Mexican official caught stealing White House Blackberries, invokes diplomatic immunity; Update: “Asked to resign”
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You are not going to believe this story. It is really something else. The White House, I predict, will look the other way at the flagrant law-breaking by a Mexican official caught on tape by the Secret Service filching U.S. government property. After all, looking the other way at systemic law-breaking by Mexico is the official Bush policy. Fox News has the scoop:
Whether he was up to no good or simply desperate to play BrickBreaker, a Mexican press attaché was caught on camera by Secret Service pocketing several White House BlackBerries during a recent meeting in New Orleans, FOX News has learned.
Sources with knowledge of the incident said the official, Rafael Quintero Curiel, served as the lead press advance person for the Mexican Delegation and was responsible for handling logistics and guiding the Mexican media around at the conference. He took six or seven of the handheld devices from a table outside a special room in the hotel where the Mexican delegation was meeting with President Bush earlier this week.
Everyone entering the room was required to leave his or her cell phone, BlackBerry and other such devices on the table, a common practice when high-level meetings are held. American officials discovered their missing belongings when they were leaving the session.
It didn’t take long before Secret Service officials reviewed videotape taken by a surveillance camera and found footage showing Quintero Curiel absconding with the BlackBerries.
At first, Quintero Curiel denied the criminal acts. But when confronted with the tape, he chalked it up to an “accident”–then promptly invoked diplomatic immunity:
He initially denied taking the devices, but after agents showed him the DVD, Quintero Curiel said it was purely accidental, gave them back, claimed diplomatic immunity and left New Orleans with the Mexican delegation.
It is unclear what disciplinary measures, if any, await him in Mexico. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino refused to discuss the incident, telling FOX News, “We are aware of the situation, but as it’s under investigation by law enforcement officials, we will decline to comment.”
Just looting the White House electronic devices Americans won’t loot…
***
Now, imagine if it were an American government official caught south of the border stealing Mexican government property.
***
Update: USAToday followed up and reports that the official has been “asked to resign”…
The Mexican Embassy says press aide Rafael Quintero was asked to resign upon his arrival in Mexico City.
“Mr. Quintero will be responsible for explaining his actions to the American authorities conducting an investigation,” Ricardo Alday, an embassy spokesman, tells USA TODAY in an e-mail. “The Mexican Government deeply regrets this incident.”
Contrary to the Fox News report, the embassy says Quintero flew home on a commercial flight and didn’t travel with President Felipe Calderon and his delegation after the summit.
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Diplomatic Immunity???!!!! Screw immunity!!! What are they gonna do invade us……oh wait….
So, what WILL they do to him?
What the hell, did he think it was like a candy jar where he can just grab what he wants? Never let him back in the country!
Just picking up the Black Berries that Americans won’t pick pocket.
Class act all the way baby!
Nothing will happen.
After all, nothing was done after the Clintons looted the White House of everything they could get their hands on.
What?? Now we’re going to make stealing a crime too??
When is this bias towards our southern neighbors going to end?
Remember, where there is a Mexican there is Mexico. He was just taking what was rightfully his. Yeah… right.
This begs the question: what did he think was in the Blackberries that was so important? I can’t imagine there’d be much, but still…
I will be surprised to see anything at all come out of this.
He has no shame. Caught in a lie, he expects nothing to happen, and he is probably correct.
News Flash:
The Vatican donates much need funds to a “BlackBerry Accessories Shelter” somewhere on the US/Mexican border.
Details at eleven.
“Hey, it was too an accident! I thought I had left my 7 BlackBerries on that table… That’s it, I’m calling the ACLU!”
Since when does Mexico get immunity for spying?
It’s crazy in all sorts of ways: pick up someone’s Blackberry? Odd, but understandable in a way. Steal a pile of them from US Government officials in the next room that just put them down? Nuts.
In a way, it’s too bad this Mexican contingent wasn’t visiting a similar session in…oh, say…Riyadh. I guess the Saudi Secret Service would have no problem cutting off his hands. Maybe we should rethink our opposition to sharia creep. Just give one of the Secret Service agent’s the President’s sword and let the cutting begin! *out*
He’s just a poor migrant and was merely picking up a few things for his folks back home from the chocolate city.
Dang! You beat me to that one, Michelle. I was thinking that as I started to read the piece.
Should we really expect anything else, given the record?
It may be pretty harsh. Calderon may have been looking forward to getting a Blackberry for no charge.
They would not do that in Saudi because there are consequences to one’s actions in that country.
