By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

A married FBI agent, at the center of sexual scandal that surfaced this week, had written down a list of sexual affairs with female FBI agents and a key informant in the Congressman William Jefferson case because his therapist had asked him to, according to a person familiar with situation.

The writing exercise, which became  FBI agent John Guadolo’s  undoing,  was supposed to help him realize the damage the affairs had done to his marriage, according to the source.

Instead, the affairs damaged his career after someone discovered his very personal document and showed it to his supervisors at the FBI Washington field office.

The Office of Professional Responsibility launched an internal probe into matter and he resigned in December 2008, several months before Jefferson went on trial and was convicted on 11 of 16 public corruption counts, according to government court documents.

The whole matter came to light this week when U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III refused to grant a new trial to the defense team of ex-Rep. William Jefferson.

The defense had raised the sexual affair with the informant as part of its push for a new trial.

Alan Bersin/photo stanford edu

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Alan Bersin, a high ranking Department of Homeland Security official, has been nominated by President Obama to head the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Bersin, a former U.S. Attorney in California, is currently Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs.

Bersin would take over an agency that has faced some tough challenges combating the smuggling of illegal aliens and drugs and internal corruption.

“Under Alan’s leadership over the past several months, we have forged new international and domestic partnerships along our borders to strengthen security,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a press release issued by her department.. “I look forward to continuing to work with Alan in his new position, where he will lead the Department’s efforts to implement practical, innovative solutions to protect our country from threats to our national and economic security and facilitate legitimate travel and trade.”

Bersin would manage 57,000 employees.

The smuggling of illegal immigrants across the border continues to be a big big problem. This only illustrates how big it is and how brazen it can be. Frightening.

By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times
The nation’s busiest border crossing was closed and declared a crime scene Tuesday after at least two U.S. agents attempted to stop smugglers from speeding through the San Ysidro Port of Entry by firing their weapons at three vans loaded with suspected illegal immigrants.

Port Director Oscar Preciado said it was the first time officials had shuttered the 24-lane border crossing to vehicular traffic since President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.

Three people in the vans suffered injuries and a person in a nearby car also was wounded in the unusually brazen smuggling attempt, U.S. authorities said. More than 70 people inside the vans were arrested.

For Full Story

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Undercover ATF agents learned how easy it is to get someone to rob a drug dealer during a sting they pulled off in Phoenix.

The Arizona Republic reports that agents were able to get complete strangers to agree to help rob dope dealers. In the end, agents arrested 70 people.

“This proved what we know to be true,” said Dennis Burke, the new U.S. attorney in the District of Arizona  said, according to the Arizona Republic. “When drugs and distribution of drugs are in our neighborhoods, violent armed criminals follow behind them.”

To read more on this click here.

Walter Cronkite/asu photo

Someone should have saved these historical records. It’s a shame the records are gone.  Fortunately the memory of Walter Cronkite can’t be destroyed.

By Matt Kelley
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The FBI destroyed its files on former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite two years ago under a policy that has been criticized by researchers for allowing potentially valuable records to be wiped out.

A search of the agency’s main index of the subjects of FBI investigations found some records tied to Cronkite’s name were destroyed in October 2007, the FBI said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by USA TODAY. Cronkite’s death in July at age 92 made any FBI files about him available for release under the federal law.

The FBI should have preserved records about Cronkite, who anchored CBS’ newscasts from 1962 to 1981, said Scott Hodes, a former top lawyer in the FBI’s records office. All FBI records on such a prominent person should have been saved under the FBI’s policies, Hodes said.

For Full Story

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Fla. Cops Caught Playing Video During Raid (AP)
• Safety a Priority at Ft. Detrick Lab (AP)
• Judge Delays Gitmo Trial (Courthouse News Service)
• Chicago Fed Prosecutors Defend Testimony as “Truthful But Inaccurate” (National Law Journal)
• Northern Alabama Prosecutors Accused of Brady Violation (Main Justice)
• Federal Oversight of New Jersey State Police Ends (NY Times)
• DOJ Shift on State Secrets Policy (Wall Street Journal)

Jim Thorpe/photo pgatour.com

That’s a whole lot of money not to pay taxes on. If he goes off to prison, who knows? He may find a lot of golf enthusiasts among the Ponzi schemers, embezzlers, crooked politicians and doctors convicted of health care fraud.

By Reuters
MIAMI — American golfer Jim Thorpe, a 13-time winner on the senior Champions Tour, pleaded guilty to tax evasion on Tuesday and faces up to two years in prison and a fine totaling more than $4 million, authorities said.

Thorpe, 60, of Heathrow, Florida, pleaded guilty to two counts of failure to pay income taxes for 2002, 2003 and 2004, a period when his income totaled about $5.4 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Orlando said.

For Full Story

Read Plea Agreement