BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County has moved another $200,000 from an emergency fund to pay for a special prosecutor investigating the case of stolen voice-mail messages from Chiquita Brands International Inc. County commissioners agreed to the move Wednesday, the second time in less than two months they have agreed to move $200,000 into the special prosector's fund.
So far, special prosecutor Perry Ancona has spent about $280,000 on the investigation.
Commissioner John Dowlin was not happy about the rising costs. "The Enquirer reporter has been indicted, yet we're asking for another $200,000," he said. " . . . Will this end up being another Kenneth Starr report at $40 million?"
Both David Krings, county administrator, and Bob Bedinghaus, county commissioner, said they have talked with Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel and he has agreed to watch that money is not being spent unnecessarily.
Mr. Krings added that the investigation had broadened "beyond the reporter to an attorney who used to work for Chiquita." George Ventura, Chiquita's former legal counsel in Honduras, pleaded not guilty in September to five counts of unlawful interception of communications and five counts of unauthorized access to computer systems.
Michael Gallagher, a former reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer, pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to one count of unlawful interception of communications and one count of unauthorized access to computer systems. He is now aiding Mr. Ancona's investigation.
Mr. Gallagher was fired from The Enquirer after a series of articles about Chiquita published in May quoted voice-mail messages he said were given to him by a Chiquita official. Chiquita executives disputed that and claimed the voice-mails were stolen.
Enquirer executives investigated and eventually the newspaper published a front-page apology, renounced the series and announced it had agreed to pay Chiquita more than $10 million. The apology said Mr. Gallagher had deceived his editors about how he obtained the recorded telephone messages.
