White House Aide Caught In Shoplifting Scheme

[Christa]

When Claude Allen, the former Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, resigned suddenly a few weeks ago, the White House gave its official explanation for the departure:

President Bush’s domestic policy advisor, Claude A. Allen, has resigned to spend more time with his family, the White House said.

Many were skeptical of the White House’s explanation. It turns out the suspicions were justified: Allen was arrested yesterday and charged in a “retail theft scheme.” From the police report:

The Target Loss Prevention Manger contacted Montgomery County Police and through the police investigation it was learned that Allen had been receiving refunds in an amount exceeding $5,000 during last year. Some of the fraudulent returns were made at Target stores and some at Hecht’s stores. He would buy items, take them out to his car, and return to the store with the receipt. He would select the same items he had just purchased, and then return them for a refund. Allen is known to have conducted approximately 25 of these types of refunds, having the money credited to his credit cards.

Throughout 2005 he obtained refunds for items ranging from clothing, a Bose theater system, stereo equipment, and photo printer to items valued only at $2.50.

http://www.freddevan.com/blog/archives/00009475.html

[thinkingwoman]

1. Yet another gift from the Irony Gods

I have a question...Is there ANYbody associated with Bushco that is NOT a criminal? :evilgrin:

[Dogmudgeon]

2. That's just pathetic

He should have followed his boss' advice and gotten into a business connected with the Government.

That way, he could steal millions and be considered as a model citizen.

--p!

[xchrom]

3. a thief working in this white house?

now who could ever have imagined that?



:eyes:

[wake.up.america]

4. Dickey, I like the way the guy operates, get him into our accounting...

accounting department.

[xchrom]

5. lol -- indeed!

accounting!

[0007]

6. Claude A. Allen, has resigned to spend more time with his family

This photo caught Allen as he was about to take the mike

[truthisfreedom]

7. they are "deserving" of "free money." they see it flowing into cheney's

pocket by the millions via halliburton, and they just want piece of their own... "how is that so wrong?"

bwahahaahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

[flamingpie2500]

8. Just shows how the entire administration is a bunch of IDIOTS!

He didn't think that all of those credits back on his credit card would raise suspicion? Especially from the same place?
MORON ALERT!

[beaconess]

9. The guy obviously is sick

I feel sorry for him.

[RC]

10. I don't feel sorry for him.

As bad as bu$h is, any bu$h appointee in Washington should merit prison time, just for being appointed by bu$h.

[beaconess]

12. How reasonable of you...

[RC]

13. I think so...

This guy is another symptom of the self-centered me first/thehellwityou mentality of our government on both sides of the aisle.
His crime is just a symptom of the much larger 'Corruption, what corruption, it's not my fault' mentality of our so called leaders.

Use this charge to hold him while he is investigated to find out his level of complicity in the coming trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity our government is guilty of.

Lets get these criminals off the street and into prison where they belong.

[susu369]

11. More information about "Karl Rove's enforcer" from Doug Ireland's blog

Another Bush 'Family Values' Hypocrite: CLAUDE ALLEN ARRESTED FOR THEFT AND FRAUD
Former Bush domestic policy czar Claude Allen (right) has been arrested in Maryland on charges of swindling at least $5000 out of Targets and Hecht's stores in a refund scam, the Washington Post reports this morning. When Allen was named by Bush as his White House domestic counselor a year ago, I wrote a profile of Allen for the L.A. Weekly detailing how Allen was "a notorious homophobe, a ferocious enemy of abortion and an opponent of safe-sex education who for years has been one of the AIDS community’s principal enemies," and explaining why his appointment was was "a huge victory for the social reactionaries of the Christian right."

To take just one example from Allen's repulsive resume, when he was Deputy Secretary of HHS: "Known as Karl Rove’s enforcer Allen wielded a heavy, censorious and punitive hand at HHS. In November 2001, Thompson loyally toed the Rove-Bush line when he put Allen in charge of supervising HHS’s audit of HIV-prevention spending. Allen led an HHS witch-hunt that investigated all of the AIDS service organizations (ASOs) receiving any federal funding (like New York City’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis) whose staff members had disrupted Tommy Thompson’s speech to the 14th Annual International AIDS Conference in Barcelona; they were there to protest Bush’s lethal do-nothingism about the AIDS pandemic. These audits were designed to intimidate ASOs into abandoning AIDS advocacy. A number of ASOs, like San Francisco’s Stop AIDS Project and half a dozen other California AIDS-fighting groups, were ultimately purged from receiving U.S. funding by the Allen-led witch-hunt because Allen didn’t like their science-based sex-education programs. Allen ordered Advocates for Youth, the leading national coalition for safe-sex ed, audited half a dozen times...." There's a lot more in my L.A. Weekly profile of Claude Allen, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here. (Left, Claude Allen's police mugshot accompanying the report of his arrest on the website of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Police Department's website.)

The New York Times report this morning on Allen's arrest this past Thursday says that the White House knew of Allen's legal problems in January, but kept him on to work on the State of the Union address. In the sanitized chronology provided by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, as relayed by the Times:

"On Jan. 3, Mr. Allen discussed the incident with Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, and told her that he had been returning merchandise and there was confusion with his credit cards because he had moved many times. He assured Ms. Miers that the matter would be cleared up.Mr. McClellan said the White House gave Mr. Allen "the benefit of the doubt" because he had gone through extensive background checks before his judicial nomination.Within a few days of the incident, Mr. McClellan said, Mr. Allen told Mr. Card and Ms. Miers that he was thinking of leaving the White House to spend time with his family. But Mr. Allen decided to stay for a while because he was working on domestic initiatives for the State of the Union address, which Mr. Bush delivered on Jan. 31."

==full article link:==

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2006/03/anothr_bush_fam.html