Jennifer Urban’s Blackberry Was Stolen HOURS After State Computers Were Confiscated from the AG’s Office? Give me a Break!
Published May 19th, 2008 @ 11:09 pm. Tags: jennifer urban, jessica utovitch, marc dannPaul Aker of 10 TV News in Columbus has an incredible report of Jennifer Urban, the Assistant Attorney General who was romantically linked to Leo Jennings, the former spokesman for disgraced former Ohio AG Marc Dann.
Click here to watch the report.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Less than one week after Marc Dann resigned as Ohio’s attorney general, odd events in his former office continue.
A state issued BlackBerry wanted by the Inspector General disappeared, 10 Investigates’ Paul Aker reported.
The device belonged to Jen Urban, an attorney in the attorney general’s office. She claimed someone stole it out of her home.
Jessica Utovitch, Marc Dann’s scheduler and mistress was at the house at the time, and was reportedly asleep on the couch when someone broke in to her UNLOCKED front door, stole an HD television set, her purse, and a Blackberry which probably had all types of incriminating messages on it. How did Jessica not wake up? Was she so drunk that she couldn’t hear a criminal disconnecting the many wires which plug into an HD television set? Was Jessica And why was Urban outside on her porch, when it was probably 50 degrees out at the time?
And what’s with the “you betcha” reply? You just had thousands of dollars of your property stolen, you’re in the middle of being investigated for political and sexual scandals at the Ohio Attorney General’s office and critical messages may now be lost, and all this fake-blond can say is “You betcha” in a cutesy tone?
This story stinks. And if this is a cover up, one would think that an Assistant Attorney General would be better at it than this.
Update at 9am, 5/20- The Dispatch reports that the messages may still be able to be accessed:
In another development, a state BlackBerry phone belonging to an employee involved in the investigation was reported stolen last week, the day after Dann’s resignation.
Jennifer Urban, a lawyer in the charitable-law section, reported that someone entered the unlocked door of her Short North apartment between 5 and 7 a.m. Thursday and took her $1,400 television and purse.
She said she was on her patio outside and a friend was sleeping on the couch inside. Neither heard the intruder.
Urban sent a letter to the state’s insurer saying she will reimburse the state for the cost of the phone.
Even though the phone is missing, investigators likely still will be able to retrieve messages from her carrier.
Urban’s role in the investigation is significant because she sent a text message to Dann informing him that Leo Jennings III, the former communications director, asked her to testify falsely under oath. She refused, fearing she would lose her law license.
I don’t know what to make of this. Investigators looking into the Attorney General’s office have had problems accessing Blackberry messages before, even when they had access to the Blackberries.
Actual text messages are easy to get access to without actually having the phones in custody- Just ask Kwame Kilpatrick! But I’m concerned that there may be a 3rd party provider used on this Blackberry- maybe Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or a private mail server- which would be unknown and no one would know about. The use of such email services are quite common in state government, but Urban doesn’t strike me as being smart enough to be that cautious.
I bet it was the same bandit that stole files off of Kyle Sisk’s pool table.
The missing phone may not stop the Inspector General from getting to the messages that were on it (nice try). Here is an excerpt from today’s Columbus Dispatch:
In another development, a state BlackBerry phone belonging to an employee involved in the investigation was reported stolen last week, the day after Dann’s resignation.
Jennifer Urban, a lawyer in the charitable-law section, reported that someone entered the unlocked door of her Short North apartment between 5 and 7 a.m. Thursday and took her $1,400 television and purse.
She said she was on her patio outside and a friend was sleeping on the couch inside. Neither heard the intruder.
Urban sent a letter to the state’s insurer saying she will reimburse the state for the cost of the phone.
Even though the phone is missing, investigators likely still will be able to retrieve messages from her carrier.
Urban’s role in the investigation is significant because she sent a text message to Dann informing him that Leo Jennings III, the former communications director, asked her to testify falsely under oath. She refused, fearing she would lose her law license.
I thought it was Buerck’s laptop that was jacked from his house?
Matt, I might have some answers to your questions.
Regarding disconnecting the cables on the HDTV, I have heard of thieves cutting the cables to computers and TV’s instead of taking the time of disconnecting the cables. It’s just faster to cut the cables. Still, cutting the cables would make noise that could wake someone up. If the thieves didn’t cut the cables then that might be a red flag.
The IT department for the AG’s office might have prohibited the use of third party e-mail services on a state issued BlackBerry. A lot of private companies won’t allow the use of third party e-mail services, like Yahoo! and Hotmail on their equipment because of concerns about viruses and security.
