Men Accused of Plotting Massacre

Four men accused last year of possessing illegal weapons and belonging to a terrorist militia group were plotting to massacre illegal immigrants as they sneaked into the country, a prosecutor alleged in court Wednesday.

In an action the group dubbed “Operation Run for the Border,” the Southern California suspects allegedly trained for months on how to use weapons, take hostages and conduct other paramilitary activities for the sole purpose of launching a bloody mission along the U.S. border with Mexico, said San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael P. Dowd.

The prosecutor said that description was based largely on information supplied by an undercover Los Angeles Police Department investigator who infiltrated the group. The officer’s account was corroborated by some handwritten notes seized from members, Dowd added.

The disclosure, which came during a preliminary hearing in Rancho Cucamonga for one of the four defendants, marked the first time prosecutors have detailed why Los Angeles police considered the men such a threat when they arrested them last May.

Attorney Bruce Colodny, who represents Alvin Ung--the alleged militia member involved in Wednesday’s hearing--said his client was not part of any plot.

“I don’t think that was the intent of the group at all, and Mr. Ung certainly did not have any involvement in that. . . . This was an informal group of people who knew each other and had an interest in guns. It was not a militia.”

After arresting the suspects, investigators from the LAPD’s Anti-Terrorist Division held a news conference to display a cache of powerful weapons they seized during their probe. A spokesman for the LAPD said the men were planning acts of domestic terrorism and were a serious threat to the public, but police never revealed why they were so concerned or what the men were planning to do.

But even as the news conference was occurring, most of the then-five suspects were being released from custody after posting bail on relatively minor weapons charges. Charges against one man were ultimately dropped, officials said.

Given the nature of the charges and fanfare with which they were announced, some LAPD critics accused the department of exaggerating the seriousness of their activities.

According to Dowd, the group was serious about launching an attack on illegal immigrants. He said the members were equipped with pagers and were told to be ready to mobilize and gather their gear for an assault 30 minutes after receiving a secretly coded page.

To prepare for the mission, he said, they “did sniper training, hostage-taking training, tear gas training, combat training and armed repelling training.” He added that some members did surveillance work along the border, selecting the best positions for carrying out the attack.

“This was not a figment of anybody’s imagination,” Dowd said. “This was a serious operation.”

On Wednesday, the alleged ringleader of the group, Glenn Yee, said he knew nothing of the border plot.

“It’s news to me,” said Yee, a reserve officer with the Irwindale Police Department, who is on leave pending the outcome of his case.

Yee contends that the LAPD fabricated evidence to frame his multiracial 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.

After Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, Ung was ordered to stand trial on 13 felony counts, including charges that he possessed illegal firearms, ammunition and explosive devices. He faces a maximum of 20 years and four months in prison, Dowd said.

The prosecutor said the two other defendants have pleaded guilty to weapons charges and were given probation. According to Dowd, 20 to 30 people were involved in the group, although only five were ever charged.

Colodny insisted that Ung--a former aerospace engineer with a top-secret clearance--is innocent.

“Ung is not a racist and he is not a criminal,” Colodny said. “He has no prior history of any criminal activity.”

As far as the border plot is concerned, Colodny said: “They’ve taken a few remarks that did not come from my client and taken them out of context. I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.”

Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.