Agent Continues Pose Media Credentials Taken From ‘Real Photographer’
An FBI agent tried again Thursday to pose as a free-lance photographer outside the civil trial attempting to bankrupt Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler.
The agent arrived even after Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson late Wednesday revoked media badges from seven photographers who were actually undercover federal agents.
On Thursday, another FBI agent showed up wearing a media badge that identified him as Mike Gordon.
The same man - dressed in a tan vest, hat and dark glasses - had been seen all week giving photographs to Aryan Nations members in exchange for their cooperation.
He mingled with other photographers, carried a new camera and slung a long camera lens over his shoulder.
When a human-rights supporter asked Gordon which newspaper he worked for, he said was a free-lance photographer out of Seattle. He also provided the telephone number for his office.
However, that number dialed into an MCI Worldcom sales answering service.
Still, the agent insisted Thursday that he was a professional journalist.
“I’m a real photographer. Your story put me at a safety risk,” Gordon said, referring to a front-page article in Thursday’s Spokesman-Review. “Now all the Aryans will think I am a federal agent.”
The FBI agent continued his charade, saying he studied photojournalism at the University of Miami, had photos published in the Seattle Times and Miami Herald and was working on a documentary for the Public Broadcasting System.
When a reporter told Gordon that two local law enforcement officials had identified him Wednesday as federal agent, Gordon said: “They are lying. I’m a photographer.”
However, when Kootenai County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger arrived at the courthouse Thursday morning, he confirmed Gordon was an FBI agent and then took his media badge away.
“Where is the rest of your crew going to be?” Wolfinger asked the agent, who didn’t answer and walked away shaking his head.
“He wasn’t very happy,” Wolfinger said.
But it was Wolfinger who initially suggested that the federal agents pose as media members when he learned who they were at the beginning of the week.
“I told them, `If you guys want to blend in you should get media IDs,”’ Wolfinger said. “They asked, `can you do that?’ I said, `yes’ and I issued them.”
“I didn’t think it would be an issue. Obviously, I was wrong.”
Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson revoked the media credentials late Wednesday when he learned about the situation.
Special agents in the Spokane offices of the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms did not return several messages.
FBI special agent Bill Matthews in the Salt Lake City office said he was working on a statement explaining the situation, but did not expect it to be completed until today.
Aryan Nations member Shaun Winkler, who has attended the trial every day, had several interactions with the agent who went by the name of Mike Gordon.
“He told us his name was Todd. I said, `Your name tag says Mike’ and the guy said, `Oh, Todd is my nickname,”’ Winkler said.
“I thought it was overly nice and weird that he was giving us photographs. The media doesn’t usually do that.”
Winkler said the undercover operation “feels like betrayal.”
“I hope the community sees how the government tries to infiltrate some people trying to have a peaceful demonstration,” Winkler said.
David Handschuh, president of the National Press Photographers Association, said federal agents too often try to pose as professional journalists.
“It used to be a standard law enforcement tactic in the 1950s and 60s. It’s a shame we have regressed to prehistoric law enforcement tactics,” Handschuh said.
Not only does the practice threaten real photographers’ safety, it hurts the agents’ integrity as well, he said.
“If I was to put on a fake shield and try to gain access to a news event, I would be arrested, convicted and have my real news credentials taken from me,” Handschuh said. “They could have easily done their jobs without using fake press credentials.”