New Organized Crime Unit takes on cartels
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office’s new Organized Crime Unit is already showing signs of success with a major drug bust.
On May 12, 2015, an investigation by the Organized Crime Unit lead to the seizure of 343 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of $5 million. But it’s not just drugs the unit is targeting.
“The cartels are bringing narcotics into Riverside County at record levels, but I think they are morphing into human trafficking, and they are realizing that they can make money in the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, which is human trafficking,” said Riverside County District Attorney, Mike Hestrin.
The new task force is a collaboration of law enforcement and other divisions of the District Attorney’s office.
“We brought together our major narcotics team and our Gang Task Force prosecutors and investigators with our human trafficking folks, so you get them all into one unit and they begin to share information. What we are learning, and what we know in law enforcement, is that large criminal organizations are expanding,” said Hestrin.
This new task force is important, because the cartels are trying to make a foothold in Riverside County.
“When you think about Riverside County as a whole and what makes it attractive for large criminal organizations to come here and to operate here, I mentioned the proximity to Los Angeles, but we also have freeways that run through our county, we also have a lot of open space and so there’s a lot of places to hide criminal activity,” said Hestrin.
Festival season might be over, but the District Attorney’s Office still wants people to be wary of rental listing scams.
“With the internet being the way it is the scam artists don’t even need to be in Riverside County, they don’t even need to be here, some of them are doing this scam and defrauding people out of their money from other parts of the state,” said Hestrin.
This scam is difficult to detect because of the ease of listing a home for rent online. However, the DA’s Office has some tips to help prevent this type of fraud:
• Don’t pay in cash or via a wire transfer. Checks and credit cards may offer some sort of protection in the event of fraud.
• Whenever possible, don’t send payment through the mail. Arrange to meet with the owner or agent at the property. If the “owner” is out of town or out of state, you may want to pass and look for a locally-owned residence.
• If possible, inspect the property before renting. Obtain identification from whoever claims to be renting out the property.
• Before paying any money, call a local title company or a local real estate office and ask them for a property profile of the address. Verify the name of the owner. Look online for rental scams with that address or the name of the owner.
• Be suspicious of high security deposits. The more demanded upfront, the higher likelihood that it is a scam.
• Use websites that have visible customer feedback, ratings on landlords and a better reputation for secured transactions.
• If the listing is being advertised by a property management company, then those companies are also owned by licensed real estate brokers. Their licenses may also be verified with the Bureau of Real Estate.
• If owners of homes are advertising online, they may also be advertising in the local papers. Check to make sure the contact info is the same for both listings.
• The best practice is to work with a local real estate agent for rentals and sales. If the agent has not done their due diligence with the tenant, and you lose money as a result, you can contact the Bureau of Real Estate and seek restitution through
them.
