Posted on 01/04/2009 1:34:23 PM PST by Al B.
A Mat-Su drug investigator and the union representing Alaska State Troopers are alleging political meddling in the Sherry Johnston drug case, including a delay in serving the search warrant because of the November election.
Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who became nationally known in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their daughter, Bristol, was pregnant and he was the father. Palin was running for vice president while Sherry Johnston was under investigation.
Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters and troopers director Col. Audie Holloway vigorously dispute that there was anything irregular in how this case was handled.
"We worked very hard to make sure we conducted it just as fairly and as normally as any other investigation," Holloway said.
That's not what Kyle Young, a troopers drug investigator who was involved in the case, wrote in an e-mail last week to all members of the Public Safety Employees Association, the union that represents troopers and other law enforcement officers around the state.
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Young, speaking through union officials, declined to comment for this story. But John Cyr, executive director of the union, said it's clear to him that the investigation was handled differently because of who Johnston is.
"This really does smack of political favoritism. And if that be the case, it's another example of the Palin administration's direct influence on the public safety unit," Cyr said.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
excuse me, I thought it was about the trooper, not the Johnson case. My bad.
Makes you wonder why investigator Kyle Young waited so long to b*tch about the lack of action. Since Gov. Palin and her husband were being investigated through the whole election period, why hold his tongue until now? This is pure BS.
The newspaper says it has to do with manufacturing or delivering. When you go to the law, it has to do with all sorts of things ~ but most particularly with "intent".
There's a section on precursors to meth. That can be how a store manager "keeps" red phosphorous tipped matches. There are requirements and if you screw up you can be hit with this charge.
If the previous Palin family run-ins with public safety are a guide to any of this, I'd be betting dollars to doughnuts that Mrs. Johnston was hit with what amounts to a record keeping violation (See US Attorney Sutton, re Ramos and Compeon).
Along that lines the Troopers are refusing to state how much dope was involved (as of mid-December), and when they do that it raises the question of whether or not any dope at all was involved.
There's a distinct possibility that there's no there there in this case.
We await the trial.
“So Johnston was not arrested and charged for selling drugs...wait she was:
The police and the prosecuting attorney decide who gets arrested, not the Governor. Some State Troopers evidently have it in for the Governor since that one trooper was forced out.
Actually, I’m relying upon media reports of the actual affidavit from the troopers on the drug task force. Granted, I don’t trust either the very liberal Anchorage Daily News OR the troopers and their Union, who have an axe to grind against the Governor, but I didn’t just pull it off some lefty blog, thank you very much.
The affidavit asserts actual possession and sale, and asserts that Mrs. Johnston admitted to same.
Now maybe the troopers are lying, but they would risk perjury charges.
The point of my post was that whatever happened with Mrs. Johnston, it is no reflection at all on Sarah and Todd Palin.
If you would like to explain the case to all of us, be my guest, but your post is not accurate about what has transpired to date.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/633751.html
An affidavit, prepared by the Alaska State Troopers, says Johnston repeatedly sold OxyContin using text messages to direct customers to department store parking lots where they paid and she delivered. But in one message, according to the affidavit, Johnston complained that unusual media and other public attention was cramping her business:
“Hey, my phones are tapped and reporters and god knows who else is always following me and the family so no privacy,” Johnston wrote in a text message to a customer.
Until her arrest, Johnston, 42, was better known as the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla teen who hit the headlines after Gov. Sarah Palin announced her daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Palin made the announcement when she was running for vice president on the Republican ticket with John McCain.
Johnston is charged with six counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance — essentially sale and possession.
The affidavit says she “did admit to selling her Oxycontin pills to (an informant).”
All I did is go to the law to match up the charges (by citation) to what the law was about.
As far as any confession, not seeing one on the board.
Depending on your state they can really knock you around for failing to keep track of your red phosphorous matches ~ is this even considered serious in Alaska?
The Meth charges are the ones with serious punishment.
The "confession" is claimed "confessed to a buyer" ~ and I'm sure a buyer needs a "confession" ~ right? Otherwise, how would the buyer know he or she had bought some.
Like all State Police affidavits about what they saw to be crimes they are written up in a very negative tone of voice with respect to the target.
This will all be plea bargained away particularly when she rats out whoever it was walked off with too many red phosphorous matches. Maybe the guy who burned down the church bought them!
So it may be a very trivial matter, or who knows, even a set-up. It would not surprise me at all if an unnamed “informant” was simply some Democrat activist who got excited about trying to throw mud on Levi and the Palins.
This all seems to have started up right after the RNC in early September, or at least I have yet to see any reference to Mrs. Johnston’s activities before early Sept.
I agree that so far there is a remarkable lack of specificity, quanties, etc. which are usually seen in articles about drug busts.
Now Sarah Palin is so powerful that she can delay investigations that she doesn't even know about.
I can’t speak to what Johnston was or was not up to, but I had questions about the timing of this “investigation” when I first heard about it. Now with this article, I smell a very large RAT.
This old 'Hush Rush' tactic itself is kind of spurious as national 'news'. This whole story smells funny.
I think Governor Palin has her work cut out for her cleaning up the Department of Public Safety.
So what does this have to do with the UNION? It's a law enforcement matter.
Now, there's a knee-slapper!
The Alaskan Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself...) were doing ALL manner of things because of the November election, yet we're to believe that Palin is the only pig in the waller?
Kinda like Citizen Kenyan is the only virgin in the Chicago whorehouse. :-)
I think she has her work cut out for her altogether. Someone on TeamSarah said tonight they have impeachment petitions floating around up there. This is all bullcrap.
Why is this guy even emailing this to the entire union email list??? Did he violate any policies of privacy and confidentiality?
Are state troopers in Alaska allowed to engage in PR campaigns about cases they handle?
It certainly smells like there may be a vendetta against the Palins and people around them. Why is Kyle Young engaged in this kind of PR campaign with the union when the case hasn’t even gone to court yet???
Something smells in the great state of Alaska, and it’s probably Democrat union thugs.
They are being aided and abetted by the Republican establishment that Sarah fought against when she ran for Governor.
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