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County Attorney’s Office to Educate East-Side Students on the Dangers of Drug Trafficking

 

Hundreds of middle and high school students are expected to participate

            On Saturday December 5, 2009, attorneys with the Juvenile Unit of the El Paso County Attorney's Office will offer multi-media presentations to elementary, middle and high school students about the dangers of getting involved in drug trafficking activities, and the legal consequences of getting caught.

The presentations will be part of the 2009 Regional Youth Summit, scheduled for Saturday December 5, 2009 at El Dorado High School, 12401 Edgmere Blvd. from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The event is aimed to address the consequences youth face when dealing with risky behavior and poor lifestyle choices, including accepting to participate in drug trafficking activities such as becoming drug mules.

For the past decade, Mexican drug cartels have been actively recruiting teens from area middle and high school to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the U.S. Although during the last couple of years the number of teens arrested at El Paso Ports of Entry accused of drug trafficking has decreased slightly, recently the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS) issued a state-wide warning informing unsuspecting parents that violent Mexican cartels and transnational gangs are actively recruiting Texas youngsters in schools and border communities. According to the warning, these criminal organizations are luring teens with the prospect of cars, money and notoriety, and promise them that if they are arrested, they will receive light sentences.

The El Paso County Attorney's Office was the first juvenile prosecutor's office in Texas to implement a zero-tolerance in drug trafficking cases. Previously, teens where detained for a brief period of time and then released to their families either in Mexico or the US. The zero-tolerance program was implemented along with an educational campaign that included radio and television commercials. The initiative helped reduce the juvenile drug arrests in El Paso County from 124 in 2001 to 24 in 2009.

Juvenile Prosecutors from the County Attorneys Office will speak to students about the misconceptions associated with drug trafficking and inform them of the facts and legal repercussions they may face.

WHO:       County Attorney's Juvenile Unit

WHAT:     International Juvenile Drug Trafficking Presentations

WHEN:     Saturday December 5, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:  El Dorado High School 12401 Edgmere Blvd.

# # #

Youth Summit 2009 Press Release.pdf

Chart Juvenile Drug Arrests 2001-2009.pdf

Bridge Drug Arrests 2008 and 2009.pdf

Published Dec 04 2009, 04:29 PM by edominguez
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About edominguez

Elhiu Dominguez was born in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, México. He moved to the Ciudad Juárez - El Paso area in 1988 to study Mass Communications at the Chihuahua State University (UACH). He later obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1994. Elhiu began his professional career in 1989 as a reporter for Norte de Juarez newspaper. In 1994 he was employed at Canal 26, the local Univision affiliate in El Paso, as photojournalist, producer, and later as a reporter. In 1998, after a brief period as Weekend Assignments Editor at KDBC Channel 4, the local CBS affiliate, Elhiu returned to work at Univision 26 as a senior reporter. He was later assigned in 1999 as the Texas-New Mexico correspondent for the Univision Network’s news magazine “Primer Impacto”, a position that he held until his resignation in 2005 to become Assignments Editor at KFOX Channel 14, the local FOX network affiliate. Elhiu left KFOX in 2006 to become the Public Affairs Officer for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office. During his more than 15 years of experience as journalist, Elhiu has received numerous awards, among them “La Columna de Oro” for a special series of stories regarding the murders of women in Juárez, and several first and second place awards by the New Mexico and Texas Associated Press in the categories of investigative reporting, breaking news, and feature stories.