Stroger Offices Swept For Electronic Bugs?
CHICAGO (STMW) - Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's office underwent an after-hours security inspection Wednesday night, but top aides denied that the office was swept for bugging devices.
David Ramos, executive director of the county's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office, was accompanied by the owners of a Chicago security firm, which specializes in counter-surveillance, according to a visitor's log for the county building.
County sheriff's police, in charge of security at the building, spotted several people "removing items" from Stroger's fifth-floor office about 9:30 p.m., said Steve Patterson, spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart. He said police asked Ramos about what was unfolding, but he declined to answer their questions.
"He said if anyone had any questions the sheriff himself should call. Director Ramos didn't believe he had to give any further explanation," Patterson said.
Ramos did not return multiple calls from the Sun-Times seeking comment. Stroger's spokesman, Marcel Bright, said Ramos was conducting a security inspection.
"He was simply inspecting and preparing for some security issues that will be addressed in the coming weeks," Bright said, declining to elaborate.
The sheriff's visitor's log says Ramos was accompanied by the security firm's owners, Jim Salp and Mike Dennis, along with two other men. Contacted at his Chicago office, Dennis denied being at the county building Wednesday night. When asked whether his firm was working on security in Stroger's office, he said "could be" and declined further comment.
The firm's Web site says Dennis and Salp are former FBI agents who received the "highest level of sophisticated training and experience in the fields of electronic surveillance and countermeasures."
On Friday, Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reported that Stroger's executive offices were swept for eavesdropping devices Wednesday night, prompting investigators to come in a day later - concerned that computer files may have been removed in the sweep. Boxes of hard drives and photoelectronic devices were hauled out after hours on Thursday, Sneed reported.
Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard confirmed that his investigators were working in the executive offices Thursday afternoon as part of the ongoing inquiry into the awarding of county contracts.
"Yes, we did have investigators on the 5th floor collecting information, but it was not under the cover of darkness," Blanchard said, declining to say what was collected.
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