The Oregon Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into allegations that senior officials in the state's alcohol regulatory agency violated ethics laws by diverting rare, sought-after bourbons for personal use, the state attorney general said Friday. Chris Mayton, distilled spirits program director, who was one of the people accused of abusing his position, told the OLCC investigator that he had served as a "facilitator" for commission employees and legislators hundreds of times in acquiring the whiskeys as part of his work duties. However, he acknowledged that he had received preferential treatment "to some extent" in obtaining the whiskey as a commission employee