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."
You're sweet.
:-)
I think someone posted his address and phone number. The Admins don't like that here.
It'll be more fun putting HIS PICTURE on a bumper sticker with his name and a warning to watch their vehicles if this person's nearby.
heh-heh!
Is this edited I hope?
Red6
"Every soldier and civilian I knew when Bill Clinto and Jimmy Carter were in office were guilty of that one."
Guilty as charged. On both counts. I don't display my retirement certificate because it has BJ's signature on it. Jeeze, I hope they used the Autograph to sign it.
Someone probably dropped this 'tard when he was a baby.
He's a zippy (aka Space Pilot/sattelite driver).
He is working at a pretty high speed place; homo is a possibility, most likely stress induced moonbat, though.
I mean vandalizing cars on your off duty time, may be rational if your 13 or 14. Not as someone who has a Compartmented security clearance. The Spacecom weenies have real inflated egos, long hours and a generally unsatifying job.
"I never did find out how long they spent in the stockade or what happened to them after they got out."
I don't think pizza delivery was available then. You'd probably have found them hanging out under a bridge, or in the gutter by one of the cheaper liquor stores...
That's why I waited for Bush to retire, too :)
"That's why I waited for Bush to retire, too :)"
I didn't have the option, I'd hit high year of tenure. I didn't want to make E-8, and get chained to a desk, and mananged to spend my last year or so as a trainer working with my kids. A bunch of them are the E-5's and E-6's and up working comm for this war. Some of them were good enough to train me, too, for that matter. Bunch of great people, God Bless them all!
Same here. I had my papers in and made MSgt. Extended for 2.
3C0,491,291 Combat Comm,TACS,TACC,ACOM'er here, Did contingency planning/ops for Kosovo and the desert too.
You know the magnetic yellow, ribbons that say,"We Support Our Troops"? My In-Laws have a garage full of them and I thought it was suspicious, since they are staunch Demons.
They are not ,"new" stickers, but used. Stuck all over their freezer and washer & dryer. Surely, they wouldn't stoop that low. They are democrats though.
Should be Ft. Levenworth or some other locale with high fences topped with razor wire... maybe a nice long sting at Gitmo?
Sticky fingers???
sting => stint.
So there IS such a thing as a fascist in the US Air Force.
Yeah, all the way off, slowly, with hedge trimmers...
Oh...you said pension. Nevermind.
" Yeah, all the way off, slowly, with hedge trimmers... Oh...you said pension. Nevermind."
Ooooh...Cruella, is that you? Heh!
(Gulp)
It is a great post and glad you got the message out. I hope this idiot gets more than a slap on the hand for not only vandalizing the cars but for insulting his commander in chief.
#200
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