Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 3, 2004
An Oakland police officer told jurors at the retrial of "the Riders" Thursday that he was labeled a snitch for cooperating in an internal affairs probe of the four ex-officers and said two of them directed him to write false police reports.
Officer Steve Hewison said fired officers Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag and reputed Riders ringleader Frank Vazquez, now a fugitive, had each written out a false police report to justify drug arrests of Rodney Mack and Dajuan Owens on two consecutive nights in 2000. Hewison said the police veterans ordered him to copy them in his own writing.
Hewison, who then had only 10 days on the job, said he recalled thinking, "It's the way it's done around here."
He said he later engaged in a heated locker-room exchange with a third defendant, fired officer Matt Hornung, who told him that he would be "responsible for getting 45 years of law enforcement fired" unless he "told the truth."
But Hewison, 32, said Hornung had made it clear that he wanted the rookie to lie and protect the other officers by basing his testimony on a flawed report.
Hewison and another former rookie officer, Keith Batt, are key prosecution witnesses in the retrial of Hornung, 33; Mabanag, 39, and Jude Siapno, 36, on charges that they assaulted people, falsified police reports and conspired to obstruct justice. An Alameda County jury last year acquitted the three of eight charges and deadlocked on the remaining 27 charges.
Hewison said he had been the subject of misspelled graffiti in the locker room that read, "Hueison, yours is coming," "Hueison is a lying rat bitch" and "Yellow betrays blue." Conversation would stop whenever he entered the locker room, he said.
Batt, who is now a Pleasanton police officer, and Hewison attended the 146th Oakland police academy together, which came to be "labeled the 140- snitch," Hewison said.
"I didn't ask to be put in this position," Hewison said. "I didn't want it."
"You just wanted to be a police officer?" asked Deputy District Attorney Terry Wiley. "Still do," Hewison replied.
"I worked hard to get here. I finally made it. The writing on the wall, being called a snitch, wasn't going to chase me out of here," Hewison said. "I'm not going to run away from my problems."
Under cross-examination by Ed Fishman, Hornung's attorney, Hewison acknowledged that he lied on the police reports but stressed, "I was told to."
Fishman asked Hewison if he was an honest person and whether he was telling the truth. "I get called a snitch at work, so I have no reason to lie, " Hewison said.
Referring to Mack, Fishman asked, "You let a man stay in jail?"
"Yes, call it foolish," Hewison said. "It was my ninth day. I had no experience. I had no foundation in the department."
During a break Thursday, Judge Jeffrey Horner barred Oakland Police Officers Association President Bob Valladon from attending the trial, at Wiley's behest, on the grounds that the union veteran was a potential witness.
E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.
U.S. widens probe of prosecutor
2 drug cases added to the investigation of the assistant U.S. Attorney who ran the terrorism case.
By David Shepardson / The Detroit News
Convertino investigation
• Who he is: Richard G. Convertino is an assistant U.S. Attorney who started in Detroit in 1990. Since January, he has been on temporary assignment working for a U.S. Senate committee in Washington.
• What's at issue: An outside prosecutor has been named to review whether Convertino mishandled two drug cases involving 31 defendants.
• The history: In September, a federal judge dismissed terror convictions after investigators found Convertino failed to turn over evidence to defense lawyers.
Previous Reports
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DETROIT -- The Justice Department has secretly opened an investigation into two drug cases handled by a Detroit prosecutor already accused of misconduct in a high-profile terrorism case.
It's the first indication that the department's review of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Convertino, a 14-year prosecutor in Detroit, has expanded beyond his handling of the nation's first post-September 11 terrorism trial. In that case, a judge dismissed terror convictions in September against two men after the Justice Department acknowledged that Convertino withheld key evidence from defense attorneys.
Justice Department officials have assigned Anthony M. Bruce, the chief of organized crime investigations in Buffalo, N.Y., to review allegations of misconduct by Convertino in two major drug-gang cases prosecuted in Detroit in the late 1990s, said U.S. Attorney Michael Battle, who heads the Buffalo office. Although Bruce was named in April, his assignment had not been disclosed.
The revelation suggests the government's investigation of Convertino's prosecutions has broadened and could result in the dismissal of other convictions in prior cases. Convertino handled dozens of high-profile cases during his time in Detroit, prosecuting gang, drug and mafia cases.
William M. Sullivan, a lawyer for Convertino, said the government's investigation is unprecedented, and indicates an obsession with tarnishing a "decorated prosecutor who always strove to keep his community safe."
In court filings Thursday, the government acknowledged that allegations of misconduct in a 1998 drug case were being reviewed.
"The allegations merit some investigation and ... additional time will probably be necessary to complete the investigation," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Gaedeke in Detroit.
31 convictions at stake
The two drug cases now under review involve 31 convicted defendants and were based in part on the testimony of numerous defendants who agreed to testify for the government.
In October, lawyers for Joseph Stines -- an alleged drug kingpin -- asked U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman to dismiss Stines' 1999 conviction of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, citing Convertino's alleged misconduct in the Detroit terror case. Stines is serving a 20-year prison term. Several defendants filed sworn statements claiming that prosecutors intimidated them into lying.
"As in the (Detroit terror case), Convertino failed to disclose evidence," said Raymond Burkett, a lawyer for Stines. The lawyers claimed that Convertino misled the jury about a witness' plea deal. They claim jurors should have known that Hans Lee Thomas had a strong incentive to lie on behalf of the government because he received a sharply reduced sentence.
"Convertino went to extreme lengths to portray that no agreement had been reached with Thomas," the lawyers wrote. "The prosecutor failed to disclose that Hans Lee Thomas would be released from prison much earlier."
Convertino told the jury that Thomas' offense carried a 10-year-mandatory minimum sentence, transcripts state.
But after Convertino recommended leniency, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds sentenced Thomas to just five years. That transcript is sealed.
Murder follows man's release
After his release, Thomas was charged and convicted of felony murder. Along with two other men, Thomas was charged in the November 2002 murder of 23-year-old Sherryfield Abercrombie, a suspected drug dealer, in Van Buren Township. He was convicted and is now serving a life sentence.
