A Watergate Mystery in Its Own Right

A secretive former D.C. police officer who says he "inadvertently" trotted off with the department's original report of the Watergate break-in is trying to cash in on the incident's 25th anniversary by anonymously selling it at auction.

Bidding begins at $25,000.

But "Deep Cop" may be in deep trouble. Several D.C. officials said yesterday that the report belongs to the District and that they want to stop the auction, which is scheduled for Sunday.

"This individual might be able to be prosecuted," said D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large). "You can't have police officers walking away with various reports and then selling them for their own benefit. That's ridiculous."

Last month, an auction gallery in Hampton, Va., drew disappointing bids when it offered a four-pound brass lock the Watergate burglars taped open during the 1972 break-in.

The top bid on the lock was $13,000, which was rejected by the owner. Several days later, he accepted an offer of more than $20,000, said Gail F. Wolpin, owner of Phoebus Auction Gallery.

Some collectors said the report, being offered by the same gallery, might prove a lot more tantalizing. Jim Warlick, owner of Political Americana, a chain of three memorabilia stores in Washington, nearly jumped through his cell phone as he was setting up for a "break-in party" the Watergate Hotel held yesterday to commemorate the anniversary of the crime that led to President Richard M. Nixon's resignation.

"That's the document that started it all!" Warlick said. "When's the auction?"

Wolpin said the former officer phoned after hearing about the lock sale and said he had something "even more valuable." She said the man, who has moved south of Washington since leaving the D.C. police force, refuses to be identified.

"We call him `the man in the shadows,' " Wolpin said. "He was kind of nervous about having it. He wasn't sure if he'd get in trouble."

Well, he apparently has a point.

"He knows it's not his," said D.C. police Lt. Melanye Smith, deputy director of the department's records division. "We don't give away original reports."