Opinion ID: 172367
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mr. Trentadue's Allegations of Bad Faith and the FBI Responses

Text: Mr. Trentadue responded to the FBI's memorandum by arguing that the FBI was intentionally withholding documents and acting in bad faith. To support this allegation, he submitted a redacted copy of the Freeh Memorandum that he had requested and a redacted teletype (which he terms the BOMBROB-Funding Memorandum) that he claimed to be from FBI Director Louie Freeh dealing with the very subjects of Plaintiff's FOIA Request.  Pl.'s Combined Mem. in Opp'n to FBI Defs. Mot. for Summ. J. & Pl.'s Rule 56(f) Mot. for Continuance Pending Disc. at 5-6, Trentadue v. FBI, No. 2:04 CV 00772 DAK, 2004 WL 3482786 (D.Utah Nov. 30, 2004). He asserted that these two documents revealed that FBI Defendants and/or the SPLC had an informant at Elohim City who reported that two weeks before the bombing of the Murrah Building Tim McVeigh contacted Elohim City trying to recruit others to assist him in carrying out that attack.... J.A. 82. Thus, according to Mr. Trentadue, the FBI Defendants knew about and fail[ed] to prevent the attack upon the Murrah Building, and therefore had an incentive to withhold documents showing such knowledge. Id. at 82-83 (emphasis omitted). Mr. Trentadue also submitted a declaration from a retired FBI agent, stating his belief (1) that the teletypes were authentic, and (2) that it would be a simple matter to retrieve either of these teletypes through searches of the respective case files for the serial[] [numbers] entered on or about the date of each teletype. Id. at 96. As the former FBI agent observed, the Freeh Memorandum listed two file numbers belonging to the OKBOMB investigation, 174A-OC-56120 and 91A-OM-41859, and the BOMBROB-Funding Memorandum listed a third file number belonging to that investigation, 100A-PH-79375. In addition, Mr. Trentadue argued that Dees's privacy interest was outweighed by the substantial public interest in disclosure. Finally, Mr. Trentadue filed a request under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(f) for a continuance until Plaintiff has completed limited discovery on the existence of the documents and/or records in question. Pl.'s Combined Mem. in Opp'n at 3, Trentadue, No. 2:04 CV 00772 DAK, 2004 WL 3482786 (Nov. 30, 2004). On January 4, 2005, the FBI replied. It clarified that its position was not that responsive documents do not exist, only that [its] search did not locate any documents responsive to Plaintiff's request. The Federal Defs. Reply Mem. in Supp. of their Mot. for Summ. J. & in Opp'n to Pl.'s Mot. to Strike & Stay Dis. (Defs.Reply) at 6, id. (Jan. 4, 2005). It maintained that it had made a good-faith effort to search for the requested documents, warranting summary judgment. To establish its good-faith search efforts, it attached to its reply a December 9, 2004, declaration of David Hardy, Section Chief of the Record/Information Dissemination Section of the FBI's Records Management Division in Washington, D.C. The declaration explained that the FBI's indices to its Central Records System (CRS) generally refer only to subjects of investigations, suspects, and victims, although other names may be indexed by an investigator or supervisor if considered relevant or necessary for later retrieval. [2] It then described the search for the records requested by Mr. Trentadue, stating that the search for records referring to Dees was awaiting a proper privacy waiver and that the search for the other records, using Southern Poverty Law Center as the search term, was fruitless. [3] On February 17, 2005, the FBI submitted a second declaration by Mr. Hardy. Attached to the declaration was a redacted copy of the Freeh Memorandum. The declaration explained why the FBI was now able to produce the document: (7) The initial search of the CRS indices at FBIHQ and the Oklahoma City Field Office, (OCFO) for [the Freeh Memorandum] revealed that, based on the information provided in plaintiff's initial request letter to FBIHQ and the OCFO, the FBI could not locate the original document. (8) The initial search of the CRS indices at FBIHQ and the OCFO for the [Freeh Memorandum] was conducted by using the search term Southern Poverty Law Center as described in the Hardy Declaration ¶ 12. Additionally, a search for the memorandum using the name Timothy McVeigh, failed to reveal the [Freeh Memorandum]. (9) Based on new information [the redacted version of the Freeh Memorandum submitted by Mr. Trentadue] attached as Exhibit A to plaintiff's November 23, 2004 REPLY MEMORANDUM IN FURTHER SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT, it was determined that the document was a teletype dated January 4, 1996. An electronic search of file 174A-OC-56120 for teletypes dated January 4, 1996, was conducted. This additional search revealed the teletype in question which was contained within the FBI's OKBOMB investigative file which investigation was conducted pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 844(d). Second Decl. of David M. Hardy at 3-4 (footnote omitted), Trentadue, No. 2:04 CV 00772 DAK (Feb. 17, 2005). The declaration did not detail search efforts to find the so-called BOMBROB-Funding Memorandum.