Thursday, April 26, 2007
Oakland Comdemns Federal Immigration Raids
Oakland resolutions condemn federal immigration raids
Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
(04-25) 18:22 PDT OAKLAND -- Oakland city officials today announced two new resolutions condemning recent federal immigration raids and formalizing the city's intention not to cooperate with the U.S. government effort to deport undocumented residents.
The resolutions, one by Mayor Ron Dellums and the other by Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, both condemn the recent raids, which included one on Friday at an East Oakland manufacturer.
Both resolutions are also an effort to update Oakland's 1986 "City of Refuge" ordinance which only applies to refugees fleeing political violence in Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and South Africa, De La Fuente said. His proposed ordinance would give refuge to any undocumented immigrant regardless of national origin.
The council president, Dellums, Police Chief Wayne Tucker, City Councilwomen Jean Quan and Jane Brunner, and other city officials appeared at a City Hall news conference to support both resolutions.
The measure by De La Fuente and co-sponsors Quan and Brunner would direct city departments and staff not to cooperate with any federal immigration investigation, detention, or arrest procedures. They will introduce the measure Thursday to the City Council Rules Committee, De La Fuente said.
"The City of Refuge declaration is just as relevant today as it was 21 years ago, if not more, as our federal immigration policies are still in need of comprehensive reform," said De La Fuente, a native of Mexico and one of the Bay Area's more prominent immigrant elected officials.
Meanwhile, Dellums is introducing a similar measure that goes beyond the council measure to call for immigration reform nationwide. Dellums' measure asks for a moratorium on federal immigration raids and calls upon the federal government to adopt fair, comprehensive and humane federal immigration reforms. It also affirms the city's policy against local enforcement of civil immigration laws while permitting law enforcement cooperation with federal agents in situations involving public safety and serious crimes.
"Immigration is the Civil Rights issue of our time," Dellums said. "In order to realize the Model City vision, we must treat everyone fairly and humanely. It is not appropriate policy to intimidate and harm people that are already here. There are millions of immigrants in this country and we must approach this issue with enlightened and compassionate immigration policy."
Nationally, at least 20 other cities have ordinances restricting cooperation with the federal government on immigration while at least 80 cities and towns have laws designed to discourage illegal immigrants.
Tucker said the federal government currently does not seek police assistance on immigration raids and that local cops are not "in the business" of enforcing federal immigration law and are "too busy" fighting crime. But he added that police would still cooperate with the federal government on any "investigation of criminal conduct within the city limits of Oakland."
Both Tucker and De La Fuente also said that for police to get help from illegal immigrants in solving violent crimes, it is important to emphasize that Oakland officials will not report the immigration status of a crime witness or victim.
Quan noted that her great-grandfather was allowed to come to the this country to work but was not allowed to apply for citizenship. She said it is important not to repeat the mistakes of past generations. She said that immigration raids break up families because many children born here have parents who are here illegally.
"Children are unwitting victims of these immigration raids," Quan said. "Many Oakland families are afraid to send their children to school, and the children of those detained or arrested during raids become separated from their caretakers."
Immigration Raid Triggers Chicago Protest
Federal raid triggers Chicago protest
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiUPI-20070425-112127-7518R&show_article=1
Apr 25 01:01 PM US/Eastern
CHICAGO, April 25 (UPI) -- Residents of a predominately Hispanic Chicago neighborhood took to the streets in protest after heavily armed U.S. immigration agents raided businesses."Soldiers bombarded our neighborhood," Baltazar Enriquez told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It looked like they were marching into Iraq."Heavily armed federal officers in bullet-proof vests, locked down a strip mall Tuesday in a Southwest Side neighborhood known as Little Village, Enriquez said. The raid triggered a protest of 250 to 300 people that lasted into the evening, the newspaper said.The federal agents were searching for sellers of fake Social Security and resident alien green cards, authorities said, refusing to say how many people were arrested in the search.Those arrested were to appear in federal court Wednesday. Neighborhood activists said the raid may have been to intimidate people from participating in a downtown May 1 march and rally to protest recent federal raids nationwide, the Chicago Tribune said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiUPI-20070425-112127-7518R&show_article=1
Apr 25 01:01 PM US/Eastern
CHICAGO, April 25 (UPI) -- Residents of a predominately Hispanic Chicago neighborhood took to the streets in protest after heavily armed U.S. immigration agents raided businesses."Soldiers bombarded our neighborhood," Baltazar Enriquez told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It looked like they were marching into Iraq."Heavily armed federal officers in bullet-proof vests, locked down a strip mall Tuesday in a Southwest Side neighborhood known as Little Village, Enriquez said. The raid triggered a protest of 250 to 300 people that lasted into the evening, the newspaper said.The federal agents were searching for sellers of fake Social Security and resident alien green cards, authorities said, refusing to say how many people were arrested in the search.Those arrested were to appear in federal court Wednesday. Neighborhood activists said the raid may have been to intimidate people from participating in a downtown May 1 march and rally to protest recent federal raids nationwide, the Chicago Tribune said.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Felony Fraud Conviction for Developer
Jemal's Good Works Pay Rich Dividend
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, April 22, 2007
Douglas Jemal isn't your average big-city developer. Not by a long stretch.
