Witness to Punk Week arrests says he was interviewed by the FBI
Bob Weber is still troubled by a voicemail message he says he received days after witnessing Ann Arbor police arrest eight people during a Punk Week gathering in August at Bandemer Park.
Weber, 62, saw a heated exchange on Aug. 15 between officers who ordered people out of the park and the punks who claimed they had a right to be there.
Officers had responded to a report that people were smoking marijuana, lounging naked and having sex, the police report says. Ultimately, police arrested eight people, who were later charged with resisting and obstructing police and disturbing the peace. Two people who were naked were cited that afternoon for disorderly conduct.
Weber, who thought officers were unnecessarily rough with people and the arrests were unjust, wrote his name and phone number on a scrap piece of paper, which he gave to a young couple at the park, he said.
He offered to testify on behalf of the accused, then went fishing as planned and never expected to hear about it again. Days later, Weber was checking his voicemail and listened to a message from a man, who said he heard Weber was "offering" to be a witness.
“So…you are going to be a witness?” Weber says the caller said, according to an Aug. 25 narrative of the incident Weber said he provided to the FBI.
“Keep in mind that we know who you are and where you live. If you want to be a witness, just remember, we know who you are and where you live.”
Weber said the voicemail made “no sense to me at all.” He thought one of his friends might be playing a joke on him because he was a witness in a high-profile robbery case a week earlier in downtown Ann Arbor. Like most voicemails, he deleted it.
But he said it started to make him feel uneasy.
At the suggestion of a co-worker, Weber went to the Ann Arbor Police Department and asked to speak to a detective, telling a woman at the desk he received a disturbing phone call. The woman told him no one was available to speak with him, he said.
Weber said he was later contacted by an FBI agent who interviewed him for more than an hour about the message and incident at Bandemer Park. In addition to a five-page narrative of the incident at the park, Weber gave the agent cell phone records, which he had obtained from his provider. Weber was told it would unlikely result in prosecution because the message was not saved, he said.
FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold, a bureau spokeswoman in Detroit, did not return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
Attorney John Minock, who represented one of the eight people arrested, spoke to Weber in August about the incident as the case was pending against his client.
“I’ve interviewed Mr. Weber as a potential witness, and I am aware that the U.S. Attorney’s office does not believe there is a prosecutable obstruction of justice case because the phone message was not saved,” Minock said. “I cannot think of a justification for the Ann Arbor Police Department to not investigate this.”
Ann Arbor police did not investigate the call or conduct an internal investigation because Weber did not file a complaint, Deputy Police Chief John Seto said.
Police did conduct an internal investigation into the Punk Week arrests after two people alleged excessive force was used, and the officers were cleared.
Ultimately, Weber didn't have to testify. The eight people arrested pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and were sentenced to time served. They had come to Ann Arbor from around the country for Punk Week, which includes events such as a shopping cart race.
Weber, who lives and works in Ann Arbor, said he suspects the caller thought he was a punk. He wants the caller identified, he said.
"I'm disturbed by the whole deal," Weber said. "I really am."
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
Comments
Awakened
Wed, Dec 22, 2010 : 12:06 p.m.
AAPD has a history of not investigating incidents that have not had comlaints made about them. I think this raises serious questions. And I am concerned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may know whare I live. How could the government possibly know that and why would they care? Scary article.
pbehjatnia
Wed, Dec 22, 2010 : 10:09 a.m.
Um. A. How unremarkable. B. He was so alarmed that he erased the message. C. Why doesn't he know the name of the FBI agent who interviewed him? D. Why now? This was months ago.
kraiford12
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 4:25 p.m.
Topics that questioned the reasoning of this article were removed.
15crown00
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 4:12 p.m.
overkill coverup
YouWhine
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 1:03 p.m.
Lee couldn't get enough of this story when it almost WAS news, now he wants to drag it back up again when some cook alleges to have gotten a weird voicemail? It seems that Lee has it out for some of these officers and is dead set on finding some way to make them look bad. I agree with dading. Why wasn't the "high profile robbery" the main focus of this article?
Killroy
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 12:15 p.m.
I'm not going to comment because I don't want to get fingered. :)
Speechless
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 12:11 p.m.
It's too bad that, at the time, he didn't fully pick up on the possible significance of a strange, anonymous message left on his answering machine. But, when casually playing the latest recorded messages after being away, one isn't always prepared to think about these things. It does, however, once again raise the question of who, exactly, were the 'real' punks in relation to last August's unfortunate incident at Bandemer Park.
antikvetch
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 11:16 a.m.
And then it turned out he's calling from inside the house!!! When a Stranger Calls (1979)
obviouscomment
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 10:17 a.m.
Keep in mind that we know who you are and where you live. If you want to be a witness, just remember, we know who you are and where you live. I think the FBI could do a better job of scaring someone if they wanted to. That is straight out of an old cheesy movie.
ShadowManager
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 9:41 a.m.
Has it crossed anyone's mind that it was probably the young couple that called Mr. Weber? After all, they had his phone # already. "Weber, who thought officers were unnecessarily rough with people and the arrests were unjust, wrote his name and phone number on a scrap piece of paper, which he gave to a young couple at the park, he said." Don't ask me why, maybe they were high and thought it would be funny.
xmo
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 9:04 a.m.
Must be a slow news week, Weber didn't testify, the cases were settle without him, he had a voice message which he erased, was he abducted by ALIENS? Sounds like somebody needs a good hug!:)
aanative
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 8:55 a.m.
What a non-story.
DFSmith
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 8:35 a.m.
Nowayjose- he called you too? And all this time I thought I was going to get to be the vice-President darn it!!! :):) And, unfortunately, like you and Mr Weber, I erased the 2 voicemail messages also. Shouldnt have done that.
nowayjose
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 8:24 a.m.
Funny he's so distrubed by this that he deleted the message. Now wants everyone to believe the police are threatening him over voicemail. Give me a break. Oh, by the way President Obama called me and left me a message he wants me to be Vice President now instead of Biden. But I deleted it. Guess Ill just show up to the White House for work on Monday.
antikvetch
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 8:05 a.m.
So, as he only gave his number to the "pro-punk" faction, isn't it more likely that they were the ones calling?
Macabre Sunset
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 7:58 a.m.
Seems fairly obvious law enforcement dismissed him as a crank. Which he probably was, given the tapes we have heard of the arrests in question.
dading dont delete me bro
Tue, Dec 21, 2010 : 6:42 a.m.
so does mr.weber believe this had to do w/the punk week incident -or- the high profile robbery mentioned? reading through it, i get the impression it could be either, HOWEVER, the story doesn't stray from punk week...