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Stakeouts
Anger Rowland Witnesses
FBI, Private Investigators Clash
Hartford Courant
September 12, 2004
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, Courant Staff Writer
Potential witnesses in the federal corruption probe involving former Gov.
John G. Rowland are complaining of overly aggressive surveillance by
private investigators, at least some of whom work for a construction
company facing possible bid-rigging allegations.
The complaints are fueling a dispute between the investigators and federal
authorities that already has produced one confrontation: Earlier this
month, FBI agents detained two private investigators who had been staking
out a former Rowland aide who is cooperating with the federal
investigation.
The aide was Lawrence E. Alibozek, Rowland's former deputy chief of staff,
who has appeared before the federal grand jury investigating government
corruption, and who is expected to be a key prosecution witness at any
trial arising from the probe.
Alibozek has repeatedly complained of aggressive surveillance, lawyers
familiar with the events have said.
"We're talking about over-the-top stuff," said one of the
lawyers, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.
"Tailgating him at high speed. Following him into places. Bothering
his family."
Other prospective witnesses say they have been approached by private
investigators, sometimes repeatedly, and one complained to federal
authorities that someone has twice made off with her garbage, according to
lawyers aware of the complaints.
A lawyer for the Tomasso Group of New Britain, a construction and property
management firm at the heart of the grand jury probe, acknowledged that he
had hired the investigators that the FBI detained this month. But he
denied that the investigators were acting improperly, and he accused the
FBI of using scare tactics in an effort to bully potential targets of the
corruption probe out of mounting vigorous - and legal - criminal defenses.
"They roughed up one of them," said Jack Fornaciari, the
Washington, D.C.-based Tomasso lawyer who hired Murzin-Thibeault
Investigative Group of Litchfield. "What I understand happened was
they pulled one of them out of the car and threw him on the ground. They
confiscated whatever they could."
Fornaciari said the agents took a camera and notes before releasing the
investigators, who were not charged.
But the U.S. Attorney's office, which has consistently refused to discuss
any aspect of the Rowland investigation, issued an unusually heated public
response.
"When there are reports of intimidation or harassment of witnesses in
any criminal case, federal law enforcement acts expeditiously, and
professionally," said Thomas Carson, a spokesman for the U.S.
Attorney's office in New Haven. "If anyone involved in this incident
or their attorneys are claiming that individuals were mistreated or abused
in any way, they are not being truthful."
Lawyers familiar with the federal probe say they believe that authorities
might be looking into whether the tactics of private investigators amount
to illegal harassment of prospective witnesses.
The fact that the Tomasso Group is using private investigators is no
surprise. Private investigators have become important players on defense
teams in big-budget, high-stakes criminal and civil trials. Former
Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim, who was convicted of federal corruption
charges in 2003, paid a team of private investigators and forensic
accountants to attack government evidence in his trial.
"I've gone through people's garbage in civil cases," said Frank
Rudiwicz, a former Hartford detective who now runs Decision Strategies, an
international private investigative and security business based in
Hartford and Boston. "But in doing this, you have to know where the
line is that you can't cross."
Fornaciari said he had instructed the Murzin-Thibeault investigators to
dig into the backgrounds of potential government witnesses in an effort to
determine "what went on, how good these witnesses are and whether
they have problems." He said that everything his investigators have
done is proper and legal, and that the U.S. Attorney's office is
"trying to roust the investigators so, hopefully, investigators won't
want to work on this case."
"There has been no harassment of a witness," Fornaciari said.
"And if I don't get the [camera and notes] back soon, I fully intend
to make a formal complaint. I just can't believe what goes on up there.
And I'm from Massachusetts, and we're not saints."
Principals in Murzin-Thibeault refused to discuss the matter, referring
questions to their lawyer. Richard Murzin, director of investigations, is
a retired Hartford police detective. Andy Thibeault, managing partner, is
a former newspaper reporter, and is now a Litchfield-based writer and
legal affairs columnist.
In recent weeks, as corruption indictments appear increasingly imminent,
there has been a spate of activity by private defense investigators, in
addition to the FBI's stop of Murzin, which the Associated Press first
reported.
Another cooperating government witness, Kristine Ragaglia, Rowland's
former commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, has
complained of unidentified men stealing her garbage in the middle of the
night, according to accounts by lawyers familiar with the events.
One morning, Ragaglia noticed that the garbage she put out for collection
the night before, in white plastic bags, appeared to have been shifted to
different-colored bags.
A week later, she was awakened about 2 a.m. She noticed a pickup truck
coasting down her street with the headlights turned off. As the truck
slowed by her drive, Ragaglia reportedly watched a man jump from the
passenger seat and fling her garbage into the back of the truck. A short
time later, the truck returned and the men replaced her trash with
different garbage in different bags.
Ragaglia complained to federal prosecutors, according to lawyers familiar
with the events, and FBI agents were assigned to stake out her garbage
over a two-week period. When the garbage switchers failed to return, the
matter was dropped.
At least three more potential witnesses have reported being approached by
private investigators. They include a businessman who lost a state
contract to the Tomassos, a former Tomasso employee and a Tomasso business
associate who acknowledged receiving an expensive gold coin from Tomasso
principal William Tomasso. The coin was similar to gold coins that the FBI
said the Tomassos paid Alibozek when he was on Rowland's gubernatorial
staff.
Fornaciari would not say how many private investigators he has hired on
the Tomassos' behalf, and what precisely they are doing. He said he did
not want to tip federal prosecutors to defense strategy. But he said he is
not aware of the removal of Ragaglia's garbage.
If Tomasso investigators are accused of harassing federal witnesses, it
could have grave consequences if any Tomasso employees or companies are
eventually indicted. Several lawyers said that at trial, federal
prosecutors could argue that the harassment reflected a consciousness of
guilt on the part of any Tomasso defendants.
In the case of the Alibozek surveillance, Fornaciari said he has exchanged
brief correspondence with federal prosecutors that might reveal government
thinking on why FBI agents stopped the Murzin-Thibeault investigators.
"I sent them a letter complaining about what went on here,"
Fornaciari said. "And they sent me a letter and they said, `Well,
they were following him on public roads, they were going into public
restaurants where [Alibozek went with others.']"
"There is no trespass," Fornaciari said. "There is no
allegation that any of these investigators ever approached a witness or
any member of his family. There's nothing these guys did that was
illegal."
Asked whether continual surveillance could be construed as harassment,
Fornaciari said: "Well, that's fine. But, you know, if [witnesses]
are agoraphobic, they shouldn't be in public."
Courant Staff Writer Dave Altimari contributed to this report.
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