Posted on 06/07/2006 9:54:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Federal prosecutors allege that a law enforcement official who was investigating a fake passport scheme was subjected to an illegal background check by indicted private eye Anthony Pellicano, who was representing the subject of the probe.
Prosecutors claim Pellicano had checks run on George Mueller, an investigator with the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, and five other people connected to the probe of a Frenchman named Christopher Rocancourt.
Mueller said that while he was investigating Rocancourt in the mid-1990s, Rocancourt called him to boast of a "contact" with access to confidential law-enforcement information.
"Knowing that a suspect in a case that I'm tracking has my personal information is pretty alarming," Mueller said.
The six people from the Rocancourt case were among scores of victims listed earlier this year in a 112-count federal indictment accusing Pellicano and others of wiretapping and illegally accessing law-enforcement databases to gain advantage in criminal and civil litigation. Alleged victims included stars such as Sylvester Stallone and comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon.
Pellicano, 62, has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities in Los Angeles were investigating Rocancourt in connection with several alleged crimes, including bribing federal workers to provide him with a phony U.S. passport.
Rocancourt pleaded guilty in March 2004 to passport fraud conspiracy in Los Angeles County Superior Court and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in October.
Attorney Victor Sherman, who represented Rocancourt and later Pellicano in an unrelated explosives case, said the private eye played only a bit part in the Rocancourt saga.
"He didn't really have much of a role," Sherman said.
Still waiting for the media to mention that billandhill were clients of Pellicano.
chirping the sound of crickets.
I guess if he bribed federal officials, the passport would have been real, not phoney...
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