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Springfield, IL

Member Since 2004

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Sunday Mar 12, 2006

Mar 12, 2006
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Saturday he was disappointed and saddened by the arrest on felony theft charges of Claude Allen, his former top domestic policy adviser.

"If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen's life. And that is really sad," Bush told reporters.

Allen, who stepped down last month, was arrested in Maryland on Thursday on charges he conducted a theft scheme involving fraudulent refunds at area department stores.

A call to Allen's home was not immediately returned. The New York Times quoted his lawyer, Mallon Snyder, as denying the allegations and saying they resulted from a confusion he hoped to clear up soon.

Allen, a 45-year-old lawyer, was considered a Republican rising star. Before working in the White House, he was deputy secretary at the Health and Human Services Department.

"When I heard the story last night I was shocked and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment, that, if it's true, that we were not fully informed," Bush added. "But it was also one where, shortly thereafter I felt really sad for the Allen family."

The arrest stemmed from an investigation of an incident at a Target store on January 2, Montgomery County police said.

Allen, who lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was approached by a Target employee who said he placed items in an empty Target bag and others in a shopping cart, police said in a statement. Using a receipt, he sought a refund for the goods in the bag and left without paying for the things in the shopping cart, the police said.

NO PRIOR HISTORY

Police say Allen carried out similar transactions at other stores, receiving refunds to his credit cards of more than $5,000 last year. The items included clothing, a Bose theater system and some goods valued at only $2.50, the police said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Allen told Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, about the January 2 Target incident the day after it happened.

He also met with White House counsel Harriet Miers, telling her and Card it was a misunderstanding stemming from confusion over his credit cards because he had moved a lot.

"He assured them he had done nothing wrong and that the matter would be cleared up," McClellan said. "He was given the benefit of the doubt because there was no prior history that we were aware of."

McClellan said Allen had been through several background checks because of his federal appointments. "If it's true, Andy and Harriet would be horrified. I think it was unfathomable to them that he would put so much in jeopardy," McClellan said.

Bush nominated Allen in 2003 for a seat on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia. But the nomination -- which some Democrats opposed on concerns about Allen's views on social issues -- did not come to a vote.

A few days after meeting with Card and Miers, Allen told them he planned to leave the White House for family reasons but stayed on a few more weeks to wrap up issues tied to Bush's State of the Union address, McClellan said.

Bush was told about the January 2 incident in early February, about when Allen offered his formal resignation. Allen left the White House on February 17.

The president was told about the arrest by staff on Friday night after media reports.

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