| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Hank Hill" |
| Date: |
15 Aug 2006 09:48:02 AM |
| Object: |
Teenagers find lost 'secure' Whitehouse radios |
White House says 12 radios went missing
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/NEWS01/608150387/1001/RSS01
Two White House radios found on a pair of
Bettendorf teenagers last month were among 12
such devices that went missing shortly before a July 17
visit to Iowa by Vice President ***** Cheney,
a government spokesman confirmed Monday.
But government officials again refused to say how
the boys, ages 13 and 14, ended up with secure
communications equipment marked as belonging to
the White House Communications Agency.
Michael Thiem, public affairs officer for the Defense
Information Systems Agency, said the 12 radios were
discovered missing shortly before Cheney's trip
to Davenport and Des Moines "by an advance
communications team responsible for establishing
mobile connectivity for the vice president."
"The circumstances that enabled the juveniles to
come into possession of the radios are still under review,"
Thiem said in a written statement.
Bettendorf Police Capt. Steve Brauer said authorities
believe the radios were taken from somewhere in or
around a pair of north Bettendorf hotels.
"I don't think the kids ever gave up exactly
where (the radios) came from," Brauer said.
Federal officials didn't say how any of the equipment
disappeared. Thiem's statement said only that "local
police were immediately notified, and a police report
was filed."
Bettendorf authorities, who say they were unaware
of any missing radios before July 30, actually
discovered one of them on July 17 as part of a
search in a case unrelated to any White House
complaint, Brauer said. At the time, police believed
the radio was linked to a reported burglary of a
railroad worker's car, he said.
Then, on July 30, a Bettendorf officer spotted
Matthew Bradshaw, 13, and Angel Luis Reyes III, 14,
with the expensive radios. Police uncovered the
rest of the missing equipment, including more than a
half-dozen "earpiece/wrist microphone combinations."
Both boys now face a felony second-degree theft
charge in Scott County for possessing the stolen
property, which is valued between $1,000 and
$10,000. Bradshaw and Reyes claim to have found
the equipment hidden in some trees near the two hotels.
.
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