By John McArdle
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Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in
Airport Restroom but Says He Did Nothing Wrong

By John McArdle
Roll Call Staff

Monday, Aug. 27, 2007; 7:17 pm

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a
Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer
investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's
public restroom, according to an arrest report
obtained by Roll Call on Monday afternoon.

Craig's arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8,
he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in
the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than
$500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was
stayed. He also was given one year of probation with
the court that began on Aug. 8.

In a statement released Monday night, Craig denied any
wrongdoing and said he regrets his guilty plea.

After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was
taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be
interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according
to the police report. At one point during the
interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who
arrested him a business card that identified him as a
U.S. Senator and said, "What do you think about that?"
the report states.

Craig was detained for approximately 45 minutes,
interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released,
and police prepared a formal complaint for
interference with privacy and disorderly conduct.

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia
was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11
investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual
activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig
was arrested.

Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in
the men's restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the
Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and
about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he
stated he could see "an older white male with grey
hair standing outside my stall."

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two
minutes, was later identified as Craig.

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door
from his position. Craig would look down at his hands,
'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the
crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this
cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and
placed his roller bag against the front of the stall
door.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in
lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the
front of their stall," Karsnia stated in his report.
"From my seated position, I could observe the shoes
and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me."

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I
recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to
engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several
times and moved his foot closer to my foot. I moved my
foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the
male in the stall to my right was still present. I
could hear several unknown persons in the restroom
that appeared to use the restroom for its intended
use. The presence of others did not seem to deter
Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched
the side of my left foot which was within my stall
area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall
divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report
that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his
ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall
divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by
the floor so that Craig could see it.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards
the exit. Craig responded, 'No!' I again pointed
towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his
roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig
said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under
arrest, he had to go, and that I didn't want to make a
scene. Craig then left the restroom."

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig
"either disagreed with me or 'didn't recall' the
events as they happened," the report states.

Craig stated "that he has a wide stance when going to
the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,"
the report states. Craig also told the arresting
officer that he reached down with his right hand to
pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

"It should be noted that there was not a piece of
paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a
piece of paper," the arresting officer said in the
report.

In the statement he released Monday night, Craig said
the police were "misconstruing my actions."

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the
police that they were misconstruing my actions," he
said. "I was not involved in any inappropriate
conduct."

And although police documents show that Craig returned
to the airport 11 days after the incident to inquire
about a police contact so "his lawyer can speak to
someone," Craig said Monday night that he decided to
enter a guilty plea without consulting a lawyer.

"I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving
this matter," he said. "In hindsight, I should not
have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter
myself quickly and expeditiously."

On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly
conduct in the Minnesota court, Craig appeared via
satellite at a ceremony that took place in Idaho in
which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was
invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In October 2006, Craig's office publicly denied
allegations that he was a homosexual made on a gay
activist Web site -- http://www.blogactive.com  Craig's
office told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the
charge was "completely ridiculous," saying that the
allegations had "no basis in fact."

Steven T. Dennis contributed to this report.

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