Obama's computer chief once shoplifted 4 shirts

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Now it can be told: The mysterious petty theft that President Barack Obama's new computer chief committed at age 21 was shoplifting four dress shirts worth $134 from J.C. Penney.

A 1996 Montgomery County, Md., police report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday under a public records law shows Vivek Kundra was observed by a security guard putting the men's shirts into a shopping bag and leaving the store without paying. Sgt. Tom Stanton wrote that Kundra was arrested after a brief foot chase and the property was recovered.

Kundra pleaded guilty, paid a $100 fine and $55 in court costs and was ordered to do 80 hours of community service. The White House has called it a "youthful indiscretion" long ago resolved.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031802728.html?hpid=moreheadlines

---

Dumb move by him - I don't call 21 exactly "youthful". Don't think it should DQ him from WH job unless something else turns up.

Remeber the Bushie Claude Allen who shoplifted while working for the WH - now that's a real idiot.

Bush's former domestic policy advisor, Claude Allen, whom Bush nominated for a seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in April, 2003, has been charged with felony shoplifting. Who is Claude Allen? Mr. Allen is no low-level staffer.

Allen was the No. 2 official in the Health and Human Services Department when Bush nominated him in April 2003 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Bush nominated Allen to the court again a year later, but he never received a Senate vote.

Allen has been under investigation since at least January for the alleged thefts on 25 occasions at Target and Hecht's stores, said police spokesman Lt. Eric Burnett. Police reviewed his credit card records to track his purchase.

Police believe Allen would buy items, take them to his car, then return to the store with his receipt. He would select the same items, then take them to the store return desk and show the receipt from the first purchase. Using that method, he would receive credit for the second items on his credit cards, Burnett said.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/03/10/182/17332

[skooooo]

1. oh please

:boring:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Yup, the Republicans are the professionals at this...

The Democrats? Not so much...

:eyes:

[AZ Criminal JD]

17. Anyone who would put a party label on this has no clue about who does crime

[Judi Lynn]

35. You bet. He's not at all in their league. Where's his colossal house, his yacht,

and all his other precious trash? Duke Cunningham, if he heard about this story in his country club prison would turn up his swolen, red, blotchy, bulbous nose at this guy.

[960]

3. Well, if was 134 million worth that he felt he "deserved" no one would care apparently.

[amandabeech]

4. Who vetted this guy?

Isn't a thorough criminal check a basic?

I once worked with the guy who vetted Zoe Baird for AG back in the early days of the Clinton administration. Baird and her husband, Prof. Paul Gewirtz of Yale Law School, had failed to pay social security taxes on their household help's wages.

My former colleague, after more than 15 years, couldn't figure out what the problem was.

I wonder if he's in charge again.

[Zynx]

47. Who cares about a minor misdemeanor?

[Ian David]

5. As opposed to... Bush hit by new blow as aide is charged with shoplifting

Bush hit by new blow as aide is charged with shoplifting
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article740211.ece

[RamboLiberal]

7. Yep that was a felony as compared to this guy's misdemeanor

[Thrill]

6. Guess they couldn't find anything else to report about

.

[KansDem]

8. "I don't call 21 exactly 'youthful'."

I believe George W. Bush set the "youthful indiscretion" cutoff at age 40, so this guy had another 19 years to commit youthful indiscretions. At least tell the Repubs that if they try to raise a stink with this...

[AlbertCat]

9. And remind the repugs

Bush is the 1st president with a record!

[No Elephants]

36. His war crimes and frauds really dwarfed his DUI and AWOL, didn't they?

[bc3000]

11. Zing!

[terisan]

10. Hard for me to understand shoplifting but that may be because I loathe shopping.

[NYC Liberal]

12. Bush had 3 DUIs, was arrested for doing coke, and went AWOL during wartime.

Not that the MSM ever cared about that.

[tomm2thumbs]

13. I don't like thieves

Having said that, they could certainly do jobs where security is not an issue - but the computer systems of the White House - that is definitely NOT one of them. Maybe the guy should have applied for a catering job.

[No Elephants]

39. Lifting $134 worth of shirts at age 21 is not the same as being a thief for life, just

as getting drunk once does not make you a drunk.

[Zywiec]

14. I don't call 21 exactly "youthful"

Great, at what point are young ladies no longer "youthful"? High School?

:shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

15. How old was Henry Hyde when he committed his "youthful indiscretions?"

Oh I forgot. Republicans have this maturational lag.

[Zywiec]

19. What?

Did you reply to the correct post?

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Digging back through it all, the answer is no.

However, to put up an annoyingly pedantic defense (APD), I thought you were originating the comment, having forgotten it was in the OP by the time I got to your post. So here's the APD: It's all your fault because you didn't properly use quotes. You should have had double quotes around the whole thing and single quotes around the "youthful indiscretions" part. :evilgrin:

[No Elephants]

41. The standard for not putting a guy in jail for statutory rape is a little

different than when a guy's judgment is totally mature that a $134 property crime should ruin his ability to get a good job for the rest of his life, especially after serving what seems to me like a pretty stiff sentence.

(Which, btw, happens later for males than it does for females, but you are just using a totally wrong standard.)

