Asian American community praises Lane DA, asks governor for extradition of burglary ring suspect

Presenter: The Asian American Council of Oregon is hoping that a suspected member of an international burglary ring, held in Texas by ICE, can be brought back for trial here in Oregon. The state missed its first chance to do so. Jensina Hawkins:

Jensina Hawkins: Back in November, the Register-Guard had first reported that there was a crime ring that was targeting the households of Asian business owners. And Asian leaders in the community went to try to find some more information about it, which led to us hosting the AAPI Public Safety Forum on Jan. 16.

[00:00:35] David Tam, the president of Asian American Council of Oregon, and I met with (District Attorney Chris) Parosa after that, and I also was introduced then to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) at EPD (Eugene Police Department), the two detectives who were working the case—there was an SIU detective and a property crimes detective who were working those cases.

[00:00:55] At that time, they had made another wave of arrests up in Tigard. The folks were being held in Washington County Jail.

[00:01:04] Recently, we learned that the governor had denied the Lane County DA’s request to extradite someone that is being held in suspicion of these burglaries. That person’s currently being held in Texas on a hold by ICE, and it’s our understanding that Gov. (Tina) Kotek has declined to extradite that person back to Lane County for prosecution.

[00:01:29] The Asian American Council of Oregon came together to write a statement expressing our disappointment with the governor’s decision and also some hope for collaborating in future efforts, hoping that the Asian community isn’t necessarily being sidelined or ignored.

[00:01:46] It was distressing to find out that this decision had been made without seemingly any consideration of the impact that it would have on the demographic here in Eugene, or even in Portland or any of the other areas where this crime ring has been very, very active.

[00:02:02] Presenter: Jenny Jonak:

[00:02:03] Jenny Jonak: We would’ve liked to know the criteria or guidelines on which the decision was made. And, you know, one of the questions I think we had is, would this not be a high priority for extradition, given the fact that we know that these crimes were targeting Asian Americans on the basis of race, and that it is an ongoing crime ring that has crimes that may occur in the future that might in part be prevented by the extradition or cooperation of somebody who was involved with it.

[00:02:38] I also think that there’s something to be said for having one’s personal home invaded and having it done in a way that we know from the details that law enforcement has shared with us about these crime rings that they were done after extensive research on the victims, targeting them by race and researching their business and home dealings and that’s a very scary thing, I think, both for the individuals involved in the community at large, not knowing who else will be targeted.

[00:03:08] Presenter: Jensina Hawkins:

[00:03:09] Jensina Hawkins: The Eugene police detectives I spoke to have certainly done a lot of homework, especially connecting the cases to other areas of the state and around the Northwest that were hit by this.

And so between them and Springfield Police Department and then the DA working very diligently to try to bring these folks to justice, it’s very distressing to see all of these agencies putting so much effort into this to identify that there actually is an international crime ring, and knowing that it’s an entire group of people who are being targeted in their homes, and then to have it come to nothing because of something that on the face of it, to us at least, seems simple like an extradition. I’m sure it’s much more complicated than I’m privy to.

[00:03:52] Presenter: One aspect isn’t complicated at all. If the governor won’t extradite a suspect from another state, all of the taxpayer money spent in building a case against that suspect is wasted. Jensina Hawkins:

[00:04:05] Jensina Hawkins: I was thinking about that too, Jenny, particularly since I think a lot of people complain that criminals or perpetrators are released back onto the streets because the DA refuses to charge them or because the DA doesn’t feel that they have a concrete enough case.

[00:04:20] And here we have an instance where the DA is confident enough in the case to ask for extradition from Texas. I’m sure he did not make that decision lightly. And so to have something that makes them that confident to ask for that and still be declined is very distressing.

[00:04:38] Last June there was a wave of arrests that was made. And during police commission meetings, Chief Skinner did refer to the fact that most of them were South American nationals who had fled the country by the time that the officers went to arrest them. And then there was another wave of arrests in December.

[00:04:54] And then to your point, yes, Jenny, we have the issue again with the communication. You know, District Attorney (Chris) Parosa has been remarkably transparent and responsive with the Asian community. I really appreciate the effort that he’s put into tracking this down and communicating with us and letting us know that he actually is working to protect us.

[00:05:14] Particularly when you think about the number of victims involved, you’re still looking at well over a dozen households that have actually been targets, that have had these folks breaking in or walking in, depending on how they made their entrance and taking off with their personal belongings.

[00:05:31] And that’s a huge impact that’s felt viscerally as a community, because it’s easy for all of us to put ourselves into someone’s else’s shoes and think: ‘We certainly don’t want that happening to us.’ I don’t want it happening in my home. I’m an Asian business owner, and honestly, we spent all of Christmas break installing more security cameras around our house simply because of this.

[00:05:52] Presenter: At this point, what is the best possible outcome for the Asian community? Jenny Jonak:

[00:05:58] Jenny Jonak: You know, one thing that we advocated for when we held our forum, and that I think has improved, is better communication.

[00:06:06] When you have crime that is affecting a specific part of the community, a specific demographic, it’s really helpful to have communications with that community so they’re not finding out by reading the newspaper, because that’s really the worst way to find out.

[00:06:21] And it often means that by the time we’re reading it in the newspaper, maybe, for example, with the initial waves of crime, we could have helped inform the community and have them better protected and be able to prevent some of the crime.

[00:06:35] In this case, I don’t know what would be possible with extradition in terms of financial assistance where the state, you know, for example, didn’t have the budget for it. But that’s certainly something that could have been considered.

[00:06:47] And I think just knowing that the Asian American community was taken into account and that there was feedback, regardless of what the decision winds up being. It doesn’t always mean that the decision’s going to go our way. But knowing that there is that channel of communication, that feedback and input is something that I think would mean a lot.

[00:07:07] Jensina has done tremendous work in following up with law enforcement and really strengthening those ties so that we are having more open channels of communication here locally. Also, as she mentioned, our district attorney has been terrific in reaching out about that.

[00:07:23] But again, you know, having that occur at the state level; having more transparency and information about what the guidelines were and why this wouldn’t be considered high priority enough for extradition; getting feedback from the community that was affected—perhaps that might weigh into some of those considerations, and it certainly would’ve helped us to know that those things were taken into account.

[00:07:45] Presenter: The Asian American community praises Lane District Attorney Chris Parosa, and hopes to continue to build on recent progress.

The full statement from the AACO is as follows:

“We would like to thank Eugene and Springfield Police Departments for their continued investigation into the international crime ring targeting local AAPI households. Lane County DA Parosa has worked diligently to bring these perpetrators to justice.

“It is disappointing to learn that the State of Oregon recently declined to support the extradition of one of the suspects from this crime ring. We believe that crime targeting victims on the basis of race should be a high priority for our state, particularly given the continuing nature of such crime and the impact on our Asian American community.

“We encourage the public and the governor of Oregon to look at ways to meaningfully support and include our community in decisions such as this. It is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We hope our state leaders can collaborate with us to ensure the safety and inclusion of all Oregon residents.