Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom

Roll Call ^ | August 27, 2007 | John McArdle

[Shermy]

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.

Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.

Craig was detained for approximately 45 minutes, interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released, and police prepared a formal complaint for interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men’s public restroom in which Craig was arrested.

Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men’s restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see “an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall.”

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.

“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,” the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig “either disagreed with me or ‘didn’t recall’ the events as they happened,” the report states.

Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

“It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper,” the arresting officer said in the report.

On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the Minnesota court, Craig appeared via satellite at a ceremony that took place in Idaho in which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In October 2006, Craig’s office publicly denied allegations that he was a homosexual made on a gay activist Web site — blogactive.com. Craig’s office told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the charge was “completely ridiculous,” saying that the allegations had “no basis in fact.”

Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report.

[B4Ranch]

You sure called this one correctly!

A republican finds out about this and immediately points at democrat behaviors and worries about the GOP holding power.

A conservative is glad he’s caught and wants him gone but hopes to replace him with a conservative.

[Riverman94610]

Ha,good one.
I remember when I was ten or so my dad mentioned to his buddy across the street that he was”taking a ferry over to Oakland tomorrow”
His friend cracked,”Oh,is he cute?”
First gay joke I ever heard.
Then came high school with jokes like,”You hear about the gay electrician?”
I think you can imagine the punchline to that one!

[epow]

By the way, why was he in a Minnesota airport?

If you fly from ID to the D.C. you almost have to fly Northwest Airlines, and the NWA main hub is Minneapolis. I doubt that you can fly from Boise to Washington without a plane change in either Minneapolis or Detroit.

The last time I flew from St. Louis to Tampa on NWA I had to change in Detroit, and I got the last seat on the last flight to Tampa for that day. A lot of folks wanting to get to Tampa that evening were left standing at the gate when I boarded. Air travel is almost to the point these days of being too much hassle to be worth it.

[nkycincinnatikid]

Aw , I heard he was born in a trunk in the Bijou Theatre in Pocatello.

[Clintonfatigued]

How could he do something like this? Damn, all he had to do was offer to rent a hotel room, and no one would have been the wiser. But a restroom is a public place, which makes what he did a public act.

To each his own, of course, but that he would do something like this in a public setting shows that he doesn’t have the judgement or class to be a U.S. Senator.

He should resign.

[AuH2ORepublican]

“He should resign.”

---

Yes he should, and Gov. Otter should name Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to replace him.

[Billthedrill]

LOL! Yeah, Liza's bigtime as well. Cabaret still makes me squirm.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

A few points.

1) The filed charge was for interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.
2) Sgt. Dave Karsina is an airport cop in charge of cart enforcement. link
3)Just where else would you put your rolling luggage in a stall, and since the only logical place is against the door, if you're tall like Sen. Craig, you'd still be pretty cramped.

[Andy'smom]

Liza Minelli is the ultimate fag hag.

[masadaman]

Explains Spector.

[Palladin]

You’re defending this Congressfaggot?

[Idaho Whacko]

I don’t care about too much other than the fact that this probably means that this rino is on the way out.

[Paleo Conservative]

By the way, why was he in a Minnesota airport?

Click on picture

It has the most efficient connecting route from Washington, DC to Boise, ID. DCA-MSP-BOI is only 24 miles longer than DCA-BOI. Also, there is a perimeter rule for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) of 1,250 miles which prohibits non-stop flights longer than that distance. Guess which former congressman dreamed up that distance. Notice how both DFW and IAH just happen to be within the perimeter? In order to fly through Denver or Salt Lake City, you first would have to go to Dulles Interntational (IAD) which is further from Capitol Hill.

[jennyjenny]

I admit this all sounds creepy, but I guess I don’t understand this “signal” business. If I tap my shoe and then touch another’s foot, that means I’m trying to have sex with that person and can be arrested for lewd behavior?

[txhurl]

Jim Risch.

[Sunnyflorida]

“Yep, anything like this happens with Republicans, it’s big news. Democrats who are involved with anything like this, they are a victim. Like Jim McGreevey”

So what! We need to be of better moral standing, get treated unfairly, and still beat ‘em. Life is unfair. Get over it.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

New thread: ‘http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887464/posts'; . Craig quits as Senate Co-Chairman of Romney campaign.

[Enchante]

Craig has been outed before his constituents (and the nation) and now he’s been ousted from the Romney campaign:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887464/posts

Can’t imagine he’ll be running for re-election now, not unless he switches parties!

[Riverman94610]

Ha,Cabaret!This dude I used to hang out with at Sacramento State back in 1968 always used to sing that Life is a Cabaret song.He didn’t”come out”till a year later but just THAT should have let me know where he was coming from.
Really,though,he was a cool guy in many ways.The half Japanese son of an Irish sailor and Japanese prostitute adopted by an Anglo family as a child.He still recalled life in the house of ill fame and how the tricks would beat his butt occasionally.

[Enchante]

Wow, I was just 16 seconds after your post! I shouldn’t have typed so much.... :^)