Democracynow.org reports that in the week before Dr. Tiller was shot to death, the FBI was twice warned about criminal actions by the man arrested for the killings. On two occasions, once on Memorial Day 2009, and once on May 30th, 2009, before the shooting of Dr. Tiller, Scott Roeder attempted to vandalize a health clinic by super-gluing its doors shut. This clinic in Kansas City is a different one from the clinic Dr. Tiller worked at before being shot while attending church services. A women's health clinic in Kansas City provided the FBI with Roder's first name, his license plate number and video footage showing him attempting to super glue shut the clinic's doors. So, just a week before Scott Roeder allegedly killed Dr. Tiller, he vandalized a different health clinic twice and this vandalism was reported to the FBI which did nothing. Under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances act, Scott Roeder's actions were a federal crime. On top of all of this, Roeder had vandalized the same Kansas City clinic TWICE back in 2000 and the FBI had done nothing about that but talk with Roeder. Kudos to Amy Goodman and Democracynow.org for this bombshell scoop.
From Amy Goodman's Democracynow.org program:
The clinic manager, calls himself "Jeff Pederson" to protect his identity, says he called the FBI and local law enforcement, but the vandal, Scott, was not arrested. The first incident was discovered on Memorial Day; the second, this past Saturday. That’s May 30th. Pederson and other clinic staff recognized the vandal as "Scott" from anti-abortion protests and gave the FBI his first name, his license plate number, and video footage of the incidents from a security camera at the clinic. Pederson told me that FBI agent Mark Colburn told him, quote, "The Johnson County Prosecutor won’t do anything until the Grand Jury convenes." Well, the next day was Sunday, when Dr. George Tiller was killed, allegedly by Scott Roeder.
SOURCE: http://www.democracynow.org/...
NOTE: Poster "Scarce" whose computer skills are much better than mine has embedded 2 video clips from Amy Goodman's program below (about 80 comments down or so).
Amazingly enough, the manager of the "Aid for Women" clinic in Kansas City--NOT the same one Tiller worked at before he was killed at a Kansas church--said that the killer also had super glued shut the doors of this clinic back in 2000 ON TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW and this also had been reported to the FBI, complete with film of it. Again from Amy Goodman (same source unless otherwise noted; note that Jeffrey Pederson is a made up name to protect the real manager):
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Jeff. Can you describe the first incident where you caught Scott on videotape, Memorial Day weekend, super-gluing your locks?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yeah. I was at home. One of my staff members came in to mow our yard. She tried to get into the building to take care of some other things and noticed that she couldn’t get in the front or back door. So she called me at home, and I was—it was Monday, the 25th, Memorial Day. ...And I think I got out there about 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and proceeded to take care of opening up the clinic.
And I did call FBI at that time, and I also did a call-in report to the local PD about it. But it was just, you know, a misdemeanor at this point. I didn’t think too much more of it. I didn’t have any video to give law enforcement yet, because it takes a while to review video. And it was Thursday morning sometime that I—I was only fifteen minutes into a tape when I finally saw him getting us at 9:47 on Saturday the 23rd.
AMY GOODMAN: So you reviewed the videotape that you had from Memorial Day weekend—
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: —later in the week, and you then found the moment where this person you knew as Scott was super-gluing the locks?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yes, ma’am.
AMY GOODMAN: And did you call the police?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Well, I had made the call-in report. This is just a misdemeanor. It’s typically just a call-in report, and I had made that call-in report on Monday.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you had the videotape then? You could see him?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, you knew who he was from being outside the clinic protesting?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yes, ma’am. He’s kind of tall. He’s hard to miss.
AMY GOODMAN: And you called the FBI, as well?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: On that Monday, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: And did you tell the FBI agent, Mark Colburn, that you knew who he was? And did he know who he was?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yes, because he had done the same thing in 2000 two weekends in a row.
AMY GOODMAN: And what did the FBI do in 2000, when Scott super-glued the locks?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: He had said at that time the pictures were too fuzzy, that they probably would not be able to get a conviction on it, but he would talk to him. And after that little talk, we didn’t see Scott for like six years.
