FOX TV guy under arrest for looting

[mcs328]

I'm hearing on the radio this guy, who was working for FOX and covering the war in Iraq, tried to smuggle a dozen paintings in his luggage and then lied about how he got them when coming into Dulles airport.

He's under arrest. I'll look for a link later unless someone else can find one.

[raimin]

here you go
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/113/wash/TV_news_engineer_charged_with_:.shtml


WASHINGTON (AP) A television news engineer faces smuggling charges after attempting to bring into the United States 12 stolen Iraqi paintings, monetary bonds and other items, federal officials said Wednesday.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., charges that Benjamin James Johnson, 27, tried to bring the paintings into this country last Thursday. They were contained in a large cardboard box that was examined by Customs agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says that Johnson, who accompanied U.S. troops in Baghdad, gathered up the paintings at a palace that belonged to Uday Hussein, one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's sons. The paintings depict Saddam and Uday.

Johnson, who initially told Customs officials he was given the paintings by Iraqi citizens, said he had planned to keep them ''for decoration'' and to provide one to his employer, the affidavit says. It is U.S. policy that all such items belong to the Iraqi people.

Johnson worked for six years as a satellite truck engineer for Fox News Channel, which fired him after learning he had admitted to taking the paintings, a network statement said.

''This is an unfortunate incident and his supervisor took the appropriate action for this transgression,'' the statement added.

The case was one of several to be detailed later Wednesday by Customs officials, who have seized other Iraqi artworks, weapons and other materials people have tried to smuggle into this country.

Museums, businesses, government offices and homes were widely looted in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam's regime. Among the items stolen were thousands of artworks and other antiquities, some thousands of years old, from Iraq's vast collections of items from Assyrian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian and other cultures.

An examination of Johnson's luggage also turned up 40 Iraqi Monetary Bonds and a visitor's badge from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait. Johnson, who lives in Alexandria, Va., has not been arrested but is to appear before a federal magistrate next Tuesday.

[Cantacuzene]

What an idiot. Did he honestly think customs wasnt going to be lookign at people returning from Iraq?

[Speedfreak]

Originally posted by Cantacuzene
What an idiot. Did he honestly think customs wasnt going to be lookign at people returning from Iraq?

Ya, no kidding. Paintings of Saddam and son, jeez. What could be more obvious. He should have taken one of those crates of money.

[CynJon]

They should turn this guy over to the Iraqi justice system...give all the other "wannabe" looters something to think about...:angry:

[Momma Kitty]

what ever happened to earning what you get??

[whitak24]

a lot of people are in trouble for this, including other journalists and some soldiers.

it's unfortunate. we're going to liberate you....and clean out your country at the same time :(

[Grimm]

Originally posted by whitak24
a lot of people are in trouble for this, including other journalists and some soldiers.

it's unfortunate. we're going to liberate you....and clean out your country at the same time :( It's par for the course.
Look at all the looting going on in the US. Just here it's corporate officers doing the looting. Somebody should make this guy a CEO, he'd fit right in.:hmm:

[mcs328]

Apparently some soldiers are under investigation b/c some blocks of money from the crates of money is missing.