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• Jan 13, 2008 4:45 pm US/Mountain
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  Agent Accused In Ad Flap Wants Charges Dropped

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Agent Accused In Ad Flap Wants Charges Dropped

Contact reporter Rick Sallinger at rsallinger@cbs.com

DENVER (AP) ― A federal immigration agent is scheduled to go back to court Monday to ask that charges against him be thrown out.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis is accused of using a federal computer to gather information used in a campaign advertisement during the last race for governor. His lawyers claim he's being unfairly prosecuted.

The ad attacked Democrat Bill Ritter over a plea bargain while district attorney in the case of an illegal immigrant. The commercial was run by the campaign of Republican Bob Beauprez.

Voorhis is charged with using a government crime computer to collect and pass along information for the ad to the Beauprez campaign. Shortly after the commercial began running, Beauprez's campaign manager, John Marshall, said nobody from his campaign asked someone in law enforcement to get information.

Emails submitted by Voorhis' lawyers show a Sept. 30 correspondence from Marshall to Colorado Republican Party officials. In it, Marshall asks for Colorado Bureau of Investigation criminal background checks for the man who was later featured in the Beauprez ad. It's alleged that information was only available by using the Federal Bureau of Investigation national crime information center computer, which is restricted for official use only.

During the campaign, Ritter was on the attack.

"There should be punishment for that and I would say punishment that includes jail time," Ritter said in October of 2006.

Voorhis wants the charges thrown out, in part, claiming others accessed the information too, but he's the only one being prosecuted.

Lawyers for Voorhis maintain the Denver district attorney's office also accessed the same information. That office denied to the FBI that they passed it along to the Ritter campaign.

CBS4's Raj Chohan has been told he could receive a subpoena to testify for the government about a "Reality Check" report he did on the Beauprez ad.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)