This story smells to high heaven. Most burglaries happen when people are away, most thieves just want to grab the loot with a minimum of fuss. Two people in the condo, with one of them being awake and no one heard anything? And what about Urban being willingly to reimburse the State for the loss of the BlackBerry? Why would she pay for the BlackBerry if it wasn’t her fault that the BlackBerry was stolen?
It seems to me that the members of Team Dann just aren’t too bright. They are the newest version of the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
Does anyone know in which neighborhood Urban lives? For example, if it’s German Village, does anyone really believe that she would have left her front door unlocked?
I think it was the short north. Anyways, why is she outside at 5am?
Hmmm,
The laptop was a different incident with BTB. Kyle’s home was also burglarized.
alright, i have the answers. Urban was giving Lounge lizard leo jennings a b.j. out back on the porch, utovitch was having Dann help her rescind her resignation in the living room, and Guitierrez was stumbling into the house reaking of alcohol and taking the blackberry and hdtv, all of which will be returned if he makes it back to Youngstown in one piece. End of story.
Isn’t it odd how sensitive files tend to get stolen by petty criminals when investigators are looking for them?
Ok, today’s Channel 10 update on the missing Blackberry: The police dusted for fingerprints in the area where the television would have been…no cables cut Matt, it looked as if all of the cables were unscrewed from the television as if the burglars had all the time in the world to do their deed. The purse was apparently on the coffee table right across from the television stand.
Oh, now the story is that Jessica Utovich was not on the couch when the burglary happened. Jennifer says, and I quote: “The items were taken before she had rested on the couch.”
Perhaps she meant to say after she had rested on the couch because if they were taken before she had rested on the couch, wouldn’t someone had noticed a missing 37″ HD Television????
This whole story is getting more and more weird by the minute. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
When are they going to make a movie out of this?
Didn’t even have to wait until tomorrow for more on this story…11:00 p.m. Channel 10 update - Blackberry has been found. Apparently a woman found it laying on the kitchen counter in a house she had been partying at over the weekend somewhere around the OSU area. She showed it to her boyfriend, her boyfriend came to the conclusion that it must be the missing Blackberry and contacted Channel 10 news. No word on the missing television or the purse. Bizarre and more bizarre with every news story.
Hold the presses - 5:00 a.m. (5/21) Channel 10 update: When the police showed up to retrieve the Blackberry from the address where Paul Aker interviewed the couple claiming to have found it, it was no longer there. Don’t know any more details than that. Everybody’s confused at this point.
Another question, but did Urban also lose her credit cards and driver’s license? Presumably those would have been in a wallet that would have been in her purse.
And the award for worst cover-up ever goes to…
Yes, my purse, wallet (including credit cards, driver’s license, checkbook, etc), state ID badge, state blackberry, and tv were stolen. The blackberry has been recovered by Columbus police (by persons other than the couple who appeared on 10TV) and is in the evidence lock-up room. There are no leads on the other valuable items that were stolen. There has been no cover-up, just a lot of headache. If anyone has any REAL news, please let me know. Thanks.
Jenn,
Perhaps if you and Jessica would sit down with a reporter, instead of avoiding them, we’d think your actions were a little less suspicious. Eventually, Jessica will realize that you’re not her friend, but just another person with everything to gain by coaching her to not speak to us. Then, maybe, we’ll get the full story.
I have to say, it’s a hell of a coincidence and very hard for us to swallow. You and Jessica, I would think, are the last two women in Columbus who would accidentally leave a door unlocked. Not with shady Youngstown types upset about your testimony, wanding around out there. Sorry, dear, just doesn’t add it.
-James Renner
Staff Writer, Cleveland Free Times
jrenner@freetimes.com
Jessica is a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions. I cannot influence her decision whether or not to talk to the media. Because you are sore that she won’t talk to you, don’t try and make a garden-variety burglary into Watergate. There were 5 people at my home that night. When you entertain folks–and they are coming and going, commiserating, etc.,–do you lock the door? I bet you wouldn’t know because you too busy trying to hound people for news stories.
“Because you are sore that she won’t talk to you, don’t try and make a garden-variety burglary into Watergate.”
Actually, wasn’t that precisely what Watergate was? A third-rate burglary followed by a cover-up
Assuming what she stated is true, it sounds like Ms. Urban needs to find better friends or be more selective in who she lets into her place “commiserating, etc.” in the wee hour of 5:00AM.
Is it commiserating that everyone was caught or that they were all so stupid?
Who was at the commiseration party? Lounge lizard Leo Jennings, Don Juan Gutierrez, Marc Dann, Utovitch, Mob of Ytown, anyone else? The internal AG sexual Harassment investigation team? Did the Inspector General stop by and see how everyone was?