Lonecowboy
Well-known member
According to the Wall Street Journal, a suspect identified as Jean Baptiste Kingery was let go last year despite his alleged involvement in trafficking hand grenades to the cartels. Kingery is now in custody, having been arrested Aug. 31 by authorities in Mexico.
The lead ATF agent on the grenades case, Peter Forcelli, "was horrified with the thought of releasing this individual" and "practically begged" senior prosecutor Emory Hurley "for permission to arrest the suspect on a criminal complaint," according to an Aug. 31 letter sent to a congressional committee on Mr. Forcelli's behalf by an attorney with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, a group that provides legal assistance to law enforcement officers.
Officials from the U.S. attorney's office dispute that Mr. Hurley, who oversaw both Fast and Furious and the Kingery cases, declined to prosecute, according to officials familiar with the accounts provided to investigators. These officials said prosecutors wanted to continue following the case and possibly bring charges at a later date.—Wall Street Journal
The WSJ story revealed that a “confidential informant” had advised U.S. investigators that he had “provided” Kingery with components for 2,000 grenades. When Mexican police raided Kingery’s home in Mazatlan, they reportedly found enough material to build 500 working grenades.
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UPDATE: CBS News is reporting that Kingery's case is being moved out of Arizona and to another jurisdiction. Likewise, prosecutions in the original Fast and Furious case, in which 20 indictments were handed down in January, will be moved from Phoenix to San Diego, CA. This amounts to a major slap in the face to the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix. In addition, prosecution in the case of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry is also being moved to San Diego.
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Others are focusing on the mishandling of this case and the alleged retaliation by ATF against Agent Peter Forcelli for his compelling testimony on Operation Fast and Furious before Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but a more serious question should be asked, and now is a good time to ask it.
What justifiable reason could an agency of the Justice Department have for allowing this sort of thing to happen in the first place?
The ATF is supposed to interdict firearms and other weapons, and the U.S. Attorney’s office is supposed to prosecute people involved in such activities. Instead, if the WSJ, Codrea and Vanderboegh are correct, the Justice Department under Eric Holder and Barack Obama has enabled these criminals rather than pull them off the streets.
Most important of all, since investigators have now uncovered evidence that the Justice Department tried to cover up the connection between Operation Fast and Furious and the slaying of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry as this column reported, and also uncovered this new hand grenade debacle, what else is floating around out there that was initiated under the Obama administration that we still don’t know about?
The lead ATF agent on the grenades case, Peter Forcelli, "was horrified with the thought of releasing this individual" and "practically begged" senior prosecutor Emory Hurley "for permission to arrest the suspect on a criminal complaint," according to an Aug. 31 letter sent to a congressional committee on Mr. Forcelli's behalf by an attorney with the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, a group that provides legal assistance to law enforcement officers.
Officials from the U.S. attorney's office dispute that Mr. Hurley, who oversaw both Fast and Furious and the Kingery cases, declined to prosecute, according to officials familiar with the accounts provided to investigators. These officials said prosecutors wanted to continue following the case and possibly bring charges at a later date.—Wall Street Journal
The WSJ story revealed that a “confidential informant” had advised U.S. investigators that he had “provided” Kingery with components for 2,000 grenades. When Mexican police raided Kingery’s home in Mazatlan, they reportedly found enough material to build 500 working grenades.
=========================================================
UPDATE: CBS News is reporting that Kingery's case is being moved out of Arizona and to another jurisdiction. Likewise, prosecutions in the original Fast and Furious case, in which 20 indictments were handed down in January, will be moved from Phoenix to San Diego, CA. This amounts to a major slap in the face to the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix. In addition, prosecution in the case of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry is also being moved to San Diego.
=========================================================
Others are focusing on the mishandling of this case and the alleged retaliation by ATF against Agent Peter Forcelli for his compelling testimony on Operation Fast and Furious before Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but a more serious question should be asked, and now is a good time to ask it.
What justifiable reason could an agency of the Justice Department have for allowing this sort of thing to happen in the first place?
The ATF is supposed to interdict firearms and other weapons, and the U.S. Attorney’s office is supposed to prosecute people involved in such activities. Instead, if the WSJ, Codrea and Vanderboegh are correct, the Justice Department under Eric Holder and Barack Obama has enabled these criminals rather than pull them off the streets.
Most important of all, since investigators have now uncovered evidence that the Justice Department tried to cover up the connection between Operation Fast and Furious and the slaying of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry as this column reported, and also uncovered this new hand grenade debacle, what else is floating around out there that was initiated under the Obama administration that we still don’t know about?