Charge led to woman’s removal from panel
A Latino activist recently removed from the Spokane Police Advisory Committee says she never met the two men involved in a federal case that names her as a witness.
But the reason for Carmella LeBlanc’s forced resignation March 14 shows she had previous contact with at least one of the men, according to court documents.
LeBlanc was named in a federal case filed recently against Marwan Abdullah Nasser, who’s accused of impersonating an FBI agent to extort money from Spokane businessman Carlos Zuniga, an illegal immigrant who owns a local restaurant and taco stands. According to court documents, LeBlanc introduced Zuniga to Nasser and helped convince Zuniga that Nasser was with the FBI.
Though she denied knowing either man in a brief interview with The Spokesman-Review, LeBlanc was involved in a criminal case involving Zuniga nearly a year ago.
After Zuniga was arrested in May 2007 on suspicion of drunken driving and driving with a suspended license, LeBlanc told the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office she had a surveillance tape from a fast-food restaurant that showed deputies assaulting Zuniga, according to court documents.
Deputies concluded no such tape existed and charged LeBlanc in August with making a false statement, a misdemeanor.
It was that charge that prompted Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick to order LeBlanc to resign. Kirkpatrick said she’d heard about a criminal investigation involving LeBlanc a couple of weeks earlier and had asked to be notified when charges were filed. Though court documents show the charge of making a false statement was filed Aug. 21, Kirkpatrick said she learned of it March 14. A court date of April 15 is set.
She planned to have advisory committee Chairwoman Joan Butler ask for LeBlanc’s resignation in person the following Monday but ordered that it be done via phone immediately after learning of a forthcoming newspaper story mentioning LeBlanc’s involvement in Nasser’s case.
“We were obviously aware that Ms. LeBlanc was under investigation with the FBI, as to her relationship with Nasser, which has not been completed,” Kirkpatrick said. “What really sealed the deal for me was when we saw she was actually charged with a crime.”
LeBlanc could not be reached for comment Monday.
The federal and county investigations naming LeBlanc involve different crimes, but Zuniga is mentioned in both.
According to court documents, LeBlanc told Spokane County Undersheriff Greg Conner in May that she had a videotape from a Spokane Valley Jack in the Box restaurant that showed deputies beating Zuniga during his May 19 arrest.
But Zuniga’s lawyer, David Hearrean, told detectives that LeBlanc had called him to say she lied about the presence of a videotape “to get the investigators going,” according to court documents.
Zuniga was convicted last year of driving while intoxicated, fourth-degree assault and third-degree driving with a suspended license, according to newspaper archives.
Zuniga has been facing deportation since the May arrest; Nasser met him last summer through LeBlanc, according to court documents, and told the man he was an FBI agent who could solve his immigration problems for $30,000.
LeBlanc helped convince Zuniga by telling stories of trips to Mexico with Nasser to arrest people, according to federal agents.
Earlier this month, Nasser forced Zuniga’s son Benjamin into a car, took him to where his parents were working and told them their son was being deported, according to court documents. Zuniga gave Nasser – who faces a state kidnapping charge and the federal charge of impersonating an FBI agent – $15,000 and signed over the title to one of his taco trucks.
While LeBlanc hasn’t been charged in the federal case, Kirkpatrick said the misdemeanor charge warranted her removal from the advisory committee. She briefed the committee on LeBlanc’s resignation at its meeting last week.
“I do appreciate that Carmella has always been supportive of this department,” Kirkpatrick said. “But I just think we have to have some distance at this time.”