Pubdate: Fri, 03 Dec 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Dirk Johnson, New York Times

HINT OF FAVORITISM FOLLOWS NON-ARREST OF SENATOR'S SON

MINNEAPOLIS - One afternoon last July, U.S. Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., called
the Sheriff's Department in Anoka County and asked that deputies find his
21-year-old son, who had a history of chronic drug use and scrapes with the
law and, the senator had been told, was driving around in a rental vehicle
that he refused to return.

Several hours later, a deputy stopped the sport utility vehicle driven by
Morgan Grams and found 10 bags of marijuana. Nine of the bags were in the
possession of a 17- year-old boy who was one of two juveniles also in the
truck, and he was arrested.

But Grams, who was on probation for drinking and driving and was behind the
wheel of a vehicle in which several bottles of beer were also found, was
not arrested, even though the 10th bag of marijuana was discovered under
his seat.

Instead, the deputy gave him a ride, in the front seat of an unmarked
police car, back to the hotel where he had been staying.

In less than two weeks, Grams was arrested in Coon Rapids and charged with
check forgery and credit-card fraud.

The handling of that vehicle stop last July went largely unnoticed until
mid-November, when The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a lengthy article
suggesting that Grams had received preferential treatment.

Now a special investigator has been appointed by the Anoka County attorney
to determine whether the Sheriff's Department handled the case properly.
The investigator, Don Gudmundson, the sheriff in nearby Dakota County,
expects to issue a report within two weeks.

Neil Melton, executive director of the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards
and Training Board, said the treatment of Morgan Grams was "probably not
the norm, given that drugs were found in the car."

Still, Melton noted that officers are always making judgments about young
apparent wrongdoers: Not all of them caught with drugs are charged.

There has been no comment about the case from the younger Grams, and his
father declined a request for an interview. But the day after the
Minneapolis paper published its account, Sen. Grams issued a statement
denying that he had sought favorable 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," he said. "My son has struggled with
addiction and behavioral problems for years and has received treatment for
those problems."
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