Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Just when it couldn't get any nuttier. :) Sue WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon plans to investigate allegations that Linda Tripp may have answered questions on her department security clearance form incorrectly, including whether she has ever been arrested. ``If in fact it is confirmed that the answers are wrong, this is a very serious situation,'' said Lt. Cmdr. James Graybeal, a Pentagon spokesman. Tripp's lawyer confirmed his client has been arrested but said the charges against her were dropped because she was innocent. The New Yorker magazine reports in its edition on newsstands Monday that Tripp, the Pentagon staffer who recorded conversations with Monica Lewinsky about an alleged affair with President Clinton, was arrested on a grand larceny charge May 12, 1969, in Greenwood Lake, N.Y., and subsequently pleaded not guilty. Tripp went by her maiden name Carotenuto at the time of the arrest, the magazine reported. It said Tripp filled out a 1987 Defense Department security clearance form without mentioning the arrest. According to an arrest report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, Linda Carotenuto, 19, was detained by Greenwood Lake police on charges that she stole $263 and a wrist watch valued at $600 from the rooms of two men. An accompanying statement from the Greenwood Lake police department said it ``is not confirming that this person is indeed Linda Tripp.'' Tripp's lawyer, James Moody, told The Washington Post his client had told him she was ``set up'' during the arrest. He said Tripp and a group of friends were stopped by police after a night of partying. ``A bunch of kids were drinking,'' Moody told the paper. ``They were at some bar or restaurant, and they let the kids spend the night there and go home in the morning.'' He said police detained Tripp after finding the missing money and watch in her purse. Moody told the Post that after her arrest, Tripp appeared in court for an arraignment, but the charges were dropped because she was innocent. ``Linda was told by the judge she was unconditionally discharged and this would never appear on her record,'' Moody told the paper. Graybeal said the investigation involves whether Tripp ``incorrectly'' answered some questions on the clearance form, including whether she was ever arrested, charged, cited or held by any law enforcement agency. He said he could not confirm her answers. The Pentagon spokesman said he did not know what prompted the plans to investigate Tripp, saying the department just recently heard about the investigation. But he stressed that ``so far there has been no determination that the questions have been answered inappropriately.'' Graybeal said he does not know how long the investigation will take. ``It's a very detailed process, gaining a security clearance,'' Graybeal said. ``I would assume going ahead and reverifying the information will take time. ... We owe it to Linda Tripp to give her due process and fully investigate it.'' Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