The manager even provided the FBI with the killer's license plate number shortly before Dr. Tiller was killed:
GOODMAN: And what happened on Saturday, May 30th (2009)?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Backing up a little bit, so Thursday I gave copies of the video to FBI. I didn’t give anything to the local PD yet. Saturday, I upgraded the video equipment so I’d have better pictures.
And then, eleven hours later, Scott [Roeder, the man charged with Dr. Tiller's death] watched one of my staff members come back from a convenience store. She went into the—she had seen the car, but didn’t think too much more of it, went into our building and locked back up. She was the only one there at the time. But through a window, she saw Scott get out of his vehicle, heading towards the building, and it looked like he was going towards the back door. So she made her way through the building to get to that back door, and she arrove there at the back door just as he was starting to super-glue it again.
And she chased him off and did manage to get his license plate number, and then she called me at home. And I called FBI—as soon as I got off the phone, I called FBI at about 6:10 a.m. on a Saturday, the 30th.
AMY GOODMAN: And you made the call?
...
AMY GOODMAN: Who did you call?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Same FBI agent.
AMY GOODMAN: You called Mark Colburn?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yeah, he’s my contact. And I left the license, and I said, you know, it’s the same guy from last weekend and the same guy from 2000. And my staff member gave the license plate, 225BAB. He called me back a couple hours later, and that’s when he told me that, you know, "Thank you," but he’s pretty sure he’s not going to be able to do anything, because they’re going to require a grand jury and then, from that, then get a warrant to proceed.
...
AMY GOODMAN: Now, this time, you had bought new cameras, after he said the first weekend, Memorial Day weekend, they would be too fuzzy?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Right. They’re older, black and white. Now I’ve got color, much higher resolution.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, now you had the videotape of this person named Scott again, and you told the FBI agent this.
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: That you had higher-quality videotape.
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yeah. I don’t know if I told him that I had higher-quality yet, but—and I don’t know. Yeah, you’re right.
...
AMY GOODMAN: So, the license plate was 225BAB, like "baby"?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Right, right. And I have the piece of paper she wrote on, and she called me immediately.
AMY GOODMAN: And you gave this to the FBI and the local police?
...
AMY GOODMAN: Now, isn’t it a federal crime to interfere with access to a clinic, the FACE bill, the Federal Access for Clinic [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] bill?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Yeah, I don’t know exactly how it’s worded. I know that they’ve got first offense, second offense, and three or more, something like that. So—
AMY GOODMAN: Which is why you call the FBI, because it’s a federal offense.
JEFFREY PEDERSON: Right, right.
...
AMY GOODMAN: Were you alarmed that nothing was done?
JEFFREY PEDERSON: I was ticked off, but I know that the wheels of justice roll slowly. And so, I didn’t—I can’t do anything. I don’t know what to do.
Note that Amy Goodman's interview is long and should be looked at in full. The information in her interview, moreover, has been substantiated by similar accounts from other sources:
Jeffrey Pederson, office manager of the Central Family Medicine clinic, 720 Central Ave., said a man glued the locks shut on the clinic’s doors on May 23 and again on Saturday morning.
Pederson said he filed a police report after both incidents and contacted the FBI, giving them the suspect’s license plate number after Saturday’s incident.
On Sunday morning, Pederson said, he got a call from Wichita about Tiller’s murder. At 1 p.m., he said he got another call from his Wichita contact who gave him the suspect’s license plate.
"I was just sick," he said. "That was the plate I gave the FBI Saturday. I called the FBI back and said, ‘It’s the same car. It’s the same guy.’"
The FBI was tight-lipped about the incident.
Source (I thank poster Drewid for pointing this out): http://www.kansascity.com/...
The abortion debate first turned deadly in 1993, when Dr. David Gunn was shot and killed by an anti-abortion zealot in Pensacola, FL. In addition, twelve arsons, one bombing, and 66 blockades were carried out against abortion clinics during that year. In response to these violent acts, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The bill was signed into law by President Clinton in May 1994.
Source:
http://74.125.153.132/...
The FACE Act provides, in relevant part for:
SEC. 3. FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO CLINIC ENTRANCES.
