Ms. Shepard said that the city investigated but found no evidence of any potentially criminal behavior.

If an official desires a confidential discussion about a potentially criminal act, he should hire a private attorney.

Goodman pointed out that the information he discovered was potentially criminal.

After this potentially criminal activity was revealed, the cloning company quickly offered to return the cloning fee and take the dog back.

"There is some potentially criminal behavior in there," he said.

Most important, it establishes that "withholding information" from Congress is a dangerous, potentially criminal act.

Of particular concern is potentially criminal misuse of federal taxpayer dollars.

Police officers are rarely questioned soon after committing potentially criminal acts because prosecutors fear jeopardizing their cases.

Too often, they have been asked to endorse behavior that ranges from the potentially criminal handling of campaign money to casually ugly attacks on political critics.

He said it was "potentially criminal" for the White House to use federal resources for the president's re-election effort.