Wiretapping charges against HSUS

OH MY! Imagine that the HSUS did something shady.


Wiretapping and Conspiracy Charges Against Humane Society of U.S. Urged

Oct 6 09:59 AM US/Eastern
www.breitbart.com/

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ --
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) engaged in activities that are believed to warrant California and Maryland wiretapping and conspiracy charges, according to documents being filed today by a national cooperative of egg farmers.

United Egg Producers (UEP) filed requests today with the attorneys general in California and Maryland and the District Attorneys in Sacramento County, CA and Montgomery, MD alleging that a HSUS employee impersonated an egg industry ally and illegally tape-recorded phone calls and that HSUS conspired with a California political campaign committee led by a former employee of HSUS.

The HSUS employee at the heart of the scheme is Frank Loftus, director of the so-called "Investigations Unit" of HSUS. In an affidavit filed in a separate legal proceeding, Loftus admitted under oath that he masqueraded as someone else and made three phone calls to UEP offices on August 28, 2008. The affidavit contained detailed transcripts of each of the calls, apparently prepared from a surreptitious tape recording of the calls. UEP's phone records indicate that the calls were placed from a Maryland phone number, and Loftus' affidavit was sworn in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Loftus did not tell the UEP staffer that the calls were being tape recorded, even though it is against the law in Maryland to tape record phone conversations unless all parties to the call are aware of it. It also is against the law in California to disclose the contents of a tape-recorded phone call without the permission of all parties involved in the call. The Maryland law was well publicized several years ago when Linda Tripp acknowledged taping phone calls with Monica Lewinsky. Illegal wiretapping is a felony in Maryland and carries a potential prison sentence of five years. The violation of the California law carries a potential jail sentence up to one year and $5,000 fine.

Humane California, a California political campaign committee led by a former HSUS employee, Jennifer Fearing used the transcripts of those calls in an affidavit filed with California's Fair Political Practices Commission on September 3, 2008. That group has placed a Proposition on the Nov. 4 California ballot which effectively bans most modern methods of egg production in the state. By using illegally-obtained materials, that campaign is conspiring and colluding with HSUS in violation of California law, says the UEP complaint.
SOURCE United Egg Producers Copyright 2008 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.