Following Thomas' state conviction, Edmunds sentenced Thomas to another five years in prison in November 2003 that he is serving concurrently with his life sentence in state court -- essentially taking back the break she gave him, said James C. Thomas, his lawyer.
Thomas -- no relation to his client -- defended Convertino.
"Convertino was a tough, no-nonsense prosecutor that didn't hold back on me or the other defense lawyers in that case," said Thomas, who also represented one of the terror trial defendants and criticized Convertino for withholding evidence in that case.
Convertino defended the prosecution of Stines in a December 2003 court filing. He said Stines organized a gang in Ypsilanti in the late 1980s -- dubbed the "Stone Boys" or "Stone Life" to distribute crack cocaine. Stines was seen selling crack in a deal monitored by police surveillance. He was indicted in 1998 and repeatedly offered to cooperate with police.
"The evidence at trial demonstrated that Mr. Stines was a notorious and violent gang leader who was responsible for distributing over 2,000 pounds of crack cocaine," Convertino's lawyer, Sullivan, said Thursday. "The government's filing is yet another installment in its desperate and repeated pattern of retaliaton" against the prosecutor.
Michigan State Police Sgt. Don Bailey, who was a lead investigator in the Stines case, also defended Convertino. "Stines was a violent career criminal. The evidence against him was overwhelming."In Stines' civil lawsuit against the government seeking his release, the U.S. Attorney's Office on Thursday took the unusual step of asking a judge to appoint a lawyer for Stines, acknowledging that his allegations merit review.
"Ultimately, an evidentiary hearing might be required to resolve the issue," the government said.
Review is latest probe
After Bruce was assigned to review Convertino's role in the drug cases in April, his boss met last month with Detroit's Acting U.S. Attorney Craig S. Morford for the first time and discussed the review.
"The Justice Department has stepped up to the plate," said Battle, Bruce's supervisor in Buffalo. Bruce "is going to turn over every stone. There's nobody better to lead an investigation like this."
Bruce, assisted by an outside federal prosecutor, has conducted a series of interviews in Detroit in recent months, with prisoners and prosecutors. He declined to comment.
Morford also declined comment.
This is the latest investigation into the conduct of Convertino, who prosecuted four men on charges on supporting terrorism in 2003. A government review of the case found that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and in September, a federal judge threw out the terror convictions against two men and ordered three men retried on document fraud.
Since March, the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has led a criminal inquiry into Convertino's handling of the terror case. More than 100 witnesses have been interviewed in the ongoing probe handled by a team of outside FBI agents and federal prosecutors that worked out of a special office in Detroit.
Government officials also are reviewing whether Convertino improperly got leniency for a government informant accused of drug dealing in a case in front of U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr.
Convertino filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Attorney General John Ashcroft, then U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins and other top officials in February, claiming they mismanaged the war on terrorism and leaked a damaging internal disciplinary investigation.
In his lawsuit, Convertino disclosed that the U.S. Attorney in Detroit in October 2003 commenced a preliminary review of many of his prior cases that led to the disciplinary referral to the Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Since January, Convertino has been assigned to work for a Senate committee. He is scheduled to return next month. A separate request by defense lawyers to hold him in contempt for allegedly violating a court gag order in the terror case is pending.
The former terror case shows no signs of ending.
Government lawyers won a delay in seeking a new indictment against the three men who were arrested Sept. 18, 2001 at a southwest Detroit apartment with phony documents and suspicious drawings.
They are to report to U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen this month on when they will seek a new indictment, which is expected no later than mid-January. A retrial wouldn't happen until at least early summer.
COP GETS NAILED IN DRUG OP By MURRAY WEISS and PHILIP MESSING December 11, 2004 -- A dirty cop wearing a bulletproof vest was caught in a police sting designed to snare an armed band ripping off drug dealers, authorities said yesterday. Officer Porfirio Mejia, 28, was among six men busted Wednesday night at a Bronx parking lot, where they allegedly had gone planning to steal 10 kilograms of heroin and half a million dollars in cash from drug traffickers. But the dealers turned out to be undercover city cops working an elaborate investigation. Mejia, who made 128 arrests in his four years on the force, quickly hired an attorney and resigned from the NYPD. "He lawyered up and then quit the department," a senior police official told The Post. The probe began when a confidential informant tipped off the Drug Enforcement Task Force that a group of men, claiming to be cops, had carried out a couple of "home-invasion" robberies of drug dealers. The police Internal Affairs Division was called in, but investigators didn't know whether the robbers were rogue officers or not. "They weren't sure if it was a bunch of impostors or if one or more legitimate cops were involved," the official said. To find out, they put out word through informants that drug dealers were preparing to move the heroin, with a street value of several million dollars, by car from a parking lot at 243rd Street and Broadway to Connecticut. Sure enough, at 6:30 p.m. a 2001 green Chevrolet Impala and a 2002 blue Chrysler minivan carrying the would-be thieves entered the lot. Click Here The vehicles were immediately stopped by undercover cops. The driver of the Impala turned out to be Mejia, armed with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol and wearing the vest, authorities said. Investigators said they don't believe any other cops were involved in the robberies. They said it was unclear how long Mejia was involved in the ring or how many robberies the ring may have committed, but they were described as recent. Mejia, of Spring Valley, had only one minor disciplinary infraction since joining the force in September 2000. He was assigned to a Bronx unit of the Housing Bureau. All six men were arrested and charged with federal crimes of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to distribute drugs. The others are: Pedro Sosa, 32, Tineo Sadin, 28, Danny Reyes, 36, and Issac Vargas, 35, all of The Bronx, and Miguel Garcia, 45, of Lowell, Mass. Bail was not set at Mejia's arraignment yesterday. He is due back in court Jan. 10. Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli
http://www.unknownnews.org/04122109cops.html
Harold Cabbab: The Pearl City HPD officer was arrested Dec. 10 in a federal sting A federal magistrate denied bail yesterday for a 10-year veteran of the Honolulu Police Department who faces charges of trying to steal crystal methamphetamine from drug dealers.
U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi said yesterday there were no conditions that she could impose that would ensure the appearance of officer Harold Cabbab Jr. at trial or ensure the safety of the community.
