Human Trafficker In Arizona Is ICE Cold

In late August, 2012, the investigation and questions concerning the ATF's debacle known as Operation Fast and Furious was still ongoing. Katie Pavlich's book had been on the shelves for months. Representative Darryl Issa was still jockeying to get at least in camera access to communiques involving Eric Holder, Barack Obama, and Janet Napolitano. Those communication records are still sealed under "executive privilege" that amounts to Obama pleading the Fifth Amendment on behalf of his corrupt lackey, Holder.

From what we know about Operation Fast and Furious, we can see it was doomed to fail in its publicized mission from the start. No means of tacking the weapons was used. No artistic tampering by armorers was conducted to insure the weapons would fail after some limited use. Both of these tactics are ones that have been employed, successfully, in the past in order to track illicit weapons to criminals and terrorists. This makes it more than obvious that the program was designed with other intentions in mind.

Those intentions led to the murder of Brian Terry, over 300 innocent Mexican civilians, and wounding (if not killing) a number of US Border Patrol agents, Arizona State Police, and county deputy sheriffs in Arizona.

On August 31, 2012, Stella Peterson and her son, Anthony, were arrested for human trafficking. Stella admitted to knowing that her son, a 30 year old man, used her home to harbor illegal immigrants.

Human Trafficking in Naco, Douglas, Palominas, and other border towns is not uncommon among people prone to other criminal activities, such as identity theft. What makes this case one of note is that Stella Peterson is an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. ICE is subordinate to the Department of Homeland Security just like the US Border Patrol.

This spawned a corruption investigation. It was rather high profile in local and state level news. However, it received barely a blip on Fox news and no mention on any other mainstream media news outlet. Obviously, somebody decided this story of corruption was to be buried just as Fast and Furious received little to no mainstream media attention.

The Naco-Douglas area corridor is known for the traffic of sex slaves. These young girls, some as young as 10 years old, are drugged and brought across the border to be sold into prostitution. Many times, families are forced to trade their daughters in payment to a coyote to help another family member cross the dangerous "devil's highway" over the Coronado Mountains and through Arizona.


Having lived not far from there, I have witnessed many incidents of human trafficking. I have seen, first-hand, a "rape tree". While working on Fort Huachuca, I routinely came across cached parcels of drugs, clothing, water, food, weapons, and restraint devices that coyotes stashed  in our training areas. Our policy was to record the coordinates and report these to the USBP. The USBP would tag, track, and watch these in order to apprehend coyotes, mules, and sex-slavers.

At least once a week we received a warning from the USBP to sequester our students. Our students carried their M-4s that were loaded with only blanks. Should armed coyotes spot the "armed" students, the propensity they would have shot real bullets was rather high.

One morning, on the way home for breakfast, a friend and I watched Cochise County Sheriffs and Sierra Vista Police assist the USBP in apprehending over 40 illegal aliens in one group. They were corralled near the entrance of  the local golf course. I later found out that 17 of the illegals originated in Yemen. They had Korans on them. Written into the margins in the Korans as well as hidden in the bindings were instructions to infiltrate and facilitate a future terrorist attack on our country. 

My neighbors included several ICE, USBP, and Homeland Security agents. Casual conversations granted me much insight into how they operate and the real level of danger, often hidden from the public, that smugglers, kidnappers, sex slavers, and human traffickers presented. I even was allowed to assist one of my neighbors, an ICE agent, capture a sex slavery facilitator who was another neighbor of ours.

In March of 2010, Robert Krentz, a rancher near Douglas, AZ, was assassinated by a Mexican cartel known for smuggling drugs, sex slaves, and illicit weapons.

The predators and merchants of human misery don't stop at the border. That is just their entry point. From that point, they continue to Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, and Canada. They move drugs. They facilitate invading terrorists. They bring in unregistered, illegal guns for use by organized criminals in the US. They herd people as though they are cattle. Those people are marked for sex-slavery or indentured work in sweatshops.

 The summer of 2011, Sierra Vista, Arizona, Police responded to what was thought a routine domestic violence call. A neighbor had heard screams and shouts along with breaking furniture. That neighbor called the police to respond. Upon arriving, they knocked on the door. An SUV backed through the garage closed garage door. It hit one officer. A man stuck out the barrel of an AK-47 and shot at the other. This lead to a chase and manhunt. the two armed men were last seen heading into Garden Canyon. From there, the tracks disappeared across the border. Later, ICE, DEA, ATF, and USBP agents conducted a joint raid on the house. They found drugs, smuggled weapons, and teen-aged Mexican girls tied up in the basement.

The trafficking is not singular in direction, either. US citizens are coerced, duped, or outright abducted and smuggled through Mexico to become sex-slaved in other countries.

Then we have a woman who works for one of the key federal agencies responsible for combating these atrocities found, initially, to be complacent in these acts. Further corruption investigations indicated she may have been complicit in them. She may have directly supported her son and his fellow criminals in these activities.

The actions taken by ICE were to place her on paid administrative leave until the investigation was complete. That means she gets a paycheck without having to do a second's work. I guess crime does pay with taxpayers stuck with the bill.

That is where the reported information ends. There is no closure. Furthermore, some individuals with access to further information have strongly implied further corruption. To date, no trial has taken place. Allegedly, Stella Peterson may have admitted  to other acts, to include facilitating sex-slavery. Other allegations are that the Assistant US Attorney at the time, under Eric Holder, dropped all charges then transferred to another region. 

If Stella and Anthony Peterson were found not-guilty, why was it not publicized? If they were tried and found guilty, why was it not publicized? If they plead down charges with a guilty plea for lesser crimes, why was it not publicized. If authorities dropped charges, why? Did Stella get immunity for turning evidence against "bigger fish"? In any case, why is she still on paid administrative leave? She should have been fired. She betrayed the public trust and should not be allowed to work in a position of public trust ever again. That includes working for any law enforcement activity. I'm not sure if I would trust her to operate a cash register for fear she would embezzle.