Just picking the blackberries Americans won’t, that’s all
No need for comment, babe, just text me. Hey!! Where’s my Blackberry!!
that friggin idiot doesn’t know about surveillance cameras?? i guess in third world countries, only them fancy, schmancy places have them hitech thingies.
this is supposed to be the best Mexico has to offer?
build. fence. now.
It was an accident! The jumped in his pocket! You know, Mexican jumping blackberry beans. Nothing will come of this. It will be swept under the rug.
He don’t have to show you no stinkin’ blackberries.
There should be no immunity for blatant criminal acts - at the very least he should lose any further diplomatic status. Then again, considering what the US does with the majority of illegal alien criminals, perhaps we should welcome him to the US, offer him a choice of welfare packages and subsidized education, a job, and amnesty from all future criminal acts as well as advance notice of where and when authorities will be setting up checkpoints etc. Oh, and he can invite all his friends over too.
Maybe Americans should consider moving to Mexico, renouncing US citizenship, then sneak back over the border into the US - they may be better off.
Why not? America is the land of anarchy anyway. Just go out on the streets and watch any stop sign. Do what you want. “Don’t judge me.” We are a third world nation with first world income (for now). The Mexicans and The Obamasiah will fix that though.
It doesn’t matter because punishment for crimes is a violation of their civil rights.
ROFL! God only knows what else they made off with.
Laura: George W., didn’t we have 12 sets of good silverware? I can only find four.
Hopefully, they didn’t abscond with that suitcase that has our nuclear strike codes in it.
He will probably be sent to prison for getting caught. I’m guessing it’s a standing order for them to take when presented to opportunity. One would hope not, but there could be sentsitive information on those things.
When I first read the headline, I was thinking the blackberries that grow on a bush (no relation to the current administration), and I was thinking, they shouldn’t even be ripe yet. Talk about your brain cramp. Then I thought “what is the Whitehouse doing with berry bushes in New Orleans? Oh, those blackberries.”
A bit naive about those things since I’ve never even seen one up close.
And if you don’t believe it, just ask the ACLU!
BOHICA. We still gonna give them the money to build their fence and not only are we going to give them the money. We won’t attach any stipulations to it - like please don’t steal our blackberries when you come to visit.
No wonder Al Qaeda thought we were ripe for the pickin’. This is ridiculous.
Doesn’t matter what info was on them, the intent for espionage is there. I’ve heard there used to be a pretty stiff penalty for that.
Perhaps he thought it was customary in our political circles to take things that don’t belong to you as sort of a departing gift or keepsake?
“Hillary, got any soup spoons?”
We’re still…
This is tantamount to spying, no telling what information may be on those blackberries. But we don’t execute spy’s anymore they get sent to club med prison with all the amenities of home.
Just stealing things American’s won’t. Can we deny them entry in to the US, never mind, they can just walk across the border.
They should have let him keep em and tracked where they ended up via gps, now that would have been interesting! My curiosity is running wild!
I would hope sensitive info wouldn’t be placed into a Blackberry…do they have encryption capability?
Regardless, the act and the response are pathetic.
I’m sure Johnny Sutton could figure out a way to put the Secret Service guy in prison for violating the civil rights of this helpless mexican criminal.
#36 - lol via heat seeking missle.
Are you kidding me? This is theft plain and simple if not its espionage. I’m sorry but Bush is just a clown when it comes to dealing with the Mexicans.
What would have been even more funny is if the blackberries had installed some sort of GPS tracking device such as the civilian LoJack system that allowed the Secret Service to follow the devices.
Should have waited till he left the building with the stolen blackberries and then arrested him and immediately transferred him to a local prison and called every MSM news agency to come get a picture.
No doubt he wanted to rifle through the emails on those devices.
Clear cut case of espionage… he should have been arrested and executed.
I didn’t do it! I did do it but it was an accident! I did do it, but… DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!
He should watch Lethal Weapon 2 to see what happens to criminals who use diplomatic immunity as an excuse.
It’s diplomacy at its finest.
We say thief. They say entrepreneur.
A man after Clinton’s own heart.
Mr. Rafael Quintero Curiel - say hello to my little friend… It’s a BlackBerry 8880 Series. Sleek and performanced-driven, with built-in GPS, tethered modem and much more. Hey, where’d my BlackBerry go? Mr Curiel?
Looting, crime and murder in the White House ceased to be an issue when Eisenhower left office and issued a warning about the military-industrial complex. What’s the big deal about a petty little official from a country-sized crime syndicate called Mexico?
I cannot believe this IDIOT was allowed to leave the country!
