Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2001
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2001 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Steve Lipsher

DEA AGENT ADMITS HE ABUSED POWERS

Admission Could Hurt Murder Case

Friday, August 31, 2001 - A federal drug agent admitted in court that he 
abused his authority to acquire telephone records in a Steamboat Springs 
murder case to help police.

The admission by Special Agent Donald Sperry of the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration could jeopardize the already troubled case against Thomas 
Lee Johnson, accused of stabbing 31-year-old Lori Bases to death in May.

"I misused my authority to get information about a homicide investigation," 
Sperry said Wednesday in a hearing before District Judge Joseph Quinn, who 
must determine whether to disqualify the district attorney's office from 
the case because of the agent's conduct.

Earlier this month, Sperry had the live-in girlfriend of the case's 
original judge arrested on federal drug charges, forcing Judge Joel 
Thompson to recuse himself.

Public defender Norm Townsend believes the arrest of the judge's 
girlfriend, Billie Jo Vreeman, was an attempt to intimidate Thompson and 
force him to step down after Thompson ordered the agent to answer a 
subpoena and testify about the phone records only days earlier.

Vreeman was released from jail and has not been charged.

The case against Johnson, meanwhile, hinges in part on telephone records 
obtained by Sperry.

Prosecutors say police overheard a telephone conversation between Johnson 
and his ex-wife, Michelle Linnebur, in which he admitted to the slaying.

Sperry testified Wednesday that he obtained records from the phone company 
by claiming they were needed for a drug investigation, allowing the 
Steamboat Springs police to circumvent a requirement to get a search warrant.

"I knew I was stretching it," he said under questioning.

Tom Ward, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's regional office in 
Denver, said Sperry's actions are under review.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom