GOP legislators eye grand jury in agent's prosecution

By Keren E Crummy, The Denver Post
December 5, 2007

Republican state legislators are considering asking a federal grand jury to look into the prosecution of a federal agent charged with accessing confidential information used by Republican Bob Beauprez's 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

State Sen. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, said Tuesday that he and some of his colleagues are concerned about the secrecy and selectivity surrounding the prosecution of federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis. Schultheis said that a grand jury could examine all the facts involved in the case, including that two other people accessed the same database as Voorhis but aren't being prosecuted.

"It appears this whole issue is trumped up, and the sanctions against this agent are far greater than what has happened to other people who have done the same thing," Schultheis said. "The records are sealed. There is potential for a political decision to come down."

Voorhis' attorneys asked that some of the records be sealed.

The U.S. attorney's office, however, can't just decide to convene a grand jury, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gaouette. A federal agency such as the FBI must conduct an investigation first....

The veteran agent has recently attracted a number of vocal supporters who have compared his plight to that of two border agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are serving lengthy prison sentences for shooting a fleeing Mexican drug smuggler and trying to cover it up.

Federal and state investigators are still investigating the access of the restricted National Crime Information Center database by three separate people.

Voorhis used NCIC to track down the aliases of an illegal immigrant who had been charged with heroin possession while Gov. Bill Ritter was the Denver district attorney, but was allowed to plead guilty to agricultural trespassing — an offense that doesn't mandate deportation.

After receiving probation, the man, using a different name, committed a sex crime in California.

The Denver DA's office also used NCIC to obtain the same information, which was given to District Attorney Mitch Morrissey for "informational purposes," according to DA communications director Lynn Kimbrough.

It's not clear whether that information was given to the Ritter campaign.

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