Thursday, April 01, 1999
Prosecutor could revive theft probe
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A special prosecutor says he could revive the investigation into the theft of voice-mail messages at Chiquita Brands International Inc.
The prosecutor, Daniel Breyer, said Wednesday his involvement in the case is not limited to the upcoming trial of former Chiquita legal counsel George Ventura.
“My understanding is that the door is not shut forever on pursuing this case,” Mr. Breyer said.
Mr. Breyer, an assistant prosecutor in Clermont County, was appointed in December to prosecute Mr. Ventura's case and to oversee the sentencing of former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Michael Gallagher.
Mr. Ventura is accused of providing Mr. Gallagher and another reporter, Cameron McWhirter, with the codes needed to access Chiquita's voice-mail system.
Mr. Gallagher was fired by the newspaper and has pleaded guilty to two charges accusing him of accessing the voice-mail system.
Mr. Gallagher and Mr. McWhirter wrote articles last year about Chiquita that quoted taped messages from the voice-mail boxes of company executives. The paper later renounced the articles, apologized to Chiquita and agreed to pay the company more than $10 million.
Mr. Breyer replaced Perry Ancona as special prosecutor in December, at which time Mr. Ancona said the investigation phase of the case was over.
But Mr. Breyer said the court order appointing him as prosecutor gives him authority to investigate further. “My major concern is the prosecution of the Ventura case, but my understanding is that my appointment is broader than that,” Mr. Breyer said.
According to the court order, Mr. Breyer has authority to handle the Ventura and Gallagher cases as well as “any other matters arising therefrom or ancillary thereto.”
It also states that any investigative assistance he needs would be provided by Hamilton County Sheriff Simon L. Leis.
Mr. Breyer's appointment was upheld Wednesday in a ruling by Common Pleas Judge Ann Marie Tracey, who rejected Mr. Ventura's claim that it was unconstitutional.
Mr. Ventura's attorney, Marc Mezibov, had argued that the court appointment was improper because it made the special prosecutor an “agent of the court.”
The judge concluded that prosecutors and other attorneys always are regarded as “officers of the court.”
“I'm certainly disappointed,” Mr. Mezibov said of the judge's ruling. “The appointment of the special prosecutor ... is a violation of fundamental constitutional issues.”
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