Has the Obama FBI looked the other way in the theft of docs from the Heartland Institute?
Politico reports,
On Thursday, Mother Jones also reported that Bast sent another email to donors stating that the group had reported the identity theft and computer fraud to the police and FBI…
Ross Rice, an FBI special agent in the Chicago field office, said Thursday that “nothing has been reported to our office” from the Heartland Institute.
After reviewing some of the media reports, Rice added, “It would appear that the items were given to outsiders under false pretenses as opposed to a breach of their IT system or theft.”
“As such, there would be no legal basis for us to investigate,” Rice said…
It would seem, however, that using e-mail to fraudulently obtain private documents is theft and/or wire fraud — except possibly to the Obama FBI?
Not to worry, Eric Holder is on top things……when he’s not turning his head on the international gun running/smuggling scheme that his department sanctioned, a scheme that led to the death of a US citizen and thousands of mexicans or dropping charges against black panthers for voter intimidation. All is well at the Obama Justice department.
Heartland apparently has to find the perpetrator, gather evidence, then sue in civil court, or find a friendly U.S. Attorney.
My concern is that the FBI effectively states that no crime was committed, when it is obvious that one was. Even if they choose not to prosecute or pursue investigation, which is well within their discretion given the low impact of the crime, they cannot claim that no crime was committed.
Heartland needs to get a private investigator, trace the call, and then sue the pants off the perpetrator in civil court. From identity theft to libel, they have enough to put him in the poorhouse.
My Visa number has been stolen twice and attempts made to make unauthorized purchases with it. The first time the bank caught it. I was asked by the bank to sign an affidavit confirming the charges were unauthorized. To put it bluntly, that nobody known by me had access to my Visa card, such as family. That released the bank to prosecute, or at least collect insurance on the loss. The bank in turn must report the crime (a felony) to the police to file an insurance claim. When I have had anything of value stolen from me directly I personally reported it to the police for insurance claim purposes. I never expected the police to arrest anybody or to find the lost property! Heartland’s losses are likewise between itself and its insurer, and perhaps its network security provider. I’m not a lawyer, but if you are, I am keenly interested in this whole matter.
This would probably fit into the discretionary category of investigation and prosecution. They could if they wanted to, but they frequently don’t. There are federal privacy laws, but then they might just go after Heartland for mistakenly giving out the donor information (the feds introducing insult to injury).
So, committing fraud to steal from a private institution is not a problem?. Yet the release of emails from a public institution that were under a FOIA request is has been treated a especially heinous crime.