Former Bush aide arrested

Gaithersburg, Md.

A former high-ranking White House aide was arrested last week and charged with stealing more than $5,000 from Target and other stores. As President Bush’s top domestic policy adviser, Claude Allen, 45, was the highest-ranking African-American in the White House until he abruptly resigned last month. In January, Allen was charged with theft after a Target employee reported seeing him stuff items into an empty shopping bag, then present them to the service desk for a refund. Investigators then tracked down a string of 25 allegedly fraudulent refunds Allen collected over several months. President Bush said if the allegations were true “something went wrong in Claude Allen’s life, and that is really sad.” Allen’s lawyer said it was all “a misunderstanding.”