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cheka.
10th March 2017, 11:57 AM
http://www.texaspolicenews.com/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=News+1-2&newsletterid=66314&menugroup=Home

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz issued subpoenas Thursday to two ATF agents after they failed to show at a hearing examining the 2011 murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jaime Zapata.

“I'm tired of hearing from just [Justice Department] management, I want to hear from the people that actually are on the front lines doing this,” Chaffetz, R-Utah, said.

The committee will now seek to compel testimony from William Temple, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Division, and Ronald Turk, associate deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, later this month.

The hearing Thursday was meant to examine alleged lapses in the ATF's investigation into the trafficking of guns later used in the February attack that killed Zapata and wounded his ICE colleague, Special Agent Victor Avila.

An inspector general report was completed more than five years after the committee and Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, inquired into Zapata’s murder. Zapata was killed by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel while on official business in Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico.

ATF Acting Director Thomas Brandon said Thursday he did not order Temple and Turk to skip the hearing -- but agreed with their decision not to appear, which drew a bipartisan rebuke from Chaffetz and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings.

“That puts us in a kind of awkward position. We got the boss, 'OK guys, you don't have to show up.' And that sends a hell of a message. That's a problem,” the Maryland Democrat said.

Chaffetz complained ATF “continues to insist” the committee should not speak with Turk and Temple.

The one other witness, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, did not escape unscathed when he contended he was not prepared for the hearing.

“That’s a bunch of crap,” Chaffetz snapped, noting he received a draft of the report in December.

Another invited witness, John Craft, a prosecutor in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, did not appear. But the chairman said due to the lateness of their invitation, he would not receive a subpoena.

Questions about the firearms used to kill Zapata surfaced during the separate congressional probe of Operation Fast and Furious and the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

The IG issued its Operation Fast and Furious report in 2012, but did not issue its report on the Zapata case until March 1.

According to the report, two weapons used in Zapata's murder were traced back to Otilio Osorio, who bought his gun at a Dallas gun show, and Robert Riendfliesh, who purchased a gun at a pawn shop in Beaumont, Texas.

The IG said the ATF were aware in 2010 that Osorio and his brother might be trafficking firearms to Mexico, but they did not follow up or further investigate until after Zapata’s death.

Otilio Osorio and Riendfliesh were arrested in late February 2011 after the ATF confirmed weapons used in Zapata's murder had been purchased by them.

The report faulted ATF for its handling of the case, saying there was "probable cause" to arrest Osorio and his brother "after ATF witnessed the Osorios complete a transfer of 40 firearms on November 9, 2010."

The IG said: “Overall, we found numerous problems with ATF’s assimilation of information concerning [the suspects] ... and the timeliness of ATF’s response to mounting evidence that they were committing firearms offenses.”

Last week, Chaffetz and Grassley sent a letter demanding Justice explain the reason the investigation has dragged on.

"It has been nearly five years since the probe was requested. Given the high level of congressional interest in this matter and the seriousness of the allegations, we are perplexed that your investigative work took so long,” they wrote.

Judiciary Committee Press Secretary Taylor Foy told Fox News that the panel is interested in part in “whether government employees involved in the debacle were held accountable.”

crimethink
10th March 2017, 12:03 PM
Sessions can order them to appear. Why hasn't this occurred?

They are welcome to invoke the Fifth Amendment, if they fear personal prosecution, and then ask for immunity to spill the beans.

cheka.
13th April 2017, 10:22 AM
so brian terry was assigned by nyc.dc to protect the drug smugglers from pirates. got shot by one of the pirates...carrying a gun supplied to him by nyc.dc

que?

https://www.policeone.com/border-patrol/articles/326201006-Feds-arrest-suspected-shooter-of-border-agent-Brian-Terry/

Feds arrest suspected shooter of border agent Brian Terry

Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was one of two men who remained fugitives in the 2010 murder of Agent Brian Terry

Osorio-Arellanes was one of two men who remained fugitives in the December 2010 murder of 40-year-old Brian Terry, whose death exposed Fast and Furious, in which agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed criminals to buy guns with the intention of tracking the weapons.

But the agency lost most of the guns, including two that were found at scene of Terry's death. The operation set off a political firestorm and led Terry's family to file a lawsuit. The family said through a spokesman on Wednesday that it was not commenting on the latest arrest due to the sensitivity of the case.

The government has heavily pursued prosecution of the men involved in the killing. It had offered a $250,000 reward for Osorio-Arellane.

Four other men involved in the killing have been convicted or have pleaded guilty in federal court to murder charges.

Terry was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to find "rip-off" crew members who rob drug smugglers.

They encountered a five-man group of suspected marijuana bandits and identified themselves as police in trying to arrest them.

The men refused to stop, prompting an agent to fire non-lethal bean bags toward them. They responded by firing from AK-47-type assault rifles.

Terry was struck in the back and died shortly after.

A jury in Tucson in October 2015 found two men, Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza and Ivan Soto-Barraza, guilty on murder and other charges. Another man, Manual Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2014.

A fourth man, Rosario Rafael Burboa-Alvarez, pleaded guilty to murder. He was not present during the shooting but is accused of assembling the rip crew.

Only Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga remains at large.