webre citizen attacks
DESCRIPTION
Political corruption? Where else? Louisiana?TRANSCRIPT
LOUISIANA WEBREGATE
A short history
of a very corrupt sheriff in a very corrupt state
It likely will not surprise you that this disturbing story
of political corruption, of police civil rights abuses,
of high-level cover ups originates from within the
State of Louisiana.
NEWSWEEK recently speculated on who will win the century's title as the
most corrupt state in the union, Louisiana or Illinois.
“Corruption in Illinois is mainly pedestrian and shameful.
“In Louisiana, it's flambuoyant and shameless.”
Jacob Weisberg, NEWSWEEK, publ. 12/13/08, 12/22/08
This presentation reports on but one incident of the
“bayou” state's corruption. But it is an important story.
For it shows not just the crimes of a prominent Louisiana law enforcement official against his own people;
it shows the savage and brutal means to which he would resort to
hide those crimes and punishthose citizens who report them.
Mr. Weisberg: “ Louisiana wins the corruption super bowl
hands down.”
This corruption originates from the Southeast corner of Louisiana, about sixty from New Orleans.
from LAFOURCHE PARISH
* In Louisiana our “counties” are called “parishes”.
Political corruption is rampant in south Louisiana.
Nowhere more so than in the infamous Lafourche Parish.
Our last three Lafourche Parish sheriffs went to federal prison.
But the current law enforcement regime in Lafourche has taken
political corruptionand brutal cover up tactics
far beyond that of the administrations of the past.
The current administration has taken corruption to a radically new
level of citizen abuse,of intimidation and of threatened violence,
to intolerable campaignsof repression and fear
which far surpasses anything that we experienced in the past.
This is CRAIG WEBRE
Webre is the Sheriff of Lafourche Parish.
Webre has been the sheriff for 18 years.
Craig Webre is an exceedingly wealthy sheriff.
Craig Webre ownsAdvanced Electronic
Monitoring Systems Inc.; Smart Start of Louisiana; and
a host of other private Louisiana corporations
Craig Webre ownsAdvanced Electronic
Monitoring Systems Inc.; Smart Start of Louisiana; anda host of other private corporations
Both companies market law enforcement-related
services and devices.
The problem and legal issue is that Webre's companies market these expensive
law enforcement services and devices
to parish citizens and courts over whom he maintainsjurisdiction and control
through the sheriff's office..
Seven years ago the State of Louisiana
told Webre that it was not lawfulfor him to market these products
to his own parishioners and courts.
The State told Webre that his making of a personal profit from
Lafourche Parish law enforcement and judicial matters would constitute
a gross conflict of interestbetween his office as sheriff andhis personal business ventures.
2002; Webre Ethics Ruling
Louisiana Board of Ethics, 5/15/2002
Ethics Advisory Opinion,
Docket No. 2002-265
Webre ignored the State's ethics ruling.
This was south Louisiana, folks.Even if he was caught in violation of the state's ruling, Webre believed that
he could extricate himself through legal technicalities and through
those good ole boys down at the courthouse. .
As Webre indicated to many in the parish, even if he was caught in violation of
the state's ruling, he could extricate himself
through legal technicalities and those“boys” down at the court. .
But the Louisiana Ethics Administration eventually grew tired of Webre's
infamous arrogant defiance of the law.
The Ethics Administration finally brought charges against Webre
two months ago for the commission of his
multiple conflicts of interest andother mass ethics violations.
Marsha Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate Capitol News Bureau 4/11/2009
Baton Rouge Daily Advocate
But the ethics administration's pending charges against Webre
have not even yet touched the full extent of his corruption.
Especially during his last four year tenure as sheriff, Webre took his
profit seeking far beyond in illegality what the state of Louisiana could
have ever envisioned.
Webre brazenly wrote lucrative business contracts which called for his AEMS and Smart Start services and products to be
marketed and sold by
BAIL BONDSMEN who were operating out of
his own Lafourche Parish jail.
Worse yet: the bondsmen were
marketing Webre company servicesand products in conjunction with
their own bail bond-related writing business in the jail.
Linked to this site is one such contract. The contract was between Webre's
AEMS corporation and the largest bail bonding company which was operating
out of the Lafourche Parish jail.
Bonvillian Contract.PDF
The bondsmen would tell
prospective bail bond clients, ie. Webre's own PRISONERS
that their bail bond underwriters would post their bond ONLY if
the client simultaneously purchased a “bond securing “ electronic home
detention device, which was not ordered by the arraigning court,
from Craig Webre's Smart Start company.
