By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—On Thursday, WSFA reported that former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) Chief Spencer Collier, met with agents under the authority of US Attorney for the Middle District, George Beck. Scant details of the meeting are known at this time, but it is believed that in recent days, Beck’s office has been gathering information concerning a number of issues surrounding the Bentley Administration.
Reportedly, the FBI is looking into the firings at ALEA, the closing of criminal investigations, the use of NCIC and FETS to target enemies, and Bentley’s relationship with his now former senior advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason and her husband, Jon. Bentley’s order to lie and not provide an affidavit to the Attorney General, in relation to the Speaker Mike Hubbard criminal case, is also believed to be of interest to the US Attorney, as well as Bentley’s 501(c)4.
For now, persons of interest are believed to be, Bentley, Mason, Jon Mason, plus, current ALEA Secretary Stan Stabler, and SBI Director Gene Wiggins.
As reported by alreporter.com, Bentley ordered Collier and Special Agent Jack Wilson not to provide an affidavit to the prosecution in the Hubbard case, after radio host and attorney, Baron Coleman, accused Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart of leaking Grand Jury information. The investigation by ALEA concluded that Coleman’s allegations were baseless, and there was no wrong doing by Hart. Earlier this week, Judge Jacob Walker made the same conclusion, when in his order to deny Hubbard’s motion to dismiss his case on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct.
The firings at ALEA were carried out by Stabler just four days after he became acting Secretary. In a press release Stabler said, the firings were related to possible wrong doing by those individuals. Days later, the open investigation files were physically taken from Wilson and closed by SBI Director Wiggins.
Other law enforcement officers have said there is a keen interested in the closing of a criminal investigation involving State Sen. Phill Williams (R-Rainbow City).
Also according to law enforcement officers, Bentley ordered Collier to use the NCIC data base and the State’s LETS, to launch an investigation into critics Donald V. Watkins and Roger Shuler.
For several months there have been repeated questions surrounding how Mason was paid and why Bentley created a job for her husband, Jon.
The revelation that Collier met with agents from the US Attorney’s Office further confirms that events surrounding the affidavit, the firings at ALEA and other actions related to the Bentley-Mason affair, have generated more than just public outrage.