Chapter 13 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at
the end thereof the following new section:
"sec. 248 Freedom of Access to CLINIC ENTRANCES.
"(a) PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.--Whoever--
"(1) by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction,
intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to
injure, intimidate or interfere with any person because that person is
or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person
or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive
health services;
"(2) by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction,
intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to
injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or
seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a
place of religious worship; or
"(3) intentionally damages or destroys the property of a facility, or
attempts to do so, because such facility provides reproductive health
services, or intentionally damages or destroys the property of a place
of religious worship,
The FACE Act provides for these criminal penalties:
"(b) PENALTIES.--Whoever violates this section shall--
"(1) in the case of a first offense, be fined in accordance with this
title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and
"(2) in the case of a second or subsequent offense after a prior
conviction under this section, be fined in accordance with this title,
or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both;
except that for an offense involving exclusively a nonviolent physical
obstruction, the fine shall be not more than $10,000 and the length of
imprisonment shall be not more than six months, or both, for the first
offense; and the fine shall be not more than $25,000 and the length of
imprisonment shall be not more than 18 months, or both, for a subsequent
offense; and except that if bodily injury results, the length of
imprisonment shall be not more than 10 years, and if death results, it
shall be for any term of years or for life.
Source: (emphasis added)
http://www.faqs.org/...
Note also that there is a very real question that if the FBI had acted earlier, Doctor Tiller might well still be alive today. From Amy Goodman's interview, it is clear that Roeder twice violated this law in 2000 (when the FBI appears to have done noting more than "jawbone" him for what he had done); he had also been arrested and spent several months in jail for having bomb making equipment. So, had the FBI arrested him for committing 2 violations of the FACE law in the week before he killed Dr. Tiller, he probably would have been in jail without bail (either as a threat to the community or on no bail or on such high bail that he would not have been able to raise it). But in this instance, shoddy police work by the FBI and others left this "ticking bomb" of a man on the streets to inflict even worse, mortal damage. There is little doubt, moreover, based on eyewitness testimony, video and perhaps fingerprints (it is not clear the FBI even bothered to get fingerprints after the clinic reported these incidents on what amounts to four separate occasions, ask him if you get the chance Amy--yet more evidence of sloppy police work), that the FBI had probable cause to arrest Scott Roeder or to get an arrest warrant from a judge for federal violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances act several days before he killed Dr. Tiller. There was no need to wait for a Grand Jury indictment as they did. The Supreme Court decision Illinois v. Gates (1983) lowered the threshold of probable cause by ruling that a "substantial chance" or "fair probability" of criminal activity could establish probable cause. A better-than-even chance is not required. Eyewitness testimony and videotape surely would have met the probable cause standards.
It also appears to me that the FACE act needs to be revisted and that penalties should be much harsher than they are and more clearly spelled out.
I would also think--given the FBI's actions/inactions/shoddy work in this case--that there should be an investigation of why the FBI did nothing.
Why is it, by the way, that Operation Rescue of Wichita, Kansas, and especially its Senior Policy Advisor, Cheryl (sp?) Sullinger, are NOT being investigated for conspiracy to commit murder or other crimes? I ask this in light of all the evidence that Rachel Maddow has brought out in her program. For a video link to the Rachel Maddow show, please see the video clip provided by "Scarce" in his/her comment below. Certainly there appears to be enough circumstantial evidence to do so: a note on the killer's car front dash with Sullinger's phone number, for example. Sullinger has also apparently spent time in jail for attempted bombing of clinics.
Finally, since I originally wrote this diary some great comments have come in from posters here at Dailykos. These posts indicate lax law enforcement at clinics across the country. See for example, the post of Annrose below who wrote, in part:
I'm afraid this is all too true at communities all over the country.
Right now in Jackson Mississippi our clinic has had repeated problems with violent picketers and the police refuse to come.
Isn't it time that our law enforcement officials, our state attorney generals, our government leaders, our DOJ, and our FBI took violence seriously at clinics nationwide? The FACE act provides for criminal AND civil actions by the Attorney General of the United States and by states attorneys general. Where are Eric Holder and the AG of Kansas on this?