[Vision2020] Craig: full Roll Call story

[Mark Solomon]

The full Roll Call story.

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Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom
Monday, Aug. 27, 2007; 4:48 pm
By John McArdle,
Roll Call Staff

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota 
airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct 
complaints in a men's public restroom, according to an arrest report 
obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.

Craig's arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. 
Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to 
misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. 
He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence 
was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court 
that began on Aug. 8.

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a "he said/he said 
misunderstanding," and said the office would release a fuller 
statement later Monday afternoon.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the 
Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd 
conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during 
the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested 
him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, 
"What do you think about that?" the report states.

Craig was detained for approximately 45 minutes, interviewed, 
photographed, fingerprinted and released, and police prepared a 
formal complaint for interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a 
plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints 
regarding sexual activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig 
was arrested.

Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men's 
restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in 
connection with sexual activity.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes 
after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older 
white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was 
later identified as Craig.

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his 
position. Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his 
fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig 
would repeat this cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and placed his roller 
bag against the front of the stall door.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct 
use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," 
Karsnia stated in his report. "From my seated position, I could 
observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me."

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a 
signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig 
tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I 
moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male 
in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several 
unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for 
its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig 
as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left 
foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider 
several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see 
Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side 
of the stall divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that 
Craig could see it.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig 
responded, 'No!' I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the 
stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig 
said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had 
to go, and that I didn't want to make a scene. Craig then left the 
restroom."

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig "either disagreed 
with me or 'didn't recall' the events as they happened," the report 
states.

Craig stated "that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom 
and that his foot may have touched mine," the report states. Craig 
also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right 
hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

"It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the 
bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," the 
arresting officer said in the report.

On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the 
Minnesota court, Craig appeared via satellite at a ceremony that took 
place in Idaho in which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was 
invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit 
Court of Appeals.

In October 2006, Craig's office publicly denied allegations that he 
was a homosexual made on a gay activist Web site - blogactive.com. 
Craig's office told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the charge was 
"completely ridiculous," saying that the allegations had "no basis in 
fact."
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