Support builds for agent who gained plea data

By Sara A. Carter, Washington Times
December 12, 2007

Grass-roots support is gaining momentum for a Colorado federal agent charged with unlawfully accessing information from a national database that was used in an attack ad during a political campaign.

Corey Voorhis, a former special agent with the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is gaining support as he faces a political and legal firestorm for accessing information from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) that was used in a campaign ad during the 2006 gubernatorial race in Colorado.

Supporters say the case raises the question: "What is the local, state and federal government doing to deport illegal aliens that have committed serious crimes," said Michael G. Riebau, a retired 35-year ICE special agent and spokesman for the Corey Voorhis Defense Fund. "And why are they charging a top agent for a crime he didn't commit?"

"There's really a two-tier system of justice that's operational in Denver, Colorado," said Mr. Riebau, who created the fund to help Mr. Voorhis raise money for his defense. "One for the alien and the other for everyone else. Mr. Voorhis never believed the information he gave the congressman's office for oversight would be used in a campaign — he was just doing his job as required by law. People can see right through this injustice."

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., a Democrat whose office is at the center of the case, said Mr. Voorhis illegally accessed information from the NCIC for the political benefit of his Republican challenger, Bob Beauprez.

The ad featured an illegal alien to whom Mr. Ritter had granted a plea bargain for a drug offense while he was Denver's district attorney. It was discovered later that the illegal alien, using a different name, committed other crimes after the plea.

Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Mr. Ritter, told The Washington Times Monday that Mr. Voorhis violated the law and that he should pay for his crime. He also said Mr. Voorhis was not being singled out....

Mr. Riebau said the district attorney's office knowingly bargained with illegal aliens who committed felonies and when this practice was exposed Mr. Ritter singled out Mr. Voorhis for investigation.

Mr. Riebau said Mr. Voorhis saw a pattern of "obstruction of justice" by Mr. Ritter's office when they allowed illegal aliens arrested for serious drug crimes and aggravated felonies to plead guilty to unrelated lesser charges.

Court records show that from 1998 to 2004, Mr. Ritter oversaw plea bargains in 152 cases that permitted defendants to plead guilty to agricultural trespass instead of more serious charges, including assault and vehicle theft....

On Oct. 25, U.S. Attorney John Green said Mr. Voorhis, 38, was charged in U.S. District Court with three counts of exceeding his authorized access to a government computer.

A Jan. 14 court hearing in the case is scheduled...

Read the complete article.

Fair Use: This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues related to mass immigration. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html.
In order to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.