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Bugged: Memphis Homeland quarters

Four 'crude' quality listening devices found; FBI on the case

Shelby County's Homeland Security office had its own security breach this month when four electronic listening devices were found hidden in the ceiling of its Memphis headquarters.

Officials became suspicious and had the FBI sweep the office for bugs after a local television station said it possessed "damaging and embarrassing" audiotapes that were secretly recorded and given to the station.

Top county officials said Thursday they didn't know who recorded or turned over the tapes but a chain of e-mails obtained by The Commercial Appeal makes it clear they suspect the agency's former interim administrator, John Todd.

Todd did not respond to messages left late Thursday.

The precise contents of the tapes remain unknown, but Todd made news this month after he reported to federal authorities that he had evidence of wrongdoing at the District 11 Homeland Security office.

Housed by Shelby County government, the office has received about $19 million in federal grants since 2003 and has the sensitive job of preparing the region for a terrorist attack and responding to any threats.

Officials say they believe Todd's allegations are trumped up, and they have contemplated taking legal action against him and the television station holding the tapes, Fox 13 News.

News director Ken Jobe confirmed Thursday night that the station has 27 hours of tapes that it believes were legally recorded and obtained, saying he plans to broadcast a story "when it's ready.'' Jobe said, however, he knew nothing of the FBI sweep or the listening devices.

Ted Fox, county government's public works director who helps oversee the Homeland Security office, said suspicion drove them to contact the FBI.

"We initiated a sweep for potential devices, because it just didn't make sense," he said.

For starters, Fox said the amount of tape the station claims to have seemed staggering considering the small amount of private meetings and conversations that occurred with Homeland Security officials.

"We simply had concerns and suspicions, and we asked for help," he said.

Fox 13's Jobe declined to say who recorded the tapes, how the station got them or what they contain. But he said he believes they are of public importance, and that the county has had ample opportunity to respond.

"We will defend our right to broadcast these audiotapes and to ask for a fair response from county government to them,'' Jobe said.

Using an electronic device to intercept private oral communications is a felony under federal law punishable by up to five years in prison.

Around Oct. 17, a sweep of the Homeland Security office at 1075 Mullins Station found four listening devices "of Radio Shack quality" hidden above the ceiling tiles, Ted Fox said.

Two were discovered in the ceiling of a large room that houses three staff members; one was found in the reception area; another was discovered in an adjacent office.

The devices were found by a visual inspection of the ceiling and were described by county officials as being about 21/2 by 3 inches in size, white in color and having little antennas.

"By today's standards, they would be described as crude," said Melvin Booth, administrator for support services for county government.

Officials found no recorder nearby that would have been used to tape conversations in the office.

Ted Fox said county officials have not tried to interview staff members to determine who bugged the office, but turned the matter over to the FBI.

"We're letting them handle it," he said.

A spokesman for the FBI could not be reached Thursday night.

Though Ted Fox said in an interview Thursday that he didn't know who bugged the office, he wrote in an Oct. 18 e-mail that "Channel 13 plans on playing a series of tapes (hours they claim) provided by John Todd."

The discovery of the listening devices came after Todd and his predecessor, James Bolden, both appeared in segments on Fox 13 this month airing concerns about a "takeover" of the Homeland Security office by county government.

The Commercial Appeal reported that Mayor A C Wharton and his top aides had become convinced poor management of federal grants by the office had put the area at risk of losing $15.8 million. Eight grants, many awarded in 2003, were unspent and just months away from expiring.

A task force, headed by the county's former grants administrator, Martha Lott, was formed in February to get grant extensions and save the funds.

Bolden, who was chosen as the first local Homeland Security director in January 2005, resigned April 1. He said this month it had became clear he was no longer in charge.

Todd, 53, served as interim administrator of the office at an annual salary of $70,308 from April of this year through August. He was not re-appointed Sept. 1 at the start of Mayor Wharton's second term.

Todd, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, joined the Memphis Homeland Security office as a training manager in 2005. In July of this year, Todd sent a letter to the national Homeland Security office in Washington, raising issues about the office's operations and suggesting a federal investigation was warranted.

Shelby County government launched an internal audit of the Homeland Security office in late summer to look for waste, fraud and abuse. That review remains under way.

County government is the administrator for all of the federal grants that are passed through the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to the District 11 Homeland Security Council, which includes Shelby, Fayette, Lauderdale and Tipton counties. Wharton serves as the council's chair.

County e-mails obtained by the newspaper show officials have struggled over the past two weeks with thorny legal issues.

They have contemplated filing suit for invasion of privacy and, for a time at least, Wharton and his chief administrative officer, John Fowlkes, considered seeking a judge's injunction to block Fox 13 from airing the tapes.

"John Fowlkes called me late afternoon today and indicated that the Mayor, on the basis of principle, did not want to move forward on possibly seeking an injunction,'' Asst. County Atty. Craig Willis advised in an Oct. 18 e-mail that cited legal hurdles to an injunction.

In an Oct. 17 e-mail to county spokesperson Gwen McClain, Fox 13 investigative reporter Heather Crawford asked to interview finance chief Jim Huntzicker and Ted Fox about deposits of emergency management grant funds into county bank accounts.

Crawford's e-mail went on to say, "we would also like to have Mr. Fox respond to audio recordings that have come into our possession regarding the District 11 Homeland Security Office.''

Ted Fox said Thursday evening he's scheduled to give an interview with Crawford Tuesday morning. Fox said he, along with Booth and Lott, is apparently heard on the tapes.