If anyone is interested in more information about this topic, the PJ Star has a long expose' article written after they were able to obtain Peoria city emails through a Freedom of Information Act request. It is truly amazing how many people were involved, and how much time was spent by city officials in chasing down this parody Twitter account, executing search warrants, and carrying out the search. And also, how the facts appear to differ from the earlier statements made by Mayor Ardia and others.
http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140510/NEWS/140509006
There definitely appear to be some very strange irregularities, such as the absence of a case number assigned to the twitter case, until after the raid, and then when a police report was filed afterward, it only mentioned the arrest of the guy (not the twitter user) who had the marijuana, and totally omits the entire twitter case that had involved weeks of investigation, 3 warrants, and numerous communications between those involved.
"The report Hughes wrote about Elliott??™s arrest on April 15 did not mention the Twitter investigation."
So it gives the appearance that all involved wanted to cover the whole thing up, report it as a drug bust, and hope the whole twitter vendetta went unnoticed.
The emails also seem to cast doubt on Mayor Ardis claim that he merely filed a complaint, and everything else followed without his involvement (3 different search warrants, the police search of the twitter user's house, and the arrest). Instead, there were numerous emails back and forth between Ardis and Police Chief Settingsgard, Peoria County State's Attorney Jerry Brady, and others involved.
Some of Ardis's emails to Police Chief Settingsgard-
Ardis demanded prosecution of the crime, then revealed his erroneous belief that the creator of @peoriamayor lived with a Journal Star reporter.
???It??™s not a joke & it??™s not funny. I want this Prosecuted because what they did was WRONG,??? Ardis wrote at 9:32 p.m.
At 9:45 p.m., Ardis asked the chief: ???What PJS reporter lives with this guy????
Then after the raid, the city was "flooded" by "additional media inquiries" about the case and more emails show extensive communication between those involved to conspire how to spin the facts to the media-
Ardis and Settingsgaard strategized on how ??” or whether ??” to respond. They settled on the premise the tweets were criminal because they were too obscene for mainstream media outlets to publish.
???Tell them you couldn??™t print what he wrote in the paper or say it in TV because it was so crude,??? Ardis told Settingsgaard just before noon April 17.
The chief responded minutes later: ???I like that. For anyone in the media who would like to say that we should not prosecute this, I challenge them to print or cite what was written there word for word. It was patently offensive.???
At 2:19 p.m. April 18, Settingsgaard broke the news that the @peoriamayor mission that had drawn international scorn may have been based on a misinterpretation of statute. The subject line of the email was ???Twitter problem.???
???Det Feehan is going to review with Brady on Monday but there may be an internet exception to the impersonating statute,??? Settingsgaard wrote to Ardis and Urich. ???If it is exempt, everyone missed it from the investigators to the SAO and the judges.???
