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Jul 27, 2008 9:39 pm US/Central
Peterson Attorney Says Police Torturing His Client
Peterson Says Len Wawczak and Paula Stark Were Never Close, Long-Term Friends
(CBS)
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Len Wawczak says he wore a wire for Illinois State Police for seven months while talking to Drew Peterson.
CBS
The attorney for Drew Peterson is accusing Illinois State Police of "psychological torture," this weekend.
Joel Brodsky claims the torture stems from the use of former friends Len Wawczak and Paula Stark.
They claim they wore a wire to help in the investigation into Stacy Peterson's disappearance.
Brodsky says investigators encouraged the couple to get close to Peterson's children and now that the relationship is over, the children will suffer deep emotional scars.
State Police will neither confirm nor deny they used Wawczak and Stark to record conversations with Peterson.
On Sunday. Peterson released the following statement: "I first met Len Wawczak about 16 years ago. As a Bolingbrook police officer I was involved in Wawczak arrests for multiple various petty offences, such as drunk and disorderly, misdomeanor gun charges, and battery.
"After that, as an officer, I would see Len Wawczak and Paula Stark while I was on neighborhood patrol in my police car. I would stop and talk to them. It was in the capacity of police work, but the contacts were friendly in nature. I would see Wawczak and Stark about once or twice a month in this capacity, and we would engage in friendly conversation. However, I never entered their house, and neither Wawczak or Stark ever came to my home.
"After Stacy left, and the Illinois State Police (ISP) towed my cars as 'evidence,' many of my police offier friends abandoned me, and the media surrounded my home. At that point Len Wawczak and Paula Stark showed up and offered to let me use their car when I needed it. They also offered that I could come over to their home to get away from the media, and that they would help me by watching my kids when I needed. I took them up on their offers. Len Wawczak and Paula Stark suddenly started to come over to my house quite often, and engage me in conversation, and now, looking back, pretended to be supportive and friendly so they could record conversations to give to police. Len Wawczak and Paula Stark suddenly began to pay a great deal of attention to my children and put effort into developing a close and loving relationship with the kids apparently in an effort to gain even more access to me.
"Len Wawczak and Paula Stark were never my close friends or long-time friends. Further, they are people who we now know took advantage of my children and myself when he I was most vulnerable and needed help."
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