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The U.S. State Department has been asked by members of Congress to investigate reports from a former New Jersey police officer that he was jailed on trumped-up charges and tortured in Canada in violation of international treaties that require prisoners be given access to consular services when facing prison in a foreign country.

The request comes in light of President Bush’s advocacy, on which WND has reported, on behalf of a confessed murderer in Texas who is challenging his convictions and sentences on the grounds he is a Mexican national and was denied access to Mexican consular services during his case.

In that case, the Bush administration submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing to overturn the death penalty of Jose Medellin, who confessed in 1993 to participating in the rape and murder of two Houston teenagers. Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were sodomized and strangled with their shoe laces, and Medellin bragged about keeping one girl’s Mickey Mouse watch as a souvenir of the crime.

In the new case, requests for an investigation have been submitted to the State Department by U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer and Rob Andrews on behalf of Scott Loper, who was delivered to the U.S. border by Canadians in 2004 after he served a four-year prison term on charges he believes were manufactured. He is represented by civil rights lawyer C. Scott Shields of Media, Pa.

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The U.S. State Department has opened an investigation into the disappearance of the wife and son of a U.S. citizen who was jailed for four years in Canada on charges he describes as trumped-up.

WorldNetDaily reported earlier on the case of former New Jersey police officer Scott Loper, who described stumbling upon an alleged police-run drug ring in Canada, then his sudden jailing and the abrupt disappearance of his wife and son, Edward.

State Department officials, as well as officials from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, continue to decline to respond to WND inquiries about the status of an investigation into Canada’s treatment of Loper. Canada has admitted it failed to follow international conventions and notify the U.S. of Loper’s criminal charges and imprisonment, even after he requested notification.

However, a letter from Barbara J. Greig, with the International Parental Child Abduction Unit in the State Department, has confirmed that her investigation has been launched.

Members of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s staff recently ducked out of a controversy over Canada’s jailing of a former U.S. policeman by claiming that nation had obtained a “waiver” of Scott Loper’s rights under the international treaty regarding consular contacts.

A civil rights lawyer working with Loper said the meeting with members of Hoyer’s staff was unsuccessful because of a letter staff members said they had gotten from the U.S. State Department in which Canadian officials claimed to have obtained that waiver, even though it was dated three years after Loper was imprisoned, and was unsigned as well.

Loper, a former New Jersey police officer, has described stumbling upon an alleged police-run drug ring in Canada in 2000, then his sudden jailing before he could contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, that nation’s federal police department, and the abrupt disappearance of his wife and son, Edward, while he was in jail.

He’s been working since his return to the United States in 2004 to obtain justice in his case, because he said he never was offered an opportunity to consult with U.S. consular officials, a requirement under international treaties, during his jailing in Canada.

The U.S. State Department earlier confirmed to WorldNetDaily that Canada had admitted the violation of Loper’s treaty rights.

“We are aware Mr. Loper was not allowed access to American consular officials while arrested and detained in Canada. In our discussions with Canadian officials they have acknowledged that oversight,” a spokesman for the department told WorldNetDaily.
He said he should be identified as a “spokesman,” and not by his actual name.

“Since then they have put into place policies [including] prompt notification and access whenever Americans are arrested. We believe our consultations with Canadian officials will help Americans get adequate notice and access when they’re arrested,” he continued.

The specific case involving Loper was raised, but the official could not provide further details on anything stemming from that issue.

WND also has reported on confirmation from the State Department it was opening an investigation into the disappearance of Loper’s son.



Officials from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs have continue to decline to respond to WND inquiries about the status of an investigation into the situation.

The formal hunt for Loper’s son, Eddy, now 11, was confirmed in a letter from Barbara J. Greig, with the International Parental Child Abduction Unit in the State Department.

“I am writing in response to my telephone conversation with you of February 22, 2008, regarding your child, Edward Loper, who may still be alive in Canada. I am the officer responsible for cases in Canada for the International Parental Child Abduction Unit of the Office Children’s Issues. International parental child abduction is an issue of great concern to the Department of State. We place the highest priority on children who have been victimized by parental or State abduction. I have already opened a case in the name of Edward Loper that will remain open until you gain access to him or all possible efforts have been exhausted,” she said.

