Newspapers Seek Morrison Search Warrant

Breaking News: The Akron Beacon Journal and Indianapolis Star have filed a motion to unseal the search warrant issued by embattled Acting U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Morrison of the Southern District of Indiana in the case against the Ohio and Indiana companies owned by high-profile Indianapolis Republican donor Timothy S. Durham. 

The motion states, "The sealing of such documents only serves to undermine the integrity of the judicial process and enhance the perception that Mr. Durham’s political connections will save him.”

Read the full-story here and here.

So Yeah, Morrison is a Sloppy Fool

Acting U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Morrison of the Southern District of Indiana, a proud member of the Rove Reublican Racket and a left-over from the Bush years, is more than a partisan politico who helps his well-connected Republican friends.

He also is a sloppy fool.

According to the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, Morrison has no idea when materials seized from a company accused of allegedly running a Ponzi scheme will be returned.

No one has been charged criminally and Morrison's civil lawsuit seeking to seize and freeze assets of the operator was voluntarily dropped.

Why?

As we reported earlier, the alleged mastermind of this suspected Ponzi scheme is Timothy S. Durham of Indianapolis, a high-rolling contributor to Republican causes.

Morrison also appears to have tried to help another Republican donor whose asphalt company was target by protestors. Morrison sloppily issued a subpoena in that case that generated national headlines and forced him to withdraw it.

The Beacon Journal writes:

The company's computers will be returned by federal investigators in Indiana who continue to investigate Fair Finance, its co-owner Tim Durham and related Indianapolis business Obsidian Enterprises. In federal court documents, investigators said they suspect Fair Finance was being operated as a Ponzi scheme.

''We have the material we need from the computers. So yeah, they'll get them back,'' Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Indiana, said Friday. The computer files were ''forensically copied,'' he said. Morrison said he was unsure when the computers will be returned to Fair Finance. He said his office was legally obligated to return the equipment once the data from the hard drives were obtained and copied. ''The investigation continues,'' Morrison said.

He said he did not know if Fair Finance will also be getting back paper files that FBI agents took out of the East Market Street headquarters. The search warrants used in the raids remain sealed, Morrison said. No one has been charged or arrested in connection with the investigation. Morrison had filed a civil lawsuit containing allegations of a Ponzi scheme on Nov. 24, naming as ''defendants'' some assets of Fair Finance and Durham, but he voluntarily withdrew the suit less than a week later.

Morrison's actions in this case (that could cost investors hundred of millions of dollars in loses) smell like prosecutorial misconduct.

What was Indiana's U.S. Attorney Morrison After?

On Saturday, we posted a story about the erupting controversy surrounding U.S. Attorney Timothy M. Morrison of the Southern District of Indiana. In January, this left-over from the Rove Republican Racket issued a subpoena to an independent news site, indymedia.us, and demanded a list and identifying information of all the individuals who had visited the website on June 25, 2008.

On top of that, Morrison demanded that the website remain silent on the matter --a gag order. The subpoena, which was illegally issued, was eventually withdrawn.

What is still not known is what Morrison and his staff were looking for in their fishing expedition that violated U.S. Department of Justice rules. CBS News writes:

Still unclear is what criminal investigation U.S. Attorney Morrison was pursuing. Last Friday, a spokeswoman initially promised a response, but Morrison sent e-mail on Monday evening saying: "We have no comment." The Justice Department in Washington, D.C. also declined to respond.

We decided to do a search of that specific date and we have found two possible issues related to that date on the indynews.us website: a New York rights organization blasting the Anti-Defamation League or an item we think would be in Morrison's backyard, the protesting and blocking of the construction of Interstate 69 near Evansville, Indiana.

A link sent us to another independent  news website that discusses this event which occured (you can guess it) on Wednesday, June 25, 2008:

Protesters arrived at Gohmann Asphalt’s construction yard in Haubstadt, IN at 10 AM Wednesday morning. While one individual stopped a truck leaving the site, others deflated the tires, immobilizing the vehicle. Four individuals locked themselves to the undercarriage beneath the truck, and yet another climbed on top and locked his neck to a bar that was fixed to the trailer. Within minutes a long line of trucks stretched down the road, some trying to enter the facility and several trying to exit. As the lines grew longer, supporters arrived and began chanting, holding banners, and supporting those locked on with water and food.

We believe that Morrison either was targeting those protesters involved, looking for the persons who posted the photo dated June 25, 2008 (right), or targeting the asphalt company.

Gohmann Asphalt and Construction has a shady and spotted past.

In 2007, they paid $8.2. million to settle claims of fraud with the federal government, the State of Indiana,and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Interestingly, John R. Gohmann, CEO and Vice-Chairman of the asphalt firm, gave over $10,000 in campaign contributions to Rove Republicans during the 2008 calendar year according to the website campaignmoney.com. Is there a link?

Morrison, who violated DOJ rules for unknown reasons, should be held accountable and forced to answer the question publicly about what he was after this past January.