There has been an interesting series of stories in the Evansville Courier&Press this week, involving federal agents and the U.S. Attorney. The lead to Wednesday's story:
Six weeks ago, an Evansville businessman was wrongly arrested by federal agents in a high-profile drug bust that made front-page headlines and the evening news. Federal prosecutors claimed in a sealed indictment that he was part of a drug network that distributed $30 million worth of cocaine, heroin and marijuana in Southern Indiana. They called a news conference, where they released his name as one of 37 defendants charged in what they called the biggest drug bust in the city's history. * * *More from later in the story:On Tuesday, they quietly took it all back, issued a short statement saying charges against Charles Hall had been dropped, and apologized for any harm done to him. "As soon as we realized we made a mistake, we moved to correct it," said Armand McClintock, head of the Indiana office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. "The last thing we want to do is arrest an innocent man."
According to a statement released by the U.S. attorney's office late Tuesday, federal prosecutor Matt Brookman made an oral motion to dismiss charges against Hall [six weeks ago, before the news conference announcing the indictments]. The motion was granted. But that information apparently didn't make it into the hands of U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks, who had called a news conference to announce the drug bust. * * * Brooks' staff handed out copies of indictments unsealed in court that morning. Hall's name was on the list of defendants charged with felony drug conspiracy charges. * * *Yesterday the Courier&Press had this story (both the stories are reported by Maureen Hayden), headlined "Feds regret arrest blunder: U.S. attorney's decision caused embarrassment to innocent people." Some quotes:The U.S. attorney's office, which had issued a news release to every major news organization in the area to announce the drug charges, didn't issue a release about the charges being dropped against Hall. But the U.S. attorney did issue a brief statement Tuesday, six weeks after Hall's arrest, after being questioned about the matter by the Courier & Press. The three-sentence statement said charges had been dismissed against Hall. It also said charges have been dismissed against another defendant, Gary Harris of Evansville. * * *
[Armand McClintock, head of the Indiana office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration], who supervises the DEA agents who arrested Hall, confirmed Hall's story that it was a case of mistaken identity. "He is not the guy we wanted," said McClintock.
McClintock said a DEA case agent apologized twice to Hall, once after his arrest and again the day after his release when he went to talk to Hall about the case. Hall, though, said he didn't interpret the conversation to be an apology. He said he felt threatened by the DEA agent. "He kept saying, 'We're watching you.'"
The top federal prosecutor in Southern Indiana says she knew an Evansville businessman had been wrongfully arrested during a major drug bust, but failed to keep the media from identifying him as a suspected drug dealer.Today the Courier&Press has an editorial that first recaps the events, then continues:U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks said she didn't reveal the information during a news conference called to release details of the drug bust, because she was unprepared to answer any questions about it. It's a decision she says she now regrets. * * *
Because the number of defendants named in the indictments didn't match the number of defendants named in the release, an Evansville Courier & Press reporter contacted Brooks' staff that day to inquire about the discrepancy. The reporter was told that no information would be released about why there was a discrepancy. Nor would federal agents or the assistant federal prosecutor in charge of the drug case answer questions about the case. According to Brooks, the U.S. Justice Department now has a policy, issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft, forbidding agents and low-level prosecutors from talking to the media. On Wednesday, Brooks also said she regrets not following up on the Hall matter by subsequently notifying the media the charges had been dropped. * * *
Both Brooks and Armand McClintock, the head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Indiana, said Hall and Harris were arrested because suspects in the drug-trafficking case had used their names as aliases. For Hall, the July arrest was the second time in a year that he'd been mistakenly arrested and then let go. The first time happened last summer when he was arrested by local drug agents.
After that mix-up, Evansville police entered information into their computer that now notifies police officers that Hall's name and other identifying information was being used as an alias by someone else.
Nobody in law enforcement went out of his way to spread the word that Hall had been exonerated.Posted by Marcia Oddi at August 27, 2004 01:07 PMAlso caught up in the sweep was a Chicago man, Gary Harris. Charges against him were dismissed last week because his name had also been used by drug suspects. This week, Courier & Press staff writer Maureen Hayden set the record straight at the top of Page One of this newspaper. But it wasn't at the behest of any of the law enforcement agencies. A person who thought several weeks of injustice was enough had tipped her off.
We're glad the record is now straight. But we have to ask: Is there some obligation on the part of law officials to let the world know about the unfortunate circumstances that had wrongly ensnared Hall, a father of four, and Harris?