Lawyer: Mom of abducted boy told police of warning

Associated Press

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008 | 4:39 p.m.

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who was abducted earlier this month went to police after she got a warning note in July, but was told there was no imminent threat and she should buy a shotgun, her lawyer said Thursday.

Cole Puffinburger was later kidnapped by two men posing as police officers after they ransacked his mother's house in what police said was message from drug dealers to Cole's grandfather. The boy was found safe four days later.

"To suggest (Julie) Puffinburger is guilty of a crime or somehow responsible for the abduction is ludicrous," lawyer Dennis Leavitt told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

"It appears that Julie's father may have been involved in illegal activity, although nothing has been confirmed," Leavitt added.

Police did not immediately respond to requests to confirm Leavitt's account that Julie Puffinburger received an ominous written message directed at her father, Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer.

"We know you have our money and you have one week to report," Leavitt quoted the note as saying. "We know where your family is and we don't play games."

Police have alleged that Tinnemeyer, 51, disappeared in May after stealing millions of dollars in drug proceeds from "Mexican nationals" and methamphetamine traffickers. He is in federal custody in California as a material witness in the kidnapping case.

Leavitt partially confirmed testimony by a Las Vegas police lieutenant who told a judge Wednesday that Julie Puffinburger spread hoax stories that her son had been kidnapped in an attempt to lure her father out of hiding.

Clark County Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle awarded temporary custody of the boy to his father after Las Vegas police Lt. Clinton Nichols said Tinnemeyer was the focus of a federal investigation "involving a ton of money, a ton of drugs and a Mexican cartel that was serious about getting that money back," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Nichols did not immediately respond to messages from the AP.

Robert and Julie Puffinburger divorced in 2004. The mother was the boy's primary caregiver before the Oct. 15 abduction, but police returned Cole to his father after the boy was found unharmed on a Las Vegas street late Oct. 18.

Bryce Duckworth, lawyer for Robert Puffinburger, said Cole was back in school and receiving counseling while authorities probed the activities of his mother.

"We've been told by authorities that she is under investigation," Duckworth said.

Leavitt discounted Nichols' testimony as "simply speculation," and cast his client as a victim of overreaching investigators and sensational news accounts.

"Julie is simply being held vicariously responsible for her father's actions and then treated extremely badly by the police and the news media," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said Julie Puffinburger received two courier deliveries of about $30,000 each in June and put them in a safe deposit box. The lawyer said she assumed the money came from her father. He said Julie Puffinburger later told police where to find the cash.

Police reported seizing $60,920 from a credit union lock box last week.

Leavitt said two detectives who met with Julie Puffinburger about the July 13 warning note "stated they could not do anything because there was no imminent threat and advised Julie to buy a shotgun." Leavitt said she did not buy a weapon.

Leavitt said an unidentified roommate of Julie Puffinburger later visited several bars where Tinnemeyer used to spend time "and mentioned to her father's friends that Cole was missing."

"This was done in an effort to 'flush out' Julie's father to find out what was going on and why she was receiving threatening notes," Leavitt said.

He said his client had not seen Tinnemeyer since October 2007, and did not know how to contact him.

Tinnemeyer was arrested Oct. 17 in Riverside, Calif.