WASHINGTON A controversial book publicly touted by Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., has incited claims that the lead author’s son stole thousands of documents as a spy who burrowed into the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Now, in a rarely taken step, a federal judge has ordered lead author and self-described anti-terrorism investigator Paul David Gaubatz to remove from his Web site certain documents allegedly stolen by his son. A judge also ordered Gaubatz to return documents used in his book, “Muslim Mafia.”

“The record … supports a finding that defendants have unlawfully obtained access to, and have already caused repeated public disclosure of, material containing CAIR’s proprietary, confidential and privileged information,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly concluded last week.

The Internet publication ban lasts until Nov. 18, by which time the judge will have held another hearing. Even if temporary, though, the restraining order issued last Tuesday marks one of the rare occasions that a judge orders an author to erase already published material.

“It’s unusual,” Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Monday, “but I think with the Internet we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of cases in the future.”

Dalglish added that the judge’s publication-restricting order is narrowly written, noting that “(you) don’t usually see situations where they have allegations like this.”

Gaubatz said Monday that “the lawsuit was expected,” and he pointedly questioned whether CAIR officials “deny the accuracy of the book or the documents” cited.

“Intimidations, threats and lawsuits are CAIR’s basic tactics,” Gaubatz said via e-mail.

The book, co-authored by Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, has a full title of “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Seeking to Islamize America.” It portrays the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a subversive organization allied with international terrorists.

Myrick describes Gaubatz, an Arabic-speaking former Air Force Office of Special Investigations investigator, as a “great American.” She furnished a foreword for the book and has championed it in Capitol Hill events.

“Now we have proof, from the secret documents that this investigative team has uncovered … that (radical Islamic) agents living among us have a plan in place, and they are successfully carrying out that plan,” wrote Myrick.

In a statement Monday, Myrick added that she is “glad that this matter is getting attention” and said investigations should proceed in multiple directions.

“Let’s investigate the claims made by the authors and how they got the material,” Myrick said. “And let’s investigate and shine some light on CAIR’s books, operations, and to whom they are connected.”

The material cited by Myrick includes some 12,000 internal CAIR documents allegedly removed by Gaubatz’s son Christopher. The book’s authors describe Christopher Gaubatz as “chief field investigator.”

But in their lawsuit filed late last month in Washington, CAIR officials described the Gaubatzes’ work as much shadier. The documents made public – and which the judge ordered removed – included the names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of CAIR employees and donors.

“Disclosure of a nonprofit corporation’s confidential donor list might well lead to a loss of trust and goodwill if donors begin to feel that their personal information is not safe,” Kollar-Kotelly noted, adding that “CAIR’s employees have also reported a dramatic increase in the number of threatening communications since the release of Mr. Gaubatz’s book.”

CAIR is a nonprofit organization with a stated goal to “enhance understanding of Islam” and “empower American Muslims.”

According to the lawsuit, Christopher Gaubatz in 2008 sought an intern position with CAIR. Gaubatz grew a beard and identified himself as “David Marshall.” He said he was a student and a convert to Islam.

Gaubatz physically removed CAIR documents as well as printouts from e-mails and spreadsheets, according to the lawsuit.

“In addition, (he) made surreptitious audio and video recordings of CAIR officials and employees,” the organization’s lawyers stated.