Earthquake swarm hits California-Mexico border region

The California-Mexico border area was struck by a swarm of small earthquakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 3.8 temblor hit south of Calexico about 12:54 a.m., followed by two 3.2 quakes over the next several hours. The last for those quakes hit in Mexico, about 11 miles from Mexicali and 17 miles from Tijuana.

There were also numerous smaller quakes. This same area was hit by a 4.0 quake this month.

No injuries and damage were reported.

According to the USGS, the quake swarm was felt in parts of San Diego and Imperial counties.

-- Shelby Grad

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Four men arrested while digging tunnel across U.S.-Mexico border

Four men were arrested in Baja California while digging a tunnel across the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said today.

The men were using heavy machinery to bore through the ground and had dug down more than 21 feet when the Baja State Police arrested them Thursday night in Mexicali, Mexico.

An anonymous tip led the officers to the group.

Baja police are valuing the heavy equipment at more than $75,000.

Police released the names of three of the four men: Rigoberto Gaspar Méndez, 27, and Carlos Gáspar Méndez, 18, of Chihuahua; and Roberto Carlos Osuna Villegas, 36, of Sinaloa.

-- Matthew Bowler, KSWB San Diego

Photo: The four men arrested in Mexicali, Mexico. Credit: Baja State Police.

Indictments handed down against Mexican drug cartel suspects

State authorities today announced indictments against a distribution cell of the Sinaloa drug cartel that allegedly smuggled large amounts of cocaine and marijuana into Southern California through the border crossing at Calexico.

The 16 suspects allegedly smuggled the drugs in vehicles with hidden compartments and then stored the contraband at stash houses in the Greater Los Angeles area, authorities said. The drugs were ultimately distributed to cities across the U.S. and Canada, officials said.

The investigation is the latest in a series that has focused on smuggling through Calexico, which sits across the border from Mexicali, Baja California’s sprawling state capital.

Authorities seized 420 pounds of cocaine and 136 pounds of marijuana during an eight-month investigation that succeeded in planting an undercover officer in the ring, said state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown.

“This notorious cartel smuggled massive quantities of cocaine and marijuana into Southern California, fueling addiction and violence across the nation,” said Brown at a news conference at the Imperial County Law Enforcement Coordination Center.

-- Richard Marosi in Imperial

Three prisoners plead guilty to failed jailbreak in El Centro

Three prisoners have pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to an attempted jailbreak in El Centro, officials said.

On June 20, the three attempted to break out of the Herbert Hughes Correctional Center, run by the Imperial County Sheriff's Department, by smashing holes in the concrete ceiling of their dormitory and tunneling through the air ducts to the roof. The attempts failed.

Pleading guilty were Robert Benitez-Urias, Henry Maldonado and Jose Angel Hernandez-Herrera. Benitez-Urias and Hernandez-Herrera were in jail after being arrested as deported aliens who had returned to the U.S. Maldonado was serving a sentence as a marijuana smuggler.

Hernandez-Herrera was sentenced to 37 months for the escape try. The other two defendants await sentencing.

--Tony Perry in San Diego

Agents seize $1.3 million of methamphetamine at Calexico

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have seized 125 pounds of powder and crystal methamphetamine at the Calexico border crossing worth an estimated $1.3 million, agency officials said today.

A 24-year-old Mexican national allegedly drove an empty refrigerator tractor-trailer to the border from Mexico on Wednesday. With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, agents found a compartment in the truck's cooling unit containing 26 packages of methamphetamine.

The driver was arrested and the drug load seized, officials said.

—Tony Perry in San Diego

Two Marines killed in Mexicali crash identified

The two Marines killed in a traffic accident in Mexicali, Mexico, over the weekend were identified today as Lance Cpl. Julio Galvan and Pvt. Isidro Godinez.

The two were diesel automotive mechanics with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton. Galvan, 21, was from Maywood, Ill. Goldinez, 19, was from Calexico in the Imperial Valley.

The two were killed in an accident about 3 a.m. Friday in Mexicali, across the border from Calexico.

A third Marine, whose name was not released, was injured and has undergone surgery.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

American Al Qaeda member Adam Gadahn tells of Jewish roots in video

Adam Gadahn, a Southern California-raised man self-described as American Al Qaeda has released a new video in which he talks about his Jewish ancestry.

