Las Vegas Sun

February 12, 2012

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Latino civil rights leader jailed on theft charges

By Tiffany Gibson

Thursday, April 1, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Rene Orozco

Rene Orozco

A Latino civil rights leader accused of acting as an attorney and scamming immigrants has turned himself in to police after a warrant was issued for his arrest earlier this month.

Rene Orozco, the Nevada director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, is charged with seven counts of theft and two counts of burglary. He is accused of accepting money from immigrants to assist with citizenship and criminal defense issues and failing to provide assistance.

Arrest warrants were served March 3 at the LULAC office in the 700 block of North Nellis Boulevard and at Orozco’s home.

His attorney, Ryan Alexander, filed a motion to quash the arrest warrant, and a bail hearing was scheduled for Monday. Orozco appeared in Clark County Justice Court for the hearing and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on $50,000 bail. Orozco turned himself in Monday.

Alexander said a bail source hearing has been set for April 5. The court will conduct a funds inquiry at the hearing to make sure Orozco doesn’t post bail with money that is alleged to be stolen, he said.

An arrest report indicates that Orozco promised several immigrants legal services and accepted more than $6,000 from July 13, 2009, to Nov. 25, 2009. The alleged victims told police Orozco identified himself as an immigration attorney employed by the LULAC, the report said.

LULAC is a non-profit national organization advocating Latino civil rights and opportunities in the Latin community.

Ray Velarde, national general counsel for LULAC, told officers that he has received complaints about Orozco, the report said. He said Orozco had not been authorized by LULAC to conduct any monetary transactions on behalf of the organization, the report said.

Police said Orozco doesn’t have a license to practice law in Nevada, and the State Bar of Nevada has received several complaints about his services.

According to the United States Immigration Court in Las Vegas, Orozco is not authorized to file paperwork.

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