Man who says he spied on California mosques sues FBI, police for alleged rights violations

Man who says he spied on Calif. mosques sues FBI

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Southern California man who said he spied on mosques for the FBI has filed a lawsuit accusing the agency of letting him go to jail for work he did as an informant.

Craig Monteilh, 47, of Irvine, a fitness consultant, is seeking $10 million from the FBI in a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles. Monteilh also sued the Irvine Police Department.

Monteilh said he infiltrated mosques for the FBI and gave the agency information about Ahmadullah Niazi, the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard who pleaded not guilty last year to lying about terrorist ties on his citizenship papers.

But Monteilh said federal and local authorities let him serve time on a theft case related to prior work he did for the FBI and barred him from telling the court he was an undercover informant to clear his name.

“That right there deprived me and violated my right to due process,” Monteilh said. “The FBI here is dead in the water. We can prove everything we’ve alleged by subpoenaing these records.”

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the agency would respond to the allegations in court. Monteilh appeared to be aiming to discredit law enforcement for personal gain, she said.

Irvine police spokesman Lt. John Hare said Monday the department would not comment on pending litigation.

Monteilh revealed himself as a former mosque spy last year after an FBI agent testified at a court hearing that Niazi had reported an informant for talking about terrorism. While the agent did not mention Monteilh by name, police reports show Niazi spoke with authorities about Monteilh and helped the Islamic Center of Irvine obtain a court order against him.

Since then, Monteilh has gone to court to have the order lifted and to have a court transcript unsealed that states that he provided the FBI with “very, very valuable” information.

The FBI has declined to say whether Monteilh was an informant for the agency.

Monteilh said he began posing as a new Muslim convert to infiltrate Southern California mosques between July 2006 and October 2007. He claimed that FBI agents authorized him to record Muslims using electronic surveillance at mosques, homes and gyms and to date and have sex with Muslim women to glean information from them, according to a copy of the lawsuit.

Monteilh said the federal agency vowed to pay him $100,000 and relocate him after his anti-terrorism work. He filed a claim against the FBI last year that was denied.

In December 2007, Monteilh was arrested on a theft charge he said was related to work he did as an informant for a different FBI division. He spent eight months in prison and said he continued to slip information to the FBI during this time. Monteilh said that led him to be attacked by fellow inmates and his life threatened.