DOJ Report: FBI Misconduct in Jonathan Luna Investigation
- From: "Bo Raxo" <invasions_r_us@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 07:50:47 GMT
Rumors of an affair between Luna and an FBI agent, an FBI supervisor named
Jennifer Smith Love - that's right, Special Agent Love. Oh man, this story
has "made for tv movie" written all over it - hello basic cable, do I have
to write the script myself to get the ball rolling?
Bo Raxo
--
"I'm disappointed that my own Catholic Church has decided that capital
punishment is wrong. Which is pretty hypocritical if you think about it,
because they wouldn't even have a religion if it wasn't for capital
punishment." - Stephen Colbert
http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_008120236.html
(AP) Baltimore, MD A report by the Department of Justice inspector general's
office details "credible evidence of serious misconduct" by FBI agents
investigating the death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna more than two
years ago.
The report, obtained by The (Baltimore) Sun and authenticated to the
newspaper by the FBI, provides previously undisclosed details about the
frantic first days of the Luna investigation, which was conducted by the
FBI's Baltimore field office.
Luna's body was found Dec. 4, 2003, face down in a shallow stream in rural
Lancaster County, Pa. He had suffered 36 stab wounds, most of them
superficial, but an autopsy determined he died by drowning. His
blood-spattered car was idling nearby.
According to published reports, some investigators believe the 38-year-old
prosecutor took his own life -- pointing out that he had been asked to take
a polygraph test as part of an investigation into about $36,000 in missing
evidence from a bank robbery case that Luna prosecuted.
FBI spokeswoman Carla McIntosh said Saturday that investigators are still
considering suicide, premeditated murder or a random act of violence as
possible causes of Luna's death.
The inspector general's report does not accuse the FBI of bungling the
investigation to the point that the probe into Luna's death was compromised.
But it faults FBI agents for the way they questioned one of their own about
rumors of an affair between the female agent and Luna.
The female agent later filed an internal complaint charging that the FBI's
then-acting special agent in charge of the Baltimore division, Jennifer
Smith Love, improperly ordered two agents to interrogate her and approved an
illegal search of her computer, according to the report.
The FBI's internal investigators found that the interrogation of the female
agent did not include the investigators assigned to lead the probe into
Luna's death. The female agent -- identified in the report as "Agent Smith"
to protect her identity -- had been ruled out as a likely suspect, and the
interview caused dissension in an office already operating under tremendous
strain, the report said.
However, the report said senior FBI officials cleared Love, as well as the
two agents who conducted the interrogation, of misconduct and took no
disciplinary action.
About two months later, in August 2004, the inspector general's office
opened its own investigation. The probe eventually found enough "credible
evidence" of wrongdoing to conclude that the case should have been sent
through the FBI's formal disciplinary process, rather than handled as a mere
job performance issue.
"There was at least something there that should have been investigated
more," Bruce Gebhardt, who was the FBI's deputy director during the initial
investigation, told The Sun.
The report focuses on the actions of Love, acting assistant Special Agent in
Charge Linda Hooper and Special Agent Marina Murphy. It reached no final
conclusion about whether the three agents did anything wrong.
But the report criticized the FBI officials for ending their internal
investigation too quickly. Even before the inspector general's office
completed its investigation in February, two of the three agents were
promoted, including Love, who was made a section chief in the FBI's
counterterrorism division in Washington.
The FBI confirmed to The Sun on Friday that the agents, including Love, were
investigated again after the inspector general report was finished. In a
prepared statement, FBI officials in Washington said they followed through
on the inspector general's recommendations and referred the case to the
FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility.
"As a result, the actions of several employees were examined, and while no
misconduct was found, performance issues were identified and for the
on-board employees, remedial action was taken," the statement said. FBI
officials declined to elaborate on the remedial action.
In a prepared statement, Love denied the "false, malicious" accusations,
saying she had been formally cleared of any wrongdoing. Hooper, who is
retired, could not be reached for comment by The Sun. Murphy, who is still
in the Baltimore office, did not return a call.
Murphy and Hooper were not the lead investigators in the Luna case. But they
conducted a lengthy interview with Agent Smith, who never became a suspect
in Luna's death.
FBI agents spoke to everyone listed in Luna's personal digital assistant
service, but Smith was targeted for a follow-up interview. The inspector
general wrote that it was unclear who selected Hooper and Murphy to speak
with Smith. Love said the idea came from Peter Brust, who supervised the
Luna investigation. But Brust disputed that account, saying he told Love
that a second interview would be "irrelevant," according to the report.
Smith said Hooper and Murphy accused her of being "sexually aggressive,
advertising her sexual availability within and outside the FBI, and of
having inappropriate personal and sexual relationships with married" federal
prosecutors, according to the report.
When Hooper and Murphy talked to internal investigators, they denied the
charge but acknowledged that they asked Smith about her "flirting."
Smith gave the FBI permission to search her personal laptop and PDA but then
revoked her consent after talking to an attorney. The FBI searched her
laptop anyway, the report said. Several witnesses told investigators that
Hooper pushed for the search despite knowing about the revocation.
Hooper denied the allegations, according to the report.
The report says Smith told investigators that she and Luna had worked
together on four cases. They also worked out at the same Baltimore health
club and socialized in group settings. Their relationship, Smith said, had
always been "professional and appropriate."
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