Posted on 08/27/2007 2:14:41 PM PDT by Shermy
Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.
Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.
A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.
After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.
Craig was detained for approximately 45 minutes, interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released, and police prepared a formal complaint for interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.
According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men’s public restroom in which Craig was arrested.
Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men’s restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.
Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see “an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall.”
The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.
“I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, ‘fidget’ with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes,” the report states.
Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.
“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”
Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.
“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.
Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”
Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.
“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”
In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig “either disagreed with me or ‘didn’t recall’ the events as they happened,” the report states.
Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.
“It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper,” the arresting officer said in the report.
On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the Minnesota court, Craig appeared via satellite at a ceremony that took place in Idaho in which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In October 2006, Craig’s office publicly denied allegations that he was a homosexual made on a gay activist Web site — blogactive.com. Craig’s office told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the charge was “completely ridiculous,” saying that the allegations had “no basis in fact.”
Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report.
A he said/he said incident ...
I wonder if this cop wasn't aggressively looking to make arrests so the locals can feel like something is been done about the problem. What's most odd is the cop apparently being willing to let Craig go but Craig refused to exit the restroom and was placed under arrest. Sounds to me like that was the conduct which got him arrested not checking a stall to see if the guy who's sat there for 13 minutes is finally done with the facilities!
I wouldn't be surprised if Craig knew the signals or has in fact had homosexual affairs. I don't care. I care about his pompous 'do you know who I am' attitude which I just won't tolerate from public servants. Add in his support for amnesty and he's not worth having around in the Senate gay, straight or just another jerk.
I fear trash are the only ones who will run for office. The others can’t get financed or value their privacy too much.
especially Republicans who ought to know 1/2 the universe is gunning for them, think they will never get caught.
A wise elderly friend once told me that the people engaging in the most risky and dangerous activities are the ones who have successfully gotten away with it many times before.
What, exactly, did he do that was illegal?
>>In any case, I doubt he would have been arrested and charged if there was serious doubt as to intent of his actions. While all this hand waving and foot tapping may be unfamiliar to most, I find it hard to believe that a judge would accept such evidence if they weren’t well known by law enforcement as signals used by people who engage in such acts.<<
While I don’t doubt the cops know the signs I would be surprised if that would have been enough for a conviction.
I could certainly send signs to a girl that I was trying to pick her up without doing anything that would be illegal.
Of course, I don’t have a lot of experience with girls who sit in toilets waiting to be picked up like the cop was doing. Maybe there is a whole world I’ve missed.
He's a cop on the Vice Squad.
Guilty as charged? DU is calling you....go to the dark if you will.
Larry Craig is the Senior Senator from Idaho. He's a senior GOP senator and believe me...this will be big news for the next several nights. Between Gonzales resigning and now this it looks like the GOP is in for another beating.
How about the line about "having a wide stance." Sounds like someone searching for reasonable doubt. Afterall, everyone knows you grab the side walls before you take a wide stance.
Is that a woman or a dairy cow with bad blond dye-job?De gustibus yadda-yadda-yadda.Put a milking machine on it and stop pretending it's a sex object.
Retaliation for the recent Bob Filner incident at Dulles a few weeks ago.
-PJ
You know you were wrong!!!!lol
Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!
We get what we deserve.
WE continually take people we wouldn’t trust to babysit our 7 year-old and send them to Washington expecting integrity?
“maybe it gets lonely in Idaho”
Uh-oh, is this comment going to start up the sheep comments again? ;-)
We all need to keep in mind that this is the American media reporting this affair. Therefore it may or may not be a complete lie. It will take some time before any of us know what actually happened.
Yes, after all these years I have finally come to understand that nothing reported in the media can be taken at face value. Nothing.
Mr. AG BILL himself, Diane Fienstiens buddy. Well, Craig many years ago was a decent rep and then he turned. When one is compromised, well...they’re compromised. Shouldn’t be a surprise he’d sell out to illegal aliens lobbies as well.
Both should be judged as wrong.
This is not one of those, "if you think I'm ugly, you should see my sister" routines. And do we want Republicans acting like DemocRATS just because?
Lots of nice clean sheep in Idaho, Larry should not have to mess with these Bathroom Bozos//
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