I could care less about diplomatic immunity! What a joke.
There was obvious malice intended with this theft. He denied it only to tell the truth after being shown the DVD of him stealing the BB’s.
Unreal what this administration has allowed mexicants to do to our country!
Oh, think nothing of it.
They steal everything regardless.
Perhaps we the law abiding citizens should start treating our government the way illegals do.
No taxes, drink whenever, get several fake IDs, steal a few social security numbers, get in line for free food/meds, don’t speak English - remain mute, and throw litter everywhere.
That should get their attention in Washington.
Wonder what else lil mister sticky fingers is into?
Because that never actually happened. It was a rumor someone started that turned out to be false.
Not as bad as people inventing the Clinton’s killing 50 or so Arkansas residents, but still a pretty ridiculous lie that someone started.
I am such a dinosaur! I have been seeing the “Mexican Official Steals Blackberries” headline all morning, and thought he was caught picking berries from bushes in the White House garden!
Of course, if one is going to make a federal case out of stolen berries, they have to be strawberries
For stealing or for failing to successfully steal from American officials?
Oh, since I forgot to mention it, this story is absolutely amazing. If Mexico wanted to be a good neighbor, they would revoke his immunity.
But I’m betting that doesn’t happen.
read about this earlier this morning at foxnews.com
I wonder what Juan Hernandez and his sidekick McCain have to say about this?
El Presidente Bush certainly isn’t going to push the issue, after all he has made it abundantly clear (as has Sr. McCain) that his loyalties lie with the Mexican government and its goals.
First you must build us a fence, and then.. bring us all your blackberries! and a shrubbery.
Jorge’s “new tone in Washington”…like it?
He’s working his way to the bottom of the list as worst president…closing in on Carter.
What exactly does the DOJ do under Bush, anything?
Anyone ever hear of the phrase persona non grata?
As I recall, Diplomatic Immunity only applies to genuinely incidental infractions, not deliberate actions.
You don’t stuff half a dozen phones in your pants by accident.
Unless you’re Sandy Berger….
1. I’m a dope. When I read the headline I really thought “are black berries even in season?” and…
2. Why does the press guy have diplomatic immunity?
Well, what’s the big deal…he was just commiting a theft that Americans don’t want to do, anyway.
I wonder what information they were hoping to find? Clearly, a nation that allows officials from a visiting govt. to steal communication devices from our officials, while our respective govt. officials are meeting to pledge cooperation, has forgotten the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt. The “big stick” needs to come out quickly and decisively in this international incident.
Won’t happen, though. As an aside- What is the Secret Service thinking? It is a routine practice for people to leave stuff lying around unsecured during meetings? I know what would happen if I was given a company-owned blackberry, then told my boss “oh it was stolen when I left it on a table outside the conference room.” Who came up with this brilliant procedure?
It’s all in the translation. illegal alien = undocumented worker. identity theft = mis documented worker.
How about we send one of our diplomats to knock the snot out of him and see how immunity works.
The part of this story that intrigues me the most is that White House staffers who were accompanying the POTUS to this meeting, were not allowed to carry their Blackberries on them. Just what are the Three Amigo’s discussing at this meeting that White House aides whom I would assume have Top Secret clearances, can’t be trusted to carry with them any electronic devices?
Officially there are NO plans to create a North American Union. Yeah, right.
I can see the ACLU lawyers lining up to defend the slander of this MEXICAN goverment official.
My fingers are too fat to use a Blackberry anyway. I can barely work my cell phone.
Stolen from a poster named “Rigpa” at Gulf Coast Pundit
Why madchef are you insinuating they might be discussing some mad, diabolical plan for some new frontier?
Build the wall a little higher.
While not as egregious as initially reported, Rusty, there were a lot of shenanigans by members of the Clinton administration, as they exited the White House.
While I don’t agree that the Clintons “took everything that they could get their hands on”, you can’t make it all go away, no matter how hard you wish for it.
More like giving the southwest to Mexico and Alaska to Canada. But what else is new.
No your not an idiot and no they are not, but when I first read it I thought Blackberries, what does the White house have a green house? or maybe we are both idiots and I no one has told me yet.
Well, the next time I decide I need to steal from the White House, I’ll use Diplomatic Immunity, too. Seems to work.
Seriosuly- wouldn’t any other person be in jail? (Course our jails would be better than his third world sh!t hole country…)
Uhh… He didn’t take anything from the devices.
He installed some trojan software on the Blackberries.
I’m sure the Secret Service checked out the Blackberries before they handed them back, right?
