Pubdate: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Section: Police Reports
Copyright: 1999 Star Tribune
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SEN. ROD GRAMS' SON WASN'T CHARGED AFTER DRUGS FOUND IN CAR

MINNEAPOLIS - Anoka County authorities deny they showed any favoritism by
not charging or even interrogating a U.S. senator's son who allegedly was
driving with 10 bags of marijuana in his car, the Star Tribune reported.

Morgan Grams, the 21-year-old son of Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., was stopped
in July by Anoka County sheriff' s deputies, the newspaper said in a in a
copyright story Sunday,
citing police reports on file. 

The senator's son was driving without a license and was on probation, but
was driven home in the front seat of Chief Deputy Peter Beberg's car, the
paper said.

Deputies had been searching for Morgan Grams at the personal request of the
senator, who was worried after learning his son had borrowed a rental car
but failed to return it, the paper said.

The senator declined to speak to the Star Tribune, and a spokesman said the
senator would not comment on his personal life. But he issued a statement
Sunday night that denied he sought preferential treatment for his son.

"When I learned he might be in trouble, I asked the authorities to find him
- -- and that's all I asked for," Grams said.

"Obviously neither Morgan nor I are proud of these events," he also said in
the statement." My son has struggled with addiction and behavioral problems
for years and has received treatment for these problems. ... It is my
primary duty as his father to set aside my disappointment and see to it
that he gets treatment and continues to get help for his problems."

A call to Grams' Anoka office this morning was referred to his Washington
office, where it was not immediately returned.

The newspaper said it was unable to reach Morgan Grams for comment.

Robert Parta, the chief deputy county attorney, told the newspaper he would
review the matter with Anoka County Attorney Robert Johnson. He said that
if it appears Grams got preferential treatment, the matter likely would be
referred to an outside agency for investigation.

State Attorney General Mike Hatch said that should such an investigation be
undertaken and preferential treatment be discovered, it would be possible
that Morgan Grams could still be questioned and charged. Hatch said he
found the incident " clearly troubling" but said he lacked jurisdiction
over local sheriffs offices.

State Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said that he, too, was
disturbed by the incident but that he also lacked jurisdiction.

" No one should receive special treatment, " said Weaver, who represented
Anoka as a state representative before his appointment as commissioner.

According to the report, Beberg found MorganGrams driving a sport utility
vehicle the evening of July 14.

Another deputy who arrived 10 minutes later, Todd Diegnau, found nine
quarter-ounce bags of marijuana on a 17-year-old passenger after he saw the
youth stash something in his pants. Diegnau, who declined to be
interviewed, also found a 10th bag under Grams' seat. The 17-year-old
pleaded guilty to drug possession and spent more than a month in a juvenile
detention center.

But Grams was never questioned about the drugs in the car, the Star Tribune
reported, even though he was on probation for underage drinking and
driving. A judge had ordered that Grams not possess alcohol or
mood-altering drugs, and a probation violation could have triggered a
three-month jail sentence.

Beer cans were also found in the car. Beberg said the cans were full and
unopened, including one at Grams' feet. A worker with the rental car agency
told the Star Tribune that when he retrieved the Isuzu Rodeo, there were "
five or six" empties under the seats.

Beberg, who also is mayor of the city of Anoka, a suburb of Minneapolis,
defended his actions.

" If there would have been a charge I could have made at that time, I don'
t care if it was Morgan or Rod Grams himself, I would have made that
arrest, " Beberg told the newspaper. " Just because it' s Rod Grams' kid
doesn' t mean that I would back away from it. But there was nothing I could
arrest him for."

Beberg said he didn' t learn about the discovery of the bag under Grams'
seat until he recently read Diegnau' s report.

Anoka County Sheriff Larry Podany backed his chief deputy, saying the
priority was checking on Grams' welfare. " I don' t know that I would have
done anything different out there, " Podany said.

Peter Erlinder, a professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in St.
Paul, was among three experts contacted by the newspaper who questioned the
handling of the case.

" It has all the appearances of a case of clear-cut preferential treatment,
" he said. " It would be easy to find thousands of African-Americans,
Hispanics and working class white males who are in prison for exactly the
circumstances that occurred in this case."

The incident wasn' t Morgan Grams' first brush with the law, nor was it his
last.

Less than two weeks after he was driven home by Beberg, Morgan Grams stole
a car and purse from a woman he took to a nightclub in Coon Rapids,
according to a criminal complaint filed last week.

He was convicted in 1996 of gross misdemeanors for stealing his aunt' s
$400 television and later that year for stalking and making harassing phone
calls to one of his sister' s girlfriends.

MorganGrams also was accused in 1996 of charging $1, 600 in phone sex calls
on the credit card of a woman who hired him as a full-time baby sitter.
Because Grams was 17 at the time of the alleged calls, that complaint was a
juvenile matter and further details were not available.

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