FEDERAL AND STATE AGENTS SEIZE RECORDS OF U.S. NAVY VETS AND BOBBY THOMPSON IN FLORIDA

Minnesota Attorney General says nothing about an investigation of the group’s Minnesota Chapter, which raised over $1.56 million here since 2004 and then mysteriously dissolved May 4.

By Karl Bremer © Copyright 2010

IRS, Veterans Administration, and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services agents today seized computer records and documents—some already shredded—from the Tampa-area offices of associates of Bobby Thompson, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association commander-on-the-lam. The seizures were made in connection with investigations into the organization by the three agencies.

According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times:

Armed with a search warrant, federal and state agents on Friday seized documents and computer records from the Clair-Mel home of residents who served as assistants to Bobby Thompson, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association director who vanished last month.

Criminal investigators from the IRS, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services arrived at the home at 2062 Balfour Circle Friday morning and seized boxes of documents — some already shredded — and loaded them into an unmarked van.

The residence is listed as the home of Nancy Contreras, 20, according to records. She and her mother, Blanca Contreras, 38, a former citrus processing plant employee, have been associates of Thompson and recently signed as Navy Veterans officers on registration papers in several states.

Thompson has contributed heavily to Minnesota Republicans and GOP party units. He’s given tens of thousands of dollars to Michele Bachmann, Norm Coleman and the Republican Party of Minnesota, as well as former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and House candidate David J. Carlson.

Following an exclusive DumpBachmann investigation into the money trail leading from Thompson to Bachmann, the Republican congresswoman and the state GOP were forced this week to give away $10,000 that Thompson had donated to the Minnesota-Bachmann Victory Committee at her April 7 Minneapolis fundraiser with former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin.

After operating for six years and raising over $1.56 million, the Minnesota Chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association was mysteriously dissolved May 4, citing pending legal liabilities that could sink the group. It’s been shut down in several states and is under civil or criminal investigation in some.

However, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office continues to stonewall inquiries about any current or pending investigation of the group in Minnesota.

Karl Bremer is a freelance writer in Stillwater, MN. He can be reached at saintcroix [at] aol.com