Like I said in my email TIP, it’s simply the North American Free Telephone Agreement in action.
We have already started to become like the corrupt government in Mexico! All is well in the Casa Blanca (White House) and El Presidente Bush will look the other way while Mexican officials steal what is left of the US dignity! Just amazing!!!
Hey remember in one of the Lethal Weapon movies where that dude holds up his badge and yells “Diplomatic Immunity!” and then gets blasted?
That was really cool. . .
Mad Chef-
I have been doing some thinking about why many mainstream Republicans and pretty much all Democrats favor open borders.
The obvious answers have merit. Republicans, at least the Kay Bailey Hutchison “country club Republicans”, want to help business with cheap labor. And Democrats see future citizens, many receiving government assistance, that will likely vote Democrat. Same reason Democrats favor ‘motor voter’ and ID-less voting, voter fraud, (and the sub-category, illegal alien voters) favors them. Remember Bob Dornan losing his apparently safe seat to Loretta Sanchez?
But an underlying reason, is the Ponzi scheme we all know and love, Social Security. Like all pyramid scams, it needs more people coming in and paying than collecting. With a falling birthrate, Social Security is doomed. Allowing a flood of illegals, then making them citizens, will delay the inevitable.
And while the Mexican illegals have a tendency to crimes like sexual assault and drunk driving, assimilated Mexicans (I know some red-white and blue US citizens of Mexican heritage, married to one, in fact) are far less likely than, say, Muslims, as seen in Germany, France and the UK, to eventually want to blow things up.
Now, La Raza and Mecha claim they want to boot white folks like me from Texas, but they have to realize, do they really want to turn the American Southwest into corrupt, povery stricken basket cases like the current Mexican border states?
OK, the berry stealing thing wasn’t created by GCP poster Rigpa.
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i34297
He covered them with latex?
The talks were about giving everything we own to the Mexicans anyway, he was just starting with the Blackberries…
Maybe he was just looking for Barbara and Jenna’s phone numbers.
We don’t need no stinkin spies.
He was DEFINITELY after more than just the Blackberries.
This is spying and he should be shot.
( mugshot for his 20 years in prison)
1) Shame on the Secret Service for not protecting these items.
2) Spies should be executed.
Uh, you’re about a decade late there…the Clinots took most of the silver.
Dollars to doughnuts, most of the Blackberries did not have the password protection turned on, enabling anyone who grabbed them to open up existing email messages, the address book containing non-public contact information, a peek at the non-public URLs used by the owner, etc. Downloading the contents of a Blackberry doesn’t take very long either. And how long would it take to attach a mini transmitter into them?
I agree with the commenter above that the purpose was espionage not larceny. Those returned Blackberries should be put through a wood chipper as should the policy that allows such stupidity in the handling of electronic devices at these events.
Thats what I always thought. I have not heard this from anyone else but you. Thanks for saying it!
Nobody said he could use it, aj. He just stole it. He probably wanted to hit a pawn shop on the way back to Mehico.
I laughed when I read this. What would possibly want to steal from Mexico? I mean seriously - what does those people have that could possibly want or need?
Oh, and if your emails contain sensitive information, your BlackBerry contains sensitive information.
If someone took my BlackBerry, they would pay dearly. That thing does not leave my hip or my hands unless my eyeballs are on it.
Agreed.
Anyone, especially at the fed level, who is too dumb to password protect their device, shouldn’t have one.
In the future, I would hope these things would get locked in a cabinet/safe, with security monitoring it. Think of a BlackBerry as an extension of your desktop PC at work - you would never leave it unlocked, or set it up in a public place and leave it unlocked for all to see and use.
A much shorter southern border!
Those Mexicans! They are such nice neighbors! Helping us pick the blackberries…and always coming over for a visit. You know, I bet we had 3000 over for dinner last night. (sarc. off)
Post-Spitzer, he was probably hoping to find some compromising phone calls made by high officials whom he could then blackmail…
It’s not enough that they are stealing jobs, healthcare, tax money etc….now they are infiltrating the white house…But then again maybe Bush GAVE them to them as a welcome gift!!!
“Thank you sir may I please have another?”
“swat”
“Thank you sir may I please have another?”
“swat”
…
You can’t respect someone who doesn’t respect themselves.
Stand up to bullies. Call them on it. Make them accountable. They don’t shy away from their charges of imperialism towards you.
Those Secret Service agents with their video cameras are just racist xenophobes.
sarc/off
Amnesty… Immunity… why should Rafael get treated differently? Time to change lettucehead to blackberryhead.