Mankind has created spectacular works of art, engineered incredibly tall buildings, designed impressive supercomputers, lived in outerspace, discovered cures for nasty diseases. As a whole, nothing can compare to human intelligence, but sometimes, humans have played 'cops' too often growing up.

Romney aide is the focus of probe; Allegedly acted as State Police trooper

Jun 22 2007 - Boston Globe
State Police are investigating one of Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe.

Jay Garrity, who is director of operations on Romney's presidential campaign and a constant presence at his side, became the primary target of the investigation, according to one of the sources, after authorities traced the cellphone used to make the call back to him. The investigation comes three years after Garrity, while working for Romney in the State House, was cited for having flashing lights and other police equipment in his car without proper permits.

The New Hampshire attorney general, according to the Associated Press, has also opened an investigation into a report that a Romney aide, later identified as Garrity, pulled over a New York Times reporter in New Hampshire and said he had run his license plate.

New Hampshire law prohibits private citizens from accessing license plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens.

In the phone call to the Wilmington company, which was recorded by an answering service and obtained by the Globe, a man who identifies himself as "Trooper Garrity with the Massachusetts State Police" complains about the driving of a van owned by Wayne's Drains Middlesex Sewers of Wilmington. The caller repeatedly says he is a trooper and questions when the driver will return to the office.

"I'm going to get the address of your company," the caller says during the May 13 call. "I'm going to come down to your company. I'm going to personally issue this driver a citation for both speeding, driving erratic, cutting across."

"The whole thing was just hinky," said Wayne Barme, owner of the Wilmington drain and sewer cleaning company, whose wife, Dot, contacted State Police after receiving the complaint.

Romney campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said that he was unaware of any investigation and that he could not comment further because Garrity was not working for the campaign the day of the call.

"It's not related to any actions or duties that were performed as a campaign employee," Madden said.

Messages left for Garrity through the campaign were not immediately returned.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, confirmed that there is an "open and active" investigation into the phone call.

"I can confirm that there is an investigation into a phone call made by an individual representing himself as a state trooper," Wark said. "At this time, and in light of the evidence we have reviewed, we do not believe that that individual was a state trooper."

A State Police spokesman would not confirm that there is an investigation. He said no one by Garrity's name had been arrested or received a summons.

Another spokesman said that there is no Trooper Garrity at the E4 Tunnel Barracks, the barracks the caller named when speaking to Wayne's Drains.

The charge of impersonating an officer, a misdemeanor, carries a penalty of a fine of up to $400 or up to one year in prison.

As he did in the State House when Romney was governor, Garrity plays the role of gatekeeper on the presidential campaign. Frequently seen in a pressed suit with a coiled earpiece in his ear and a microphone tucked into his sleeve, he shadows Romney at his public campaign appearances, shuttles him from event to event, and carefully monitors Romney's dealings with the public and the media trailing the campaign.

This week, Romney's campaign denied that the Times reporter's license had been checked or that his vehicle was pulled over. The reporter, Mark Leibovich, is sticking by his report.

In the Massachusetts incident, the purported trooper says in the call that he was driving through the Ted Williams Tunnel and was unable to pull over the driver who was cutting off cars.

Later, he adds: "Unfortunately, I could not catch up with him, but I did witness him driving like a maniac through the tunnel, cutting off vehicles, and I just had the Mass. Pike department of video surveillance go through the video so I could pull the license plate number and the company name off this vehicle."

Barme's wife contacted the State Police and provided the caller's cellphone number, which has since been disconnected.

In 2004, the Globe reported, Garrity was cited and fined for driving a Crown Victoria with red and blue lights mounted in the grill, a siren, a PA system, and strobe lights; and for having a nightstick and identification showing a State Police patch that read "Official Business."

Garrity was also cited for having windows that were more deeply tinted than state law permits.