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Fox News Editor Overseeing Crime Fearmongering Is Felon Himself

For many years, Fox News has push the story that the United States is going through a catastrophic crime wave driven by drugs and gun-toting youths robbing unsuspecting small businesses and easily got away with gentle judge.

Fox News can also talk about its own managing editor.

Tom Lowell, a longtime Fox News Channel producer who now runs a newsroom obsessed with law and order, was involved in a 1986 liquor store robbery in South Florida that ended in a crime drug arrest. And he got a slap on the wrist, even though police said “the theft was huge.”

Documents obtained by The Daily Beast recently shed light on exactly what Lowell, now 62, did years before society gave him a second chance, allowing him to begin a career in broadcast journalism. successfully formed.

New York Times mentioned for the first time Lowell’s criminal past featured in an in-depth investigation last year into Tucker Carlson’s impressive rise at Fox News. Time note how Lowell has become a “major force behind” changes in the news party’s coverage before quickly casting a side on the theft.

“He is considered a favorite of the older Mr. Murdoch, who appreciates his tabloid approach to news management,” New York Times reporter Nick Confessore wrote. “He was less popular among his subordinates, who nicknamed him ‘thief’, because he was famous for stealing credit for ideas, and because of an incident from long became Fox lore as he rose to prominence: In his 20s, Mr. Lowell and two friends were arrested after breaking into a liquor store in Florida.”

Several current and former Fox employees said Lowell has been known as a conservative fixer since the time of Roger Ailes, alluding to the head of Fox News, who was ousted in 2016 following a series of accusations. about sexual misconduct.

According to Fox sources, Lowell was dandy — almost always in a suit and tie — and very supportive of the police. A Fox News source said Lowell intended to make police “look like heroes” during the Black Lives Matter protests.

Until New York Times piece crashed last year, many people in the network are unaware of his criminal past. However, several network insiders and employees said they had yet to hear about the theft until The Daily Beast approached them for the story.

After Tucker Carlson call for GOP campaigned for “America’s Crime Crisis” last summer, the network’s daytime program be flooded with presenters and commentators calling on the nations “build more prisons” on “the crime crisis out of control.” increase in crime, according to Fox’s personalityThis is because “progressive prosecutors” constantly give criminals “opportunity after opportunity”.

“He’s very tough on crime,” a Fox News insider based in New York City told The Daily Beast. “He thinks the city is a Democratic state and that’s why the crime rate is high.”

While Lowell declined to comment on his own, a Fox News spokesperson made it clear that Lowell’s violations happened decades ago and that he has turned his back despite facing challenges. personal demon.

A Fox News spokesperson said in a statement: “This incident happened nearly 40 years ago and is nothing more than a cheap shot at Tom, an outstanding journalist who has worked incredibly hard. Work hard to recover and rebuild your life after overcoming addiction.”

The spokesperson also noted that Lowell had passed previous background checks throughout her journalistic career, including an extensive security check for her White House interview with the then-President. is Barack Obama.

The following details are from Palm Beach County Sheriff’s File.

Lowell’s story is much more interesting than that of him and a few friends breaking into a liquor store. The real story begins on January 7, 1986, on a cool and cloudy night in West Palm Beach, Florida. Based on police file, Lowell, then 26, borrowed his girlfriend’s father’s 1977 Plymouth Volare. He drove with his friend, David M. Frey, about a half-hour drive away to a cluster of shops in the suburbs. They had a stolen shotgun stashed in the trunk — an illegal modification to increase the gun’s lethality at close range. Their target that night was a low-rise commercial building where a liquor store shared a wall with a hardware store.

As described in police records, the liquor store’s alarm company taped the theft and caught the men instructing each other to “get this” and “no, don’t take that.” shows that Lowell is an active participant and not just waiting outside.

“They started at the hardware store, then broke into the liquor store. They got in through the roof,” recalls Walter Morris Jr., son of the couple who owned Moore’s Liquors.

Lowell and Frey used a steel rod from the hardware store to enter the liquor store, according to later reports written by several officers present at the scene. They then used a large chisel and a 1-pound hammer to break into the liquor store’s safe and cash register. The duo even swiped a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson revolver that Walter Morris Sr. keep it under the counter in case someone tries to rob him.

“My dad lost his .38 gun forever. He never got it back,” Morris Jr. told The Daily Beast.

At some point during the burglary just after midnight, the store’s alarm goes off and the two run away. According to police records, they dropped some tools in the store and fled into the nearby woods, where officers later found their footprints. But what the police found in the silver car, filled to the brim, made the case easy. Lowell left his driver’s license and a pawn ticket with his personal information in the car—along with five cans of Milwaukee Best beer, a crate of cheap Clan MacGregor Scotch, another case of Smirnoff Vodka, a bottle of Bacardi rum and another wine. gifts included a foot-long crowbar, dowel cutters, a machete, an 8-inch kitchen knife, a bottle of meth inside, a stolen and loaded Browning pistol ammunition, and two Fisher-Price toy radios.

The car’s main compartment and trunk were filled with a long list of other stolen items, but they were redacted from police files. The sheriff’s office towed the vehicle and detectives took over the case the next day. They interviewed Lowell’s girlfriend, who they said initially lied but ended up being honest about the boys’ plans that night.

With a search warrant in hand, detectives raided Lowell’s residence that afternoon. Police said they discovered Lowell and Frey were using cocaine. When the men spotted the police, they ran to the back, only to find two policemen waiting for them.

“Det. Hagan directed suspect Thomas Lowell to assume an eagle pose on the ground,” one report read.

A police dog found the stolen revolver hidden in the bushes, and both men were arrested. While Frey is said to have confessed to everything, police records show that Lowell asked for an attorney and refused to speak.

When the criminal case ended later that year, records show, Lowell was sentenced to three years of probation for pleading guilty to two counts of grand theft—one third-degree felony. Under Florida law, he could face up to five years in prison.

It took Lowell several years to get her life back on track. He eventually moved to Massachusetts to study broadcast journalism at Emerson University, then got a job as a news producer at a local station in Erie, Pennsylvania. He worked at several local television stations and even moved back to South Florida, where he worked at the Miami’s Fox affiliate, WSVN. A review of public records did not reveal Lowell had committed any criminal activity following this 1986 burglary.

He has been with the Fox News network since 2003, where he launched his weekday morning show America’s Newsroom and started two shows with the same host: America lives with Megyn Kelly And Kelly’s Profile. Net make him vice president and managing news editor in late 2016, just as Fox News made another twist at the start of the Trump administration. He was then get promoted was promoted to executive vice president in December 2020 and was put in charge of all daytime news editorial content.

The liquor store owner’s son told The Daily Beast he was an avid Fox News follower and was surprised to learn that his parents’ store thief ended up directing his coverage. network.

“How the hell did that happen?” he asks. “Sounds like he’s a good speaker. Knowing my parents, they probably don’t want to prosecute. They are Catholics. They forgave.”

While much of Fox’s excessive coverage of rampant crime in Democratic-led cities is orientation by the network’s prominent opinion hosts, the conservative cable giant’s daytime news program — which Lowell has overseen since late 2020 — has also focused heavily on the “crime” narrative out of control”.

Before last year’s midterm elections, Fox News’ weekday programming full force about fear of violent crime, averaging 141 segments a week, according to research by the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. The network has also liberate, release, free online campaign to overthrow “prosecutors funded by George Soros” that they felt were too lenient for criminals.

The breathless crime coverage has only continued on the network’s airwaves in recent weeks. On Tuesday, noon news program Your World with Neil Cavuto devoted a long segment to retail robberies in Portland, Oregon. After reporting that Walmart had closed two stores in the city “because of crime,” Cavuto turned to a scarf store owner, who grumbled that law enforcement wasn’t doing enough to stop it. those who intend to rob.

“Our prosecutors did not threaten them at all,” the owner raged. “So all these druggies, thieves, they know they’re not going to get in trouble. Almost like you did something wrong, we slap you on the arm and kick you out the door.

Diana Falzone contributed to this report.



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