Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom

Roll Call ^ | August 27, 2007 | John McArdle

[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.

[Delphinium]

Have you signed our petition:

http://grassrootsidgop.wordpress.com/

We need all the help we can get.

[CORedneck]

I think it is time for change to American public restrooms. I visited other countries - New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Cayman Islands. Especially in NZ and Japan, the public restroom stalls have a much better partitions and doors. The walls/doors go almost all the way to the floor and almost up to the ceiling. When the door is closed, there are no cracks to look through since there is a door frame for the door to close in on.

Why less privacy on our bathrooms ? Are we too d@mn cheap to have better partitions/doors ? I will make this pledge, if I ever own a business where there are public bathrooms, I will have partitions/doors that meet an expectation of privacy.

In the past when I needed to use a stall in a public bathroom, I usually prefer an end-stall preferably one furthest from the door and non-handicapped. If someone comes that far to the stall I am using, they might be up to no good and plan accordingly.

There is one bathroom at work I don't care for. You walk in, as you walk from the door, it is a narrow room where on your left, you past the sinks, then the two urinals and then 3 stalls and then you enter the handicap stall. A lot of times when I go in for a quick "pit stop", there is someone in the first stall with drawers all the way down to the floor. It is something I don't want to see. When I had to use a stall in that bathroom, I would never use that first stall. If I had a say on that bathroom, I would have put in a wall where it goes all the way to the floor.

I'm not comfortable with people lining up outside the stall door, but I've seen it happen.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Craig and people like this are sick. They do not think about the larger ramifications of getting caught practicing their perversions. They compartmentalize their lives in order to rationalize their behavior and continue leading an overall “normal” life. I’ll bet Craig never even considered the possibility that his sexual perversion could be used against Mitt Romney.

[NavyCanDo]

You can bet the GOP will not come to this creeps defense, unlike when the Dems rallied around Clinton when he did allot more than just proposition someone.

[wideminded]

I did hear this new singer named Amy Winehouse I want to check out again.

Some of the more negative reviews of Winehouse's CD from Amazon:

"Ripping off real artists., August 14, 2007
By ADRIENNE MILLER (TENNESSEE) - See all my reviews Amy Winehouse is so freakin' ugly, how does she sell albums? A total druggie, alcoholic, and god how much does she weigh, 45 pounds? She is a terrible role model, she is just as bad as Lindsay Lohan. Winehouse can't sing, she thinks she is some rockin' soul singer from the 1960's but she isn't, she is just a wannabe. Take my advice and stay away from this over-rated album, but if you like to hear a troubled and pathetic woman whining about going to rehab which is where she is now, then this album should make you happy."

People really need to stop giving this album 5 star reviews., June 12, 2007
By Elias Ayres (San Diego) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) "I cannot believe how low people's musical tastes have dropped over the past few years. This drivel is given over 100 5 star reviews!?!?!?! Are you serious!?!??! It isn't about how she compares with older R&B/soul divas (she doesn't) or how contrived and boring her lyrics are (Your going to rehab? congrats!!), the fact is that people like this album BECAUSE THEY WERE TOLD TO."

what the??!!!, July 17, 2007 By T.T. (MovieLand) - See all my reviews this girl is so ugly, and foul. an alcoholic and drugie. is that what we are praising today????????????! ok even if she has a substance abuse problem her manager should have gotten her cleaned up before bringing her out. all she's doing is ripping off the old, great artists. i can NOT belive she is even in the entertainment biz; someone took a chance on her. he/she was probably drunk or on drugs when he signed her up. plus she can't even sing!!!!!!!!!!!! she sounds like her name- a big rhinoceros trying to sing. did i mention she is so unattractive? i don't know what's worst: her looks or personality. maybe her looks. can't belive this is what is "hot" in music. seems like everyone needs to go to rehab! PLEASE!
Update-maybe i was being a bit cruel to go on her looks. i'm not a cruel person so i take it back. no one can help how they look. but seriously she should not be an artist! she needs to sort her life out first. i think she's a bad influence along with any other "open" druggie or alcoholic. it's like we are praising this behaviour. then when our kids are messed up we wonder where it came from.