Gadahn, known as "Azzam the American,"  lived in Garden Grove in the 1990s after  growing up on a goat farm in rural Riverside County. The FBI said he converted to Islam as a youth, left the United States around 1998 and later was associated with senior Al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaida in Pakistan and attended training camps in Afghanistan.

In the new video, obtained by CNN, Gadahn talks about his background. "Let me here tell you something about myself and my biography, in which there is a benefit and a lesson," Gadahn said.  "Your speaker has Jews in his ancestry, the last of whom was his grandfather."

Gadahn's grandfather was Dr. Carl K. Pearlman, a well-known Orange County urologist who died in 1998. Pearlman, who was Jewish, received a community-service award in 1985 from the Orange County chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, which has since changed its name to the National Conference for Community and Justice, for his work in the expansion of St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.

In the video, Gadahn refers to his grandfather, saying he was "a zealous supporter of the usurper entity, and a prominent member of a number of Zionist hate organizations. ... He used to repeat to me what he claimed are the virtues of this entity and encouraged me to visit it, specifically the city of Tel Aviv, where relatives of ours live," he said.

-- Shelby Grad

San Diego County has most swine flu cases in state [Updated]

[Updated at 1:55 a.m.: Two hours after Imperial County released its swine flu numbers showing that it has 22 confirmed cases, San Diego County reported that it now has 24 confirmed cases, making it still the county with the most cases in the state.]

Imperial County also has 17 probable cases, pending the results of further tests, officials said.

Three elementary schools and two child-care centers have been closed in Imperial County; three schools are closed in San Diego County.

In both counties, merchants are being warned that it is a misdemeanor to increase prices of essential goods by 10% or more during a time of emergency. There is a report of a pharmacy in Imperial County charging $89 for a $7 box of surgical masks.

"Price gouging is a violation of the law and will not be tolerated," said San Diego City Atty. Jan Goldsmith.

-- Tony Perry

Check out The Times interactive map to track the global spread of swine flu.

 
 
 

Officials hail $300-million project to line leaky All-American Canal

 

After decades of planning and years of lawsuits and political bickering, a $300-million project to save water by lining the All-American Canal is all but complete.

At a ceremony Thursday attended by regional, state and national water officials, the project was hailed as a way for the state to begin living within a "water budget" rather than relying on the Colorado River and Northern California for additional allocations.

By saving water that would otherwise be lost to seepage, the Imperial Irrigation District can sell water to San Diego County, the most water-bereft section of coastal Southern California.

"This is a project whose time had clearly come," Brian Brady, general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, the nation's largest irrigation district.

San Diego swine flu cases now at eight, Imperial remains at five

San Diego County now has eight confirmed cases of swine flu, more than any region in the state, county health officials said Wednesday as they announced three new cases.

The county also has seven probable cases officials said as they await the results of laboratory tests.

"We can't stress enough the basic steps the public can take to help contain the spread of this virus," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer. Among those steps, she said: cover your mouth when sneezing, wash your hands frequently and stay home if you're sick.

Imperial County has five confirmed cases, officials said. San Diego and Imperial counties were the first locations in the country to report swine flu cases last week.

On Wednesday, both counties declared a health emergency, which will allow each to get reimbursement from the federal government for costs linked to the outbreak. But officials in San Diego and El Centro warned residents not to be frightened by the designation.

"This declaration is strictly precautionary," Imperial County Supervisor Wally Leimgruber said.

-- Tony Perry

Check out The Times interactive map on the spread of swine flu.

New swine flu case in Imperial County

A seventh case of swine flu was confirmed in California this afternoon, according to the state Department of Public Health.

A 35-year old Imperial County woman was hospitalized after coming down with flu-like symptoms on April 4, state health officials said. She recovered and has been released. She was only the second case in the state that required hospitalization.

“As a state, we have broadened our surveillance,” said Al Lundeen, a spokesman with the Department of Public Health. “Our department is asking all counties to take samples from cases that show flu-like symptoms.”

Earlier in the day, two new cases of swine flu were confirmed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. New York officials said eight students at a Queens high school probably have the swine flu, the Associated Press reported. Previously, four cases had been identified in San Diego County, two in Imperial County and two in Guadalupe County, Texas.

An outbreak of swine flu that may have killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico has prompted authorities there to close schools and order other emergency health measures in an attempt to contain the disease.

Locally, health officials are urging doctors to report flu cases to authorities for investigation, and residents are being asked to be careful, lest they possibly spread the illness.

-- Jason Felch