Senator 'alarmed' by reports U.S. military families harassed

[August 06, 2015]  By Daniel Wallis
 
 DENVER (Reuters) - A U.S. Senator said on Wednesday he was alarmed by reports of an FBI alert that relatives of U.S. military personnel in Colorado and Wyoming were harassed outside their homes by Middle Eastern men who may have had them under surveillance.

"I am alarmed by reports out of Denver that military members' families have been harassed outside their homes and may be under surveillance," U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, said in a statement.

"This news comes less than two weeks after FBI Director James Comey, speaking in Denver, warned of the heightened threat from the Islamic State that Colorado specifically faces."

According to a copy of the alert published online by Denver's CBS affiliate, the wife of a U.S. military member was approached in front of her home in Colorado in May by two men who stated she was married to a U.S. interrogator.

Similar incidents in Wyoming were reported to the FBI throughout June, the alert read.

An FBI media coordinator in Denver did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the copy of the alert published by CBS4, the two men laughed when the woman in Colorado denied their claims that she was married to a U.S. interrogator.

They then drove away in a dark-colored, four-door sedan with two other Middle Eastern males in the vehicle. The woman had observed the car in the neighborhood on previous occasions, the alert said.

It also said family members of military personnel were confronted by Middle Eastern men outside their homes in Wyoming "on numerous occasions" during June.

"The males have attempted to obtain personal information about the military members' family members through intimidation," the copy of the alert read. "The family members have reported feeling scared."

Gardner said the FBI had alerted all Colorado law enforcement agencies, and that his office is in contact with the appropriate officials.

"I will continue to closely monitor the situation, and I encourage Coloradans to report suspicious behavior to the FBI," his statement said.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Sandra Maler)

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.