Evidence suppression topic of hearing in Fort Gordon bid-rigging, bribery case
A hearing Wednesday in the Fort Gordon bid-rigging and bribery case focused on how much and how far can law enforcement go in capturing electronic data that is now part of daily life.
Specifically at issue Wednesday was a search warrant granted on Jan. 13, 2016, to seek the contents of the personal email account of Col. Anthony Roper and his wife, Audra Roper. Federal agents were looking for any evidence related to possible confidential governmental procurement matters, and any communication between the Ropers and Calvin Lawyer or anyone else about bid rigging or bribery. Lawyer is the owner of a company which Roper is accused of giving more than $20 million of sole-source contracts in exchange for nearly $200,000 in bribes between 2008 and 2014.
The Ropers have pleaded not guilty to charges that include conspiracy. Two others, Lawyer and Dwayne O. Fulton, pleaded guilty in November.
Special Agent Preston Johnson of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s major fraud unit testified Wednesday he applied for the search warrant for the Ropers’ personal email account after seeing from Roper’s work computer that he had copied or forwarded emails to his personal account.
Read more: http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2018-01-24/evidence-suppression-topic-hearing-fort-gordon-bid-rigging-bribery-case