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From: arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Arrest of fugitive in ADL case
Date: 10 May 93 18:18:59
Organization: USC/Information Sciences Institute
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Distribution: world
Message-ID: <ARENS.93May10181859@grl.ISI.EDU>
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Los Angeles Times, Saturday, May 8, 1993.  Page A11.

FIGURE IN ADL SPY CASE ARRESTED AT S.F. AIRPORT

    ESPIONAGE: Former police officer is taken into custody upon
    arriving from Philippines, where he had fled after FBI
    interrogation.

By Jenifer Warren, Times staff writer

San Francisco -- A former San Francisco police officer who fled to the
Philippines amid accusations that he funneled confidential law
enforcement information to an investigator for the Anti-Defamation
League was arrested at the airport here on 11 felony charges, police
said Friday.

Thomas J. Gerard who abruptly left the United States in October after
the FBI questioned him about his activities, was apprehended Thursday
night after a source in the Philippines told investigators that Gerard
was returning home.

Gerard, 50, was booked into San Francisco County Jail early Friday
morning on eight counts of theft of government documents and one count
each of computer theft, burglary and conspiracy.

If convicted on all charges, Gerard could face 16 years in prison and
$40,000 in fines.  Bail was initially set at $250,000 after police
argued that he was a flight risk, but it was later reduced to $20,000. 
A friend of Gerard was trying to post bail late Friday afternoon, a
sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Gerard returned to the United because he missed his wife and child,
with whom he lived on a houseboat in Sausalito, and "wanted to have
his day in court," said Police Capt. John Willett, his former boss and
one of two arresting officers.

Gerard, an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency from
1982 to 1985, also feared that the CIA was out to kill him, Willett
said.  In an interview with The Times last month, Gerard threatened to
disclose illegal CIA support of death squads in Central America if he
was indicted and tried on the San Francisco spying charges.

Gerard is a central figure in a scandal over an intelligence network
operated by the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil
rights organization.  Investigators allege that Gerard illegally gave
criminal histories to Roy Bullock, a San Francisco art dealer who said
he has been an undercover ADL intelligence operative for 40 years.

Investigators said they found confidential police files in Bullock's
home computer -- which contained entries on 10,000 people and 950
groups -- and in boxes in his apartment.  Files have also been seized
under search warrants from ADL offices in San Francisco and Los
Angeles but authorities have not disclosed their contents.

Gerard could not be reached for comment Friday, and his attorney,
James Lassart, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.  In the
interview with The Times last month, however, Gerard acknowledged
snooping and sharing some information with Bullock, but denied any
criminal wrongdoing.

Bullock and Gerard also are under investigation for selling
intelligence to South Africa.

ADL officials have described Bullock as a $550-a-week independent
contractor and have vigorously denied knowledge of any illegal
activity.  On Friday, ADL lawyer Jerrold Ladar said Gerard's arrest
"has nothing to do with ADL.  Other than that, we have no comment on
the case."

Arab-American groups -- which were a main target of the spying,
according to police -- applauded the arrest and pressed authorities to
pursue the investigation.

"We urge investigators to carry this case forward and to publicly
disclose the full extent of ADL and law enforcement involvement," said
James Zogby, head of the Arab American Institute in Washington.

Police, meanwhile, characterized Gerard's arrest -- the first in the
inquiry into the spying scandal -- as an unexpected breakthrough.  A
former police colleague of Gerard, Inspector Fred Mollat, visited
Gerard several weeks ago and urged him to return home.

"I knew he wouldn't want to live on an island on the lam forever, but
we didn't think it would happen this quickly," Capt. Willett said. 
"This development really speeds up our timetable on the case."

During his 25-year career on the police force, Gerard was a highly
regarded officer known for his work in the department's intelligence
division.  His last assignment was on the gang task force.

After FBI agents questioned Gerard last fall, he took early retirement
and fled to the remote jungle island of Palawan, 300 miles south of
Manila.

Gerard was arrested at 8:40 p.m. as he stepped from his Philippines
Airlines flight. He was traveling alone and looked tanned but haggard
after his six-month hiatus, police said.

"He was surprised when he saw us standing there, and got a shocked
look on his face," Willett said.  "Then he said, 'Hello, I'm back.'"
 
--
Yigal Arens
USC/ISI                                                TV made me do it!
arens@isi.edu