Cabbab, a former University of Hawaii baseball star, was arrested on Dec. 10 after he and another man allegedly tried to steal 18 to 20 pounds of "ice" with the intent to sell it.
He appeared before Kobayashi rumpled and unshaven. It was his second appearance in federal court since his arrest. His wife, former Rainbow Wahine volleyball player Jenny Wilton, and other family members and friends attended the hearing.
The hearing, which lasted just minutes, gave Cabbab no time to acknowledge his supporters as he was ushered out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. His wife cried as he was led away.
Cabbab, assigned to patrol at the Pearl City district, was arrested after he and another man allegedly broke into a Makiki storage facility the night before and left with what they believed to be 18 to 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine that arrived from California. The shipment of drugs was actually fake and planted in a storage locker by federal agents.
The arrest and charge stemmed from several taped conversations in which Cabbab and an acquaintance discussed taking nearly 20 pounds of "ice" from drug dealers while posing as undercover officers. They hoped to make at least $100,000 each after selling it.
But the acquaintance turned out to be an informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The two began discussing the rip-off scheme after Cabbab brought it up in a conversation at the home of the acquaintance in mid-October, according to prosecutors.
During their conversations, Cabbab indicated he needed money and that the holidays were the worst time to be broke, prosecutors allege.
He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years' imprisonment if convicted.
Federal Public Defender Peter Wolff, who is defending Cabbab, declined comment on the charges.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday. However, Assistant U.S. attorney Mike Kawahara said he anticipates an indictment from a federal grand jury.
Law enforcement officers are and should be held at a higher standard. I understand what your viewpoint is about entrapment but look at the whole picture. Even without the C.S. saying that the officer made the first overt act he was caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. How does he explain being in possession of what he thought was a large amount of narcotics. He is finished. He has shamed all law enforcement with his actions. At least this shows that law enforcement will police their own and I guarantee he will be used to make an example.
By Onell R. SotoUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2005 EL CENTRO – A federal magistrate judge denied bail yesterday for a Border Patrol agent accused of smuggling marijuana in an official vehicle, telling the officer he violated his oath to his country. Advertisement The judge also denied bail for a Mexican man who was found in the back of the vehicle, where officials said they discovered 10 duffel bags loaded with 750 pounds of marijuana. The Jan. 4 arrests were the result of an undercover investigation by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department's Office of Inspector General, which conducts internal affairs investigations of Border Patrol agents. A prosecutor said Agent Luis Francisco Higareda, 30, of Holtville was armed and in uniform when he took an official vehicle without checking it out from a Border Patrol motor pool that day. Higareda, who was under government surveillance, met another car at a spot in the open desert, about seven miles east of the Calexico border crossing, prosecutor John F. Weis told U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis. Higareda then drove at high speeds as federal agents discreetly trailed him and ultimately pulled him over in Holtville, about 10 miles east of El Centro, before finding the marijuana and the Mexican man, Marcelino Verdugo Cota, 23, Weis said. Higareda and Verdugo Cota have pleaded not guilty to drug smuggling charges that carry a minimum five-year prison sentence. Defense lawyers said they are eligible for a program that could result in a lesser sentence. Authorities declined to detail why Higareda was under surveillance or whether the case is still under investigation. Lewis, who must assume the charges are true when setting bail, said he simply couldn't allow Higareda to bail out of custody. "When Mr. Higareda became a Border Patrol agent, I assume he took an oath to the United States," he said. "He violated that trust that the people of the United States had in him." Earlier in the hearing, defense lawyer Steven Barth told the judge that Higareda had never been in trouble with the law before and led "the quintessential American life." Higareda was raised in Los Angeles and joined the Marine Corps in 1995 after graduating from Garfield High School, Barth said. He joined the Border Patrol in 1999 and soon was stationed in El Centro, where he rose to the rank of senior Border Patrol agent. Barth said Higareda has led a sober life. "He's never used drugs," he said. Outside court, Barth said he will ask a judge in San Diego federal court to reconsider Lewis' bail decision. He also disputed earlier accounts that Higareda led authorities on a pursuit. "There wasn't a high-speed chase," he said. "He saw the lights. He pulled over."
The Jan. 4 arrests were the result of an undercover investigation by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department's Office of Inspector General, which conducts internal affairs investigations of Border Patrol agents.
A prosecutor said Agent Luis Francisco Higareda, 30, of Holtville was armed and in uniform when he took an official vehicle without checking it out from a Border Patrol motor pool that day.
Higareda, who was under government surveillance, met another car at a spot in the open desert, about seven miles east of the Calexico border crossing, prosecutor John F. Weis told U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis.
Higareda then drove at high speeds as federal agents discreetly trailed him and ultimately pulled him over in Holtville, about 10 miles east of El Centro, before finding the marijuana and the Mexican man, Marcelino Verdugo Cota, 23, Weis said.
Higareda and Verdugo Cota have pleaded not guilty to drug smuggling charges that carry a minimum five-year prison sentence. Defense lawyers said they are eligible for a program that could result in a lesser sentence.
Authorities declined to detail why Higareda was under surveillance or whether the case is still under investigation.
Lewis, who must assume the charges are true when setting bail, said he simply couldn't allow Higareda to bail out of custody.
"When Mr. Higareda became a Border Patrol agent, I assume he took an oath to the United States," he said. "He violated that trust that the people of the United States had in him."
Earlier in the hearing, defense lawyer Steven Barth told the judge that Higareda had never been in trouble with the law before and led "the quintessential American life."
Higareda was raised in Los Angeles and joined the Marine Corps in 1995 after graduating from Garfield High School, Barth said. He joined the Border Patrol in 1999 and soon was stationed in El Centro, where he rose to the rank of senior Border Patrol agent.
Barth said Higareda has led a sober life.
"He's never used drugs," he said.
Outside court, Barth said he will ask a judge in San Diego federal court to reconsider Lewis' bail decision. He also disputed earlier accounts that Higareda led authorities on a pursuit.
"There wasn't a high-speed chase," he said. "He saw the lights. He pulled over."
