Cellphones sought in Puerto Rico crisis
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico —A Puerto Rico judge issued search warrants for the cellphones of government officials involved in a crude online chat whose leak has set off a political crisis that threatens to bring down the U.S. territory's governor.
One of the search warrants said that government officials used the chat to transmit official and confidential information to private citizens in potential violation of ethics laws.
Kelvin Carr as co, a spokesman for the island's Justice Department, said Tuesday that the warrants were approved overnight and issued to those who had yet to turn over their phones. He did not identify the officials and would not comment further.
The possibility that some of the 12 men in the chat, including former and current government officials, could face legal trouble deepened the crisis around Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.
For the past week and a hal f , protesters have taken to the streets in Puerto Rico' s biggest wave of demon st rations in at least 15 years, demanding the governor step down in a furor set off by the release of an 889page transcript showing Rosselló participating in an obscenity-laden chat with top advisers and at least one lobbyist.
“If the people want him to resign, his duty as governor is to resign because we' re the ones who choose,” said Alexander Ortiz, an 18- year-old university student from Gurabo.
The chat participants talked about politics and government contracts and also insulted women and mocked cons tituents, including victims of Hurricane Maria. Rosselló called a female politician a“whore ,” referred to another as a “daughter of a bitch,” and made fun of an obese man with whom he posed in a photo.
Rosselló sounded a conciliatory note in a brief statement Tuesday.