His multimillion-dollar business overseeing at least 185 properties is run like a small, informal family store -- and its "executives' meetings" look more like a family gathering at a boisterous pizza parlor than a session in a stuffy business boardroom. With his main offices in Chinatown adorned by a stocked bar and the company parrot, the 64-year-old executive kicks up his cowboy boots and his deputies laugh, eat and generally have a good time. Deals are done with a nod. Paperwork is an afterthought. Those unorthodox ways got Jemal in a heap of legal trouble with criminal prosecutors over the last four years, leading to a felony conviction for defrauding a mortgage company this fall. But last week, they also saved Jemal from prison.
More than 200 people in this city and beyond rushed to vouch for Jemal, sharing stories of the great kindnesses and honesty that the high school dropout had shown them. They urged a federal judge to be lenient in sentencing him. They repeatedly claimed that the same eccentric impulses that led Jemal to buy abandoned buildings on gut instinct and do business based on trust also made him a man who gave thousands of dollars to struggling employees and strangers and lent a hand when it did nothing to boost his own fortunes.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina stunned prosecutors Tuesday by sentencing Jemal to probation for the felony fraud conviction -- when federal guidelines recommended a three-year prison sentence. The judge said the supporters' letters and testimony showcased a lifetime of good deeds and that such a genuine outpouring led to his decision.
The community support and the judge's mercy forced many in Washington to reflect on the corruption case federal prosecutors so vigorously brought. Had prosecutors hastily concluded that Jemal was running a criminal scheme, some city leaders wondered, when he may have been guilty only of sloppy business practices and questionable shortcuts? Or had the Brooklyn native -- who loved his adopted city so much and was so beloved in return -- gotten lucky and escaped years behind bars?
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said he was "very disappointed" with the sentence. The prosecution's case began unraveling last fall when the jury acquitted Jemal of the most serious charges -- allegations that he bribed a D.C. government official.
Taylor said his office had a "clear duty" to prosecute the prominent developer. He noted that Jemal's attorney acknowledged that Jemal provided an expensive watch and other gifts to the city property official, who signed off on roughly $100 million worth of leases to Douglas Development Corp. The former official, Michael Lorusso, pleaded guilty to taking bribes and testified against Jemal at the trial.
"We're concerned about the message this sends, both to law-abiding and not law-abiding businesses and to city officials," he said. "It cannot be the case, that, as a citizen of the District of Columbia, that this is the way that business is done."
Prosecutors had some success going after Jemal's business team. Jemal deputy Blake Esherick recently was sentenced to eight months in prison for the wire fraud and two additional convictions for evading tax on money Jemal gave him. Jemal's chief financial officer, John E. Brownell, pleaded guilty to a similar tax evasion scheme and faces sentencing in June.
Jemal's supporters, including a diverse mix of business owners, recovering addicts, immigrants starting fledgling businesses, former city officials and tenants, said they were not contesting the conviction, in which a jury found that Jemal had skirted the law and misled a partner to get access to $430,000 and buy a new building.
The friends, most of them people who had done business with Jemal, simply argued that it was impossible that he had done this with greed or crime in his heart.
Many of their stories were endearing. Rahim Paniagua said he got his first job in America from Jemal, in 1981. He recalled how Jemal spoke Spanish but urged Paniagua to learn English to get ahead. Jemal gave him $1,000 for plane tickets to visit his sick mother in Bolivia, and another time, told him to take $1,800 in cash out of the store register to give to women who were hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the poor, he said.
