Posted on 08/09/2005 6:26:45 PM PDT by RandallFlagg
DENVER - Denver police say a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force has admitted to vandalizing cars bearing pro-President Bush bumper stickers at Denver International Airport.
Police say he's responsible for thousands of dollars in damage on at least 12 cars. Lt. Colonel Alexis Fecteau, 42, of Colorado Springs, turned himself in to Denver police Friday.
He is director of reserve operations at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, in charge of more than 40 full-time and traditional reservists.
In the arrest affidavit, Denver police say Fecteau admitted to damaging several cars after police conducted a sting-operation to catch the anti-Bush vandal.
"It was pretty good police work," said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson. He said his department took this case very seriously. "You still have a right to express yourself in this country and you shouldn't have your car vandalized because of it."
Jackson said one of the detectives put out a bait car in late June, complete with a Bush/Cheney 2004 bumper sticker, in the west economy lot at DIA. On July 1st, with a security camera zoomed in to watch, an SUV drove by the bait car, and a short time later a man entered the scene. The man in the video appeared to spray paint something on the back of the car and then continued to do something on the side of the car.
When officers returned to the bait car, the bumper sticker had been painted over and the words "F--- Bush" were spray-painted on the side of the car.
Police used airport exit logs to trace the license plate of the SUV believed to be seen in the bait car surveillance video to Fecteau.
When Fecteau's SUV was spotted parked in the DIA lot on a subsequent visit, police impounded it. When Fecteau approached police about the whereabouts of his SUV, a DPD detective confronted him. Court records show that at that time, Fecteau admitted to the DIA vandalism and said he started damaging vehicles around "election time" last year.
The affidavit shows Fecteau told investigators he didn't mean the graffiti to be a threat against President Bush. He went on to admit he has scratched the same kind of graffiti into "a couple of cars" with his "keys and key holder."
Inside Fecteau's 2001 Ford Excursion, police found a bin full of products, including a tube of Park Tube Polylube, a grease used for bicycle repairs, a spray can of Kleen Strip Auto Strip paint thinner, and Krylon Textured Shimmer paint.
Fecteau faces one count of felony criminal mischief and at least five other misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief. Fecteau has posted a $5,000 bond and is due back in court later this month.
Air Force spokesperson Major Barbara Matthew told 9News in a phone interview Monday the service hasn't taken action against Fecteau in regards to the vandalism. Instead, Matthew said, the Air Force plans to allow due process through local law enforcement. Calls to Fecteau's work and home were not returned.
One of the vandalized cars belongs to Jeremy Kinney, owner of Kinney Oil Co. of Denver. Kinney is a long-time friend of President George W. Bush. The two attended Yale together in the 1960s and have remained friends ever since.
"You feel violated in a sense when something like this happens, but it was more disappointment than anger," said Kinney, who worked on both of George W. Bush's presidential campaigns.
Kinney had a "Bush for President" bumper sticker stuck on a tool-box located on his 1992 Ford truck. When he returned from a flight on June 19, he noticed the bumper sticker had been painted over and the words "F--- Bush" were painted on the side of the car.
It cost Kinney more than $250 to fix the damage. But, he said, there is a larger price to pay for this kind of vandalism.
"It just reinforced to me the lack of political discourse that takes place in this country, polite political discourse," Kinney said.
"There is so much anger in politics that I find it not only counter-productive but annoying and disappointing."
I worked with a Major in the USAF who made Michael Moore look tame :) Considering I was his superintendent for a while we had some ... interesting office conversations. Nice guy but politically wrong!
He retired and was going to work on Kerrys campaign in Colorado for a year then find a job. I need to look him up and ask him how that turned out.
As far as promoted. I blame Clinton and the cuts in the 90s. A lot of good officers were RIFed, more good ones saw the writing and left on their own. This left us with a crop of officers in the 90s that frankly sucked. There were a few good ones but promotion to 0-5 got pretty easy.
Bad Conduct Discharge On the WAY!
Ya know whenever you hear from lefties it's conservatives doing this to them. But whenever it's a proven case, or someone gets caught, it's them doing it to us.
