Day #3: U.S. v. Jim Bell report from federal court in Tacoma
Declan McCullagh
declan at well.com
Fri Apr 6 10:39:44 PDT 2001
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42895,00.html
ATF Admits Tracking Jim Bell
by Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
10:20 a.m. Apr. 6, 2001 PDT
TACOMA, Washington -- The government revealed Thursday that it
implanted a satellite-tracking device in a suspect's car and tracked
him as he drove around Oregon and Washington.
Brian Meyer, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, testified that he installed a GPS bug last November in a
Nissan Maxima owned by defendant Jim Bell.
Meyer told a fascinated jury that the device -- "high quality,
something that military and law enforcement uses" -- continually
transmitted Bell's exact location using a radio signal to receivers
operated by law enforcement. Federal agents used graphical mapping
software on a PC to plot Bell's movements in real time.
Political essayist Bell is on trial here this week in a case that
involves his alleged use of legally obtained CD-ROMs to compile
information about Treasury Department agents.
He is not accused of directly threatening them, but the government
says that by collecting information about agents by driving to their
suspected residences and by refusing to renounce his writings about
how to assassinate unethical federal employees, Bell is guilty of
violating stalking laws.
The government hopes to prove that Bell crossed state lines when
driving from Vancouver, Washington along I-205 to 14135 S. Clackamas
Drive in Oregon City, Oregon. That address is the current home of
Christopher John Groener, who testified on behalf of the prosecution,
and the former residence of ATF agent Mike McNall.
[...]
----- End forwarded message -----
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