Friday, January 28, 2005
By Jonathan LipmanStaff writer Four Chicago cops, including one who was already demoted to desk duty, used their badges and guns to shake down drug dealers for guns, cash and crack cocaine in a six-month South Side conspiracy, federal prosecutors alleged in a complaint filed Thursday.
The four were caught by other Chicago police who were tracking a drug dealer as part of a standard narcotics investigation.
"We're here today because honest officers were alert," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at a news conference with Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline.
Charged Thursday with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine were Eural J. Black, 41; Corey A. Flagg, 34; Darek Haynes, 35; and alleged ringleader Broderick C. Jones, 34. The officers all worked in the Englewood district and had at least seven years' experience.
Other officers are believed to be involved, Fitzgerald said.
"If I were those officers, I'd be picking up the phone and calling us, because we're going to get to the bottom of this," he said.
Also charged were five alleged drug dealers, all from the South Side and south suburbs.
Chicago police's internal affairs division was tipped to the scam by narcotics cops tracking a snitch on his way to a deal at the corner of 47th Street and Winchester Avenue on July 21.
The narcotics police noticed a cream-colored Cadillac Escalade was tailing the snitch the same way they were. The car had a Fraternal Order of Police sticker, and it was registered to Jones, officials said.
Jones already was under investigation by police internal affairs. He was on desk duty, his badge and gun taken away Aug. 22, 2003, as he was investigated for allegedly helping a suspect escape capture for a criminal shooting.
Jones had no legitimate reason and no authority to be tailing a drug dealer and was listed as off duty at that time of day. So the narcotics officers called internal affairs, which started working with the FBI to monitor Jones.
At the same time Jones was tailing the drug snitch, Flagg pulled over another car involved in the same drug deal and searched it, officials said. Flagg also was off duty and not assigned to the narcotics case.
Later in the day, Black and an unknown officer pulled the snitch over again, asking him where the drugs and guns were, the complaint states.
The complaint states that Jones, Flagg and Black were working with the snitch's alleged supplier, Joseph Wilson, 57, of Matteson, to steal drugs and cash from the snitch.
They apparently didn't know the snitch already was working with their fellow officers because Flagg pulled over one of the narcotics cops and questioned him.
On three other occasions, the four officers made similar attempts, working with dealers to set up and rip off other players in the drug trade, the complaint states. Only one was successful.
Some of those deals were caught on videotape, the complaint states, and Jones' plans with Wilson were recorded in wiretapped phone conversations.
Cline said he didn't know for sure what happened to the stolen drugs, but "we can surmise they made it back into traffic."
"The fact that these victims were drug dealers does not make these crimes any less offensive," Cline said. "These officers were working against us ... and all the progress we've made in the community."
Any arrest the officers were involved in could now be called into question, Cline said. Like Fitzgerald, he praised the narcotics and internal affairs officers who turned Jones in.
"This case happened because CPD made it happen," Cline said.
The police department has suspended all of the officers without pay and has started the firing process, Cline said.
The department still is investigating whether administrators should have known what Jones and his crew were up to, Cline said.
The other alleged dealers charged were Thomas Bryant, 36, of Evergreen Park; James Walker, 33, of Markham; and Stanley Driver Jr., 26, and Joel Montgomery, 31, both of Chicago's Avalon Park community.
All nine suspects are being held without bail pending a Monday hearing before a federal judge.
Jonathan Lipman may be reached at jlipman@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5979.
January 29, 2005
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
A former State Police sergeant was sentenced Friday to 64 months in prison for selling guns to gang members out of his North Riverside home.
Dennis Kalinoski, 62, had pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge, admitting he sold three semiautomatic pistols to a government informant in order to obtain crack cocaine.
Kalinoski will receive credit for the 19 months he already served in a federal lockup.
The 17-year State Police veteran took the stand to argue he was not of sound mind when he sold the guns. He also told the court he made a mistake.
The judge could have sentenced him to up to 10 years in prison.
Thomas Ahern of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the government is continuing to investigate whether the guns Kalinoski sold wound up in crimes.
"There was a rash of shootings in west suburban Maywood at the time of those gun exchanges," Ahern said. "We believe some of his guns were related to that."
Federal agents seized 402 guns and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition from Kalinoski's home in a May 2003 raid. More than 100 guns in his inventory were missing and presumed to have been sold.
Kalinoski operated a gun shop called Dekalin Ltd. out of his home in the 1980s, but the company dissolved in 1988. In June 2002, he lost his federal license to sell guns because he failed to renew it, authorities said.
Kalinoski admitted in secretly taped conversations that he helped stir up a war between gangs in Maywood -- the Black P Stones and the Four Corner Hustlers -- apparently by selling guns to both gangs.
In one recorded exchange, a gang member tells Kalinoski, "You got enough [expletive] in here to start a [expletive] war." Kalinoski replies, "I think I already did."
00:00 am 2/13/05Dee J. Hall Wisconsin State Journal
In 1994, Biskupic charged Price with allegedly putting out a "hit" on former Winnebago County District Attorney Joseph Paulus. But what Biskupic didn't reveal was that he had made a secret deal with star witness Darin Beverly to cut five years from his sentence - then solicited Beverly, a convicted robber, to lie about the deal under oath, according to documents unearthed by Winnebago County Assistant District Attorney Mike Balskus.
Balskus called Biskupic's actions "an abuse of the justice system of the worst kind."
"That's subornation (solicitation) of perjury right there," Balskus said. "It's in black and white - he (Beverly) lied and he (Biskupic) suborned perjury. It's clear."
Beverly, an inmate at Racine Correctional Institution, declined comment through his court-appointed attorney.
In an e-mail response to the State Journal, Biskupic said his handling of the 1994 case was upheld in December by Winnebago County Circuit Judge Bruce Schmidt, who ruled that Lennon and attorney Rod Rogahn hadn't presented any errors in the sentencing process that would lead to a lower prison term. He called Lennon's proposal to reduce Price's sentence "mistaken on the facts and on the law."
In addition to the secret deal and alleged false testimony, Biskupic hid evidence that "went directly toward the defendant's innocence," Lennon said in his request to lower Price's 14-year sentence. Among the evidence Biskupic concealed: secretly taped conversations in which witnesses said Price wasn't threatening to kill Paulus.