[Redhorseman]

That’s not a wide stance, he’s bow-legged.

[Snardius]

All his problems are behind him...

[Fawn]

OMG...this looks like the gay cop in my neighborhood.

[redtetrahedron]

Someone has inappropriately added the keywords fredthompson and ronpaul to this article.

[Fawn]

Wow-—I see land there. What’s that like?

[ChurtleDawg]

what exactly did the senator get arrested for?....he could have been trolling for sex, but the “evidence” is him tapping his foot, placing his bag towards the front of the stall and doing some weird stuff with his hand. I cannot see how acting strange in a men’s bathroom is illegal.

this isn’t like that one guy from Florida who went into a park bathroom and offered to suck some guy off.That was solicitation, plain and simple. This case has a lot of legal “gray area”.

[ElPatriota]

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.”

TOO MUCH! ROLF!<

P> LESSON: We still have a lot of FREAKS in the GOP. Unlike the Dems, LET'S GET RID OFF THEM!...

[VaBthang4]

This is just sad.

[Rastus]

Are you sure he is? I did a search last night and couldn’t find agreement on the subject.

[Rastus]

Music pretty much died in the early ‘90s, as far as I’m concerned. But, there are people working in the background, still making good things to listen to. For me, that’s mostly really “retro” stuff like new western music by people like the Sons of the San Joaquin and Ian Tyson (the word seems inappropriate when applied to their music, though). There are a few good “rock” artists around, but they usually aren’t on the radio.

I’ve only heard one Amy Winehouse song, called something like “Rehab,” and it wasn’t for me.

[Clemenza]

Squier married a nice German girl a few years back. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for a former guitar God doing his best Peter Allen impersonation in the “Rock Me Tonite” video.

[Combat Override Button]

The Smoking Gun has the cop’s report up.

‘Craig stood in front of the stalls for 2 minutes waiting for an open stall.’
Something I think everyone that has to ‘go’ will do.

Craig “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”.

This is simply ridiculous. There is only one place to put your bags while in a toilet stall and that is in front of the stall! There is no other place to put one’s bags. This reduces the credibility of the cop’s story. It looks like he is trying to paint a picture using common behavior.

The rest of the story spells problems for Craig. However, with a good lawyer I would think he could easily get out of this. He may very well be guilty but the evidence here seems thin. Bags in a certain location, shifting feet and waiting for a stall can all be explained away as normal behavior. Having taken a few thousand dumps in my years, I can say I have done all of these things. Can’t explain away rubbing a hand under the stall and touching feet (a definite toilet no-no). But does that warrant a charge of lewd conduct?

Time to hire a good lawyer Craig and hope you don’t get outted. Either that or just come clean and deal with the consequences.

[rfp1234]

Singing Senators

[jamese777]

“The Smoking Gun has the cop’s report up.

‘Craig stood in front of the stalls for 2 minutes waiting for an open stall.’
Something I think everyone that has to ‘go’ will do.

Craig “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”.

This is simply ridiculous. There is only one place to put your bags while in a toilet stall and that is in front of the stall! There is no other place to put one’s bags. This reduces the credibility of the cop’s story. It looks like he is trying to paint a picture using common behavior.

The rest of the story spells problems for Craig. However, with a good lawyer I would think he could easily get out of this. He may very well be guilty but the evidence here seems thin. Bags in a certain location, shifting feet and waiting for a stall can all be explained away as normal behavior. Having taken a few thousand dumps in my years, I can say I have done all of these things. Can’t explain away rubbing a hand under the stall and touching feet (a definite toilet no-no). But does that warrant a charge of lewd conduct?

Time to hire a good lawyer Craig and hope you don’t get outted. Either that or just come clean and deal with the consequences.”

He plead guilty to a misdemeanor of disorderly conduct. He was in a restroom known to be a place for soliciting gay sex. He was outted as gay on a gay website last October.

[Riverman94610]

Man,Amy is SCANDALOUS!
Well,an Aretha Franklin only comes along every 100 years!