LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police investigators flew to Richmond, Va., over the weekend to testify in this week’s federal trial of a man accused in the kidnapping and beating death of a North Little Rock teenager in 2010.
The defendant, Edy Oliverez-Jiminez, 25, was the leader of the Little Rock branch of a violent Mexicobased fraudulent-document ring, according to court documents.
The leader of the ring, 26-year-old Israel Cruz “El Muerto” Millan of Raleigh, N.C., pleaded guilty last week to several federal charges connected to his role in managing the fakeidentification organization in 11 states.
Little Rock Detectives Tommy Hudson and Matt Nelson flew to Richmond on Sunday, along with the responding officer and a crime-scene technician, to testify in the case.
Little Rock police Lt. Kevin Simpson said his department’s investigation remains ongoing, with at least three men still wanted in the beating death of 18-year-old Pascual Ramos, a competitor in supplying fake IDs.
“It’s still an open case as far as that goes because we know there were four people there,” Simpson said. “The one they’ve indicted [Oliverez-Jiminez] has never spoken and hasn’t named the other individuals.”
Police found Ramos inside a vacant mobile home at Lot 187, Cove B, at 9500 S. Heights Road, after being led there by 16-year-old Adrian Ceja.
Ceja told police he had escaped from the trailer, where several men had bound and beaten him and Ramos. He said that when he left the trailer, Ramos was lying on the floor, and he feared his friend was dead.
In February, the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia announced that a federal grand jury in Richmond had indicted 22 members of the fraudulent document trafficking ring, including Oliverez-Jiminez. In all, 30 people have been charged in connection with the ring, and most have pleaded guilty.
Oliverez-Jiminez faces charges of racketeering, conspiracy to produce false identification documents, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault in aid of racketeering, possessing a gun in furtherance of a violent crime, and money laundering conspiracy.
Oliverez-Jiminez was arrested and charged in Virginia Beach, Va., in November 2010. The indictment was handed up in February. He pleaded innocent on Oct. 4.
Oliverez-Jiminez could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges he is facing. His attorney, Paul Gregorio, said in opening statements that his client admits involvement in the fraudulent-ID enterprise but vigorously denies killing, kidnapping or assaulting anyone.
Simpson said Monday that Ramos’ parents, who are Little Rock residents, have been in close contact with detectives. They are attending the trial in Virginia.
“I’ve spent an extended amount of time with them,” he said.
Ramos was living with his parents in North Little Rock at the time of his death and had turned 18 only four days before he was killed.
The indictment says Oliverez-Jiminez and others identified Ramos as a rival document seller in the Little Rock area and targeted him for violence to deter him.
The indictment says that Oliverez-Jiminez had someone call Ramos, pretending to be a customer, to arrange a meeting for the next day at the abandoned trailer.
Ramos — identified in the indictment only as “P.R.” — was attacked by four Hispanic males, including Oliverez-Jiminez, as he entered the trailer, Simpson said. The men bound Ramos’ hands and feet and covered his mouth and eyes with duct tape and beat him repeatedly, he said.
Millan pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy to produce false identification documents and money laundering an hour before he was scheduled to go on trial along with Oliverez-Jiminez.
“He [Millan] was the top dog, so it’s a big deal that he decided to just plead guilty straight up and not even face the government’s evidence in court,” U.S. Attorney Neil Mac-Bride said.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement figures, there were 1,503 arrests and 1,004 convictions for document fraud in 2010, and authorities seized more than $7 million in cash, guns and IDmaking equipment.
Millan faces a maximum of 55 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 16.
According to the indictment, Millan supervised cell managers in 19 cities in Virginia, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee. The indictment said those managers oversaw the production of fake Social Security and permanent resident alien cards and supervised “runners” who sold the bogus IDs to illegal immigrants for $150 to $250 per set.
Millan was accused of directing his subordinates to wire more than $1 million to upper management in Mexico from January 2008 through November 2010. Members of the enterprise who violated internal rules were subject to punishment, including shaving of eyebrows, wearing weights and beatings.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/22/2011