Balskus has launched a secret John Doe investigation into Biskupic's handling of the case and other alleged misconduct by Biskupic and his former boss, Paulus. Paulus was sent to federal prison last year for accepting bribes to fix cases in one of the biggest scandals ever to hit Wisconsin's criminal-justice system.
The Winnebago County probe will explore Price's claims that he was framed not once, but twice - first by Paulus for murder and later by Biskupic for allegedly making threats against Paulus. Price, now 46 and in prison for more than 14 years, has always maintained his innocence.
"I didn't kill Mike Fitzgibbon. I wasn't trying to kill Paulus," Price said in a telephone interview from Green Bay Correctional Institution. "I can prove with documentation that they (prosecutors) lied. They can't prove through two trials that I lied about even the smallest little thing."
Paulus, Winnebago County district attorney from 1989 to 2003, was a friend and mentor to Biskupic, his deputy in Winnebago County. Biskupic went on in 1994 to become district attorney in neighboring Outagamie County. He ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general in 2002 and is now a lawyer in private practice in Appleton. Biskupic continues to work as a special prosecutor for the state of Wisconsin.
The John Doe investigation isn't the first time Biskupic's actions as district attorney have been scrutinized. In 2003, Biskupic was rebuked by the state Ethics Board for running a secret cash-for-leniency program while in Outagamie County. Defendants who agreed to pay up to $8,000 to a fund Biskupic controlled or to local anti-crime groups avoided criminal charges including grand theft, perjury and patronizing a prostitute. The deals were outlined in a 2003 Wisconsin State Journal series.
'Win at all costs' Allegations that Biskupic hid evidence and solicited false testimony from a prison informant in the Price case are "egregious" but come as no surprise to Waring Fincke, former president of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
"I'm familiar with Vince's proclivities for withholding evidence - that's fairly well- known up there," the West Bend attorney said. "Paulus and Biskupic had the reputations as win-at-all-costs, the- ends-justify-the-means prosecutors."
Fincke said many "jailhouse snitches" will "say almost anything" and "sell their mothers to the highest bidder" to get a shorter sentence. By keeping the deal secret, Fincke said, Biskupic took away one of the most potent weapons Price had to defend himself - the ability to attack the credibility and motivation of his main accuser. Beverly claimed Price was offering six pounds of marijuana to kill Paulus.
Said Fincke: "It's wrong for the prosecutor to do that."
In fact, a 2004 study by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law found so- called "snitch" testimony was the top cause of wrongful convictions of death-row inmates. Rob Warden, executive director of the center, said he found that 50 of 111 inmates who were exonerated were "wrongfully convicted in whole or part" by such "incentivised" witnesses - ones who got deals or escaped culpability because of their testimony.
Warden noted that just last month a federal jury awarded a former Chicago police officer $6.5 million, finding that the FBI framed him - twice. "The sole evidence against this guy was the testimony of a snitch . . . who lied all over the place," Warden said. Because such testimony is so unreliable, "its use should be strictly limited to cases in which it has been corroborated by substantial evidence," he said.
In court documents, Lennon and Price attorney Rogahn of Waukesha also alleges Biskupic hid surreptitious tape recordings made by the local drug task force in which two witnesses said Price repeatedly denied seeking to have Paulus killed. Rogahn said the defense could have used that evidence to contradict Beverly's pivotal testimony - and to reject Biskupic's plea offer. He called Biskupic's actions a "concerted effort" to hide evidence that would have helped Price.
High court ruling The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must turn over evidence favorable to the defense - or harmful to the prosecution - if "there's a reasonable probability that the suppressed evidence would have produced a different verdict."
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in its rules governing prosecutors, underscores that responsibility: Prosecutors must make "timely disclosure to the defense" of all evidence or information that "tends to negate the guilt of the accused."
In the 1994 case, Lennon now alleges that Biskupic's hiding of key evidence and his solicitation of false testimony from the star witness were so damaging that, if revealed, probably would have resulted in clearing Price. Lennon and Rogahn have proposed reducing Price's sentence in the 1994 case to time served, noting that Price acknowledged arranging drug deals from behind prison bars. In an interview, Price freely admitted "selling dope" in 1994; he said he was raising money to challenge his murder conviction.
In a lengthy rebuttal to Lennon's request for a sentence reduction for Price, Biskupic said he wasn't obliged to turn over all of the evidence, especially once Price pleaded no contest in the 1994 case. Biskupic didn't address the allegations of false testimony. He added, "I don't believe that any inmate witness got consideration in this case."
But that statement is contradicted by documents recently found by Lennon's office. They show that in 1995, in exchange for Beverly's cooperation, Biskupic wrote to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office seeking a five- year reduction in Beverly's 20- year robbery sentence. Balskus noted the documents about Beverly's deal were missing from the district attorney's office in Oshkosh and had to be retrieved from agencies outside Winnebago County.
Biker gang Not only is the threats case against Price under scrutiny, but Paulus' prosecution of Price for murder also is under attack. According to Price's attorneys and documents discovered by the Winnebago County District Attorney's Office, Paulus withheld key evidence in that case - including photos of murder victim Michael Fitzgibbon - that cast doubt on Price's earlier conviction for first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment and reckless endangerment.
In the 1990 case, Price was convicted of killing Fitzgibbon, 30, of Neenah, a fellow member of the drug and motorcycle gang subculture in the Fox River Valley. Witnesses said Fitzgibbon was shot Dec. 22, 1989, after a night of drinking and taking drugs with Price, Richard Pease and Todd Crawford at Pease's Oshkosh apartment.
The testimony showed Fitzgibbon's body was stuffed under the ice of Lake Butte des Morts, surfacing three months later, on March 21, 1990. At the time, authorities believed Fitzgibbon drowned. No autopsy was performed, and his body was cremated. A few weeks later, tipsters told police that Fitzgibbon was murdered and that Crawford, Pease and Price were involved.
Crawford, the star witness, testified that Price brutally and repeatedly beat Fitzgibbon, pummeling his face, before Pease and Price shot him. Price testified it was Pease and Crawford who did the shooting. No phone number could be found for Crawford, who has reportedly moved out of the Fox River Valley.