Then there's the egregious conflicts of interest which arose from
Webre's business tie-into the Colorado corporation, BI.COM.
BI.COM sells a hardware/software system by which law enforcement
agencies run their misdemeanor, drug court, juvenile house arrest and other
incarceration-alternative programs
BI.COM was an active government contractor with
the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's office and judidical progams.
BI.COM LAFOURCHE PARISH
Craig Webre's AEMS corporationis the designated legal “reseller” for
BI.COM's products in Louisiana.
The conflicts of interest between Webre's duties as Sheriff and
his lucrative private business ventures have been evident to Lafourche Parish
citizens for a long time.
So were the obvious adverse repercussions to their jobs, families and lives were they to voice public
comments about it.
Inevitably the ever-expanding network of Webre's conflicts of interest
mushroomed into huge political as well as legal
problems for the sheriff.
In 2007 Webre was up for re-election in Lafourche Parish.
Webre also had just assumed the Presidency of the prestigious
NATIONAL SHERIFFS' ASSOCIATIONin Alexandria, Virginia
Over $3 million of the NSA's yearly budget
is derived through grantsfrom the
United States Justice Department.
Webre's alleged massive wrongdoing back on the bayous of Louisiana
potentially represented serious adverse exposure and public scrutiny to the NSA if it were exposed
in the national media.
Webre knew that most of the whistle blowing and the public outcry over his
conflicts of interest and malfeasance in office
Were originating from south Louisiana.
Webre began to unleash a ruthless campaign to retaliate against and
to silence any Lafourche Parish citizen who dared even publicly mention his apparent misuse of his elected office
forpersonal gain and profit.
To Webre and his advisors, Lafourche Parish citizens had become
their “enemy combatants”. Lafourche Parish started to resemble
A secret police state in the old Soviet Union.
Webre and his Internal Affairs Chief initiated surveillance of Internet
forums and blogs within andoutside of the parish.
In their increasingly desperate minds Webre and his attorney created their
own version of“reasonable legal cause” under which
to monitor the cell phone and Internet communications of citizens.
Reasonable cause was any discussion by or among citizens that even alluded to
Webre's misuse of his office for personal financial reward.
Computer IP addresses, emails, cell phone directories and other
electronic-identifying info on parish citizens was steered
into the hands of Webre's reelection “task forces”.
Webre's private investigators were sent on reconnaissance missions to local
parish librariesIn order to determine who
may be using public computers to post adverse
comments about his administration.
Lafourche is a rural parish. Many residents do not have home PC's.
Many still use parish library facilities for Net access and to engage in
political dialogue and commentary.
Webre and his people tried to totally chill that open public dialogue
in the parish.
Webre's staff began issuing public Internet announcements to
“warn” citizens: citizens were told that “using parish computers” to post negative comments
about the sheriff was against the law.
Letters were sent to individual Internet forum participants,
whose Internet addresses Webre's staff had hacked into, instilling
more and more fear of the adversity which could come
to them from any anti-Webre posts.
HOW MANY GOT THOSE LETTERS AGAIN? ● ROUGAROO.PDF,
● Thibodaux Daily Comet, April 15, 2009
Rougaroo.DOC
To Webre, the Constitution, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press
became immaterial.
Donald Harang was the attorney for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office.
Harang began circulating his theory derived from the trendy book,
The Art of War; whoever insinuatedWebre's illegal business activity
was in effect
“conspiring to undermine law and order in the parish.”
Parish businessmen could deal with no more of the repression:
Sheriff Craig Webre had to go
Instead of backing off from hisrepressive attacks and the backlash
which they were triggering, Webre accelerated his retaliation and reprisals against area citizens and businessmen.
When his critics and opponents attempted to air television reports of his corruption, Webre had the
reports taken off the air.
Webre's attorneys went to a local judge who was a Webre political backer;
the judge issued an injunction prohibiting such public TV disclosures.
Parish citizen groupshad to go to a Louisiana appellate court
to get the censorship ban lifted.
Appellate court overrules Webre censorship:Houma Courier, October 16, 2007
RADIO FREE LAFOURCHE
Webre's surveillance tactics became more maniacal.
As is the case in most sheriff's offices, selected staff members possess
federal password authorizations which are used to access Justice Department, FBI, and other federal computer data on
citizens.
In Webre's case, he had used his connections with the
National Sheriff's Association and Homeland Security
to obtain access to even more Restricted citizen data base files
which are maintained by the federal government.
The records are are to be accessed ONLY FOR legitimate law enforcement
purposes pursuant to an actual criminal investigation.
United States Code of Federal FegulationsTitle 28 Judicial Administration;
Part 20 Criminal Justice information Systems
28 C.F.R. Part 20
United States Code of Federal FegulationsTitle 28 Judicial Administration;
Part 23 Criminal Justice information Systems
28 C.F.R. Part 23
Webre tossed these stringent Justice Department computer access
regulations to the wind.
Webre's staff repeatedly breachedthe regulations, mining into FBI, NCIC, Homeland Security and other federal data bases for his own political ends.
Webre personnel then began hacking Into the private employment and
confidential banking records of his critics.
Constitutional privacy safeguards
virtually disappeared.
Webre's goal: to collect confidential computer data on Lafourche Parish citizens and businesses who were
exposing his apparent corruption and malfeasance in office;
and to then distort it and to publicly release within the official parish
newspaper forums; to discredit and intimidate allwhistle blowers and critics.
Webre even allowed outside campaign workers,
who are expressly forbidden from accessing ANY government data files,
to delve into the confidential federal/private computer records.
Every informant, every whistle blower who was reporting the sheriff's alleged misuse of his office to
federal and state agencies became a repeat target for the
Illicit computer searches .
Eg. offshore oil supplier Gordon Rice:Rice early on became a target of
Webre's unlawful searches and data dissemination of Justice Departmentfiles; Rice had tried to publicly reveal Webre's corrupt misuse of his officefor profit in the local news media.
Eg. Nicholls State University Police Chief Craig Jacuzzo: Mr. Jacuzzo vehemently opposed Webre's secrecy in his settlement of brutality suits which were repeatedly brought against the
parish; Jacuzzo became another prime target of the Webre federal computer
hacking force.
Scores of other businessmen and everyday citizens fell victim
to the invasion of Justice Department and Homeland Security citizen files.
At one point Webre's private investigative force is saidto have been actually reading
the computer notes of FBI agents who were investigating his
alleged malfeasance!
Time after time the extracted computer data would be altered and distorted; falsified claims would be made as to
its content; the citizens who were run would be accused of illicit activity;
the falsified reports would then be published within the on line forums of
the parish's official news journal.
Respected citizens, ordinary businessmen who were speaking out
against Webre found themselves
publicly accused of perjury, of fraud,of psychotic episodes, of sex crimes,
of involvement in drug dealing.
But . . . Craig Webre messed up.
In the summer of 2007, Webre andhis team of computer hackers got
“caught in the act”.
Webre's personnel were conducting the illegal federal data
searches through a data access software package
which is marketed under the name THINKSTREAM©.
THINKSTREAM software enables
law enforcement agencies, on a fee basis,
to link into its huge Baton Rouge computer servers;
the servers
in turn link into into the federal government's Justice Department/Homeland Security computer banks.
THINKSTREAM maintains a stringent user agreement with the
FBI in order to maintain these to the restricted federal computer data.
As part of the user agreement,
THINKSTREAM is required to provide 24/7 monitoring
of all federal computer searches which are initiated through its servers.
All unauthorized or suspect computer searches must be
immediately reported to the FBI and Louisiana officials;
the incidents must be subsequently documented within the biennial and annual audits which the company
must submit on federal data accessions through its facility.
In 2007 THINKSTREAM President Barry Bellue and
Vice President Paul San Soucie made a startling discovery.
Bellue and San Soucie confided totheir legal counsels, employees and
confidantes: Webre was in major legal trouble.
THINKSTREAM possessed hard-copy disk evidence: Webre and his personnel
had been running unauthorized,warrant-less searches through the
Justice Department/Homeland Security computers for reasons having nothing to do with
law enforcement activities.
Webre was running the searches toassemble additional information
on critics, whistle blowers and other citizens which he would use in hiscensorship/intimidation campaign
against them.
THINKSTREAM's information onWebre's criminal misuse of the
federal computer files leaked out. Lafourche Parish was in shock.
Businessmen issued a public demand to the
United States Attorney's Office in New Orleans:
immediately take action to arrestWebre for authorizing the illegal
federal computer searches on Louisiana citizens; immediately
halt his alteration and dissemination of falsified federal data through
the Internet and media.
