In Pullman, Washington, the US Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation teamed up with the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington to federally indict and prosecute a Colfax woman for 14 counts of mail fraud and 2 counts of bank fraud. The woman admitted to stealing money from a private business to pay her personal bills and to using the business’ credit cards for her personal purchases while she was the office manager.
Meanwhile, in Kootenai County, Idaho, …
… a former deputy county clerk is charged with one felony count of grand theft in state court for allegedly negotiating over 200 checks with a total value in excess of $100,000. Why didn’t the FBI get involved in this alleged theft of public money by a former public official?
Well, it turns out that while either the Kootenai County Prosecutor or the Coeur d’Alene Police Department could have reasonably made a request to the FBI for assistance, they didn’t. The request was made by another public official, and the FBI had tentatively agreed to assist the Coeur d’Alene Police by providing a special agent/forensic accountant.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the federal involvement in the investigation. According to a May 5, 2011, letter from the FBI’s Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division, Kevin L. Perkins, “After consulting with the FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office, it has been determined that the United States Attorney’s Office [for the District of Idaho] has recommended that the Idaho state prosecutor [county prosecuting attorney] continue to handle this investigation, and that FBI involvement was not appropriate at this time.”
Really? The US Attorney for the District of Idaho squelched the FBI’s technical assistance in an alleged financial crime involving public money? You have to wonder: Who made that request to the office of the US Attorney for the District of Idaho, Wendy Jo Olson? Why would someone up here want to keep the FBI out of a complex financial crime investigation allegedly involving a former public official and public money? Why wouldn’t honest public officials welcome technical assistance from the FBI to help get to the bottom of this? Who up here would have the horsepower to persuade the US Attorney to order the FBI to withdraw its offer?
Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a bit of a disparity here.
Someone must be afraid to let the ‘camel’ stick his head into the tent.
Comment by Joe Six-Pack — June 15, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
The Colfax woman must not have been in the good graces of the local establishment when they pulled the rug out from under the locals. That’s just not something that the powers to be here locally and their buddies in Boise would want to bring attention to. 200 checks for over $100,000 is really insignificant when compared to the fond memories they have of the sweet little old lady in the clerk’s office who just retired after all those dutiful years of service.
Comment by Ancientemplar — June 16, 2011 @ 2:36 pm
I think both of you might be right. Federal involvement in an investigation including some of the county’s financial accounts that “just popped up” according to former Commissioner Rick Currie could lead to collateral investigations. I believe the operative word here is “containment.”
Charging only one count of grand theft when so many counts were apparently appropriate is interesting. That looks a lot like a deal a prosecutor would cut for cooperation. “Plead guilty to one count and cooperate fully with investigators in the expanding investigation, and we’ll recommend little or no jail, some supervised probation, and some unsupervised probation.” Except Martinson won’t plead guilty. She’s pleading not guilty to one count. Hmmm.
Comment by Bill — June 16, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
Bill,
I might suggest that the responsibility to “cooperate fully” is synonymous with keep your mouth closed about the questionable conduct of others within the ‘kingdom.’ The Prosecutor’s job is to protect the ‘county’ from its residents, don’t you know.
Comment by Joe Six-Pack — June 16, 2011 @ 6:33 pm