In 1991, Price and Pease were convicted of murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison. Although Crawford said under oath that he expected to serve five years in prison for reckless endangerment, Paulus never prosecuted him.
Paulus isn't granting any media interviews, said his attorney, Franklyn Gimbel. But he defended his prosecution of Price and Pease in a letter to the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper in November. Paulus said the two men are using his own fall into disgrace as "an opportunistic attempt" to "escape justice for the savage slaying of Mike Fitzgibbon."
Price's attorney John Wallace III of Oshkosh alleges that the evidence now coming to light tends to support Price's version of the crime: that Price saw his two companions kill Mike Fitzgibbon, that he helped dispose of Fitzgibbon's body under the ice of Lake Butte des Morts but he never beat Fitzgibbon, as Crawford had claimed.
In court documents, Wallace alleges a newly analyzed photo of the victim indicates that contrary to testimony by star witness Crawford, Fitzgibbon wasn't beaten. Although multiple photos were taken of Fitzgibbon's body, Paulus never turned them over to the defense and used just one at trial. Recent analyses of that photo by Forensic Tape Analysis Inc. of Lake Geneva and former Dane County pathologist Dr. Billy Bauman reached the same conclusion: Fitzgibbon's face was not beaten.
UW-Madison law professor Frank Tuerkheimer, in a memo prepared for Price last May, said since multiple photos were taken but Paulus used just one used at trial, it's fair to assume the others were even more damaging to the prosecution's case. He said Paulus' withholding of the photos and other evidence leads him to believe that "if there were a new trial, the result might be different."
Price hopes the alleged misconduct by Paulus and Biskupic will become his ticket to freedom. He admits he deserved prison time for selling drugs and helping to hide Fitzgibbon's body, but Price said those sentences would have been served long ago.
"All I'm trying to is get out and recoup what's left of my life," he said.
Contact reporter Dee J. Hall at dhall@madison.com or 252-6132.
Federal court testimony reveals corruption in the Delta squad, an elite undercover drug team at the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
By ALICIA CALDWELL
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 18, 2000
BRADENTON -- They prowled the streets of Manatee County, looking for the perfect victims -- poor, troubled people no one would believe.
Then, they robbed them. Beat them. And even bragged about it.
When it began to come apart, they hung together and conspired to keep quiet. They saw themselves as above the law.
After all, they were the law.
The crimes committed by the Delta squad, an elite drug interdiction team at the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, have trickled out in shocking detail in federal court during the past eight months.
It's a tale of rogue cops who routinely lied on police reports and carried their own stash of crack cocaine to plant if they couldn't find any on the people they wanted to bust.
"They developed their own set of rules and mind-sets about how things should be," said Mark Lipinski, a Bradenton lawyer who represents several Delta squad victims. "They preyed upon people who were basically defenseless."
So far, the toll is jarring: Four Delta squad agents have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges and await sentencing. More than 100 charges have been dropped against 67 defendants in cases made by Delta officers.
And the federal investigation, according to the lead prosecutor on the case, is continuing.
Among the transgressions detailed in federal plea agreements:
Delta agents got a bogus search warrant for a Manatee County duplex and planted crack cocaine there. A woman visiting the home was arrested. As a result of her felony conviction, she lost custody of her child. Before her encounter with the Delta squad, she had no criminal record. Eventually, her conviction was overturned and her child was returned.
Delta officers conducted an illegal search of a Bradenton motel room and stole $9,000 from a man, who filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Office. Later, deputies planted crack cocaine in the man's car as retaliation for the complaint.
Delta agents routinely obtained search warrants based on lies: If drugs had been bought outside a house, Delta officers would say the buy had taken place inside the home and get a search warrant for the house.
The officers brought crack with them on busts. If they didn't find any in the homes or pockets of the people they were trying to arrest, they would plant it. Fabricating cases wasn't the only aim. The agents wanted to use seizure laws to take cars and other property from their victims.
Sometimes the agents would give crack cocaine to people who were helpful to their investigations.
One agent bragged that Delta operated under the "good old boy" system and didn't have to abide by rules to which other deputies were subjected.
How did the officers of the Delta squad get so out of control?
Sheriff's Office officials called them renegade cops who operated under something approaching a code of silence.
Long-time Manatee Sheriff Charlie Wells, who is running for a fifth term this fall, said that as soon as his office started to see indications of bad cops among them, they began an internal investigation.
Based on evidence, Wells said he thinks the Delta crimes were isolated incidents committed in a short time frame, perhaps three to six months.
"Unfortunately, we still hire police officers from the human race," Wells said. "Fortunately for us, this didn't go on for a long time."
Others, however, aren't so sure.
"This way of doing things seemed to be a fairly entrenched, okay way of doing things," said Jeffrey Del Fuoco, lead prosecutor on the case from the U.S. Attorney's Office. "It just seems to me that this kind of a network doesn't spring up overnight."
Wells is known for his old-school law enforcement approach: County jail inmates wear black and white striped uniforms and work on a jail farm. The Delta task force, started in 1986, was designed to combat the drug trade from street level to suppliers. Despite the Delta scandal, Wells seems to have retained his popularity in conservative Manatee County.
As the November election approaches, his only opposition comes from a retired sheet-metal worker who has no law enforcement experience, no political party affiliation and paltry campaign funds. Wells' contribution list includes many of the county power brokers. Why isn't anyone taking on Wells?
"Nobody thinks they have a chance, I guess," said Thomas Williams, Wells' only challenger. "He's got too much money behind him. He's got powerful people behind him."
Nevertheless, reverberations from the Delta scandal are unlikely to end soon. Along with the continuing criminal investigation, several lawyers have filed or are preparing civil lawsuits seeking damages for those wronged by the Delta squad.
Blake Melhuish, a Bradenton lawyer who has represented a Delta victim in criminal matters, said the federal plea agreements are so detailed that they are virtual blueprints for civil lawsuits.
"There's no reason to wait anymore," Melhuish said.
The scandal came to light in April 1998, when Larren Wade, a suspected drug dealer, filed a complaint with authorities, claiming Delta officers stole $9,000 from him.
