(3/12/98)
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (AP) -- A Claremont-based militia group planned to shoot immigrants attempting to enter California illegally, practicing sniper and combat attacks in the San Gabriel Mountains, according prosecutors.
At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Glynn Martin, an expert on paramilitary groups, said Alvin Ung, 34, and other members of an organization called the Southern California Minuteman Association intended to ``use snipers to control illegal immigrants.''
While a defense lawyer denied that Ung is involved with a militia group, prosecutors contend Ung was part of a multi-ethnic group planning ``Operation Run for the Border.'' Ung and three others were arrested last May after an informant tipped authorities that the group was preparing to mobilize their attack along the California-Mexico border.
``This could have gotten very ugly. I think these people were poised for a massacre, and that the Los Angeles Police Department kept an international incident from happening,'' said Michael P. Dowd, San Bernardino County deputy district attorney.
Details of the alleged plot came at Ung's preliminary hearing Wednesday. He has been charged with 13 felony counts, including possession of illegal firearms, ammunition and explosive devices.
Superior Court Judge Gerard S. Brown ruled there was sufficient evidence to bring Ung to trial. He was scheduled to be formally arraigned March 18. If convicted on all counts, Ung faces a maximum of 20 years and four months in prison, prosecutors said.
Two other defendants have pleaded guilty to weapons charges and were given probation, prosecutors said. The status of the case against the other defendant was not immediately known.
On Wednesday, the alleged ringleader of the group, Glenn Yee, said he knew nothing of a planned border attack.
``It's news to me,'' said Yee, a reserve officer with the Irwindale Police Department currently on leave pending his case.
Yee, who is free on bail, believes that the LAPD fabricated evidence to frame his group, which he said included LAPD officers. ``In our group we had people who were black and Hispanic. I have no idea where they're trying to go with this,'' he said.
But prosecutors say the group of about 35 is considered so radical that other militia groups shun it. ``This was not a figment of anybody's imagination,'' Dowd said. ``This was a serious operation.''
The group trained on shooting ranges throughout Southern California, in the San Gabriel Mountains, and also did ``did sniper training, hostage-taking training, tear gas training, combat training and armed repelling training,'' Dowd said.
Defense attorney Bruce Colodny said the SCMA was just a few people with a ``common interest in firearms, terrorism, genocide, mass-murder, physical and psychological torture, and killing small woodland animals.''
``I don't believe Mr. Ung is a racist or a terrorist,'' Colodny said, noting that his client was a former arms engineer at Northrop Grumman for 11 years with top secret clearance.
In a series of raids last year, authorities seized homemade bombs, more than 100 weapons, and taped conversations and handwritten notes about the planned attack.
Colodny said, however, there was no evidence linking Ung to the planned attack.
``They've taken a few remarks that did not come from my client and taken them out of context,'' he said. ``I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.''