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Gas tank case making splash in cyberspaceThis article was originally published in the the Amador Ledger Dispatch on February 7, 1999, and is reproduced here with its permission. By Diane Smith JACKSON—There are all kinds of e-mail and website addresses now to read and catalog "gastankgate", the continuing drama of an investigative, special grand jury indictment over the alleged illegal removal of a underground gas tank. The environmental probe was set in motion in late summer and has resulted in what some have called Gestapo tactics largely against Robert Womack and his family, Mark Sherrill of Jackson and Dave Mason III of Ione. Those computer users who wish to read about this case and others like it around the state have new methods to do so. Available are news reports from Nevada County, the Modesto Bee, the Amador Ledger Dispatch, the Stockton Record as well as testimony from hundreds of other people available on the net. Included in the possibilities are:
In addition to that, Bill Wattenburg, talk show host on San Francisco's KGO Radio 810 AM has for numerous months entertained major discussion of the "Womack case" during his Saturday and Sunday night, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. show. So incensed is he over what he calls Gestapo tactics, harassment and intimidation, he has invited listeners, especially from Amador County, to call, write or contact him over the Internet with their accounting of dump sites, and possible underground fuel tanks and environmental pollution and/or horror stories of similar events. Over 1,110 hits had been made on the website in the past two weeks throughout the coverage area. Of that number, a major portion were from Amador County citizens. Wattenburg has been following what he calls a dangerous trend of acts against private citizens by federal and state environmental enforcement agencies. People from many rural counties as well as cities have contacted him to report specific instances having occurred, very similar to the Womack case. Russell Moore, a special investigator of the California Highway Patrol, (CHP), has under the direction of David Irey of the California District Attorneys Association, headed two search and seizures of paperwork and property at the Robert Womack home in Jackson. The first team left after eight hours and the second time, the search went on for 10 hours while Bob and June Womack stood watching. The second search, which was to gather records from 1990 forward, was extended while a new search warrant was produced, allowing records from 1989 to be seized. The second search was the day following the Jan. 12 arraignment which finally produced grand jury charges against the trio over the alleged illegal removal of a gas tank to make way for a small business parking area. Womack had obtained a $80 demolition permit in May from the City of Jackson and completed most of the work over a weekend. City law enforcement and CHP officials stood by to aid the need for traffic control. It is apparent that the investigative team, under the auspices of the Amador County District Attorney's Office, is seeking evidence other than that about the gas tank. Womack's personal bank records were made public, his children's inheritance provisions, K.R.L. partnership records were confiscated, property where his son Luke Womack's family lives, was dug up by two large excavators from Stockton and left for the family to clean up. The Moore team was allegedly working on allegations that a buried house trailer and environmental crime sites were located at the former Bosse Ranch off Previtalli Road, east of Jackson. This was on a tip from the alleged perpetrator of the junk piles who was personally familiar with what was underground since he is credited with the accumulation. County records preserve the history. Richard Malmquist, the step son of Paul Bosse refused to leave the ranch premises in 1996 after Bosse sold his property to Womack. Malmquist had an illegal paint booth inside the long chicken house barn and an illegal trailer there. Outside he had strewn auto body parts, junk and vehicles over the acreage. Womack and Bosse tried to get him to vacate the property without success. Womack then went to the Amador Land Use Agency, the Amador Abandoned Vehicle Abatement and county code enforcement people for help. County files on this are extensive. In his request for se4arch warrants each time a raid was to be done, Moore lists his professional career which started in 1977 at the CHP. He has been a special investigator and began as a plainclothes investigator with the current CHP valley Division since 1989 and on the Hazardous Materials Task Force for Sacramento, Placer and San Joaquin Counties. He is currently the vice president of the California Hazardous Materials Investigators Association. And according to his search warrant justification, the "affiant has proctored numerous environmental crimes basic and advance courses through-out the State of California" and is "certified by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency as an environmental crimes instructor." Malmquist's TipMoore's investigative efforts included official Amador County environmental files which chronicle Womack's attempts to clean up the Bosse ranch of Malmquist's alleged violations and Junk. Since he acknowledges those records, county residents are wondering why the search was based on Malmquist's tip. Moore also mentions meeting in October with district attorney investigator Ron Hall, who provided information about the tank removal and as much about personal business affairs of the parties later indicted. During grand jury testimony, Irey appeared to be reaching farther into personal matures as he was reported to have asked people about their personal and romantic lives. A number later expressed indignation at the direction of the questions. Some said they would not cooperate at all. The website provides interesting reading. Included is an article about what a 70-year-old woman experienced as the subject of an Irey investigation. The Modesto Bee, http://www2.modbee.com/pagearc/A14809.htm and http://www2.modbee.com/pagearc/A19814.htm also carries a June 1998 story about discussion by the San Joaquin Board of Supervisors wanting to freeze funding for the district attorney's environmental crimes unit, "with some board members saying its efforts amounted to a "reign of terror" and calling its methods comparable to those of secret police. One supervisor called the methods, out of control, "Gestapo tactics." Why the CHP?In Sacramento, Sgt. Greg Williams spoke in Lt. Monte Hensley's absence, in explaining the connection between environmental investigations and the highway patrol. Williams said the CHP is also the state police and has a 'duty to assist.' In response to the fact that it appears the CHP is heading the investigations now, Williams disagreed, saying the Amador District Attorney's Office is the lead agency. He said the CHP gets involved in matters of hazardous materials enforcement when it is conveyed over the roadways. Dennis Olmstead, a Fair Oaks accountant also suffered by association to Womack, the search and seizure of his office and the confiscation of client's tax records, including those of the Womack family. Olmstead's neighbors thought an assault was occurring and called the police only to find out the intruders were the police. At the beginning of tax season, Olmstead's computer was also taken away. An attorney, Judith Deming who has handled various non-criminal legal proceedings of the Womack family, has challenged Moore's assertion there is something criminal about the children's trust, K.R.L. She points out most parents try to provide after-death benefits for their children and to assign any criminal intent of the partnership or relate it to a law enforcement search is unfathomable, "unless seizure of assets is the goal." Copyright © 1999 Amador Ledger Dispatch |
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