Agents seize $146k from home in probe of Laos overthrow plot
Friday, June 22, 2007
By The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Agents investigating an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Laos seized more than $146,000 and what they suspect were gold bars from a home owned by the son of the alleged ringleader, according to court records made public Thursday.
The seizure was from the Fresno home of Chong Vang, the son of 77-year-old Vang Pao of Westminster. Vang Pao, a former Laotian military general who helped U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, is one of 10 people facing criminal charges in the case.
Prosecutors accuse the defendants of trying to raise millions of dollars to buy machine guns, anti-aircraft missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, mines and other weapons in a plan to overthrow the country's communist government.
Chong Vang has not been charged, but records in U.S. District Court state that he attended a Feb. 7 meeting at a Thai restaurant in downtown Sacramento with others charged in the alleged conspiracy. They were meeting with an undercover federal agent posing as a weapons dealer.
Chong Vang's home and a Fresno flower shop in which he has an interest were among 19 locations searched June 4. Warrants were issued at locations ranging from Chico, north of Sacramento, to Vang Pao's home in Orange County.
In the master bedroom of Chong Vang's home, agents said they found $64,000 in a suitcase, $59,000 in one briefcase and $18,000 in another briefcase. They also found another $5,200 scattered throughout the house, along with eight bars of what appear to be gold.
The bars have not been tested to see if they are really gold, prosecutors said.
Attorneys for Vang Pao did not return telephone messages seeking comment, and other lawyers involved in the case said they did not know whether his son had his own attorney.
He could not be reached independently for comment but has previously denied that his father was engaged in illegal activities. Calls to the flower shop went unanswered.
Investigators said they rushed to make arrests at the beginning of the month because the alleged plot called for shipments of arms and cash to be made to Thailand and Laos by the middle of June.
A federal indictment states the defendants agreed to pay $150,000 for the weapons in three installments and were prepared to spend nearly $10 million.
There is no allegation in the court documents that the money seized from Chong Vang's house was for illegal purposes.
His father led CIA-backed Hmong forces in Laos during the 1960s and 1970s while he was a general in the Royal Army of Laos. He now is the recognized leader of tens of thousands of Hmong refugees in the U.S., most of whom live in California's Central Valley, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Thousands of Hmong have held several rallies outside the federal courthouse and state Capitol to support Vang Pao and the other defendants.
The search warrants released Thursday limited seizures of currency to amounts greater than $2,000, in part because cash is used widely in transactions in the Hmong culture.
"A lot of close-knit communities maintain their own semiprivate banking systems," attorney William Portanova said.
The home of his client, Lo Thao of Sacramento, was among those searched, but no money was reported found.
Cash and financial records also were seized from other homes, along with computers, disk drives, audio and video tapes, and travel receipts. The significance of the items was not disclosed in the court documents.
Only one weapon was recovered, a .38-caliber revolver from the home of another defendant, Hue Vang, a former Clovis police officer. Agents also seized $4,500 and military training manuals from that home.
