8:03 PM 4/4/1996
By RICHARD STEWART
Copyright 1996 Houston Chronicle
East Texas Bureau
BEAUMONT -- A federal prosecutor from Houston is a possible target of a criminal investigation involving a gun- and drug-tracking device the government alleges to be a fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Womack repeatedly refused to answer questions posed by an attorney for the Quadro Corp., during an injunction hearing to try to stop sales and distribution of the company's Quadro Tracker. On 42 occasions Thursday, Womack asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
His refusal to answer came moments after U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield unsealed testimony from a closed hearing Tuesday, during which the prosecutor was informed he may be a target of a crimininal investigation. The contents of the hearing came to light Thursday.
Different forms of the device can be used, claim its makers, to find anything from lost golf balls to hidden treasure. The company sold more than 1,000 of the devices for as much as $8,000 each to law enforcement agencies and school districts around the country to find illicit drugs and weapons.
At the end of the four-day hearing, Heartfield continued an earlier temporary injunction against sales or distribution of Quadro Trackers and gave attorneys a week to submit written documents before he rules on a permanent injunction closing down the Harleyville, S.C., corporation.
Womack and fellow Assistant U.S. Attorney John Wagner were distributors of the device, sources have told the Houston Chronicle. They and two other men who don't work for the federal government allegedly bought rights to sell the Quadro Tracker in Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Sources also told the Chronicle that the two prosecutors had written permission from the Justice Department to distribute Quadro Trackers.
In February, Womack told the Chronicle that he believes the device is legitimate, even though the FBI distributed warnings that it is a fraud.
"We disagree," Womack said at the time, "but (we) told people they could have their money back if they wanted it." He said they have had no requests for refunds and many agencies have had good results using the device.
U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford said in court Thursday that Womack may be a target of an investigation of possible conflicts of interest, false statements to investigators about his involvement with the Quadro Tracker and possible use of federal office equipment for private business.
"When the government throws out this wide a net, they sometime get some innocent people in it,"Womack's attorney, Jack Zimmermann, said in a later telephone interview. Zimmermann said he advised his client not to answer questions after Womack was told he may be a target.
He said that Womack, before coming to Beaumont earlier this week as a result of being subpoenaed by Quadro lawyers, was aware of an internal Justice Department investigation of his activities. But he did not know he was the subject of any criminal investigation.