Canada has agreed to implement new policies and procedures to protect U.S. citizens who may be jailed there, according to the U.S. State Department. The move, however, falls far short of the corrections sought by a former U.S. policeman who spent four years in jail there without having access to U.S. consular services, and he says he is planning to meet with a member of Congress about the dispute.

Canadian officials have responded, through the U.S. State Department, to allegations that a former U.S. police officer was jailed and tortured there not with a denial that Scott Loper experienced the treatment he reports, but with a “waiver” of his rights to have consular officials from his own nation notified.

The document also is dated 2003, even though Loper’s case developed in 2000, further muddying the situation, his civil rights lawyer noted.

Now the lawyer, Scott Shields, who has been advising Loper in his pursuit of a complaint against Canada under the Vienna Convention international treaty, is reviewing the case before determining the next step.

“In a sense we’re happy to have a copy of that waiver, albeit it’s dated three years after he was incarcerated,” Shields told WND. “The peculiar thing about that waiver is it’s about an admissibility hearing.”

He said in Loper’s case, the nation of Canada determined his eligibility for deportation at the beginning of his sentence in 2000, and he eventually was deported, so a document dated 2003 and pertaining to such an admissibility hearing would be irrelevant.
“For them to say he waived his rights, that means nothing. Scott is pursuing this as a violation of the Vienna Convention as it relates to his case of arrest,” Shields told WND. “An individual cannot waive his rights under the Vienna Convention. It’s a treaty between the Canadian government and the U.S. government.

“We know they never notified the U.S. consulate,” Shields said. “What is good about it is that it identifies Scott as a U.S. citizen.”
The “waiver” came through the U.S. State Department and U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to Shields on behalf of Loper.

A spokeswoman for President Bush today said she was unaware of a complaint raised by a former New Jersey policeman and U.S. citizen who was jailed – without access to consular services – in Canada for four years.

However, the State Department has raised its level of interest into the concerns brought forward by former policeman Scott Loper, with one official quizzing a congressional staffer about the case and a security officer assigned to contact Loper’s lawyer.

The situation was brought to the attention of the State Department and Congress by Loper,who has described stumbling upon an alleged police-run drug ring in Canada in 2000. Loper says he was suddenly jailed before he could contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his wife and son, Carolyn and Edward, disappeared while he was in custody.

Just yesterday, members of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s staff ducked out of the controversy by claiming Canada had provided the State Department an unsigned “waiver” of Loper’s rights under the international treaty regarding consular contacts.

A civil rights lawyer working with Loper said the meeting with members of Hoyer’s staff was unsuccessful because of the letter, which was accepted by staff members as valid even though it was dated three years after Loper was imprisoned and was unsigned, as well.

Questions about the case were raised at today’s White House press briefing by Les Kinsolving, WorldNetDaily’s correspondent there.

“Since the Bush administration submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for the overturning of the death penalty of Jose Medellin, who confessed in 1993 to the rape and murder…,” he started.

“I’m aware,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

“…of two teenage girls in Houston, does the president believe that former New Jersey police officer Scott Loper, who was jailed in Canada for four years without being allowed access to U.S. [consular] services, deserves the same Bush support as Medellin?” he finished.

“I’m not aware of that case,” Perino responded.

“Is the president concerned that when Mr. Loper was imprisoned by Canadians, his son Eddie, now 11, disappeared and has yet to be found?” Kinsolving asked in a second question.

“I just don’t have any information for you. I’d refer you to the Justice Department,” Perino said.

The State Department, however, was busy obtaining information about the situation, according to Loper’s civil rights lawyer, Scott Shields.

He told WND that a special agent from the Diplomatic Security Service had contacted him about Loper.

“I was told that someone from American Citizen Services (Ken Durkin) has been contacted by Scott Loper about this situation. Diplomatic Security was contacted by Durkin yesterday who said he was concerned about Scott’s reaction,” the lawyer told WorldNetDaily.