Prominent Louisiana attorney Brett Burley
led the demands for action. The U.S. Attorney's Office was
Provided with documentation and testimony of the illegal searches.
A civil law suit simultaneously was commenced in federal court in New Orleans by many of the citizens and
businessmen who were victims of the illegal Webre computer searches.
CITIZENS OF LAFOURCHE VERSUS WEBREOctober 16, 2007
WEBRE28CFR23
But Webre did not relent from his citizen attacks; his defiance worsened.
Within two weeks Webre's attorney was on the telephone to Bellue at
THINKSTREAM, urging thata deal be cut for THINKSTREAM
to conceal and suppress itsincriminating evidence.
Webre' revenge continued to soar out of control.
Read now the account of anotherof Craig Webre's specially-targeted
victims, Daniel Morris.
Up until the time that he was forced to move out of Lafourche Parish in fear for his life, Morris lived in
Thibodaux, the seat of the Lafourche Parish government and the
headquarters of Webre's administrative offices.
“ I was one of the citizens who first reported Sheriff Craig Webre's alleged misconduct to federal and state law enforcement and judicial officials.
Webre knew that I had reported him. His attorney Donald Harang admitted it to me several times.
In fact, Harang harassed me for months to give him the names of everyone else whom I knew who had reported Webre's alleged malfeasance to state or federal authorities.
In revenge for my reporting him, Webre and several of his attorneys assembled what was to become known within Lafourche Parish as his Internet retaliation possé.
The Webre possé was a group of Internet writers who posted in his behalf in the on-line news forums of the Thibodaux Daily Comet newspaper.
The possé included Webre's attorneys, his private investigators ex sheriff's office employees, rogue deputies and task force members, along with several of campaign supporters.
The initial mission of the “possé”was to publish attacks on my and other citizens' credibility on the on-line Internet forums of the Daily Comet.
The Internet retaliation and intimidation started in late August, 2007.
'Hell in a hand basket for Mr. Morris', a Webre attorney notified me through his forum communications.
'I'd duck if I were you but it won't help'.
'I am the New Son of Sam, Daniel,' exclaimed another possé member who adopted the name of the notorious Brooklyn serial killer.
My concern worsened. So did most other middle-aged readers. We understood the reference. This in not something with which to targetanother forum reader.
'You will never lose me',New Son of Sam then notified every forum poster whom he believed to be me. He was the
predator. I was his prey. He was flagrant in stating his intent; he was as he stated my “stalker”.
My medical records were illegally accessed by this New Son of Sam. Medical diagnoses were twisted, mocked, and published on the Internet.
Cyber harassment was one thing. What this character Sam was doing was beyond harassment. It was but a prelude.
JUSTICE IS COMING FOR DANIELMarch 7, 2008
DAILY COMET INTIMIDATION 6.PDF
JUSTICE IS COMING FOR DANIELMarch 7, 2008
DAILY COMET INTIMIDATION 7.PDF
Webre's e-possé realized that their Internet harassment had failed to stop me from communicating with government investigators who were examining his alleged misconduct as sheriff.
They turned up the heat. Webre knew through his attorneys of the deteriorating attack. He did nothing.
I had become Mr. Webre's example for other Lafourche Parish citizens: 'this is what will happen to you too if you so dare as suggest that your sheriff is implicated in illicit activity.'
No one in the parish (pop. ~ 90,000+) was prepared for the ensuing insanity of the Webre instigated Internet campaign.
The possé's Internet tactics took their turn for the worse in early late spring of 2008. Their linked forum posts became totally bizarre, threatening physical violence.
Internet posts began in Latin, under the screen name of one of a deceased colleague, Dr. R.N. Sabatini of Loyola and Nicholls State University .
“rattle, rattle , cough , cough, “ a reference to Sabatini's death from lung cancer became the constant refrain which would start the messages.
'You will soon find yourself in a small dark interrogation room and it will not be comfortable,' I was notified.
More mental derangement
A hyperlink to an audio file from Jack Nicholson's horror movie, The Shining, was inserted into another Webre posse Internet post which targeted me.
PLAYWITHUS.MP3
The threats and warnings grew.
'And Daniel, pauvre bete, is in serious trouble', proclaimed another member of the Webre Internet team in a March 2008 post. 'He started it, now who's going to finish it.'
