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.
Which goes to show that it is true.
Obviously, they caught him dead to rights
>>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.<<
The timing is just unbelievable. Like the way they held the Rumsfeld resignation until AFTER the election where it could have helped.
If the Republicans had been smart they would have been letting the media dig into Dean dissing the largest swing state and “Has Dean gone crazy again?”
But no....
Update: Free Republic has reprinted the Roll Call story. “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.” I think he can probably start throwing away those cards now.
You’re naive.
I've wondered that for years. Like Clinton, WHY? He could get a nice hooker that would keep her mouth shut. WHY? It's got to be the risk factor itself. Just what ya want leading your country.
C.L. ‘Butch’ Otter, R-Gov Idaho, will appoint I wonder who if Craig resigns?
Remember Congressman Bob Bauman from Maryland?
“Seems like a long time to just be sitting there.”
13 minutes is nothing for me. That is about the only place I can get any peace and quiet. Al Bundy and I have more than a few things in common.
On another note, while I agree this guy is creepy, what lewd act did he participate in? It does not sound like he actually verbally propositioned the cop. And is trolling a crime? Just a question for any law enforcement/lawyer types out there.
I Cudna just let that scroll by without comment.
(grin) That's a line that deserves a Sonnet...
I am confused. Did he expose himself or just prop someone?
Actually, this is not main-stream media news.... yet.
Just rumors from various bloggers.
I’m still - on record - as a doubter.
But I will say this: Many hot breaking stories start out from the bloggers.
And from Free Republic.
Remember; Rathergate started here on good ol’ Free Republic.
But I’m drawing a complete blank on who the illustrious FReeper was that broke that story.
A little help please, anyone?
Good....lets purge these bastards. Get ‘em all out of the GOP.
Guilty as charged? DU is calling you....go to the dark if you will.
You’re naive.
Smarten’ up!
Are you guys in his district?
Otherwise this loon has nothing to do with me, lol.
LOL!! I hope this clown has the shame to resign immediately.
The GOP doesn’t need any Barney Franks.
Craig pushes immigration reform (craig does not learn)
idahostatesman.com ^ | 08/13/2007 | Dan Popkey
Posted on 08/13/2007 10:52:27 AM PDT by bilhosty
Craig pushes immigration reform Senator predicts millions will lose jobs after Social Security crackdown. By Dan Popkey - dpopkey@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 08/10/07
Pressure to pass immigration reform will intensify as millions of undocumented workers lose jobs as a result of a crackdown by the Social Security Administration, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said Thursday.
“What will happen over the course of the next two months is several million workers will be laid off or fired and there is no one to take their place,” Craig told the Boise Rotary Club.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1880553/posts
I'm inclined to agree. The illegal immigration thing alone might have done it - Craig was not just a vote there, he was an active promoter of shamnesty. He has heavy funding from Big Ag working for him in a state with few other sources of political funding but working against him is a heavily LDS-oriented south (Craig is, IIRC, a Methodist himself) that will not take kindly to this news.
Idaho is not a slam-dunk for a Republican Senatorial seat, BTW - anyone remember Frank Church? If Craig isn't defeated in the primaries I think the Republicans may have a problem.
I have a problem with the story. It says he reached down and the cop saw he was wearing a gold ring. He was in the stall to the left of the cop. The ring. . . if it’s a wedding ring, would be on his left hand. The cop would be looking at his right hand.
That denotes at least 1 flaw.
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