President Bush’s Domestic Policy Advisor, who resigned last month with
the standard “I want to spend more time with my family” excuse, is
charged with trying to defraud two Washington stores in an elaborate
refund scheme.
Reports Ernesto Londoño and Michael A. Fletcher in The Washington Post:
Claude A. Allen, who resigned last month as President Bush’s top
domestic policy adviser, was arrested this week in Montgomery County
for allegedly swindling Target and Hecht’s stores out of more than
$5,000 in a refund scheme, police said.Allen, 45, of Gaithersburg, has been released on his own
recognizance and is awaiting trial on two charges, felony theft scheme
and theft over $500, said Lt. Eric Burnett, a police spokesman. Each
charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.Allen could not be reached for comment last night.
His attorney, Mallon Snyder, said last night that his client denies
wrongdoing. The lawyer disputed the police account of Allen’s actions.
“It’s his reputation. Obviously, he’s very concerned about it,” Snyder
said.Snyder said he feels confident that Allen will be able to prove that the incidents were “a series of misunderstandings.”
Allen, a former deputy secretary in the Department of Health and
Human Services, was nominated in 2003 to a federal appeals court seat.
He was appointed the president’s top domestic policy adviser last year
at the start of Bush’s second term. That made him the highest-ranking
African American on the White House staff.Working out of a small office on the second floor of the West Wing,
Allen shaped administration policy on such issues as health care, space
exploration, housing and education.He came to the attention of Montgomery police after a manager at a
Gaithersburg Target store called the department about an incident Jan.
2. Montgomery detectives were able to document other alleged crimes
from Oct. 29 to Jan. 2, some of which were captured on camera, Burnett
said.Allen resigned from the White House on Feb. 9, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family
In a statement that day, Bush said: “Claude is a good and
compassionate man, and he has my deep respect and gratitude. I thank
him for his many years of principled and dedicated service to our
country.”