We had a woman in Seattle that called the police because someone "Supposedly" defiled her car which had all kinds of lefty stickers on it, by painting an American flag over the entire car. Turns out, she did it herself and was caught on a security camera.
These people never matured past the eighth grade.
"I can't believe a woman would be this ignorant"
Apparantly you've not heard of NARAL, NOW, CODE PINK, MOTHERS AGAINST THE WAR....there must be others I am not listing
deceptive headline - "Air Force officer allegedly vandalized cars with pro-Bush bumper stickers" indicates he defaced cars by putting such stickers on them.
So how do we do a letter writing campaign and to whom to screw up him getting his retirement annuity?
Lets letter write him and the Air force and media until we are too loud not to be heard!
FY03 Air Force Reserve Line and Health Professions Lieutenant Colonel Select List
V - A - FECTEAU, ALEXIS D - 1-May-03
******
Air Force officer accused anti-Bush vandal
August 9, 2005
DENVER --A full-time Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel could face criminal charges for allegedly vandalizing cars parked at Denver International Airport bearing pro-Bush bumper stickers.
Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau, director of operations for reserve forces at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, is believed to be responsible for defacing at least 10 vehicles between December and June, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Tuesday. A bait car left by a police detective was also defaced and the detective tracked down Fecteau, who turned himself in Friday.
snip
Fecteau supervises 11 full-time and 30 part-time reservists at the institute, which is part of the Space Warfare Center at Schriever Air Force Base, said base spokesman Staff Sgt. Donald Branum.
snip
The bait vehicle was equipped with a camera which was able to capture an image of the suspect and his car. Then a detective was able to find footage from a camera monitoring cars leaving the parking lot and traced Fecteau using the car's license plate, Jackson said.
I wonder if this is his father?
Major Robert Fecteau, Military Intelligence U.S. Army (ret.)
I have no idea what that is but I will tell you NASA in Houston is a huge cash cow for the Democrat party as most of the very high paid people who work at NASA are Democrats or identify with them.
New Institute to Focus on National Security Space
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (2/18/05) -- The Air Force Space Command recently established the National Security Space Institute (NSSI) to provide specialized space education and training to space staff members and planners. The institute, which evolved from the Space Operations School previously managed by the Space Warfare Center in Colorado Springs, was inaugurated in October 2004. The goal is to develop a cadre of space professionals who can manage and maintain space systems, draft and prioritize warfare requirements for future systems, and acquire and operate systems based on strategic and tactical needs.
The Aerospace Corporation, through its corporate university, The Aerospace Institute, will support NSSI as it develops and expands its curriculum. Aerospace will help ensure that course content is rigorous, structured, technically correct, and representative of current and future systems.
Aerospace will provide recommendations for the overall NSSI curriculum and assess the technical content of individual courses. Aerospace personnel will also assist with course development. With its experience in space-professional education, Aerospace is in a unique position to recommend curriculum improvements and course enhancements. The Aerospace Institute will also encourage government and military personnel to participate in education and training originally developed for the Aerospace technical staff.
We hope to leverage our experience in developing and teaching courses in space systems architecting and engineering to the needs of the NSSI, said Dave Evans, Executive Director of The Aerospace Institute. We have acquired some valuable lessons about space education and training that can enhance the effectiveness of the NSSI.
NSSI expects roughly 2,500 students annually. Nearly 60 percent will come from the Air Force; the remainder will come from other military branches and from agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office.
I will keep my eyes open. I am betting he will be seen by the DUmmies as a persecuted hero
Just found it at DU.....not many postings but all support him and are sorry he was caught....Naturally.
BTK II ping
I have a near overwhelming urge to get some "W1" stickers printed up to be able to put on all those Gore/Liberman (& sKerry) stickers still showing up on cars everywhere.
That's exactly what I thought, do you suppose that choice of words for the headline was an accident or planned that way??
That is the way the source headlined the article. Yes it's deceptive, and I'd bet that choice of words was no accident.
He's a guy - picture in the other thread about this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460386/posts
There's a pic in this thread about the guy:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1460386/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.