Ex-employee supports corruption claims

Witness, newly found notes suggest link between official misconduct, ’89 Franke killing

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Nov 16, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Kevin Francke has never believed that his brother, Michael, was killed during a botched car prowl.

Michael Francke was the head of the Oregon Corrections Department when he was stabbed to death outside his Salem office on Jan. 17, 1989. A small-time criminal named Frank Gable eventually was arrested and convicted of the killing.

But Kevin Francke said that the week before he died, his brother personally warned the family of a likely threat on his life. According to Kevin Francke, Michael called his sister-in-law, Katie, and said he had discovered a network of corrupt officials within his department.

“Michael said he was going to clean house. I believe they had him killed,” Kevin Francke said.

State officials long have dismissed such allegations. They say there was no corruption in the Corrections Department at the time of Francke’s death, so there was no conspiracy to kill him.

But now the Portland Tribune has discovered information that supports Kevin Francke’s claims that at least one person his brother worked with was engaged in questionable behavior before and after the murder. Among other things, the Portland Tribune has interviewed a former Utah Corrections Department employee who claims firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing by Scott McAlister, the assistant Oregon attorney general who was assigned to the Corrections Department until shortly before Francke was killed.

Linda Parker worked for McAlister in 1989 after he was hired as the inspector general of the Utah Corrections Department. At one time, they also dated.

Parker told the Portland Tribune on Saturday that she saw McAlister with numerous documents related to the Francke murder investigation Ñ documents he should not have received since he was no longer working for the Oregon Justice Department. Parker said the documents were sent to him from Oregon after he moved to Utah.

“He had me file them for him. He was following the investigation very closely,” she said.

And, Parker said, she heard McAlister describe Francke’s killing as a botched hit that was “supposed to look like a suicide.”

“He was very angry that it had not been done right. He said they’d (screwed) it up,” Parker said.

She said that McAlister bragged about setting up inmates in Oregon and Utah on phony charges if they angered him, and that he personally transported cocaine from Oregon to Utah on at least two occasions and arranged for other shipments of cocaine from Oregon as well.

And Parker said McAlister used a sedative “like Valium” to beat a lie detector test about his knowledge of Francke’s murder. The Aug. 11, 1989, test appeared to show that McAlister had no inside knowledge of the murder.

McAlister currently is a lawyer in Tempe, Ariz. Contacted by the Portland Tribune, he adamantly denied Parker’s accusations.

McAlister denied knowing anything about Francke’s murder, describing him as “a friend.” He also denied possessing or using drugs in either Oregon or Utah, saying, “I was a law enforcement officer at the time.”

Gable, who is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in a Florida prison, has maintained his innocence and asked the Oregon Court of Appeals for a new trial. His attorney, David Celuch, said he will pursue Parker’s claims on behalf of Gable.

“We are interested in all potential new evidence in the case and will follow up on it,” Celuch told the Portland Tribune.

Other charges proved true

Parker has made other allegations against McAlister that have been proved right.

In early 1990, she told the Utah FBI that McAlister possessed child pornography. Parker said McAlister gave her the films as part of what she claims was an ill-conceived effort to persuade her to have group sex with him and another woman.

The FBI got a search warrant for McAlister’s home, seizing more pornography. It referred the case to the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office, which charged McAlister with a felony count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Parker testified against McAlister at a pretrial hearing on Aug. 2, 1990. He pleaded guilty to a class A misdemeanor charge of distribution of pornographic material on Oct. 12, 1990, and served seven days in a Salt Lake County jail.

A short time later, Parker was contacted by Roger Harris, one of Gable’s defense investigators. Harris was looking for evidence that other people could have been involved in Francke’s death. Parker agreed to talk about McAlister.

The result was a 12-page statement that Parker signed on Dec. 11, 1990. It details numerous accusations of illegal activities and official misconduct by McAlister, many with Oregon connections.

Parker said she stands by these charges, which include drug trafficking and drug use.

She also made the accusations to FBI and district attorney investigators during the pornography investigation, Parker said. She does not believe they were ever pursued.

“To this day, I don’t know why nothing more happened to McAlister,” she said. “As I told the FBI, if I did these things, I’d be in jail for a long time.”

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit