WP: Admission Attributed To Bush's Ex-Aide

[Rose Siding]

Former White House adviser Claude A. Allen admitted "that he was committing fraudulent returns" on Jan 2. when a store manager confronted him as he was leaving a Gaithersburg Target with merchandise he allegedly didn't pay for, a police charging document says.

Police issued Allen, 45, a citation at 7:30 p.m. that day for allegedly stealing "clothing and cleaning products" worth $74.72 from the store, at 25 Grand Corner Ave. Like traffic tickets, such citations often do not lead to arrests and seldom lead to jail time when they go to trial.
....
Detective David Hill, with the county's retail crime unit, was assigned to the case after that incident. Using credit card statements and store surveillance video, Hill says in the charging document, he was able to tally $5,000 in potentially fraudulent refunds involving purchases with Allen's American Express card, the charging document says.
....
· On the morning of Dec. 24, Allen was filmed selecting a $237 Kodak printer that he paid for with his Visa card. Hours later he obtained a refund at a Target store in Germantown for an identical printer.
· On Dec. 30, Allen bought a $60 jacket, a $25 pair of pants, two shades worth $15 each and two unspecified items worth $2.50 each. Hours later, he received a $125.94 refund for identical items.
· On Jan. 1, he purchased an $88 RCA stereo at a Target store in Gaithersburg. About an hour later, he was videotaped selecting an identical stereo at a Rockville Target store, and he obtained a refund using a receipt that corresponded to the one from Gaithersburg.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/13/AR2006031301677.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The amounts are so goddam PETTY!

Migod, he had to pull several capers to make $5000. So pathetic.

[arcane1]

3. hell, he didn't even make any money!

he just scammed so he could get crap for free

still petty as hell!

[benddem]

2. I read somewhere

where he is blaming his identical twin. The wingnut blogs are absolutely sure this is bogus.

[UCLA02]

4. Funny how the Freepers are spinning this as beckfiring on Dems

Saying how the Dems opposing his nomination have egg on their face. Why, you ask????

This is good...

Wait...here it comes...

Beacuse they (we) missed the opportunity to have a sitting Bush-appointed Circuit Court judge caught for these crimes. WTF??!!


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594209/posts
"The hilarious part about this is that the Democrats saved the Bush Administration from the embarassment of having a sitting federal judge arrested for a charge that is darn close to shoplifting.
Once again the filibuster backfires on the Dems!"


Un. F&%king. Believable.


BTW--"darn close to shoplifting" actually means..."false pretenses." (I actually remember something from first week of law school...) or, for you wiki-types... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_pretenses
An argument can also be made for embezzlement, though a longer shot than false pretenses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embezzlement

[Zen Democrat]

5. See, it just escapes the freepers that we want honest, intelligent people.

In elective office, on the courts, in appointed positions. That's a foreign concept to them.

[54anickel]

7. That is the most twisted piece of pretzel logic bullshit I've heard of, oh

wait...

9/11 = Iraq, Saddam was a bad man so we blew up his entire country, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" (the name twisted in itself) will pay for itself, we do not torture - but we need it to be legal (just in case), we only spy on terrorist unless we think we need to spy on someone else, we get legal permission to spy - unless we think it will be turned down, etc, etc, etc....

Hmmmm, Okay, so maybe it's not the MOST twisted logic afterall.

[MGKrebs]

11. One slight correction:

O peration
I raqi
L iberation

[olddad56]

6. You would think a guy who worked for a thief could do better.

[hang a left]

8. This absolutely makes no sense whatsoever.

He could have at least earned $25,000.00 just on hooking up some businessman with a meeting with **. He must have learned a few tricks working in the WH all that time???

There has got to be more to this story. Or this guy is just a couple of tacos short of a combination plate.

[sattahipdeep]

14. "This guy is so bright! His mind is like a steel trap"

....
Using credit card statements and store surveillance video
....
He was videotaped

This guy is so bright?

Makes no sense. Or....another bush person above the law?

[salin]

9. According to tpm - the next twist in this story

is going to be an 'evil twin' identity confusion story. Apparently there is a "ne'er do well" identical twin who is about to be introduced into this story. Of course the on the record admission per the fraudulent return on the part of Allen might make this "it was the twin, not me" story harder to sell.

[Gin]

10. I confess................my identical twin brother did it!

g

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. That's a twin with Claude's AmEx card, is it?

Since the purchases went on his card, I think the evil twin theory will be a little hard to prove.

[melissinha]

19. when they issued the citation did they take his ID?:

I hardly think an evil twin would use bro's ID to escape identification.


:kick:

[warrens]

16. A little handwriting analysis should end that one

Sounds to me like the guy has a mental problem, some sort of compulsion. This is a very, very common scam and retailers are well aware of it. The timing alone is a huge tipoff; no one returns products an hour later to a different store.

[sattahipdeep]

17. Ambien Defense. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

18. The twin story will fly...You're forgetting the automatic Republican

Gimmie rule that lets them take back their first three explanations for anything. E.g. "Saddam has WMD." Oops--"We're bringing peace and freedom to the Iraqi people." Oops--etc.

[NYC]

24. Then why did he resign?

If his twin did it, he would be able to continue his employment. It makes no sense to give up a job unnecessarily.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007891.php

[Critters2]

21. I thought he was caught in the act...

well, after several incidents. I thought he was being watched and that the stores were on guard for him, and that a rent-a-cop stopped him just after he pulled one scam too many. So, every other time was his evil twin, but they caught him the one time it was actually him? Yeah, I believe that.

:sarcasm:

[bleedingheart]

13. He ruins his career for "stuff".....what a republican...what an ass.

[wellst0nev0ter]

15. Aw Man, I Was Hoping For The "Evil Twin" Defense

more info here:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007891.php

[Ilsa]

20. Maybe he is using this to pay for a MISTRESS on the side, or some

vice like gambling, and he is using the small sums to pay off another credit card or pay her rent or something. Maybe this is how he gets money without his wife finding out about it.

[Orsino]

22. Huh. The first explanation I've seen that makes sense.

The scheme does sound a bit more complicated than mere kleptomania would seem to have have required. I can't wait to find out what he was doing with the extra dough.

He was in the Bush Administration, for cryin' out loud! He could have been stealing millions, quite legally. He was in the club.

[Mithras61]

25. Very unlikely, in my experience...

(admitedly limited experience) but when you return an item paid for with a credit card, they issue the credit to the card. He wasn't making any money on this unless he was somehow selling the stuff (printers I can see, but household cleaning products?).

No, I think this fella has a mental illness of some sort, but I'm not a behavioral or psychological specialist so I can't say for certain...

[Ilsa]

26. I considered that as well. MAybe he was a narcisist and didn't think

he could be caught but he needed the thrill.

[VaYallaDawg]

23. And we all know it was really Bill Clinton who did this stuff, right????

[OKNancy]

27. kick

[susu369]

28. Police: Former Bush Aide (Allen) And Raleigh Native Admitted Theft

Well, it is no longer alleged theft:

http://www.nbc17.com/news/7992060/detail.html

Police: Former Bush Aide And Raleigh Native Admitted Theft

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A former aide to North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms who became a top adviser to President Bush admitted to an investigator that he fraudulently returned merchandise to a department store, according to charging documents.

=snip=

Police allege that Allen made fraudulent returns worth at least $5,000 at Target and other stores in the Washington suburbs on 25 different occasions. Charging documents cite several instances where store surveillance tapes show Allen making the refunds.

His lawyer, Mallon Snyder, has denied the charges, saying they are a result of problems with Allen's credit cards. Snyder said Tuesday that he did not have any comment on the charging documents.

Allen is scheduled to go on trial April 27.

Full story:
http://www.nbc17.com/news/7992060/detail.html

[LiberalEsto]

29. That's the Target I go to!

Never saw Allen, though.

[susu369]

30. Hope Rove has nightmares tonight

since Allen was known as "Rove's enforcer."

[Generic Brad]

31. But What About Allen's Evil Twin?

Although Allen admitted to the theft, there is a story floating around today that suggests his evil twin brother might be the real culprit. I'm not buying that story for a second, but it is making the rounds today.

[mike_c]

32. this story is utterly bizarre....

I mean, the guy makes $160k at the WH, and this scam only resulted in his getting some cheap stuff-- he didn't make any money at it (think about how it works-- he had to spend the money first to get the receipts, then he scammed the money back, so he got the cheap STUFF for free)-- this just doesn't make any sense. One of the returns was for $2.50. There's more to this story than we've heard yet, IMO.

[VegasWolf]

33. Funny thing, this clown is a pro-life, extreme gay hater, religious nut

case. Prision will do him wonders!

[cally]

34. I think he may have had problem paying his bills

If you are trying to hang with the * junta and live like them, you can't do that on $160,000 per year. Most of them are multi-millionaires. He may have spent too much on lunch, dinner and drinks at very expensive restaurants and picked up the tab for others. His wife homeschooled the kids so she's not working. He couldn't buy the stuff he wanted so he thought he could get away with this scam.