Did The Authors Of New Muslim Conspiracy Book Steal Documents From A Muslim Organization?

Wednesday, a small group of House Republicans — Reps. Sue Myrick (NC), John Shadegg (AZ), Paul Broun (GA) and Trent Franks (AZ) — hosted a press conference in the capitol building calling for an investigation of the Muslim-advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), alleging that the organization was “connected to…terrorists” and is “planting spies in key national security-related congressional offices.”

The four members of Congress based their claims on assertions made in the new book “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America,” co-authored by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry. The authors of the book planted an intern inside of CAIR for six months. The authors claim that a memo the intern obtained from the group proves that the organization “planted spies” inside the nation’s national security infrastructure.

Now, CAIR has filed a criminal complaint against the authors of the book, alleging that the memo they are using to attack CAIR was stolen. Indeed, Sperry was interviewed by Radio America yesterday and admitted that the planted intern “collected whole boxes of evidence marked for shredding” and took documents that “he felt he needed to preserve as evidence [of illegal wrongdoing].” Listen here:

According to DC law, the authors could be guilty of conspiracy to commit theft with a “bias-related crime” specification, meaning that they could face up to 15 years in prison if the stolen document is deemed to have a value of $250 or more, or only 270 days if it is deemed to have less value. From the DC Code:

§ 22-3211. Theft [Formerly § 22-3811]

   (a) For the purpose of this section, the term “wrongfully obtains or uses” means: (1) taking or exercising control over property; (2) making an unauthorized use, disposition, or transfer of an interest in or possession of property; or (3) obtaining property by trick, false pretense, false token, tampering, or deception. The term “wrongfully obtains or uses” includes conduct previously known as larceny, larceny by trick, larceny by trust, embezzlement, and false pretenses.

§ 22-3212. Penalties for theft [Formerly § 22-3812]

   (a) Theft in the first degree. — Any person convicted of theft in the first degree shall be fined not more than $ 5,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both, if the value of the property obtained or used is $ 250 or more.
 
(b) Theft in the second degree. — Any person convicted of theft in the second degree shall be fined not more than $ 1,000 or imprisoned for not more than 180 days, or both, if the value of the property obtained or used is less than $ 250.

§ 22-3701. Definitions [Formerly § 22-4001]

   For the purposes of this chapter, the term:
 
   (1) “Bias-related crime” means a designated act that demonstrates an accused’s prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibility, physical disability, matriculation, or political affiliation of a victim of the subject designated act.

§ 22-3703. Bias-related crime [Formerly § 22-4003]

   A person charged with and found guilty of a bias-related crime shall be fined not more than 11/2 times the maximum fine authorized for the designated act and imprisoned for not more than 1 1/2 times the maximum term authorized for the designated act.

Of course, there was no need to take documents to prove wrongdoing because CAIR was doing nothing illegal. The much-touted memos that the authors claim is evidence of a Muslim conspiracy to undermine the United States are remarkably benign. The passage the authors cite simply says that CAIR will “develop national initiatives such as a lobby day and [place] Muslim interns in Congressional offices.” As Glenn Greenwald notes, this is “consistent with what virtually every political advocacy group in the nation does; it’s normally called activism and democracy. But because, in this case, it’s a group of Muslims who are doing this, these House Republicans are depicting it as some sort of nefarious espionage plot against the U.S. that demands a criminal investigation.”