That reaction came when the congressional staff members told Loper they, essentially, were closing down his complaint of violations under an international treaty to which both Canada and the U.S. are signatories. The State Department has told WND Canada admitted to the violation.

“I was told by the special agent that after we left our meeting with Hoyer’s staff, Ken Durkin called [Hoyer staff member] Betsy Bossart to find out how Scott took the news… Durkin was told that it did not go so well. The special agent told me today that he was told by Durkin that when he [Durkin] left his office yesterday he saw ‘Loper’ written on a newspaper box outside his office…,” Shields said.

“I asked him how he knew it was Scott and not Durkin who wrote ‘Loper’ on the box and he said that they know it wasn’t Durkin because Durkin isn’t artistic,” Shields said.

The agent, David Oberholtzer, told WND he did call Shields, but could not offer any comment.

“I’m not in a position to comment in any way on that,” Oberholtzer, who said he works with the law enforcement unit for the State Department, said in a telephone interview.

Shields said it appeared obvious that officials were trying to make Loper “look like a disgruntled citizen who did not get his way.”However, he said he was with Loper during their time at Hoyer’s congressional offices until Loper left the area, so the “Loper” could not have been written by him.

Shields said he was “astonished” that the State Department would demand information from a congressional office about such a situation.

WorldNetDaily reported previously on allegations from Scott Loper regarding his jailing in Canada from 2000-2004 on charges he describes as trumped-up, and the subsequent torture he reported suffering while jailed, as well as last week’s statements by the congressman’s staff that his case would not be pursued.

However, a new letter to Loper that was signed by Hoyer confirms his office “has been in contact with the U.S. State Department and requested a copy of the ‘Notice of Rights’ document dated June 3, 2003.”
It was that document that the congressman’s staff members cited last week in telling Loper and his civil rights lawyer, Scott Shields, they could do nothing further regarding Loper’s allegation of a violation of his rights under the ViennaConvention because he allegedly had “waived” those rights.


The decision, instead of being based on actual documentation, apparently was based on a letter to Hoyer from Kenneth M. Durkin, the chief of the Western Hemisphere Division in the Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management in the State Department.

That letter, dated only hours before Loper met with Hoyer’s staff, said, “Upon further inquiry by our post in Toronto with the government of Canada, we were informed by Canadian officials that Mr. Loper waived his rights conferred by the Vienna Convention when the Notice of Rights was presented to him on June 3, 2003, by Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration office.”
Loper, and his lawyer, immediately raised doubts about the authenticity of such a document, how he could have “waived” his rights under an international treaty with a document that was unsigned, why such “notice” would not have been presented until after he had been in jail three years, and other issues.

The U.S. State Department today refused to discuss the case with WND. Hoyer’s staff members told WND they were looking into the status of the documentation cited in the paperwork.

But Shields said the whole case smells of dissimulation.

“They didn’t give us a copy of the ‘waiver,’” he said. “We asked for it. They told us we had to file a Freedom of Information Act request … that’s the proper channel.”“But now we have the congressman himself [saying they don't have the document],” he said.

“All the congressman has to do is demand accountability. The fact he hasn’t done that at this point is not fair to an American citizen, especially to one of his constituents,” he said.

Without a resolution in this case, it would mean U.S. citizens “are not safe anywhere in the world. At least you’re not going to get the protection of the U.S. government,” Shields told WorldNetDaily.

“Somebody in our government needs to take a stand on behalf of good,” he said.

Loper, who has been battling to resolve his complaint since he was returned to the U.S. in 2004, expressed frustration.

“I hope … that you are able to obtain this unsigned waiver document of my Vienna Convention Rights for which you said an international law expert reviewed,” he said in a message to Hoyer’s office.

He pointed out an individual would not be allowed to change the provisions of an international treaty, to which nations, not individuals, agreed.

“If this document exists … it is illegal and worthless … Oh, and of course, unsigned,” he continued.

The case was brought to the attention of the State Department and Congress by Loper, who has described stumbling upon an alleged police-run drug ring in Canada in 2000. Loper says he was suddenly jailed before he could contact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his wife and son, Carolyn and Edward, disappeared while he was in custody.

Then last week, Loper met with staff members for Hoyer.

