In The Blogs

Have You Seen This Woman? She's a Spy

| Wed Jul. 30, 2008 9:44 AM PDT

This morning Mother Jones broke the news that, for more than a decade, a prominent gun control activist has actually been a mole for the gun lobby. In addition to infiltrating gun control groups, Mary Lou Sapone (who also goes by Mary Lou McFate and Mary McFate) has, in the past, spied on animal rights and environmental groups. Has she been involved in any other operations? Targeted any other citizens groups? If you recognize the woman pictured below (and above), let us know: dschulman[at]motherjones.com.

Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Continues Below

Continued From Above

Source: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Photo at top from Mary McFate's blog.

Comments

Submitted by I Saw Her (not verified) on Wed Jul. 30, 2008 10:45 AM PDT.

I saw her just last week.

She was working as a volunteer research assistant in the Washington DC Bureau of Mother Jones Magazine.

Submitted by Dr. Freud (not verified) on Wed Jul. 30, 2008 10:46 AM PDT.

Paranoia. May be there are CIA spies in your organization as well? Start the witch hunts. Bring out the dunking chairs.

Submitted by Kevin T. Keith (not verified) on Wed Jul. 30, 2008 12:35 PM PDT.

If this spy worked as a paid employee of any of these organizations, her real employers may be on the hook for major damages. Having her apply for a job on false pretenses and (presumably) falsify her background to get the job, constitutes fraud. Inducing her to violate her duty of loyalty to her employer by passing secrets to a hostile group is breach of loyalty. These are the charges that very nearly cost ABC $6 million in a lawsuit by the target of an undercover investigation in which reporters took jobs on false pretenses and then revealed inside information about unsafe practices at the Food Lion grocery chain. The NRA case seems even more open-and-shut.

I hope somebody nails them hard for it.

Submitted by Too Good To Be True (not verified) on Wed Jul. 30, 2008 12:56 PM PDT.

If this spy worked as a paid employee of any of these organizations...

There's the rub.
The story doesn't say anything about any work other than 'volunteer', so the "Open & Shut" doesn't seem quite so open & shut.

Even Open & Shut cases don't always work out that way, once they're in a real court with a real jury, charged with the responsibility to acquit in case of any reasonable doubt.

Just ask O.J.

In the future, they'll probably institute the judicious step of requiring signed non-disclosure forms for anyone involved in their 'secret councils'.
If their councils aren't 'secret', then they have no complaint in the first place.

Submitted by Ms. Nozy (not verified) on Thu Jul. 31, 2008 3:08 PM PDT.

I do know Mary, she has done many wonderful things for the community she and I share. I will not divulge how I know her, or in what context, only to say that your leash needs to be just a tad shorter, you are way out there.

Submitted by gurn blanston (not verified) on Sun Aug. 3, 2008 8:45 AM PDT.

@ Kevin Keith:

OJ was acquitted in a criminal court, where reasonable doubt is the 'burden of proof.' He was later held liable for wrongful death, where 'preponderance of the evidence' is the burden of proof.

NRA could be sued, and held liable, under the latter, much more lenient standard. The measure of damages could be established through expert testimony.

Thought you'd like to know.

Submitted by Mark (not verified) on Sun Aug. 3, 2008 9:47 AM PDT.

Just shoot her with an NRA approved semi- automatic Cheny Shotgun.

Great

Submitted by Crystal (not verified) on Thu Apr. 16, 2009 11:43 AM PDT.

wow. cool post thanks! Affiliate Promotion

I knew Mary and she always

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Jul. 20, 2009 1:42 AM PDT.

I knew Mary and she always struck me as a jack of all trades type gal. She boasted of all her certifications and would never go into detail as to what she did except that she was in the "intelligence community". Her conversational tone seemed to have a know-it-all superiority complex. I was often skeptical of her stories. I knew there was something about her that didn't seem right. My views were confirmed once I learned that she prodded the animal rights advocate to attempt murder. Way to take advantage of and push someone who is mentally disturbed to almost bomb the research official. That action in my mind is immoral because it very well could have resulted in injury or death. Also immoral is playing phony by pretending to advocate a position in an organization when you don't really believe it in an attempt to steal information. If you are against gun control, that is fine. Just oppose it in the honest traditional ways through debate, fundraising and voter drives. Don't make your living off of being a living lie!