A lot of very perfect judges seem to be posting on this thread. Well, either that, or people who are not terribly honest with themselves.

[silverojo]

44. While this guy's crimes were small in comparison

They were still crimes, and he was old enough to know better. I sure as hell never shoplifted anything worth $134 at the age of 15, let alone 21, or any time in my life, for that matter.

Even if I had, I wouldn't have compounded the crime by running away.

Too bad Obama doesn't vet his staff as thoroughly as he's been doing with the proposed White House dog. :(

[bemildred]

16. Anybody under 25 is "youthful'. Just saying. nt

[AZ Criminal JD]

18. You are wrong. Just saying.

[bemildred]

20. Prove it. Just saying. nt

[AZ Criminal JD]

22. You made the statement. You prove it. Just saying.

[bemildred]

24. So you have no proof either.

Opinons are like assholes. Yours against mine.

[Downwinder]

30. It's all relative.

I probably would say 60.

[bemildred]

31. Sometimes it's never.

I just remember it was around 25 that I started to get a grip. Before that it was chaos.

[No Elephants]

37. Probably even anyone under 30 (Abbie Hoffman's cutoff point).

[bemildred]

45. I thought of that, I remember that.

But Abbie was being provocative, and I didn't want to go there. The truth is that it's a gradual process that happens to different people in different ways. I picked 25 because that's when your cost of auto insurance goes down, if you stay out of trouble on the road.

[tomm2thumbs]

21. youthful would probably be 'under 18' but

perhaps he shouldn't have said 'youthful indiscretions' and just said 'he's made his mistake, done his punishment and learned his lesson'

[AlbertCat]

27. Under 18?

Under 18 and you're not even legally an adult.
A "young adult" is in their early 20's. so I'd say that counts too.

[tomm2thumbs]

29. that's all good and well

if he had said 'young adult-ful' discretions?

[No Elephants]

38. There's a difference between "legally a minor" and "youthful."

[Wetzelbill]

23. Lots of people do stupid things

Most of them not malicious. I know I have. A person can get almost addicted to shoplifting or any activity like that too. I don't hold anything like this against anybody, so long as they have put it behind them. It could be 1 year or 20 years ago, people sometimes get into bad times in their lives or whatever. I think we're too willing to judge otherwise good productive citizens for something stupid that they may have done before. Now if he had robbed a bank and shot somebody that would be different. I think with Claude Allen too, I hope he's moved on with his life and is doing well, but, of course, a felony charge is definitely much more serious than a misdemeanor. I don't think a misdemeanor should stop a person from being in a position like a WH job or anything like that, just so long as they've shown they've move on from it. Politics being what it is, people will take anything no matter how small it is and try to use it against somebody. I'm more concerned about people with dubious business ethics like Dick Cheney getting into power or extreme ideologues like, well, Dick Cheney, than I am about somebody who stole a few shirts before. There is a difference between doing something stupid that is a misdemeanor and doing something dangerous that could ruin an economy or needlessly get people killed.

[LynnTheDem]

25. Why did George W. bUsh need a clearance letter to get into Canada?

Coz he has a DUI.

Dear republics;

Fuck off.

[Hulk]

26. All right....I'll come clean!

Yeah it was me. I used to steal candy bars and records...not really sure why. Guess the devil made me do it. I even had the money most of the time, but just wanted to see if I could get away with it.

Yup.....no political future for me. I even got caught a couple times, and that really sucked. But I stole LOTS of stuff as a dumb kid. Guess we all have skeletons in the closet.

Holy shit America...get a f*cking life!

[ConcernedCanuk]

32. Records? - you stole records? - you criminal you! - me yeah I did the chocolate bar shoplifting

.
.
.

and comic books

that was all

but OMG

If I still had the comic books that I pilfered from the 50's -

I'd be a rich man today . .

oh well . .

[Hekate]

33. Dubya's youthful indiscretions extended to his 40s, if I recall correctly. Just sayin'. nt

[davidinalameda]

34. he shoplifted from Montgomery Wards???

I once worked at a Montgomery Wards and I wouldn't have stolen any of that nasty polyester crap

[No Elephants]

42. How about J.C. Penney in Montgomery County, Maryland?

[EFerrari]

40. LOL

The Republicans have ruined our economy and THIS is the best Authorized Propaganda can do on Obama?

:rofl:

[No Elephants]

43. Obama hires a guy who shoplifted $134 of shirts when he was 21 and served a stiff

sentence to be a computer guy. Dummya nominated a guy who was currently engaging in repeated shoplifting and under investigation for same, not bc he needed clothes, but bc he wanted to steal money from the stores indirectly. And not to be a computer guy, but to be a judge.

Does no one but the OP see the difference?

And, btw, congrats to all posters who had reached their peak of maturity at 21 and have been perfect ever since.

[Zynx]

46. Who the fuck cares? That was 13 years ago.

If we allow every little crime to disqualify people from employment we will have a permanent under class of millions of people in this country.

[bitchkitty]

48. I certainly call 21 youthful.

You might be legal at 21, but you certainly haven't learned all life has to teach you.

I say BFD - this is not news.