-Caveat Lector-
On Sun, 15 Jul 2001 23:39:26 -0500 (CDT) Austin Kelley
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: phoenix420 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:58:10 -0400
To: "Kris Millegan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Alex Constantine"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Pentagon Sex Slaves?
RICO Used in Wrongful-Termination Suit
Mary Alice Robbins (Texas Lawyer) --
Depositions are under way in a suit pending in Fort Worth, Texas' 17th
District Court that alleges a Lubbock man was fired by an American
defense contractor in Bosnia because he blew the whistle on supervisors
and co-workers who bought illegal firearms and engaged in buying and
selling underage girls as domestic help and sex slaves.
Ben Johnston alleges in Johnston v. DynCorp Inc., et al. that his former
employer breached his three-year contract when he was fired without cause
last June.
DynCorp's lawyer, Irving, Texas, sole practitioner Greg Marks, declines
to be interviewed because the corporation has a policy against discussing
pending litigation. Marks says he filed a routine answer denying all
Johnston's allegations.
Johnston worked as a civilian aircraft mechanic for DynCorp, which has a
contract with the U.S. Army to maintain military helicopters on the
Comanche Base at Tuzla, Bosnia. He accepted the contract with DynCorp in
November 1998 and was earning about $120,000 a year, according to the
suit.
DynCorp, a Delaware corporation, oversees its international operations
from its offices in Fort Worth.
The suit filed last August by Lubbock lawyer Kevin Glasheen alleges that
DynCorp engaged in racketeering activities in violation of the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and that Johnston was terminated
because he refused to commit an illegal act. If Johnston had not reported
his fellow employees' alleged unlawful activities, he could have been
charged under federal law with misprision of a felony, says Glasheen, a
shareholder in Fadduol, Glasheen & Valles in Lubbock.
Glasheen says the issues addressed in the case involve "leading-edge
stuff" in employment law. "This is going to be a case of first
impression," he says.
Among the allegations in the suit are that the corporation and its
employees engaged in peonage and slavery, sexually exploiting children,
dealing in obscene material and procuring fraudulent identification
documents.
The suit alleges that DynCorp employees purchased the passports of women
and girls from Serbian Mafia members who brought them into Bosnia from
other Eastern European countries. The corporation's employees sometimes
resold the passports, alleges Richard Hardy, an associate with Fadduol,
Glasheen who also represents Johnston.
As alleged in the suit, Johnston told his DynCorp supervisor that
co-workers were buying women from the Mafia and was told "to mind his own
business." According to the suit, Johnston reported the alleged
activities to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in March 2000
and his whistle-blowing allegedly led to his termination and forced him
and his Bosnian wife, Denisa, to flee the country.
Johnston and his wife were forced into protective custody by the CID for
fear that they would face retaliation by the Serbian Mafia and DynCorp
employees, the suit alleges.
A plaintiff who brings a civil RICO conspiracy claim must show that he
was injured by an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled last year in Beck v. Prupis that a plaintiff must
prove the overt act that injured him was an "act of racketeering."
"In our situation, we're claiming tampering with a witness," Glasheen
says.
"Mr. Johnston was terminated in order to preserve the status quo of
DynCorp in Bosnia, the sanctioned buying and selling of women, minor
girls, firearms, forged passports and frequent trips to whorehouses," the
suit alleges.
NOVEL QUESTION
Glasheen says the suit raises the question of whether the termination of
an employee can be considered obstruction of justice under RICO. It also
raises the question of whether reporting fellow workers' alleged illegal
activities to law enforcement constitutes refusal to commit an illegal
act, he says.
Johnston alleges that the corporation's conduct toward him was willful or
malicious, entitling him to recover punitive damages.
Jonathan Lyons, a DynCorp supervisor in Bosnia, signed the June 9, 2000,
letter of discharge that ended Johnston's employment with the
corporation. The letter said Johnston "brought discredit to the company
and the U.S. Army" while working in Bosnia.
In a Feb. 21 deposition, Lyons testified that Johnston was fired because
of unverifiable statements he made to the Army CID about fellow
employees. "That was my understanding," Lyons testified, according to a
transcript of the deposition.
Charlene Wheeless, DynCorp's vice president of communications, says the
corporation adheres to the strictest of ethical standards. "The idea that
we, DynCorp, would violate any law is incredible," Wheeless says.
A DynCorp internal e-mail memo that the company turned over to Glasheen
during discovery alleges that a CID raid in June 2000 uncovered a
videotape of the corporation's acting site manager in Bosnia having sex
with two prostitutes. The memo also alleges the raid turned up a machine
gun that an employee purchased from a suspected member of the Bosnian
mafia.
A separate memo turned over during discovery from William S.A. Russ, the
CID agent in charge of the investigation, alleges the employee who
purchased the gun also admitted that he bought the woman who was living
with him.
The June 2000 raid was not the first time that DynCorp employees had been
investigated for alleged involvement in organized crime, according to
another e-mail turned over during discovery.
A corporation internal memo details a Bosnian National Police
investigation in August 1999 that allegedly linked five DynCorp employees
to the purchases of passports of women brought into the country
illegally. The corporation fired all five employees, the memo states.
Glasheen claims that DynCorp did not conduct an internal investigation of
the alleged wrongdoing and did nothing to clean it up.
Wheeless did not return a phone call seeking comment on the internal
memos.
Johnston and his wife have settled in Lubbock, where they operate a
janitorial and maid service, Glasheen says.
=======================================================================See
also:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0128/ridgeway.shtml
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