Nov/December 2011, Features

December trial set in W.Va. greyhound extortion case

Tue, Dec 06, 2011

(Reprinted with permission of the Associated Press 2011) 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The FBI seized several computers and a cell phone when it arrested a former greyhound racing figure accused of hatching an extortion plot targeting West Virginia Gov.-elect Earl Ray Tomblin, U.S. District Court filings show. 
The search warrant for a California residence and a Lincoln Town Car may shed more light on the federal case against the defendant, Harry Marshall Rae. 
Rae faces a Dec. 19 trial after pleading not guilty in Charleston. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Stanley allowed the 63-year-old to remain free on bond and to return to Angels Camp, Calif. 
The Florida resident has been staying at a sister’s home while receiving psychological treatment at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, his public defender Mary Lou Newberger told Stanley. Newberger described his condition as posttraumatic stress disorder. 
Rae was indicted in October on a charge alleging he posted a Sept. 18 message on the governor’s website threatening to smear Tomblin. In the arrest warrant, the FBI alleged that Rae had also been emailing demands for $50,000 from a Wheeling greyhound breeder. Emails included with the Sept. 26 arrest warrant show Rae vowing to release a video claiming to show cruel practices at a greyhound kennel. 
Arrested just days before the Oct. 4 special election for governor, Rae and his alleged scheme became a lastminute issue in the race. Family members of Tomblin, the Democratic nominee, raise greyhounds. That breeding business had become fodder for attack ads from his GOP opponent, Bill Maloney, and the Republican Governors Association. 
Rae alleged in at least four of the released emails that he was negotiating with Maloney’s campaign to provide the video. The campaign has said it had no contact with Rae. 
Some Maloney supporters allege the case was an attempt to smear the Republican candidate in the race’s closing days. Tomblin’s campaign had cited the emails in calling for Maloney’s campaign to release any relevant information. 
The search warrant targeting Rae’s vehicle and the sister’s residence shows the FBI seized four laptop and desktop computers, along with several thumb-size hard drives and compact discs. A cell phone was also collected during the Sept. 29 search, the federal filings show. 
The Wheeling breeder, Dean Miner, agreed to allow the FBI to record several phone calls with Rae. In one, Rae alleged that he kept copies of his videos on his sister’s computer, “and that his sister will disseminate them if anything goes wrong with the extortion plan,” the search warrant said. 
While seeking that warrant, the FBI also alleged that someone identifying himself as Rae phoned Tomblin’s campaign office on Sept. 27. The individual told a campaign staffer that he had “video recordings that would embarrass the greyhound industry, and that he had an offer to sell the tapes to individuals involved in the greyhound industry,” the FBI affidavit said. 
The caller asked if Tomblin was interested in acquiring the tapes, the filing said, and provided the number to Rae’s cell phone when told that someone else would have to return his call. 
The search and arrest warrant affidavits also alleged that Rae had previously attempted to extort $22,000 from the president of the National Greyhound Association by threatening to release a damaging video. Rae is a former NGA member, and a veteran of the industry, the filings said. 
Other emails filed in the case show Rae was in contact with GREY2K USA, a greyhound advocacy group whose executive director had endorsed Maloney. That official, Carey Theil, has said that Rae alleged he had evidence of cruelty in the greyhound racing industry, but that Theil’s group knew nothing of the alleged extortion plot. 
Federal prosecutors said that any evidence seized remains under review. Newberger did not respond to requests for comment. 
Pending trial, Rae is barred from any contact with Theil, Tomblin, Miner or other industry figures mentioned in his emails. Rae must also check in weekly with a federal probation officer in California.