A Texas court has sent investigator Kenneth Starr records from a civil case in which Anthony Marceca, a central figure in the FBI files episode, acknowledged he peeked at his own background file while at the White House.
Starr, who is also Whitewater prosecutor, is investigating why Marceca, an Army investigator working at the White House, gathered hundreds of FBI files on officials.The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Cardiss Collins of Illinois, proposed legislation Friday that would tighten procedures for gathering FBI files by requiring the written permission of the individual whose record is requested by the White House.
The measure also would extend criminal penalties under the Privacy Act to misuse of FBI background files and require the Secret Service to develop accurate lists of people qualified to have access to the White House.
Responding to a request submitted July 5, a Texas court sent Starr this week a copy of a defamation suit Marceca filed in 1994 against two Texas women.
Marceca lived in Llano County, Texas, during the 1980s and worked as an investigator for the Texas attorney general.
In court papers that came to light Friday, it was learned that Marceca was arrested by the Llano sheriff's office in 1983 after a woman said he threatened her.
Joyce Montag, a defendant in the 1994 defamation suit, accused Marceca of threatening to use his position as an investigator "to cause her harm or subject her to arrest," according to papers on file at the Llano County District Attorney's Office.