Jerome Robinson told the judge he grew up poor and fatherless on Montana Avenue NE in the 1960s. At 16, his life changed when Jemal gave him his first job working a forklift in one of Jemal's furniture warehouses. Jemal worked side by side with him to help him learn the job, Robinson recalled, bought shoes for him and his brother, gave him his first car, and lent him a free room when he had no place to stay. "Growing up in the ghetto, I always thought a white man would never do anything for you -- until I met Douglas," said Robinson, 48, who now owns his own record store in Greensboro, N.C. "Douglas gave everybody an opportunity. He was the foundation of my life."
Many praised Jemal as a visionary who took personal risks to bring back to life the H Street and Verizon Center area, now a bustling commercial hub.
"The city and region should be presenting Mr. Jemal awards for all he has accomplished to further improve the city," wrote Maurice Breton, of Comfort One Shoes. "Let's not punish Douglas for being colorful."
Roger Lebbin, president of Mid-Atlantic Builders, described how Jemal insisted he accept an invitation to a four-star restaurant to thank him for leasing space in a Jemal building in Bethesda.
"Why do they want to take their valuable time to have dinner with me?" Lebbin said. "My company is a small and insignificant tenant, one of a thousand of their tenants and of little or no consequence to his company."
They had a fun dinner, with no agenda other than Jemal thanking Lebbin for becoming a tenant.
James C. Dinegar, president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said he does not know the details of Jemal's prosecution, but was struck by the developer's hearty embrace of his adopted city, and the community hug he got in return.
Dinegar said many people living in Washington aren't originally from here, and the city struggles because not enough of them follow Brooklyn-born Jemal's pattern of embracing its riches and its problems.
"It's evident from this that when you give to the community, it gives back. The community came behind him, and people came to support him, so his adopting this city really worked for him."
Jemal's lead defense attorney, Reid H. Weingarten, said walking with Jemal from his Chinatown office to court was always punctuated with people stopping to wish Jemal well and say hello. Cabbies. Janitors. Businessmen. Police officers.
"Who among us, if heaven forbid we were here, could present to a sentencing judge this number of heartfelt letters?" Weingarten asked in court. "He's not like other developers or other people. His natural instinct is to give, not to take."
Robert Leibner, a Washington lawyer who has represented Jemal in the past, said he knows what makes Jemal stand out: "I can state with absolute certainty that what distinguished Douglas Jemal from his competitors was actually very simple -- while Douglas Jemal was pursuing his passion, my other clients were pursuing money."
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, April 22, 2007
Douglas Jemal isn't your average big-city developer. Not by a long stretch.
His multimillion-dollar business overseeing at least 185 properties is run like a small, informal family store -- and its "executives' meetings" look more like a family gathering at a boisterous pizza parlor than a session in a stuffy business boardroom. With his main offices in Chinatown adorned by a stocked bar and the company parrot, the 64-year-old executive kicks up his cowboy boots and his deputies laugh, eat and generally have a good time. Deals are done with a nod. Paperwork is an afterthought. Those unorthodox ways got Jemal in a heap of legal trouble with criminal prosecutors over the last four years, leading to a felony conviction for defrauding a mortgage company this fall. But last week, they also saved Jemal from prison.
More than 200 people in this city and beyond rushed to vouch for Jemal, sharing stories of the great kindnesses and honesty that the high school dropout had shown them. They urged a federal judge to be lenient in sentencing him. They repeatedly claimed that the same eccentric impulses that led Jemal to buy abandoned buildings on gut instinct and do business based on trust also made him a man who gave thousands of dollars to struggling employees and strangers and lent a hand when it did nothing to boost his own fortunes.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina stunned prosecutors Tuesday by sentencing Jemal to probation for the felony fraud conviction -- when federal guidelines recommended a three-year prison sentence. The judge said the supporters' letters and testimony showcased a lifetime of good deeds and that such a genuine outpouring led to his decision.
The community support and the judge's mercy forced many in Washington to reflect on the corruption case federal prosecutors so vigorously brought. Had prosecutors hastily concluded that Jemal was running a criminal scheme, some city leaders wondered, when he may have been guilty only of sloppy business practices and questionable shortcuts? Or had the Brooklyn native -- who loved his adopted city so much and was so beloved in return -- gotten lucky and escaped years behind bars?
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said he was "very disappointed" with the sentence. The prosecution's case began unraveling last fall when the jury acquitted Jemal of the most serious charges -- allegations that he bribed a D.C. government official.
