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U.S. Marshal Official Misused Role In Trips To NFL Games

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By BILLY HOUSE

bhouse@tampatrib.com

Published: January 13, 2009

WASHINGTON - A lawyer for the U.S. Marshals Service improperly used government cars and deputies to escort him and Fox Sports broadcasters to and from high-profile sporting events, including the January 2008 National Football League playoff game in Tampa, investigators say.

In addition, the U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Florida, Thomas Hurlburt, instructed a deputy to arrange with Tampa police for the lawyer's transport from the Jan. 6, 2008, playoff game at Raymond James Stadium to the airport although the lawyer was not doing Marshal's Service business, a report issued Monday concludes.

The Justice Department report accuses Joseph Band, a lawyer recently retired from the Washington-based "ethics team" at the Marshals Service, of misusing his post at the agency by enlisting deputy marshals while he was moonlighting as a statistician for Fox Sports to transport him and his friends in motorcades.

Events included a Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., and World Series games in Boston. In the Tampa incident, the report says:

• Band received transportation by a deputy marshal from the Tampa airport to the Jan. 6, 2008, NFL playoff game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Giants at which he was working as a paid statistician.

• Band also received a lift from the deputy marshal to the airport after the game, and their Marshals Service vehicle served as the lead car in a motorcade that included the limousines of Fox broadcasters Troy Aikman and Joe Buck.

• Hurlburt personally authorized a deputy marshal to facilitate Band's departure from the stadium area with local police, "even though Band was not on Marshals Service business."

There was no response from Hurlburt on Monday.

However, Hurlburt responded to the investigators' findings in a letter Dec. 1, saying he did not know Band was a paid employee for Fox Sports. He acknowledges that he did contact a deputy to see "if there was a way to assist Joe Band," and that the deputy "told me that he did not see a problem and he thought we could liaison with the Tampa Police Department to make it happen."

"Until I read your agent's report," Hurlburt wrote, "I had no idea that we facilitated Mr. Aikman and Mr. Buck's limousine in returning to the airport."

The inspector general's report finds that Band and then-acting U.S. Marshal for Massachusetts Yvonne Bonner violated departmental ethics guidelines. The report notes that U.S. Attorneys' offices have declined criminal prosecution against Band, who has retired in recent weeks.

The report's inspectors did not recommend any direct action against Hurlburt or any other U.S. Attorneys who provided assistance to Band.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673

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