Texas PI admits role in Beauprez campaign flap

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News
November 20, 2007

A private investigator from Texas hired last year to dig into Democrat Bill Ritter's background for a Colorado Republican group admitted today that he asked "a buddy" to access an off-limits criminal database.

Kenny Rodgers, 57, said his friend, who worked for the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston at the time, looked up information in the National Crime Information Center, known as NCIC.

"My buddy who looked it up is in deep trouble because of me," Rodgers told the Rocky Mountain News.

A Colorado federal agent already has been charged with accessing NCIC — which is to be used for law enforcement purposes only — and providing information to Ritter's 2006 gubernatorial opponent, Republican Bob Beauprez. Beauprez then ran ads critical of Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, for giving plea bargains to illegal immigrants.

Agent Cory Voorhis' attorneys this month filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Denver, contending selective prosecution. The attorneys said officials in Denver and Texas accessed the same database for the same information and were not charged.

Harris County began an investigation after the motion was filed, Rodger said.

Rodgers worked as as subcontractor for a Philadelphia investigative firm that was hired by The Trailhead Group, a political 527 committee founded by prominent Republicans, including former Gov. Bill Owens. The group's aim was to elect Republicans statewide in 2006....

Rodgers said he had his friend check NCIC to find out which county in California had prosecuted an illegal immigrant once given a plea bargain by Ritter's office. Rodgers said he was told the information was to be used in a Beauprez TV ad.

Campaign law prohibits 527 groups from coordinating with campaigns. Trailhead's director, Alan Philp, last year said there were no violations and the information on plea bargaining illegal immigrants was well known among Republicans.

Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, said after the ad aired she fielded questions from reporters and a Ritter campaign staffer. She said they were particularly interested in the case of an illegal immigrant prosecuted by Ritter who later was charged under a different name in California of sexually assaulting a minor....

...she enlisted Morrissey's No. 2 man, Assistant District Attorney Chuck Lepley, to help, she said. He had an employee check NCIC....

After confirming that the defendant in California was the same person that Ritter had plea bargained, Kimbrough said she called reporters back. She said she likely called the Ritter campaign back, too....

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