Secret Service Agent Who Wrote Anti-Muslim Statements During Search to Be Suspended Without Pay

ap ^ | August 9, 2002 | Bree Fowler

[TomGuy]

Secret Service Agent Who Wrote Anti-Muslim Statements During Search to Be Suspended Without Pay

By Bree Fowler Associated Press Writer

Published: Aug 9, 2002

DETROIT (AP) - A Secret Service agent who admitted he scrawled anti-Muslim statements on a prayer calendar during a search will be suspended for six months without pay, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said the agent won't face criminal charges. He said the suspension, which amounts to a financial loss of about $40,000, and other sanctions were greater punishment than any misdemeanor charge would have been.

"I think his career, which was on track for great things before this, has essentially been derailed," Collins said.

On July 18, federal agents searched the Dearborn home of Omar Shishani, who has pleaded innocent to smuggling $12 million in bogus cashier's checks into the United States.

Members of Shishani's family said they discovered after the search that "Islam is Evil" and "Christ is King" had been written on the calendar.

The agent, identified only as a 10-year veteran, will be transferred out of the Eastern District of Michigan and has written a letter of apology to Shishani and his family.

"We're satisfied with the decision," said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which had asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate. "And we hope that the punishment meted out would be a signal to others that such bigotry would not be tolerated."

The FBI is investigating whether Shishani has ties to terrorist organizations, but his name is not on the American terrorist watch list, law enforcement officials have said.

AP-ES-08-09-02 1803EDT

[supercat]

The punishment does not fit the crime in this case. No way.

This guy has opened the way for the defense to claim that there was at least one agent on scene whose hatred of Muslims demostrably outweight his respect for the suspect's rights or the rule of law. That could easily open up grounds for 'reasonable doubt'.

This guy shouldn't be suspended--he should be outright fired and charged with evidence tampering, especially if his malfeasance allows Shishani to walk. Further, he should be fired not only as punishment, but also because his demonstrable lack of judgement in this case would jeopardize the value of evidence gathered in future cases.

[FreeTheHostages]

No, I agree with AM2000. This would be grounds for termination in corporate America. It really would. What he did was childish. It wasn't part of serious work on a serious mission. The need for such self-expression when he's on such a mission is troubling, to boot. It's not just a PC thing about the message: just taking time to do that rather than staying focussed on the work, that's precisely what the Secret Service doesn't want.

Secret Service has a probationary period. If you lose focus on your job at all during that period -- say just normal fighting with your peers that a corporate America job might not tolerate -- you get canned. They are rightfully pretty strict about behavior.

So let's not turn this into some example of PC-dom run amok. He was out of turn, operating outside of his mission orders. It doesn't matter whether you agree with his message, which I imagine many would. That was not the right time or place. It was a massive lack of judgment in a job which calls for suberb judgment.

There's no more news there than that people. Move along. Move along.

[FreeTheHostages]

Everyone does not do it,only losers "do it". That integrity thing again....

Well put, sarasmom. I score a direct hit.

[supercat]

Reno burns down the church at Waco and she is not punished. Horiuchi shoots and kills an innocent woman holding a baby. He is not punished. An FBI Agent shoots an innocent teenage in the face. He is not punished. A USSS agent writes something on the private property of a possible enemy agent in possesion of $12 million dollars of fake checks. He is suspended without pay for 6 months, and his career is effectively over.

Only in Amerika.

The reason the agents in the former cases were not punished is that the government was able to spin their actions as justifiable. This is important not only to the governments' image, but also to that of the agents themselves. If the government can spin that an agent had good reason to open fire on someone, a jury is not likely to regard such action as impugning the agent's integrity. This guy's actions, while less severe than those of Reno, Horiuchi, et al., were far less justifiable.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Your argument has merit, cat. Law enforcement officials certainly have to abide by the highest standards. Else the lawbreakers escape their just rewards.

[Mulder]

This guy shouldn't be suspended--he should be outright fired and charged with evidence tampering, especially if his malfeasance allows Shishani to walk.

The USSS agent deserves a slap on the wrist, and nothing else. Hell, I'd even consider promoting him since he understands that "Islam is evil", something our "leaders" apparently fail to grasp.

As for the bad guy possibly walking, that's not the Agent's fault that we have a corrupt and illegitimate court system that coddles predators while infringing on the Rights of Free men and women.

The "malfeasance" here has been committed by the "domestic enemies of the Constitution" who have peverted our justice system to the degree that we cannot fight our true foreign enemies that are living in the United States.

Back when the word "enemy" actually meant something, the fraudulent check writer (and probable enemy agent) would have already been put before a jury of his peers and dealt with. The newspapers would run cartoons mocking the stupidy of the enemy agent who got caught (and his asenine rantings during the trial, which would undoubtedly occur). Americans would laugh at these cartoons and the Agent would head out for a beer and a steak with a tall blonde on his arm.

And back when the word "enemy" actually meant something, a group of patriotic Americans (all wearing pistols on their hips) sitting at this same resturant, laughing at the said cartoons, would buy this Agent and his date the most expensive steak on the menu. Handshakes would be exchanged and new friends made.

[FreeTheHostages]

Hmm. On the planet Earth it is done differently.

The Secret Service, back in the times of beer and steak and blondes on Earth, always carefully followed orders and remained focussed on the mission.

The Secret Service, even today, does so.

Responsibility. Accountability. God Bless the United States Secret Service. Islam is evil. It wasn't his job to do some juvenile scrawl or toilet-paper the house with that message or anything else. He is being held accountable. That's the kind of America that, here on Earth, still exists in places like the Secret Service.

