FBI Starts Own Probe of Vandalism of GOP Vehicles (Milwaukee)

JSonline ^ | 11/11/2004 | milwguy

[milwguy]

ON WISCONSIN : JS ONLINE : NEWS : MILWAUKEE : E-MAIL | PRINT THIS STORY

FBI starts own probe of vandalism of GOP vehicles By JOHN DIEDRICH jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com Posted: Nov. 10, 2004 Federal authorities have launched their own investigation into the election day slashing of tires on 20 vans and cars rented by the Republican Party to carry voters to the polls, officials said Wednesday.

Recent Coverage

11/4/04: Spivak & Bice: Tire-slashing questions await Democrats' sons 11/2/04: Republican rental vehicles vandalized

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Milwaukee police have arrested and released at least five people - including the 25-year-old son of U.S. Rep.-elect Gwen Moore - on suspicion of felony criminal damage to property, according to police records. Prosecutors have not yet filed formal charges.

Investigators also plan to talk to Michael Pratt, son of former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, but have not asked him to come in yet, police sources said.

The FBI will interview potential witnesses to the crime who live outside Wisconsin, said Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney David Feiss.

Feiss declined to say why those potential witnesses would have been in Wisconsin. However, hundreds of paid and volunteer Democratic staffers were in Wisconsin to help with the election.

Feiss said it was "theoretically possible" that suspects in the slashing could be charged in both state and federal court. Federal law prohibits interfering with a person's right to vote. Depending on the seriousness of the case, it can be prosecuted as a felony or misdemeanor.

Feiss met with federal officials earlier this week when the decision was made for the FBI to open its own probe.

Before that meeting, federal authorities were aware of the case, but only Milwaukee police had an investigation.

"We have met with people from the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office who have offered their assistance, and we requested assistance from them in terms of obtaining additional information," Feiss said. "They will be opening an investigation into this matter."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Frohling said, "I can confirm our office did meet with the district attorney's office, the FBI and Milwaukee police. I have to decline further comment."

FBI spokesman Mike Johnson said the agency is cooperating with Milwaukee police on the case but declined further comment.

Feiss said he has reviewed some paperwork in the case but said there is more to come. He declined to estimate how long the investigation will take or how many suspects are involved.

Milwaukee police spokesman Sgt. Ken Henning declined to comment on the investigation.

The suspects arrested so far are: Opel E. Simmons III, 33, a veteran Democratic Party activist from Virginia; Sowande Ajumoke Omokunde, 25, of Milwaukee, Moore's son; Lewis Gibson Caldwell III, 27, of Milwaukee; Lavelle Mohammad, 35, of Milwaukee; and Justin J. Howell, 20, of Racine.

The five men were arrested on suspicion of committing criminal damage to property causing more than $2,500 in damage, a felony that can bring up to 31/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, Feiss said.

Omokunde, Mohammad, Howell and Michael Pratt were paid staffers at the Wisconsin Democratic Party beginning in summer, party spokesman Seth Boffeli said. Simmons worked for the Virginia Democratic Party and was in Wisconsin for the past month, Boffeli said. He did not know whether Caldwell was paid.

Boffeli said the party had no knowledge of or involvement in the tire slashing.

"Whoever did this was responsible on their own," Boffeli said.

Early on Nov. 2, 27 tires on 20 vehicles were slashed in a lot in the 7100 block of W. Capitol Drive. A guard reported a man running from the scene, police said. That night police arrested Simmons. He was released Nov. 4 without being charged.

The other suspects voluntarily came into the Milwaukee police administration building with lawyers, were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and then released.

The reason for their immediate release is because once a suspect is booked into the county jail, prosecutors usually must file charges within three days, he said.

"The overriding factor is the length of time this matter is going to take to investigate," he said

[milwguy]

FINALLY we are getting somewhere. I did an AP search for this story and found ONE reference to the AP wire putting out the tire slashing story, and then it was only as PART of an overall story on voter problems on election day. CONTRAST that with an AP search on the local radio personality using a racial slur and you will find over a hundred references in AP search. What this tells me is if there is a story about conservatives misdeeds it is BIG news, but if there is a story about Democrats suppressing the votes (felonies folks) it doesn;t really merit news coverage. I am just glad the Feds are finally involved, as I think the National Democratic Party has their hands dirty in this case, and besides vandalizing these vehicles, I believe there was a massive campaign to fraudulently register voters in Milwaukee and then have them cast absentee ballots. I worked the polls the whole day and at my ward in the City, we had afl-cio, ACT, League of Conservation Voters, Democratic Party, and other 'volunteers coming by the polling place. The ACT volunteer was only interested in seeing what the machine showed for number of votes cast, AND the number of absentee ballots cast in that ward. I found that very strange, and after the election, it was obvious that a massive increase in absentee ballots had been cast in Milwaukee, more than enough to cover the 12,000 votes the Bush lost by. I think the feds should be investigating this too.

[Kenton]

Uh oh... looks like this won't get swept under the rug and treated as a prank because of the perps' political/family connections... time for Rev'rund Al to fly up there and start screaming racism...

[stopillegalimmigration]

Need to nail these twerps to the wall as an example to any other anarchists who seek to subvert the democratic process through brown-shirt thuggery.

[garyhope]

Don't just "investigate", throw their butts in jail and expose the "Democtats" for the lying, cheating, intolerant fascists that they are.

[MEG33]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1236613/posts
When Goons Attack-Bullies Storm Republican Office ( vandalism, shooting, more-)
various FR links | 10-06-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy


Posted on 10/06/2004 5:02:35 AM CDT by backhoe

The goon file

[facedown]

Bump; ping.

[TaxRelief]

The rules only apply to Republicans *ping*.

[pepsionice]

If I were a liberal hoping for better chances in 2008...I'd want this incident ended quickly. Pay up for damages and put the dimwit responsible in jail for 60 days. To allow this to drag out is stupid...it simply makes everyone who is democrat look like a criminal, and it doesn't help their cause.

[willgolfforfood]

I wonder if RICO might apply here...

[CT CONSERVATIVE]

I suggest we get Marion Berry and the US Civil Rights Commission to investigate. This way they can issue a report on voter suppression and actually cite a real crime!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I guess the FBI is up from their nap.

[Voltage]

including the 25-year-old son of U.S. Rep.-elect Gwen Moore....

Since it's obviously a hate crime I would suppose Ms Moore is actively supporting the doubling of any sentence imposed?

[garyhope]

You can see Ms. Moore's photo and information at her web site. She's really quite an attractive woman. Her web site is here:

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/senate/sen04/sen04.html

I'm sure Ms. Moore's son and his friends are "good" boys. They're just "misunderstood". I mean, just because your name is Mohammed doesn't necessarily mean that you're not a good American or an intolerant, lying, cheating fascist.

[axes_of_weezles]

Get the Union Goons with Federal "Hate" and "Civil Rights" crimes as well. They need to pay for their actions. A message needs to be sent.

[Atomicfever]

Sorry, but Democrats could NEVER ever ever EVER be responsible for such an underhanded plan to prevent voters from reaching the polls.. that's something the Republicans would do, in our evil ways...

Really, Everybody knows we just rented those vans so we could slash our own tires, and blame it on those angelic Democrats.