It's been more than a year since I first asked Will Ann Coulter Be Prosecuted for Voter Fraud, and at last we have the answer expected: No. Jose Lambiet, who broke the original story in February 2006, reports in today's Palm Beach Post:
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Palm Beach County voter's registration and voted illegally -- this, after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to vouch for Coulter.
The caller wasn't just any G-man. According to PBSO documents, he was Supervisory Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald, of the FBI Academy's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va. -- the closest reality gets to the serial-killer catchers on CBS' Criminal Minds.
That brings up another question: "So why would an FBI profiler who went after the Unabomber take time from his busy day to even think about a municipal election snafu?"
Fitzgerald called the novice Palm Beach detective assigned to the case, and said he "has been working a stalking incident" involving Coulter. According to the PB Post, he identified the alleged stalker as conservative blogger Dan Borchers of coulterwatch.com. Borchers said he remembers talking to two FBI agents about stalking accusations -- in 1998.
"They stayed for five minutes," [Borchers told the Post], "told me to be careful not to scare Ann Coulter. She hollers stalker at anybody who opposes her."
FBI Agency Fitzgerald told Palm Beach County Detective Kristine Villa that the supposed Borchers probe led to no arrest and he saw no reason why Coulter's address should remain secret.
He added that "he did not have information relating to the allegations of voting improprieties nor did he have any intention to sway the outcome" of [the Palm Beach detective's] investigation.
But she closed the investigation on April 12, Lambiet reports, "without interviewing Coulter; a Realtor, whose Indian Road address Coulter used; or neighbors of Coulter's Seabreeze homestead."
Villa's report leaves the clear impression that Coulter's attorney, Miami's Marcos Jimenez, stonewalled Villa for five months -- at times agreeing to make Coulter available, at others reneging, often not returning calls promptly or claiming not to be able to reach his client.
Thanks to Editor & Publisher for the tip. For the most complete coverage of the Ann Coulter voting case, see the Brad Blog's special report.