Lawyer defends actions by Julie Puffinburger

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who was abducted earlier this month went to police after she got a warning note in July but was told there was no imminent threat and she should buy a shotgun, her lawyer said Thursday.

Cole Puffinburger was later kidnapped by two men posing as police officers after they ransacked his mother's house in what police said was a message from drug dealers to Cole's grandfather. The boy was found safe four days later.

"To suggest (Julie) Puffinburger is guilty of a crime or somehow responsible for the abduction is ludicrous," lawyer Dennis Leavitt stated in an e-mail. "It appears that Julie's father may have been involved in illegal activity, although nothing has been confirmed."

Police did not immediately respond to requests to confirm Leavitt's account that Julie Puffinburger received an ominous written message directed at her father, Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer.

Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Clint Nichols testified during a Family Court custody hearing on Wednesday that a roommate of Julie Puffinburger, not Julie Puffinburger herself, went to police to report the note.

"We know you have our money and you have one week to report," Leavitt quoted the note as saying. "We know where your family is and we don't play games."

Police have alleged that Tinnemeyer, 51, disappeared in May after stealing millions of dollars in drug proceeds from "Mexican nationals" and methamphetamine traffickers. He is in federal custody in California as a material witness in the kidnapping case.

Leavitt partially confirmed testimony by a Las Vegas police lieutenant who told a judge Wednesday that Julie Puffinburger spread hoax stories that her son had been kidnapped in an attempt to lure her father out of hiding.

Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle awarded temporary custody of the boy to his father after Nichols said Tinnemeyer was the focus of a federal investigation.

Nichols did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Leavitt discounted Nichols' testimony as "simply speculation," and cast his client as a victim of overreaching investigators and sensational news accounts.

"Julie is simply being held vicariously responsible for her father's actions and then treated extremely badly by the police and the news media," Leavitt said.

Leavitt said Julie Puffinburger received two courier deliveries of about $30,000 each in June and put them in a safe deposit box. The lawyer said she assumed the money came from her father. He said Julie Puffinburger later told police where to find the cash.

Police reported seizing $60,920 from a credit union lock box last week.

Review-Journal writer Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.