Editor Accused of Trying to Buy Ramsey Case Note

An editor of a supermarket tabloid was arrested Monday after being indicted on extortion and bribery charges for his efforts to obtain information about the JonBenet Ramsey homicide case.

A grand jury in Jefferson County returned an indictment last week charging Globe editor Craig Lewis, 44, with criminal extortion and commercial bribery, the district attorney’s office said. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.

A jail officer said he was released on $5,000 bond after he turned himself in.

Lewis “has done nothing wrong,” said his lawyer, Jeffrey Pagliuca. “He was working as a journalist and trying to obtain information.”

The indictment accuses Lewis of offering $30,000 for a copy of the ransom note that JonBenet’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, reported finding hours before her daughter was found dead.

“We believe the conduct as set forth in this indictment clearly crosses the line of legitimate news gathering activity and violates Colorado law,” Dist. Atty. Dave Thomas said in a statement.

Patsy Ramsey told police she found the ransom note on the stairs of the family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996, hours before 6-year-old JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement.

The grand jury in August indicted Boulder attorney Thomas C. Miller, 48, on commercial bribery charges, alleging he brokered an April 1997 attempt to buy a copy of the then-unreleased ransom note for $30,000.

Lewis is accused of accompanying Miller and offering to buy the note from a document examiner employed by attorneys representing JonBenet’s parents. The examiner declined the offer.