Case against ICE agent moves forward
Case against ICE agent moves forward
Investigator charged after accessing database to reveal plea bargaining
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Posted: February 05, 2008
10:26 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A judge in Denver has rejected a request to dismiss charges against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who is facing a misdemeanor count for allegedly "exceeding" his authorized access to a national crime database.
Critics have told WND that the prosecution is a politically motivated "revenge" case against Cory Voorhis because Voorhis accessed the National Crime Information Center to document that Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, while the prosecuting attorney in Denver, had reduced charges to release illegal alien criminals who later committed violent crimes.
Voorhis was indicted in Colorado on a federal misdemeanor for that action, and critics say the prosecution of the agent, who is on unpaid leave, is jeopardizing the government's case against the head of a major Mexican crime family Voorhis investigated for five years.
"This is nothing more than political revenge by Gov. Ritter," former ICE senior special agent Mike Riebau told WND in a telephone interview.
"The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has become nothing more than Gov. Ritter's personal police force and Ritter is now set on doing whatever it takes to get even with Voorhis," Riebau charged.
Voorhis' attorneys had argued that charges should be dropped because he's the target of a selective prosecution, and others who looked up the same information have not been charged, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News.
A daylong hearing brought testimony from three members of the Denver DA's office who admitted they accessed the same information in October 2006, after former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, Ritter's opponent in the gubernatorial race, ran an ad citing the information.
After prosecutors reported the DA's office use the database appropriately, to answer questions from the Ritter campaign about the ad, U.S. District Judge John Kane said the case would continue.
Comments posted on the newspaper's forum ranged from a demand for Voorhis' dismissal to this opinion from, "anteup," "Answering questions for the media and Ritter's campaign was 'legitimate work purpose,' information for the public and for a Republican campaign is a 'crime.' HYPOCRITES."
WND had contacted Ritter's office with a request for a comment, but did not get a return telephone call.
The controversy involves Walter Noel Ramo, aka Carlos Estrada-Medina, an illegal alien that Ritter, while district attorney, allowed to plead to minor charges involving "agricultural trespass," even though Ramo had been arrested on heroin trafficking charges.
Instead of being deported or indicted on drug charges, Ramo was released in Colorado and went to California, where he committed sexual assault on a minor.
Voorhis, 38, is a U.S. Army Gulf War veteran who was a Border Patrol agent before his 15-year career with ICE.
"Ritter is determined to ruin Voorhis' stellar career, to bankrupt him in defending himself, and to convict him criminally so as to prevent Voorhis from ever again holding a position of responsibility in law enforcement or for the federal government," Riebau said.
Also at risk is the pending prosecution of Pedro Castoreña, the kingpin of a Mexican crime family, which for two decades had provided millions of illegal documents to Mexican nationals seeking to infiltrate the United States illegally, authorities allege.
Castoreña was apprehended as a result of a five-year criminal investigation headed by Voorhis.
Castoreña currently is being held in Mexico, fighting extradition. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years on money laundering charges.
Castoreña may go free, however, if a misdemeanor conviction disqualifies Voorhis from testifying against him as a key witness at trial.
"This was the largest counterfeit document case ever to be worked on in the United States," Riebau said. "Voorhis and his team dismantled the Castoreña crime family and prosecuting Castoreña is the final chapter to go down.
"The successful prosecution of Castoreña is being jeopardized by Ritter's vendetta against Voorhis," Riebau charged. "We are at risk here of losing the results of a 5-year very complicated international criminal investigation that has cost the U.S. government millions."
Castoreña allegedly ran a document falsifying crime syndicate that operated in 14 U.S. states, producing high quality Mexican drivers licenses, U.S. social security cards, U.S. birth certificates and green cards for illegal aliens, including gang members and known felons.
The investigation required provisional warrants in Mexico requiring the Mexican government to locate Castoreña and arrest him under the U.S. warrants.
"Eliminating Castoreña would be a big blow to his whole organization," Riebau explained. "Castoreña was like the John Gotti of this crime family. When you knock down the head of a major criminal syndicate, you have the chance to make the crime syndicate dysfunctional."
Voorhis maintains he was fully within his rights under 5 U.S.C. Section 7211, to provide information to a U.S. congressman.
Title 5 U.S.C. Section 7211 reads, "The right of employees, individually or collectively, to petition Congress or a Member of Congress, or to furnish information to either House of Congress, or to a committee or Member thereof, may not be interfered with or denied."
Riebau explained to WND that Voorhis felt compelled to correct Ritter's campaign statements that he was tough on crime and intended to enforce the immigration laws by pointing out Ritter's practice of allowing illegal aliens who were arrested in Denver to plead lesser crimes so they could be released.
"Voorhis has dedicated his entire career to the enforcement of immigration laws," Riebau told WND. "He takes his job very seriously. When Voorhis goes to work, he goes to work with a mission. He doesn't just go to collect a pay check."
A "Cory Legal Defense" website has been created by a committee organized to solicit contributions to assist the Voorhis legal defense.
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