Ryan pal blocked probe: agent
January 5, 2006
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
George Ryan's handpicked inspector general shut down a probe into anIllinois trucker
who caused a tragic crash that killed six children inWisconsin, an investigator
testified Wednesday.
"He told me no, let Wisconsin authorities handle the case and give himall
the documents I had," Russell Sonneveld, an agent in the inspectorgeneral's
department, testified his supervisor and longtime Ryan palDean Bauer told him.
Sonneveld said Bauer blocked him from probing other cases involvingsecretary of
state workers and pressures to sell Ryan fund-raisingtickets, but Bauer allegedly
did give a specific message on at leastsix occasions: "We don't want to do
anything to embarrass GeorgeRyan."
That mantra played out through Sonneveld's 2-1/2 years in thesecretary of state's
office, he alleged at Ryan's public corruptiontrial. Defense attorneys, though,
portrayed Sonneveld as a disgruntledemployee. Sonneveld agreed that neither Ryan
nor Bauer stopped himfrom pursuing several other corruption investigations.
Stop the probe
Sonneveld said that on state time and with state equipment, Bauerordered him to
sweep for bugs in Ryan's campaign offices andgovernment offices. He never found
any, but Ryan was present duringone of the sweeps, he said.
When Sonneveld asked Roger Bickel, the office's internal lawyer, for alist of
campaign donors as part of a probe, he said Bickel refused.
"Whose f---ing side are you on?" Bickel allegedly asked.
When Sonneveld looked into whether an employee of the secretary of state's Naperville
facility stole nearly $2,700 to keep up with pressures to sell Ryan fund-raising
tickets, he was asked to call Ryanwith an update. Two days later, Bauer reportedly
told Sonneveld andanother agent, Edward Hammer, to turn over their files and stop
theprobe.
Ultimately, Bauer fired Sonneveld without reason, he said.
"You mother [expletive] the wrong person," Sonneveld said he warned
Bauer.
Ryan lawyer Timothy Rooney ripped into Sonneveld's Naperville probe,asking why
he didn't ask more questions before theorizing that theemployee stole because
of pressures to buy 50 tickets for afund-raiser. The tickets cost $100 each. Managers
were responsible forselling a quota of Ryan tickets and had to buy tickets they
couldn'tsell, said Hammer, who also testified Wednesday.
Cases on bribes
Rooney said Bauer kept Sonneveld from going to Wisconsin toinvestigate the accident
but didn't keep him from probing the driveraltogether.
Sonneveld started probing the Wisconsin accident after hearing mediareports on
it, he said. In the Nov. 9, 1994, accident a part from asemi-trailer truck fell
off and hit a van, causing an explosion thatkilled six children. The parents,
the Rev. Scott Willis and his wife,Janet, survived. The driver, Ricardo Guzman,
didn't speak English anddidn't understand warnings on his radio and by passersby
that theassembly was loose.
Sonneveld testified he found out Guzman got his license from MarionSeibel, a supervisor
at the McCook licensing facility. Seibel was a"proficient" Ryan fund-raiser,
and Sonneveld opened several cases tiedto licenses for bribes under her. Guzman
did pay a bribe for hislicense, and Seibel was later convicted on racketeering
charges tiedto McCook corruption.
Ryan later scrapped the inspector general's department when investigations got
too close to him, prosecutors contend.
After a judge's ruling, jurors heard a sanitized version of the accident. Lawyers
could not talk about six children dying.
Rooney said nothing stopped Sonneveld from pursuing Guzman through anexisting
case that looked at non-English-speaking drivers who paidbribes for licenses at
McCook. Rooney also suggested the breakup atthe inspector general's department
was proper because asometimes-contentious relationship among agents was "not
optimal."
At this, a fervent Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins shot back:"Is
it optimal for the inspector general to tell you you can't gatherinformation?"
"No," Sonneveld said.
But Rooney depicted Sonneveld as someone with an ax to grind.Sonneveld agreed
he swore at Bauer, whom Rooney called "an old man."Rooney asked if it
were true that after Sonneveld was fired, he wroteon his resignation papers: "With
this form you can wipe my ass."
"No," Sonneveld corrected him. "I said: 'With this form you can
wipe your ass.' "HIGHLIGHTS
PROSECUTION: George Ryan's handpicked inspector general, Dean Bauer,blocked corruption
investigations, including one into a high-profileaccident in Wisconsin.
DEFENSE: Ryan never told investigators not to pursue leads. Agentswere free to
probe a truck driver involved in the Wisconsin crash.
UP NEXT: Testimony today from Mark Lipe, an evidence technician at the1993 raid
at the secretary of state Libertyville facility.