Taylor said his office had a "clear duty" to prosecute the prominent developer. He noted that Jemal's attorney acknowledged that Jemal provided an expensive watch and other gifts to the city property official, who signed off on roughly $100 million worth of leases to Douglas Development Corp. The former official, Michael Lorusso, pleaded guilty to taking bribes and testified against Jemal at the trial.
"We're concerned about the message this sends, both to law-abiding and not law-abiding businesses and to city officials," he said. "It cannot be the case, that, as a citizen of the District of Columbia, that this is the way that business is done."
Prosecutors had some success going after Jemal's business team. Jemal deputy Blake Esherick recently was sentenced to eight months in prison for the wire fraud and two additional convictions for evading tax on money Jemal gave him. Jemal's chief financial officer, John E. Brownell, pleaded guilty to a similar tax evasion scheme and faces sentencing in June.
Jemal's supporters, including a diverse mix of business owners, recovering addicts, immigrants starting fledgling businesses, former city officials and tenants, said they were not contesting the conviction, in which a jury found that Jemal had skirted the law and misled a partner to get access to $430,000 and buy a new building.
The friends, most of them people who had done business with Jemal, simply argued that it was impossible that he had done this with greed or crime in his heart.
Many of their stories were endearing. Rahim Paniagua said he got his first job in America from Jemal, in 1981. He recalled how Jemal spoke Spanish but urged Paniagua to learn English to get ahead. Jemal gave him $1,000 for plane tickets to visit his sick mother in Bolivia, and another time, told him to take $1,800 in cash out of the store register to give to women who were hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the poor, he said.
Jerome Robinson told the judge he grew up poor and fatherless on Montana Avenue NE in the 1960s. At 16, his life changed when Jemal gave him his first job working a forklift in one of Jemal's furniture warehouses. Jemal worked side by side with him to help him learn the job, Robinson recalled, bought shoes for him and his brother, gave him his first car, and lent him a free room when he had no place to stay. "Growing up in the ghetto, I always thought a white man would never do anything for you -- until I met Douglas," said Robinson, 48, who now owns his own record store in Greensboro, N.C. "Douglas gave everybody an opportunity. He was the foundation of my life."
Many praised Jemal as a visionary who took personal risks to bring back to life the H Street and Verizon Center area, now a bustling commercial hub.
"The city and region should be presenting Mr. Jemal awards for all he has accomplished to further improve the city," wrote Maurice Breton, of Comfort One Shoes. "Let's not punish Douglas for being colorful."
Roger Lebbin, president of Mid-Atlantic Builders, described how Jemal insisted he accept an invitation to a four-star restaurant to thank him for leasing space in a Jemal building in Bethesda.
"Why do they want to take their valuable time to have dinner with me?" Lebbin said. "My company is a small and insignificant tenant, one of a thousand of their tenants and of little or no consequence to his company."
They had a fun dinner, with no agenda other than Jemal thanking Lebbin for becoming a tenant.
James C. Dinegar, president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said he does not know the details of Jemal's prosecution, but was struck by the developer's hearty embrace of his adopted city, and the community hug he got in return.
Dinegar said many people living in Washington aren't originally from here, and the city struggles because not enough of them follow Brooklyn-born Jemal's pattern of embracing its riches and its problems.
"It's evident from this that when you give to the community, it gives back. The community came behind him, and people came to support him, so his adopting this city really worked for him."
Jemal's lead defense attorney, Reid H. Weingarten, said walking with Jemal from his Chinatown office to court was always punctuated with people stopping to wish Jemal well and say hello. Cabbies. Janitors. Businessmen. Police officers.
"Who among us, if heaven forbid we were here, could present to a sentencing judge this number of heartfelt letters?" Weingarten asked in court. "He's not like other developers or other people. His natural instinct is to give, not to take."
Robert Leibner, a Washington lawyer who has represented Jemal in the past, said he knows what makes Jemal stand out: "I can state with absolute certainty that what distinguished Douglas Jemal from his competitors was actually very simple -- while Douglas Jemal was pursuing his passion, my other clients were pursuing money."
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Eight Dead in vehicle believed to be carrying illegal immigrants
Eight dead in SUV rollover near Arizona-Utah border - April 16, 2007- http://www.idexer.com/
BLUFF, Utah -- A sport utility vehicle believed to be carrying illegal immigrants rolled several times Monday in southeastern Utah's San Juan County, killing eight men and injuring seven others, authorities said. One of the injured was in critical condition, hours after the 3:30 a.m. MST crash in a remote area near the Utah-Arizona border, said Trooper Preston Raban of the Utah Highway Patrol. Federal immigration agents were investigating it as a possible case of human trafficking, he said.