Wade was thought to be distributing crack cocaine in Bradenton. Delta agents were out to make a case on him. One evening, they made a purported crack buy from him, but he briefly slipped away and Delta agents couldn't find the "buy" money. So, they took some out of Wade's pocket and decided they would call that the buy money.
After all, who would take his word over that of the police?
"This was able to flourish as long as it did because the victims they picked out didn't have a voice," Lipinski said.
However, other people began to catch wind of what was going on. Rumors began circulating within the law enforcement community. Lipinski said he heard from deputies that Delta agents were beating people, stealing money and planting drugs.
"That's when I began to suspect that something was seriously wrong," Lipinski said.
Wells said sheriff's officials began to notice a pattern: The same group of officers was being accused of the same types of behavior.
Wade's complaint resulted in an internal investigation that burgeoned into a state and federal investigation involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
As the Delta officers began to plead out to federal charges, Manatee's 87-year-old courthouse buzzed with talk of the scandal.
"From beginning to end, it's unbelievable," Melhuish said. "I grew up believing the cops were the good guys. We're finding that sometimes they're not."
Del Fuoco said he expects further charges. It's unclear, he said, how far up the chain of command the improprieties go.
"We go where the evidence goes," Del Fuoco said. "The investigation definitely continues."
Leininger column: Is law too quick on the draw?The News Sentinel ^ | 25 October, 2008 | Kevin Leininger
It's been nearly two years since a jury of his peers acquitted Jim Grimes of threatening other people with his Smith & Wesson 9 mm automatic pistol.
So why can't he get his gun - or the license to carry it - back?
To the 50-year-old former Navy engineer, the issue is black and white.
He's been victimized twice: first by the habitually reckless driver who rear-ended his pickup in rural Noble County on April 27, 2006, and again by overzealous authorities who prosecuted the wrong man.
But to those same county and state officials, it isn't that simple at all. Grimes may not be legally guilty of misusing a deadly weapon, they say - but that doesn't make him fit to carry one.
It all started innocently enough. It was nearly 2 p.m., and Grimes was driving his 71-year-old mother, Donna, on County Road 900W from their home near Kimmel to visit his sister in Ligonier. Suddenly, his 1997 Silverado was hit from behind twice by a speeding car driven by 19-year-old Dustin Swartzlander, who lived and worked nearby.
According to Grimes, Swartzlander grabbed something from his front seat - Grimes thought it looked like an explosive device - and ran. Rather than allow Swartzlander to flee the scene of an accident with a possible weapon, Grimes pulled his gun and fired a single shot into the air. Not surprisingly, Swartzlander stopped and Grimes held him at gunpoint until a passerby called 911 and Ligonier and Noble County police began arriving minutes later.
But instead of arresting Swartzlander - who lacked both a driver's license and insurance as required by law - Grimes was handcuffed, put on the ground, taken to the Noble County Jail and later tried on two counts of “pointing a firearm,” a Class D felony.
A Noble Superior Court jury acquitted him 10 months later, after which foreman Phillip Sensibaugh wrote a 13-page letter of concern to Judge Robert Kirsch. Jurors agreed Grimes had shown poor judgment, but were not convinced he had pointed his gun at anyone. “(And we) believed that the police rushed to judgment and arrested the wrong person in their zest to go after the man with a gun who was posing no immediate threat, rather than disarming (Grimes) and finding out why the firearm was produced in the first place . . .
“The accident would never have occurred if (Swartzlander) had been obeying the law and not been operating a motor vehicle illegally.”
According to state law, “if a (firearm) license is suspended or revoked based solely on an arrest . . . the license shall be reinstated upon the acquittal of the defendant.” But neither his weapon nor license was returned after Grimes' trial and, after a hearing in Indianapolis in October 2007, a state administrative law judge rescinded Grimes' license for a completely different reason:
He had been declared “not a proper person to be licensed to carry a handgun.”
But how could Grimes - who was licensed to carry a gun for 28 years before the accident - be punished after having been declared innocent of a crime?
That's where this story becomes either more critical of state and local officials or more sympathetic, depending on your point of view.
Sensibaugh and the other jurors didn't know it at the time - because Prosecutor Steven Clouse wasn't allowed to introduce it as evidence - that Grimes had been involved in a similar incident once before.
According to a Noble County Sheriff's report, Grimes was driving on County Road 400S on Jan. 17, 2004 when he was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Carl Liggett. “Grimes advised that Liggett was instigating a fight,” the report stated. “Grimes advised that he did have a gun in his hand which he removed from the glove box. Grimes advised that he did not point the gun at Liggett.”
Grimes insists he acted legally and rationally on both occasions: In 2004 he was prepared to protect himself against possible violence. Two years later, “I was jailed for trying to stop a crime.”
Clouse, Sheriff Gary Leatherman and Indiana State Police attorney Maj. Jerome Ezell interpret Grimes' willingness to pull a gun quite differently: as a sign of a potential threat to public safety they are sworn to prevent if possible.
“I filed charges (against Grimes) because I'm opposed to vigilante justice and took an oath to uphold the law,” Clouse said.
Added Leatherman: “As sheriff, one of my responsibilities to the citizens of Noble County is to forward to the State Police Section any information that could bring into question a person's privilege of being issued an unlimited license. I'm all for the Second Amendment. But the burden rests on the person who carries a gun to meet all the requirements.”
But that's just the point, according to Grimes and Fort Wayne attorney Robert Vegeler, who represented him in the hearing before Administrative Law Judge Douglas Shelton: To Vegeler, Grimes' acquittal means he does meet all legal requirements, and should get both his gun and license back. What's more, Grimes said, he was not even charged with a crime in connection with the 2004 accident - and police wouldn't know he had pulled his gun at all if he hadn't volunteered the information.
None of that matters, said Ezell, who presented the state's case before Shelton. “It's like the O.J. Simpson case,” he said, alluding to a civil judgment against Simpson after his acquittal on murder charges. “The prosecutor has one burden (guilt beyond reasonable doubt), and administrative law has another - is something more likely than not?”
