Defense: Agents acted like criminals

By Jeff German (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Defense attorneys have unleashed an ambitious attack on the credibility of a 15-month federal undercover investigation aimed at some of the valley’s most violent criminals.

Operation Sin City Ink, first reported on by the Sun last month, was run out of a Highland Drive tattoo parlor operated by agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Two dozen people have been charged with weapons and drug violations in the sting, including 10 who were indicted in two home invasions staged by agents.

Defense attorneys Shari Kaufman, Lisa Rasmussen and Natalie Smoot, however, are trying to take the sting out of the undercover probe in court papers asking for the dismissal of the charges related to one home invasion because of “outrageous government conduct.”

That conduct stems from the government’s own videotapes that show the lead ATF agent in the case, Peter McCarthy, apparently using drugs while alone in the back room of the Hustler Tattoo shop. Other undercover agents, the tapes show, were drinking beer at the ATF storefront.

The attorneys acknowledge criminal cases are rarely dismissed because of outrageous government conduct, but they insist dismissal is warranted in this case.

The home invasions, they contend, were the “brainchild of a hazy-minded ATF agent” who entrapped the defendants and who may have committed more illegal acts than anyone charged in the case.

“The line between the named defendants and the agents who will testify to prosecute them is hopelessly blurred,” the attorneys wrote. “Any conviction that might be won by the government in this matter would be a complete mockery of the criminal justice system.”

Federal prosecutors have yet to respond in writing to the defense claims, but attorneys have said in court papers that prosecutors told them the drugs ingested by McCarthy were fake.

Prosecutors, however, have not provided the defense with evidence to support that position, allowing the defense to continue to put heat on the ATF agents.

A federal judge ultimately will have to weigh in on this one.

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Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has yet to decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki.

About 17 months ago, Cortez Masto opened a criminal probe into allegations Krolicki may have unlawfully destroyed office records in his final days as state treasurer.

It wouldn’t normally take 17 months to determine whether state records were purged. Either the records are missing or they aren’t. So the unusual length of the probe has led to rumblings that state investigators have uncovered another alleged wrongdoing involving Krolicki that has been more complicated to sort out.

Word that the FBI also has been sniffing around the tight-lipped state investigation has fueled more speculation.

The state probe is supersensitive because Krolicki is a heartbeat away from the governor’s office, and Gov. Jim Gibbons himself is caught up in a federal corruption investigation in Washington.

There also are political ramifications. Cortez Masto is a Democrat eyeing a potential bid for governor, while Krolicki, who has denied any wrongdoing, is a Republican.

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Prosecuting the Aryan Warriors has become a headache for federal authorities.

A while back, the FBI picked up intelligence information on the violent white supremacist gang that briefly caused authorities to be concerned about the safety of the prosecution team members.

Now comes word authorities have had to investigate alleged threats against several gang members who decided to strike plea agreements with prosecutors.

The federal racketeering case has been put on hold while the Justice Department decides whether to seek the death penalty against Ronald “Joey” Sellers, the reputed leader of the Aryan Warriors.