DANIEL IS IN BIG TROUBLEMarch 7, 2008
DAILY COMET INTIMIDATION 5.PDF
When a forum reader commented on the cyber stalking and intimidation, Webre's possé was right there to expand its threats: “Now who's going to help GAdams?”.
I and several friends screen- captured dozens of these never ending, bizarre Internet posts which were being directed at me.
In April and May of 2008, the Internet posts degenerated into the ultimate violent scenario: the physical threat on my life.
The danger of physical violence from these men, either at their hand or at their instigation, became a very real, 24/7 issue.
Please remember, this maniacal insanity against me was being foisted with Webre's full knowledge. I had no law enforcement protection from these threats.
The concerted Internet attacks no longer were confined to harass- ment or psychological intimi-dation.
Beginning on April 29, 2008 I received the first of a series of three
coordinated Daily Comet posts which warned of lethal violence.
I was told to “behold my fate.”
then, three days later,
“D.T.M., I will toast God three times with the blood
of your murder.”
Another Internet possé memberimmediately reinforced the threat.
“ I see dead people,” he posted.
These threats had a deep impact; I truly felt that I likely was looking at the loss of my life, if not at that specific moment then in the very immediate future.
Friend after friend began to call, 'Daniel, you have to get out of here. There seem to be heavy-duty mental problems with several of these Internet posters who have been targeting you.'.
'A normal person would never publish threats this deranged, imbued with blood and gore; you have no police protection; Webre knows this Internet violence is going on; he and Harang are facilitating it by refusing to act to stop it. THEY STARTED IT'
Trust me, this was a horribly situation.And, it continued to intensify.
Three months after their April-May “drink your blood” threats, these same Webre Internet stalkers tracked me down on a trip I had made to the Pacific Northwest, 2700 miles from the Louisiana bayous.
A communication was posted to me on the Comet forums. My exact location, Seattle, was published. I truly had become the “hunted”.
I became so alarmed I notified TSA at the Sea Tac Airport before I would consider getting on my flight back to Louisiana.
“You will never lose me,'” the New Son of Sam had warned me 11 months earlier through the Daily Comet's Internet forums.
Craig Webre has achieved the vengeance against me that he so wanted. He has for all intent and purpose destroyed all peace of mind and sense of safety and security.
The stalking and death threats which these men have imposed on me remain, I presume, to this day.The state ethics board's decision to prosecute Webre probably makes the execution of those threats more likely than ever.
You are talking about a huge amount of money which Craig Webre is making from his corrupt misuse of his office. I really do not believe that he will let go of his riches and his near-psychopathic desire for retaliation on his own.
Only if the state intervenes to incarcerate Mr. Webre and his rogue possé will this threat ever be gone from my life.
Webre is a brutal and vindicative sheriff. I am convinced that he and those who take orders from him are just as physically dangerous to the other citizens who spoke out against his corruption as they are to me. “
Daniel T. Morris
Returning from Mr. Morris's testimony,we clearly see on fact:
Craig Webre ran the gamut ofsome of the most extreme
political corruption and police brutality in thehistory of even this corrupt
State of Louisiana.
Craig Webre continues to roam thebayous of south Louisiana , like the
legendary loup garou, with hisBadge in one hand and his
business card in the other.
Craig Webre continues to preyOn south Louisiana's citizens.
As Mr. Morris says, Craig Webre and his intimidation team still appear until this day
to pose a real danger:
a danger to the civil rights and physical safety
of anyone who dared to question, or still would have the courage,
to publicly questionhis misuse of his elected office.
Louisiana Governor and Republican Presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal
continues to do nothing which would bring his political buddyCraig Webre to justice.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office maintains federal jurisdiction over
Lafourche Parish.
Letten, like Jindal,continues to take no action
against Craig Webre. Indeed, Letten has done everything in his power to protect Craig Webre
From being prosecuted.
In January of this year, just after Mr. Obama entered office, the Justice Department commenced a major
inquiry into Webre's alleged crimes.
The probe was headed by veteran Justice Department criminal investigator
MICHAEL FLETCHER.
Jim Letten found out.
The Fletcher investigationwas stopped in its tracks, less
then a week before Fletcher wasscheduled to fly to Louisiana to take
additional sworn statements which were needed for a
Webre indictment.
Only Mr. Obama and the Congressnow seem in a position
to stop Webre: to stop his illegal federal computer searches; to stop his civil rights abuses; to stop his
citizen intimidation, reprisals and police brutality.