face life in prison if convicted. According to the U.S. attorney's Office in Chicago, Daoud in October began sending emails with information about “violent jihad and the killing of Americans.” The emails, some of which were sent to him, included information about jihad, the Taliban and Anwar Awlaki, the radical American cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone, according to a complaint filed in federal court Saturday.

Two men have been sentenced to 300 days in jail and three years of probation after selling 800 CDs containing pirated music to undercover government agents. The men -- Juan Lucas Camacho, 39, and Jose Pablo Almaraz, 38 -- sold the CDs for $480, to Justice Department agents last month at a Los Angeles Home Depot store. That means they were selling the CDs, which included music from Jorge Santa Cruz and Pitbull, at an average of 60 cents apiece. The two were sentenced this week after pleading guilty to a felony count of failure to disclose the origin of a recording they sold, the office of California Atty.

First, he preached the Gospel in South Los Angeles. Then he picked up a badge and gun as an LAPD officer working the Wilshire Division. From there, he moved to the FBI, serving as an undercover agent in Los Angeles, then in Tennessee. His life, he said, was "my American dream. " But now Darin McAllister is in federal prison in eastern Kentucky, serving a four-year sentence as part of a Justice Department investigation into mortgage fraud. His life today, he says, is "my American nightmare.

Former state Sen. Paul Carpenter confided four years ago that he believed he was the target of a sting investigation and said he was "going to have some fun with it," Senate Majority Leader Barry Keene testified Monday. Keene (D-Benicia) told a federal court jury that he dismissed Carpenter's statement because the senator had many "idiosyncrasies" and was known to do "a certain amount of fantasizing."

Ricky Donnell Ross, the legendary Los Angeles drug lord who vowed to pursue a legitimate business career after his release from prison last fall, has been indicted for allegedly purchasing 100 kilograms of cocaine from an undercover agent, authorities said Tuesday. Ross, 35--a charismatic, dreadlocked, ex-millionaire better known as Freeway Rick--could face a life sentence if convicted.

The bust had all the makings of a major criminal investigation. Ten law enforcement and regulatory agencies dedicated hundreds of hours of personnel to track the suspects. They used high-tech video equipment hidden on a utility pole for round-the-clock surveillance and undercover agents to make covert buys. This wasn't a major narcotics trafficking investigation or an attempt to take out a violent street gang — it was a crackdown on what authorities allege was illegal trafficking of raw goat milk, cheese and yogurt.

A second Los Angeles city building inspector has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in bribes for signing off on permits for properties he had never inspected. Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock signed a plea agreement Friday in which he admitted taking $9,000 in bribes last year from an FBI informant who worked for a major residential developer and an undercover agent posing as a contractor. In exchange for the money, Gonzalez signed off on permits for multiple properties in South Los Angeles that he had not inspected, according to court documents.