Serving Central Oregon since1903 75i t
WEDNESDAY january16,2013
0 S 0 S OF BC(CQLlll F ISS Preproundup OUTDOORS• D1
SPORTS• C1
bendbulletin.com TODAY'S READERBOARD
CIA
Wyden queries Brennan on ki ing
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Procrastination's den-
efit —Don't feel like reading about it right now? Shovel the walk or do the dishes. At least you'll be doing something.A3
By Andrew Clevenger
Cycling —Arm-
WASHINGTON — Before the Senate votes to confirm him as head of the Central Intelli-
The Bulletin
strong on Oprah notenough,dop-
gence Agency, John
ing officials say. C1
Brennan faces an Oregon senator's questions on the Obama administration's use of deadly force. On Monday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a four-page letter to Brennan, seeking mformatton on the administration's criteria for authorizing the killing of American citizens aspart of its counterterrorism efforts. For years, Wyden has tried — to no avail — to get the intelligence community to divulge the opinions that it says provide the legal basis for its lethal activities. The situation is unacceptable, Wyden said in the letter. See Wyden /A5
Bend rodderies — Agunshot wound to the leg, astory about a burglary and, now, maybe a break in the case.B1
Facedook search —The new feature will be available to
thousands initially and gradually rolled out to everyone
else.C6
And a Wed exclusive-
Egypt's modern rituals for the dead encroach on its ancient
ones as the illegal expansion of a cemetery threatens a4,500year-old necropolis. benddulletin.com/extras
Amanda L. Smith / For The Bulletin
Kevin Sawyer and Tami Sawyer walk into U.S. District Court in Eugene on Tuesday morning for the first day of trial. However, after reaching an agreement with the government, both entered guilty pleas.
EDITOR'5CHOICE By Sheila G. Miller
In shootings, mental signs called hazy By Benedict Carey and Anemona Hartocollis New York Times News Service
No one but a deeply disturbed individual marches into an elementary school or amovie theater and guns down random, innocent people. That hard fact drives the public longing for a mental health system that produces clearwarn• Obama to ing signals
propose and can gun somehow limits,A4
stop the vio-
• New york lence. And it is now fuelpasses new law, ing a surge
in legislative activity in Washington and New York. But these proposed changes and others like them may backfire and only reveal how broken the system is, experts said. "Anytime you have one of these tragic case like Newtown, it's going to expose deficiencies in the mental health system, and provide some opportunity forreform," said Richard Bonnie, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia's law school who led a state commission that overhauled policies after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that left 33 people dead. "But you have to be very careful not to overreact." See Mental /A4 A4
The Bulletin
DEFENSEDENIED
EUGENE — The end of a nearly fouryear ordeal came quickly for the Bend couple at the center of a real estate fraud investigation on Tuesday, as they chose to plead guilty instead of going to trial. Kevin Sawyer, a retired Bend Police captain, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a financial institution. His wife, former real estatebroker Tami Sawyer, pleaded guilty to all 21 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering filed against her. Sentencing for the couple is scheduled for April. But as part of a plea agreement, they agreed to forfeit much of their property, including their $2.2 million vacation home in Mexico. The Sawyers and their attorneys declined to comment outside court on Tuesday. The last-minute plea agreement was yet another twist in a case that has stretched over nearlyfour years and across state and national lines. The federal government began investigating the Sawyers' real estate dealings in early 2009. In a federal grand jury indictment issued in October 2010, the government alleged that between 2004 and 2009 the couple had solicited more than 20 people to invest more than $7 million for real estate projects in Oregon and Indiana.
The judge said the Sawyers' intent or ability to repay their investors could not
be used as a defense in the trial. GUILTY PLEAS Tami Sawyer pleaded guilty to all 21
federal counts against her: wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, false statement to a financial
institution and moneylaundering. Kevin Sawyer pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a financial institution.
SENTENGING Scheduled for April 30.
As part of the pleaagreement, the Sawyers agree to forfeit much of their property, including their $2.2 million
vacation home in Mexico. Maximumpossiblesentences: • 20 years in federal prison and$250,000 in fines for each count of wire fraud and
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. • 30 years and$1 milion in fines eachfor making a false statement to a financial institution and bank fraud.
• 10 years in prison and afine of $250,000 for moneylaundering.
Tami and Kevin Sawyer instead used the money to pay earlier investors, make car and credit card payments, and build
and furnish their vacation home in Cabo San Lucas. The Sawyers each faced 12 counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and false statement to a financial institution. Tami Sawyer alone was also charged with four additional counts of money laundering. Investors lost more than $4 million in the scheme, according to the indictment and other court documents. The Sawyers arrived at the Eugene federalcourthouse justbefore 9 a.m. Tuesday for the first day of trial. But during a pretrial conference before the judge in open court, attorneys clashed over whether evidence should be allowed about assets the couple had that could have been used to repay investors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Potter argued that what assets the couple had available or intended to use to repay the investors didn't matter: What mattered was that the Sawyers had committed fraud by using the money for other than its intended purpose. The question, Potter said, came down to, "What did they tell the victims and then what did they do with the money?" Tami Sawyer's attorney, Marc Blackman, told the judge he had a right to present a defense. See Sawyers/A5
FILi rules
in placeat St. Charles Bulletin staff report St. Charles Health System announced new, temporary requirements for visitors Tuesday in order to curtail the spread of influenza at its four hospitals. Mosaic Medical and Deschutes County Health Services the same day announced public vaccination clinics Friday and Saturday. Flu activity continues at a moderate level in Oregon, although elsewhere in the U.S. it has reached moderatesevere levels, said Dr. Rebecca Sherer, medical director of the St. Charles infection control and prevention department. "It looks like we are on our way to
2nd inaugurationshadtough go from start By Monica Hesse The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — It's not like last time, and everywhere you look, someone wants to remind you of that. Hotel rooms are still available and there will only be two official inaugural balls and nobody is going to wait
TODAY'S WEATHER Sunny High 45, Low 18
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for hours in a cattle-packed tunnel, waving their purple tickets. The gargantuan platform affixed to the U.S. Capitol has been growing for weeks, but worriers seem convinced that when Barack Obama steps onto it for his second inauguration, it just won't feel the
same. "No, there isn't quite the excitement there is with the first one," allows Buffy Cafritz, the Washington doyenne who has hosted inaugural parties since 1984. But then again, "I can't think of a second inauguration that was as exciting as the
having a bad year,"
first," she says. "You know the man. You know his policies. It's normal." Over at the Presidential Inaugural Committee headquarters, chief executive officer Steve Kerrigan argues that the second time around is equally wonderful — just different. See lnaugurations /A5
INDEX Busines s/Stocks C5-6 Comics/Puzzles E3-4 Horoscope D 6 Outdoors D1-5 C1-4 Calendar B2 Crosswords E 4 L o cal & State B1-6 Sports Classified E1 - 6 D ear Abby D6 Ob i tuaries B5 TV / Movies D6
The Bulletin
Sherer said. "Not a pandemic, not a new or unusual strain, but an abnormally high number of cases." St. Charles between Friday and Sunday tested 57 people for flu, with 22 positive results. See Flu /A5
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