In the letter, the agent, in the F.B.I. for 24 years, wrote, ''I have lived my life by the motto that 'no man is above the law' and strongly believe that this rule applies to both street criminals as well as the F.B.I.''
,, *** Bangles on sale, *** Bracelets,Mr. Leahy and Mr. Grassley, in a Sept. 25 letter to Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, asked for Mr. Mueller's assurance that the agent would not suffer reprisals.
Mr. Grassley is expected to speak on the Senate floor on Tuesday on behalf of the agent.
An F.B.I. official said today that any accusation invo *** ing wrongdoing by an agent is taken seriously. The official said the agent's accusations had been turned over to the inspector general for investigation.
A government official provided the letters to The New York Times on the condition that the agent's name not be disclosed.
The agent, a criminal investigator and psychological profiler, expressed surprise at seeing the damaged globe in an F.B.I. office.
Photo: The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, flanked by Senators Patrick J. Leahy, left, and Charles E. Grassley, before a Senate Judiciary hearing. (Paul Hosefros/The New York Times)
Mr. Grassley and Mr. Leahy said the globe had been valued by experts at more than $5,000. A crystal globe two-and-a-half inches in diameter is listed on the Tiffany & Company Web site for $115, but the lawmakers said the estimate was based on the globe's value as an artifact from the trade center.
''This is a serious allegation,'' the senators wrote. ''In addition to constituting a violation of proper evidence handling and of F.B.I. regulations, several persons are being criminally prosecuted for stealing items from Ground Zero by the Department of Justice.''
The agent wrote that the secretary said the globe, stamped ''Tiffany & Co.,'' had been taken to Minneapolis by a member of an evidence response team assigned to the trade center site. The teams are highly trained units sent to major crime scenes to collect and tag items for use as evidence in court.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7— The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating an F.B.I. agent's complaint that an F.B.I. evidence recovery team stole a Tiffany crystal globe paperweight from the rubble of the World Trade Center, government officials said today.
The agent sent the letter to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has long defended the rights of whistle-blowers. In the letter, the agent expressed concern about retaliation for reporting what appeared to be a theft.
The agent, from the bureau's Minneapolis office, wrote in a Sept. 25 letter to two senators on the Judiciary Committee that the slightly damaged paperweight turned up last month on the desk of an F.B.I. secretary, who said it had been found by agents working at the trade center.
''I observed an unusual-looking crystal globe sitting on the desk of an F.B.I. secretary,'' the agent wrote. ''I picked up the globe and observed that it was damaged but fully intact. The globe rested on a small stand. I asked the secretary where it came from and she responded, 'Ground zero.' ''
No comments:
Post a Comment