BLUFF, Utah -- A sport utility vehicle believed to be carrying illegal immigrants rolled several times Monday in southeastern Utah's San Juan County, killing eight men and injuring seven others, authorities said. One of the injured was in critical condition, hours after the 3:30 a.m. MST crash in a remote area near the Utah-Arizona border, said Trooper Preston Raban of the Utah Highway Patrol. Federal immigration agents were investigating it as a possible case of human trafficking, he said.
Criminal Joke of the week
Criminal Joke of the week, submitted by- zchwds@yahoo.com
A police officer in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down Main Street. "But officer," the man began, "I can explain." "Quiet!" snapped the officer. "I'm going to let you spend the night in jail until the chief gets back.""But, officer, I just wanted to say,""And I said be quiet! You're going to jail!" A few hours later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, "Lucky for you, the chief's at his daughter's wedding. He'll be in a good mood when he gets back." "Don't count on it," answered the guy in the cell. "I'm the groom."
A police officer in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down Main Street. "But officer," the man began, "I can explain." "Quiet!" snapped the officer. "I'm going to let you spend the night in jail until the chief gets back.""But, officer, I just wanted to say,""And I said be quiet! You're going to jail!" A few hours later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, "Lucky for you, the chief's at his daughter's wedding. He'll be in a good mood when he gets back." "Don't count on it," answered the guy in the cell. "I'm the groom."
Bethesda Child Rapist Caught in Mexico
Fugitive Child Rapist Caught
Bethesda Dentist Had Drugged Girl
By Ernesto Londoño- Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, April 13, 2007; Page B01
Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, April 13, 2007; Page B01
David E. Fuster, a former Bethesda dentist who fled Montgomery County in 2003 after being convicted of raping a 15-year-old patient whom he drugged with laughing gas, was arrested this week on a beach in Mexico, authorities said yesterday.
The dentist, a Peruvian citizen who was Montgomery's second-most-wanted fugitive, did not resist when Mexican police officials working with U.S. law enforcement officers approached him on the beach near Mérida, not far from Cancun.
"We were following several leads for several months," said Montgomery Sheriff Raymond M. Kight. "They all pointed to Mexico. "
Fuster was with his wife, Roxana, and their five children when he was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon. He had been living in a walled-off ranchlike compound in Mérida.
Montgomery and federal law enforcement officials spent years tracking leads about Fuster's whereabouts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Peru.
The latest tip came in about six weeks ago. At the request of Maryland officials, U.S. law enforcement agents in Mexico City traveled to Mérida and conducted surveillance on his home, officials said. After determining his identity, U.S. officials in Mexico obtained a warrant from a local judge.
"As they were watching the place, they started seeing Fuster come out of the residence and drive his children to school and then pick them up," Chief Deputy Sheriff Darren Popkin said. "We feel that he has gotten comfortable with where he was."
Fuster, who was not incarcerated in Maryland for any significant period, is being held at a Mexican penitentiary, Popkin said. Extradition to the United States could take several months, and he is expected to remain in custody until then.
Fuster, 51, did not appear to be working in Mexico, and authorities said it is unclear whether any of his relatives, many of whom still live in Montgomery, knew of his whereabouts.
Fuster was convicted May 7, 2003, of second-degree rape, assault, child abuse and sex offense and was let out of jail on a $100,000 property bond. He was not taken into custody after the conviction because his attorneys struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to remain free on bond until sentencing, which was scheduled for the next month.
Shortly after the conviction, he told his attorneys that he was going to Florida on vacation. He appears to have fled the country shortly afterward.
"I think he was truly stunned by the verdict," one of his defense attorneys, Laura Kelsey Rhodes, said yesterday. "We were all disappointed, and I think as a result he panicked."
The county considered him its No. 2 fugitive after former Foreign Service officer William Bradford Bishop Jr., who is charged in the March 1976 slaying of his wife, mother and three sons.
Fuster, who had a successful practice in the 8300 block of Old Georgetown Road, used nitrous oxide, a chemical agent used in surgery and dentistry as an anesthetic. He gave the gas to the 15-year-old patient Oct. 10, 2001, according to police, explaining that it "would assist in the cleaning of her teeth because it could be painful."
After drugging her, Fuster took her to a downstairs room, where he fondled and raped her on a couch.
The teenager told police that she faded in and out of consciousness during the rape. At one point, police said, Fuster told her, "Don't worry, I'm wearing a condom."
Afterward, he took the girl to the Chipotle restaurant on Rockville Pike, where the two ate, and later dropped her off at a Metro station.
Prosecutors filed more charges against the dentist after five other female patients told police that Fuster had drugged and fondled them. None of the others said they were raped.
He faces up to 55 years in the rape case.
The father of one of the other patients said that his daughter has left the country and that he has no interest in pursuing the case. The Washington Post does not identify the victims of sex crimes.
The father said he was nonetheless pleased to hear that Fuster is in custody.
"Any victim would be happy," he said. "I'm sorry for his family, his kids."
Bethesda Dentist Had Drugged Girl
By Ernesto Londoño- Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, April 13, 2007; Page B01
Washington Post Staff WriterFriday, April 13, 2007; Page B01
David E. Fuster, a former Bethesda dentist who fled Montgomery County in 2003 after being convicted of raping a 15-year-old patient whom he drugged with laughing gas, was arrested this week on a beach in Mexico, authorities said yesterday.
The dentist, a Peruvian citizen who was Montgomery's second-most-wanted fugitive, did not resist when Mexican police officials working with U.S. law enforcement officers approached him on the beach near Mérida, not far from Cancun.
"We were following several leads for several months," said Montgomery Sheriff Raymond M. Kight. "They all pointed to Mexico. "
Fuster was with his wife, Roxana, and their five children when he was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon. He had been living in a walled-off ranchlike compound in Mérida.
Montgomery and federal law enforcement officials spent years tracking leads about Fuster's whereabouts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Peru.
The latest tip came in about six weeks ago. At the request of Maryland officials, U.S. law enforcement agents in Mexico City traveled to Mérida and conducted surveillance on his home, officials said. After determining his identity, U.S. officials in Mexico obtained a warrant from a local judge.
"As they were watching the place, they started seeing Fuster come out of the residence and drive his children to school and then pick them up," Chief Deputy Sheriff Darren Popkin said. "We feel that he has gotten comfortable with where he was."
Fuster, who was not incarcerated in Maryland for any significant period, is being held at a Mexican penitentiary, Popkin said. Extradition to the United States could take several months, and he is expected to remain in custody until then.
Fuster, 51, did not appear to be working in Mexico, and authorities said it is unclear whether any of his relatives, many of whom still live in Montgomery, knew of his whereabouts.
Fuster was convicted May 7, 2003, of second-degree rape, assault, child abuse and sex offense and was let out of jail on a $100,000 property bond. He was not taken into custody after the conviction because his attorneys struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to remain free on bond until sentencing, which was scheduled for the next month.
Shortly after the conviction, he told his attorneys that he was going to Florida on vacation. He appears to have fled the country shortly afterward.
"I think he was truly stunned by the verdict," one of his defense attorneys, Laura Kelsey Rhodes, said yesterday. "We were all disappointed, and I think as a result he panicked."
The county considered him its No. 2 fugitive after former Foreign Service officer William Bradford Bishop Jr., who is charged in the March 1976 slaying of his wife, mother and three sons.
Fuster, who had a successful practice in the 8300 block of Old Georgetown Road, used nitrous oxide, a chemical agent used in surgery and dentistry as an anesthetic. He gave the gas to the 15-year-old patient Oct. 10, 2001, according to police, explaining that it "would assist in the cleaning of her teeth because it could be painful."
After drugging her, Fuster took her to a downstairs room, where he fondled and raped her on a couch.
The teenager told police that she faded in and out of consciousness during the rape. At one point, police said, Fuster told her, "Don't worry, I'm wearing a condom."
Afterward, he took the girl to the Chipotle restaurant on Rockville Pike, where the two ate, and later dropped her off at a Metro station.
Prosecutors filed more charges against the dentist after five other female patients told police that Fuster had drugged and fondled them. None of the others said they were raped.
He faces up to 55 years in the rape case.
The father of one of the other patients said that his daughter has left the country and that he has no interest in pursuing the case. The Washington Post does not identify the victims of sex crimes.
The father said he was nonetheless pleased to hear that Fuster is in custody.
"Any victim would be happy," he said. "I'm sorry for his family, his kids."
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