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https://web.archive.org/web/20160314082647/http://www.northjersey.com/news/fbi-nominee-comey-was-held-captive-as-a-bergen-teen-1.589446?page=all
FBI nominee Comey was held captive as a Bergen teen
Brothers Peter (right) and Jim Comey (left) held hostage and locked up by suspected "Ramsey Rapist" outside of the bathroom window they broke out of to escape.
A man dubbed “the Ramsey rapist” held 15-year-old Comey and his younger brother at gunpoint after breaking into their Allendale home on an October day in 1977, one of a string of break-ins that included the rape of two area baby sitters. The Comey brothers, locked in a bathroom while the intruder searched the home, escaped through a window, only to encounter the man again on their lawn. The brothers ran back inside the house, locked the doors and called police, setting off a massive manhunt.
In the decades since that episode, which Comey has said taught him important lessons about crime’s psychological toll on victims, the Northern Highlands Regional High School graduate has earned a reputation as a tough, but ethical, federal prosecutor and a Department of Justice attorney brave enough to stand up to political pressure from the White House.
On Thursday, a day after news of his expected nomination to succeed Robert Mueller, he earned praise from Republican Governor Christie, as well as politicians on both sides of the aisle, and former colleagues from his days as a U.S. attorney in Manhattan. And the plaudits were echoed locally, where the Comey family was known as “one of the best families in Allendale,” the mayor of that borough said.
Comey, 52, who now lives in Connecticut, would need Senate confirmation. He is certain to face tough questions about his work as a counsel for a major hedge fund and his ties to Wall Street as well as how he would handle current, high-profile FBI investigations.
But Republicans and Democrats said his strong credentials and sterling reputation suggest his path to confirmation should be relatively smooth. Comey, a Republican who served as a deputy under former Attorney General John Ashcroft, has also been lauded for his refusal to reauthorize the Bush administration’s controversial wiretapping program while he was filling in for Ashcroft, who was in the hospital at the time.
“Jim Comey was an outstanding U.S. attorney and served as deputy attorney general with distinction,” Christie, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said in a statement on Thursday. “I have never served with anyone with greater integrity or a better sense of the unique obligations and opportunities presented by true public service. The FBI and America would once again be well served by his strong and honest leadership.”
Christie, who said he consulted with Comey regularly when they were federal prosecutors, has publicly referred to advice Comey gave him in 2003. Christie said Comey told him: “It’s harder to hate up close.” Christie has said that guidance prompted him to talk to teachers directly to convince them of his controversial ideas on education and pension reforms.
Comey, who also has private-sector experience that includes serving as general counsel for the military contractor Lockheed Martin and the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, did not return calls seeking comment on Thursday.
But his younger brother, Peter Comey, who was in the house with James the day of the home invasion, said he was not surprised by news of the nomination. He said his brother was right for the job.
“He has an extremely strong and beneficial moral compass,” said Peter Comey, who is one of four siblings and now lives in Virginia. “He knows right from wrong. And he looks at things in a very circumspect way.”
In 2006, Comey, a married father of five children, told a reporter that, although he was not hurt in the home invasion during his childhood, it gave him insight into the psychological pain that victims feel. No one was ever prosecuted for the crime.
Allendale Mayor Vince Barra said the Comeys were heavily engaged in the civic duties and were active at Guardian Angel Roman Catholic Church.