Using that standard, Shelton ruled on Oct. 30, 2007, that Grimes is not a “reasonable person” to have a license to carry a firearm - something state law also seems to allow under certain conditions. In this case, Shelton concluded, Grimes was not justified to fire his weapon, “displayed an inappropriate suspicion of others” and had “demonstrated a propensity for violence and emotionally unstable conduct.”
Even in today's terror-conscious climate, you and I might have responded to either accident by drawing a weapon or suspect the presence of a bomb in rural Indiana. But the actions of officials should be subject to at least equal scrutiny.
During Grimes' license hearing, Swartzlander acknowledged he couldn't really tell if Grimes was pointing a weapon in his direction. Swartzlander also admitted to having been involved in four cases of driving with a suspended license and that he was moving an estimated 65 miles per hour - “cooking” - on a two-lane country road when he collided with Grimes. He also admitted to having been charged with possession of a false license and driving uninsured, meaning he could not pay for the $7,000 in damages done to Grimes' truck or the medical bills for Grimes' mother, who suffered a neck injury and a bump to the head.
And yet, as recently as this month, both Clouse and Leatherman seemed relatively uninformed and unconcerned about Swartzlander's driving record. “Did he have a suspended license? I don't remember,” said Clouse. “And Grimes couldn't have known that, anyway.”
Maybe not, but that would have been - or should have been - one of the first things responding officers discovered.
Noble County officials should be commended for trying to protect the public from improper use of handguns, so long as that is done within the law. But Grimes, whose legal bills are $20,000 and rising, makes a good point: Aren't reckless, unlicensed drivers a threat, too?
So far, I've spent nearly $30,000 on this stupid case, with no end in sight. I can't find a lawyer who's willing to sue the county, the sheriff or this hopelessly corrupt prosecutor. Indiana law states, quite clearly, that my rights, privileges and property SHALL be restored upon my acquittal, but they simply refuse to return my weapon or my license. Prior to this incident, my entire criminal record consisted of one count each of Minor Entering a Tavern and Minor Consuming Alcohol, both from the same incident in 1978. My driving record is clean. I haven't had a chargeable accident since 1985, and I've only had one ticket in the same time period (56 in a 50 in 1998). After I was acquitted of these charges in February, 2007, the foreman of my jury sent a fourteen-page letter of complaint to the judge, requesting an investigation. The court refused. The jury foreman stated that the entire jury believed the wrong man had been arrested, and pointed out that the police failed to investigate the accident. The cops wouldn't allow me to give a statement at the scene of the crash. When I tried to tell them what had happened, I was told, "Shut your mouth!" As the officer was cuffing me, he told me that I was NOT being arrested (the cuffs, apparently, were for my protection). The next thing I knew, I was being processed as an inmate into the Noble County jail. They wouldn't tell me what I was being charged with (I didn't learn that I had been charged with two counts of Felony Pointing a Firearm until I was arraigned), and I was denied bail. Every lawyer I've spoken with has told me, "In Indiana, the police don't have to tell a suspect he's under arrest; they're not required to inform a suspect of the charges against him, and they have no obligation to tell a suspect he's under arrest (I was expected to know that by virtue of the handcuffs I was wearing)." My truck was searched; the other driver's vehicle was not searched. I was subjected to a Breathalyzer test; the other driver, the man who rear-ended me TWICE, was not. I was handcuffed at the very moment the police arrived on the scene; the other driver was not handcuffed, despite the fact that he was currently ON PROBATION for Driving While Suspended for having caused previous accidents. The cops on the scene told him, "We're not going to violate your probation because we feel you've been through enough for one day." So they took me to jail and tried to send me to prison for six years. During my trial, the prosecutor suppressed the other driver's criminal record, introduced manufactured evidence and suborned perjury. The DOJ web site says he'll be disbarred for those offenses but, for some reason, they won't investigate this case, either.
The cops who testified against me lied through their teeth on the witness stand AND in their depositions, and they're actually very proud of being able to do that. They look me right in the eye and tell me, "There's nothing you can do about it." Apparently, they're correct, because no one, including my State Representative (Matt Bell), my Congressman (Mark Souder) and my Attorney General (then Steve Carter) is willing to help me remove these vermin from public office. The NRA refused to help me until AFTER I had secured my acquittal (they turned my case down FOUR TIMES). Then, they sent me a check and posted my story on their web site, saying they were "instrumental in my defense." When the State Police called the prosecutor "to find out WHY I had been acquitted," in order to take my license and deprive me of my rights, the NRA said they couldn't help me because they "don't have any attorneys licensed to practice in Indiana!" The State Police have used falsified evidence to take my license, and they even embellished my own testimony to include statements I did NOT make (I have the transcripts). Everything I've read says they can't do this to someone, but when I called the FBI, the agent I spoke with (who refused to give me his name) laughed at me and asked, "How stupid do you have to be to believe we'd go after one of our own?" I had carried the same gun for twenty-eight years without incident before this happened. and I've attended at least fourteen different firearms safety and training courses, both as a civilian and during my years in the Navy. I have NEVER produced my weapon in anger nor threatened anyone with it. Unfortunately, my case is not unique. This prosecutor routinely suppresses evidence and suborns perjury. Noble County deputies have developed a habit of planting evidence (two deputies were recently fired for this but, naturally, faced no criminal charges) and committing perjury, and the sheriff himself keeps inmates on the books for weeks after they've been released (in order to pocket more meal money from the state). I need an attorney who's willing to file a 1983 "Color of Law" action against these corrupt bastards in federal court. I've spoken to no less than 41 lawyers in Indiana, and they always tell me the same thing: "We can't file this case, because the State House can make it very difficult for us to make a living." I have black-and-white evidence to prove EVERYTHING I've stated here. I would be grateful for any advice or suggestions. However, if you're going to advise me to let it go, save yourself some time. That's the ONE thing I'm NOT willing to do. This prosecutor is planning to run for a judge's position next year, and I can't allow that to happen. I'm committed to doing everything in my power, provided it doesn't violate the law, to keep him from becoming a judge. If he's willing to break the very laws he's charged with enforcing as a prosecutor, I can't imagine the Constitutional damage he can and WILL do as a sitting judge in this county. There MUST be SOMEONE out there who can help me ... Jim
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