CO-Probe: Voorhis' boss falsely testified

Probe: Voorhis' boss falsely testified
By Karen E. Crummy

Posted: 10/07/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 10/07/2009 06:12:52 AM MDT


Cory Voorhis of ICE was acquitted of improperly accessing a federal criminal-records database.


An internal investigation has determined that a supervisor in Denver's immigration enforcement office "gave false testimony" during the trial of an agent charged with unlawfully accessing a federal criminal database and releasing information to Bob Beauprez's gubernatorial campaign.

Tony Rouco, who supervised U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis, "willfully gave false testimony under oath" at Voorhis' trial last year, according to the April 2009 investigation report. He also made false statements to the FBI and ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility and failed to report employee misconduct, it states.

Even so, it appears Rouco has never been disciplined and he remains on the job, which at times requires him to swear under oath in court or when signing court papers. Although his alleged misconduct was reported to federal prosecutors, they declined to treat it as a crime.

A statement from ICE said the agency "cannot discuss internal administrative issues regarding its employees. However, ICE holds all its employees to the highest standards of ethics and professional behavior."

Rouco did not return calls for comment.

It's been more than 18 months since a federal jury found Voor his not guilty of improperly accessing a federal criminal-records database and providing information to the Republican Beauprez's campaign, and three years since the controversy first erupted. Yet the repercussions are still being felt within Denver's ICE office.

Voorhis, who officially lost his job in February, has appealed his termination, and Rouco is expected to testify for the government.

Info used by Beauprez

The information Voorhis provided was used by the Beauprez campaign in a series of ads questioning plea agreements made with immigrants by the office of his Democratic opponent, Bill Ritter, when Ritter was Denver's district attorney. One ad featured Walter Ramo, an illegal immigrant and alleged heroin dealer who was allowed to plead to trespassing on farmland instead of drug charges. Ramo, who received probation, went on to commit a sex crime in California.

After Beauprez aired the ads, Ritter and his staff demanded an investigation, saying that the only way the information about Ramo could have become known was if someone had unlawfully accessed the National Crime Information Center. That investigation led to the charges against Voorhis.

Depositions, polygraph results, internal investigation reports and administrative records obtained by Voorhis as he pursues an appeal of his firing and provided to The Denver Post raise questions about ICE's internal investigation.

Voorhis told investigators that he had told Rouco on Sept. 30, 2006, that he ran names of some immigrants prosecuted by Ritter's office through the federal database a few days earlier to double-check that ICE had "done the right thing" with regard to their cases and to check their immigration status. He also said he told Rouco on Sept. 30 that he gave that information to a Beauprez staffer.

Rouco supported his actions, Voorhis said, and "was in complete agreement that my actions were legal, ethical and were consistent with our oath of office and official responsibility in regard to public safety and immigration law enforcement."

Cellphone records show that Rouco and Voorhis spoke on Sept. 30, but Rouco insisted throughout the criminal case against Voorhis that he wasn't told by Voorhis about the NCIC access until Oct. 13.

That was a day after Ritter's chief counsel, Trey Rogers, called the Colorado Bureau of Investigation alleging possible misuse of the database. Voor his was put on paid leave Oct. 18.

Over the next six months in interviews with the FBI and ICE and during his sworn testimony at trial, Rouco repeatedly denied knowing about Voorhis' actions prior to Oct. 13 or said he could "not recall."

Then came the acquittal of Voorhis, the start of an internal investigation at ICE, and a polygraph examination of Rouco on July 10, 2008. When asked whether Voorhis had ever told him about releasing information to someone associated with Beauprez prior to Oct. 13, Rouco said no. The polygraph report for that question and two other versions of the query noted "deception indicated."

During hours of questions that followed, Rouco said at points that he should have known, actually knew or was told by Voorhis prior to Oct. 13 that he ran names through the database to determine their immigration status and released them to a Beauprez staffer.

"Bad judgment"

On at least two occasions, the lead agent conducting the internal investigation, Manuel Olmos, said to Rouco that if it were he, he would've said to Voorhis "you can't do that" or "this is not right and I'm gonna report you."

Rouco responded: "That was bad judgment on my part."

But later, Rouco changed his answers and said he told Voorhis "he was wrong and you can't do that."

Eventually, Rouco acknow ledged to Olmos that around Sept. 29 Voorhis told him he gave information to the Beauprez campaign and verified aliases of illegal immigrants.

Voorhis believes that if his boss had told the truth from the start that access to the database was approved by his supervisor, he never would have faced charges.

Five weeks after Rouco's polygraph exam, Olmos drew up and signed an affidavit about what Rouco said.

But Olmos, who later acknowledged that he thought Voorhis was guilty of the federal charges but was left in charge of the investigation anyway, did not disclose everything about Rouco's admissions. There was no mention in the affidavit that there was a polygraph, nor that the report showed "deception indicated with confession" by Rouco.

Olmos did not return calls for comment.

In the final investigative report, prepared by an agent other than Olmos, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, found Rouco "willfully" gave false testimony under oath during a federal criminal proceeding, gave false statements to the FBI and OPR during an investigation, and failed to report employee misconduct.

The cases were referred to the Colorado U.S. attorney's office, which recused itself, according to an OPR report. The case was referred to the Kansas office, which declined to prosecute.

Rouco currently is a supervisor in ICE's Cipher and Forensic Unit. In an August deposition, he said that his duties hadn't been restricted and that no disciplinary action had been taken against him.



http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13501666#