Top officials in the U.S. Department of Justice have vetoed the prosecution of imprisoned former Veco chief Bill Allen on sex charges involving minors, closing an Anchorage Police Department and FBI investigation that began in 2004, according to the police officer who led the case.
The officer, Sgt. Kevin Vandegriff, along with Detective Michele Logan, who took over the case when Vandegriff was promoted to patrol sergeant, said they are unhappy with the decision, which was left unexplained to them by federal officials.
"I think that we put together a very solid case, we did a lot work on it, it deserved to be indicted and heard before a jury," Vandegriff said.
The two officers said the Justice Department trial attorney who had been working with them for nearly two years, along with the supervisor of his section, thought the case was strong enough to seek an indictment from a grand jury. But the two prosecutors, in the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington, were overruled by officials atop the criminal division, Vandegriff said.
The trial attorney, Barak Cohen, CEOS section chief Drew Oosterbaan and criminal division head Lanny Breuer all referred requests for comment to a department spokeswoman, Laura Sweeney. Sweeney said department policy prevented her and the officials from discussing the reasons for not prosecuting a given case.
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