Oregon Ping
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Posted on 11/05/2005 2:42:32 PM PST by crazyhorse691
Corruption inquiry Agents examine Portland's oversight of secondhand shops accused of selling stolen items.
The FBI is conducting a public corruption investigation into what city officials acknowledge is the Portland Police Bureau's oversight of secondhand stores accused of selling millions of dollars in stolen merchandise.
Since 2001, the FBI has uncovered a massive black market in new stolen goods shuffling through the shops. After hearing concerns from federal authorities about the conduct of two detectives assigned to monitor the stores, Police Chief Derrick Foxworth reassigned the investigators and opened an internal investigation in late September.
Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the Portland FBI, on Friday confirmed the federal corruption probe but declined to provide details.
It is unclear whether the two detectives are the focus of the FBI inquiry.
Foxworth said Friday that he has been in regular contact with Robert Jordan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, about the investigation. Last week, he said "serious allegations" had been made against Police Bureau members.
The chief said the Police Bureau has "coordinated our internal investigation around their criminal investigation." He declined to answer further questions.
Foxworth has reassigned William Carter and Steven Swan, the two detectives assigned to monitor the city's dozens of pawn and secondhand stores.
Mayor Tom Potter said Friday that Foxworth told him about the federal corruption investigation a couple of weeks ago, but would not comment on how far the inquiry reaches inside the Police Bureau.
"Like the chief, I hope they're going to do a thorough and fair investigation," Potter said.
Public corruption cases -- listed as the FBI's fourth priority after terrorism, espionage and cybercrime -- target government officials who abuse the public trust. According to the FBI's Web site, law enforcement corruption accounts for more than one-third of corruption investigations.
These types of investigations are of particular interest to Jordan, who has a history of working public corruption cases. In 2000, before taking over the Portland field office, he was chief of the FBI's integrity in government and civil rights unit.
Steele, the FBI spokeswoman, said it was "premature" to assess whether the inquiry would result in charges.
"We are looking at any allegations there may be," she said, "and determining whether or not they are credible."
Internal police documents obtained last week by The Oregonian show that high-ranking police officials were warned by a beat cop and a sergeant about the high volume of illicit goods, new and still in their original packaging, flowing through secondhand stores. Often, the items ended up on eBay. Police did nothing to stop it.
Raid sparks inquiry
The FBI's corruption probe stems from its August raid of 10 secondhand stores, whose owners have been accused in federal court records of trafficking large volumes of stolen merchandise. The crackdown was the third federal raid of the stores.
The FBI has targeted the shops in a series of investigations that began in 2001. In that time, Portland police have not cited a single secondhand shop for peddling stolen goods. The city has nearly 140 such businesses.
The federal investigation into the stores raised questions about the Portland detectives' relationship with shop owners. An affidavit in the case quotes a store owner as saying one of the Portland detectives had tipped her off about the FBI's ongoing investigation. According to the document, a government informant quoted Toni Kotek, co-owner of Cash on the Run, 5939 S.E. 82nd Ave., as saying she and her husband had been "warned" about the investigation by a Portland "pawn detective" who said "the dragons are out." The detective was not named.
According to the affidavit, the informant "learned from Kotek the term 'dragon' was the detective's code word for 'federal law enforcement officers.' "
During a Sept. 29 interview with The Oregonian, Foxworth said he was "very disturbed" that his detectives had not done more to stop the flow of stolen goods through secondhand stores.
Foxworth said he expects officers to conduct at least "some sort of limited inquiry" if they walk into a shop and see boxes of new merchandise being sold in the open.
Goods openly traded
The chief said the city's secondhand ordinance, which does not regulate the trade of new merchandise, is no excuse for not policing suspicious goods coming into the stores.
"We can't just sit here and throw our hands up in the air and say there is nothing we can do," he said. "That's part of being an investigator: to be inquisitive, to investigate, to look further, to look beyond the obvious."
He added: "We have theft by receiving on the books."
Documents filed in federal court show secondhand store operators openly bought and sold new merchandise, with no fear of being stopped by detectives. In taped conversations with undercover FBI informants, store owners bragged about how the shoplifter-to-storefront-to-eBay black market operated unchecked by Portland police.
According to the court record, Kotek said even if a hot KitchenAid mixer came into her store, it would be hard to prove where it came from. She said it wouldn't matter if Fred Meyer filed a report documenting the loss of 20 KitchenAid mixers this month, because they don't keep track of serial numbers. The mixers retail for about $400.
The undercover informant told Kotek that he was worried about the detectives knowing about his wholesale business. Don't worry, Kotek assured him.
"They already know and there's nothing they can do about it," she said. "It's amazing. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Unless they have physically on videotape that the person went in and stole that item, and brought it to me and sold it to me, they can't. There's nothing they can do."
Noelle Crombie: 503-2767184; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com. Joseph Rose: 503-221-8029; josephrose@news.oregonian.com
It doesn't have to be corrupt or stupid,,,Portland can be both!
The Portland police and The Multnomah County DA covered up the police murder of Kendra James a few years ago, too.
the only reason the FBI is now investigating is because of recent sews stories. The FBI knew this stuff was going on for years. Who's going to investigate the FBI, who knew for years this was going on.
Good point... if the local FBI couldn't find out the then Mayor of Portland was raping a minor then what good are they and yes the FBI needs to investigate itself for corruption .... or incompetence
Maybe I'm totally wrong about this.
But, I read it as the FBI and the Portland police knew about this for quite some time.
My understanding of the article, and some things I've heard around town, is that the police didn't move on it.
So, the FBI...finally...did.
Only because the public pressure was becoming too great to not do anything. Don't be surprised when the FBI determines there isn't enough evidence to go after the cops.
The investigation will be a sham. Those two cops probably have so much dirt on the Portland PD and likely even some FBI agents, the Feds dare not indict or prosecute them.
If the feds are serious, they will need to bring in some agents from another part of the country.
Thank you for your reply but, just damn!
I hate to hear things like that.
"If the feds are serious, they will need to bring in some agents from another part of the country."
I certainly hope that happens.
In the meantime, I live outside of the urban growth boundary.
And, I'm doing my best to be happy here.
It's a very different culture for me.
I was hit on by a lesbian the other night.
Creeped me out to the max.
And your response was?
My HUSBAND had to go to the restroom. ;o)
Wedding rings don't mean anything to them.
Oregon Ping
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This has been going on for years in Portland.
A relative was a construction project manager in the Portland area in the early 1990's.
It was standard procedure to go to stores like these and the flea markets to buy back their stolen heavy duty tools. It was easier and cheaper than filing insurance claims.
Thanks for the ping.
Hey Salvation did you see on the news tonight where the Meth using State Rep who resign come Nov.15 gave her Mom a tax payer raise doubling her monthly income to $6,500 and each of her 3 asst. a $1000 raise?
Me thinks she is going to get a cut of the money from them.
She can give the raises legally too and has no shame in what she is doing.
Then again that Meth kills the soul so she has no conseince anyway.
Abuse of position to the max. (shaking my head)
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