Wednesday, April 21, 1999
Ventura not singled out, judge rules
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Prosecutors did not ignore other potential suspects when they charged George Ventura with stealing voice-mail messages from Chiquita Brands International Inc., a judge ruled Tuesday.
The judge's decision came one day after Mr. Ventura's attorneys had argued in court that their client is the victim of selective prosecution.
Mr. Ventura, a former lawyer for Chiquita, faces trial in July on 10 counts of providing codes that allowed former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter, Michael Gallagher, to access Chiquita's voice-mail system.
In her ruling in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, Judge Ann Marie Tracey said there was no evidence Mr. Ventura was singled out.
“The defendant does not argue convincingly that others who were similarly situated were not prosecuted,” the judge wrote in her decision. “Mr. Ventura was the only identified Chiquita "insider' who allegedly provided voice mail codes.”
Prosecutors say Mr. Ventura, who worked for the company from 1991 to 1996, contacted Mr. Gallagher and another Enquirer reporter, Cameron McWhirter, when he learned they were preparing articles about Chiquita's business practices.
Gallagher pleaded guilty
They say Mr. Ventura gave access codes to Mr. McWhirter, who then passed them on to Mr. Gallagher. Mr. McWhirter, who was not charged with a crime, has said he never accessed the system and did not know that Mr. Gallagher had done so.
Mr. Gallagher has pleaded guilty to two charges accusing him of accessing the system.
In June, the Enquirer renounced the reporters' articles about Chiquita, fired Mr. Gallagher and paid the company more than $10 million.
Mr. Ventura's attorneys had asked Judge Tracey for permission to question several Enquirer and Chiquita employees about the legal settlement that led the paper to renounce the articles.
The judge denied the request, saying it “would not be productive.”
“There is no suggestion that any other Enquirer personnel accessed that voice mail system, nor that they condoned any illegal activity or were aware that Mr. Gallagher was continuing to access the voice mail system,” the judge wrote.
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