However, they said Canada had provided the State Department that unsigned “waiver” of Loper’s rights under the international treaty regarding consular contacts.

Shields told WND after last week’s meeting a special agent from the DiplomaticSecurity Service in the State Department had contacted him about Loper.

“I was told that someone from American Citizen Services (Ken Durkin) has been contacted by Scott Loper about this situation. Diplomatic Security was contacted by Durkin … who said he was concerned about Scott’s reaction,” the lawyer told WND.

“I was told by the special agent that after we left our meeting with Hoyer’s staff, Ken Durkin called [Hoyer staff member] Betsy Bossart to find out how Scott took the news… Durkin was told that it did not go so well. The special agent told me today that he was told by Durkin that when he [Durkin] left his office yesterday he saw ‘Loper’ written on a newspaper box outside his office…,” Shields said.

“I asked him how he knew it was Scott and not Durkin who wrote ‘Loper’ on the box and he said that they know it wasn’t Durkin because Durkin isn’t artistic,” Shields said.

The agent, David Oberholtzer, told WND he did call Shields, but could not offer any comment.

“I’m not in a position to comment in any way on that,” Oberholtzer said.

Shields said it appeared obvious that officials were trying to make Loper “look like a disgruntled citizen who did not get his way.”

However, he said he was with Loper during their time at Hoyer’s congressional offices until Loper left the area, so the “Loper” could not have been written by him.

Shields said he was “astonished” that the State Department would demand information from a congressional office about such a situation.

“What’s clear to me is that Dirken knew we were going to have this meeting, and he sends out this letter. It really makes me question the credibility of that letter,” Shields said.

WND messages left with Dirken’s office have not been returned.

Loper’s complaint is that when he was jailed in 2000 he never was allowed to get help from U.S. consular officials in Canada, as the treaty requires.

The State Department earlier confirmed to WND that Canada had admitted the violation of Loper’s treaty rights.

An American citizen who claims he was jailed and tortured in Canada without consular access after reporting an alleged drug ring says he now is being denied access to U.S. government paperwork concerning his case.
WND reported allegations from Scott Loper regarding his jailing in Canada from 2000-2004 on charges he describes as trumped-up and the subsequent torture he reportedly suffering while jailed.

He’s been trying to pursue a Vienna Convention violation complaint through the U.S. government against Canada, both signatories to the treaty, as well as locate his wife and son who disappeared at the time of his jailing.

During a congressional representative, U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, the majority leader in the U.S. House, Loper and his civil rights lawyer, Scott Shields, were told the U.S. State Department had a document from Canada in which Loper allegedly “waived” his Vienna Convention rights.

However, no one – not the Canadian government, not the U.S. State Department and not the congressman’s office – so far has been able to produce the document, reportedly from 2003 after he’d already been in jail for several years in Canada.

The document was cited by Hoyer’s staff during the April meeting. Loper told WND he was told Kenneth M. Durkin, the chief of the Western Hemisphere Division in the Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis management in the U.S. State Department, talked about the “waiver” in a letter to Hoyer.

That letter, dated only hours before Loper met with Hoyer’s staff, said, “Upon further inquiry by our post in Toronto with the government of Canada, we were informed by Canadian officials that Mr. Loper waived his rights conferred by the Vienna Convention when the Notice of Rights was presented to him on June 3, 2003, by Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration office.”

Loper and his lawyer immediately raised doubts about the authenticity of such a document, how he could have “waived” his rights under an international treaty with a document that was unsigned and why such “notice” would not have been presented until after he had been in jail three years.

Shields today told WorldNetDaily he’s now been seeking a copy of the document for several weeks, ever since the meeting with Hoyer’s staff. Loper himself has submitted a Freedom of Information request for the document.

Shields told WND he first was told it would be 30-60 days to produce the document, if a formal request was filed. Then that was changed to a result by May 10th. Now, the congressman’s office has told him that its own letter to the State Department asking for a copy of the letter is “privileged.”

“I suspect there was never a letter,” Shields said. “We’re talking about an American citizen and one of his constituents. And he’s one of the most powerful men in Congress.”