How's the weather on your planet?

[Mulder]

On the planet Earth it is done differently.

And that's a damn shame.

The Secret Service, back in the times of beer and steak and blondes on Earth, always carefully followed orders and remained focussed on the mission.

It appears in this case, they did a pretty good job by catching the guy. The agents get an A+

I'm guessing the judges and lawyers won't do such a good job.

[Action-America]

"I think his career, which was on track for great things before this, has essentially been derailed," Collins said.

Yeah, right!  Now that the word is out, some patriotic rich guy will probably hire the agent to head up his security staff, at twice the agent's original pay.  There's lot's of money in high end private security for former federal agents of any service.

 

[supercat]

As for the bad guy possibly walking, that's not the Agent's fault that we have a corrupt and illegitimate court system that coddles predators while infringing on the Rights of Free men and women.

It has been established that the agent was willing to disregard suspect's rights and the rule of law. I had also been shown that the agent is severely lacking in judgement. Do you deny these things?

Why should a jury convict on the say-so of agents who have shown to possess neither integrity nor judgement?

[Mulder]

It has been established that the agent was willing to disregard suspect's rights and the rule of law

To be sure, I suppose it was a "technical" violation of his private property Rights to scribble on his calendar. But that violation pales in comparison to the violation of our Rights perpetrated by our corrupt legal system.

If this is all the agent is guilty of, he comes out a lot cleaner than the rest of the system.

It had also been shown that the agent is severely lacking in judgement. Do you deny these things?

The fact that he wrote "Islam is evil" tells me that judgement is NOT something he is lacking.

Why should a jury convict on the say-so of agents who have shown to possess neither integrity nor judgement?

Unlike many cases brought by the feds, it appears that they have hard evidence on this, independent of whatever the Agent might have scribbled on the calendar. Also, making fun of the "religion of peace" is not sufficient cause to impugn his integrity.

Basically, people are making a mountain out of a molehill here. Something is terribly wrong when this agent is being persecuted, and the FBI agent who shot the kid in the face gets off scot-free.

[swarthyguy]

DETROIT (AP) - A Secret Service agent who admitted he scrawled anti-Nazi statements on a prayer calendar during a search will be suspended for six months without pay, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said the agent won't face criminal charges. He said the suspension, which amounts to a financial loss of about $40,000, and other sanctions were greater punishment than any misdemeanor charge would have been.

"I think his career, which was on track for great things before this, has essentially been derailed," Collins said.

On July 18, federal agents searched the Dearborn home of Adlofa Shickelgruberani, who has pleaded innocent to smuggling $12 million in bogus cashier's checks into the United States.

Members of Shickelgruberani's family said they discovered after the search that "Nazism is Evil" and "Christ is King" had been written on the calendar.

The agent, identified only as a 10-year veteran, will be transferred out of the Eastern District of Michigan and has written a letter of apology to Shickelgruberani's and his family.

"We're satisfied with the decision," said Hans Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Teutonic Relations, which had asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate. "And we hope that the punishment meted out would be a signal to others that such bigotry would not be tolerated."

The FBI is investigating whether Shickelgruberani has ties to terrorist organizations, but his name is not on the American terrorist watch list, law enforcement officials have said.

[Clink]

Some on here are of the belief that this agent exhibited
"poor judgement/unprofessional behavior" for a Secret Service agent and that his punishment is appropriate, maybe even too lenient.(Six months suspension, loss of $40,000.00 and blown career)

Yet nobody has yet mentioned the SS agent(middle-eastern) who was removed from an airplane for insufficient paperwork, etc. and then essentially had a full blown temper tantrum in public. What was his punishment? Last I heard it was going to be the possibilty of a cash award far greater than $40,000.00

[eno_]

The defense will claim all kinds of crap. You can't blame everything the defense claims on the slightest action of an arresting officer. Like I said, it wasn't even an implied threat. It was defacing a calendar in a way that did not even bear on the objective facts of the case. And, as a case of property destruction, it doesn't even compare with what is routinely done in executing search warrants. Yes, the agent should not have done it. But I would like to see trigger-happy imbelices doing hard time before this guy gets suspended at a cost of 40k.

[The Raven]

Rules are rules. Liberals think it's ok to break rules when it emotionally pleases them

Yes but.....the libs break the rules written by our founding fathers. The secret service agent's freedom was controlled by a PC lib law which wouldn't be in place if not for the controlling government.

[The Raven]

Just curious...wonder how the other side would react

[supercat]

And, as a case of property destruction, it doesn't even compare with what is routinely done in executing search warrants.

Most property destruction which results from serving search warrants may be tenuously justified as either being "necessary" or "accidental". Many such justifications are incredibly thin, but they are at least remotely plausible (e.g. the BATF agent who stomped on a kitten could claim that the kitten must have tried to run under her as she was walking). I can think of no way in which scribbling on the calendar could be viewed as either "necessary to the search" or an "accidental consequence thereof".

[FreeTheHostages]

It appears in this case, they did a pretty good job by catching the guy. The agents get an A+. I'm guessing the judges and lawyers won't do such a good job.

On this we agree, except that one agent gets a B+ for going off-mission in a job that requires A+ work. That's why we don't completely disagree: in this case, where he has heretofore done excellent work and did also get the guy, I think firing would be draconian. I totally here you on lawyers and judges. Don't worry, the federal prosecutors will be gung-ho. But those judges -- Clinton has stuffed the bench with a bunch of ideologues.