By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Prosecutors defended the FBI’s controversial decision shut off the Internet connection to three luxury Las Vegas suites in a ruse to send in undercover agents to “fix” the problems, the Associated Press reports.
U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden and two other government lawyers filed a lengthy court filing defending the practice.
The response comes after the defense asked a judge to dismiss the evidence gathered in the illegal gambling case against eight suspects.
“Law enforcement has long been permitted to obtain consent by posing as a confederate, business associate, or service provider. In fact, the government uses ruses every day in its undercover operations,” the prosecutors wrote in defense of the FBI operation.
The prosecutors said the ruse was legal because it still gave the defendants a choice of letting in the agents.
“Disruption of the (high speed Internet) did not — in any legitimate sense — require immediate attention,” prosecutors wrote.
