Posted on 08/20/2003 10:14:30 PM PDT by anymouse
Former aerospace workers ensnared in Operation Lightning Strike are hoping that the U.S. District Court will clear their names with the deposition of an ex-literary agent.
Former NASA contractor Dale Brown said he hopes to clear his name with the testimony of a former literary agent.
In a deposition filed with a petition for review, John R. Craig testified that FBI operative James H. Francis manufactured evidence in an ongoing investigation to enhance his chances of securing a book deal.
"He manipulated facts and actions to make them," said Craig in a sworn deposition taken on March 20.
"He would enhance them. Maybe that's a good word."
Operation Lightning Strike, a government sting that took place between 1991 and 1997, cast a dark shadow on the close-knit community of NASA and its contractors and suppliers. Of the 18 charges filed, the government lost six cases that went to trial.
Former NASA contractor Dale Brown leads the effort by the NASA 13 Defense Fund, a collective of space industry personnel who were targets of the sting and are now trying to set the record straight.
Included in the petition to the federal court are former contractors Augustine Verrengia, James Verlander, Vincent Maleche, Dan Stinger, Leonard N. Jackson, R. Scott Satterwhite, Anthony Hodgson; and former NASA employee David Procter.
Craig was in negotiations with several publishers and creative agencies on behalf of Francis beginning in 1994.
Craig also said that the financially strapped Francis wanted to become a full-time author and quit his work with the FBI.
"Hal was very desperate for money because as this project (dragged) on, he was putting more and more pressure on me to produce a contract, produce a sale," said Craig.
"He said his wife was tired of supporting him. He didn't have any income. If I couldn't get a book sale quick or a movie contract, he was going to have to go back to work and he wanted to write for a living."
Nancy Herrera, a spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court, said the petition is subject to a 60-day review and that any action will take place within that time period.
"The court will file a response as prescribed by the statute," said Herrera.
Brown said that the sting operation cost him everything. His business, TerraSpace Technology, failed after he and his business partners were targeted. After losing his wife and his house, he underwent a heart transplant because of the constant stress of the investigation.
Now on 100 percent disability, Brown has limited mobility and limited use of his right hand.
"I've lost everything but I've learned more as a disabled person," Brown said last week.
Now he works seven days a week on his business interests but mostly on clearing his name and the rest of the "NASA 13."
"This is my second chance to live," said Brown. "God allowed me to come back to this world. And I'll keep working because to waste time is evil."
In the deposition, Craig said that Francis was motivated by envy in his zeal to get charges against astronaut David Wolf.
"I got the impression that he was jealous of David. "David was some kind of handsome guy who didn't have any trouble getting girlfriends and was kind of a partier and a medical doctor and (Francis) considered him arrogant.
"And he wanted - he wanted to nail him."
This pattern of behavior and actions, said the group, supports a "willful conspiracy to violate citizen's constitutional rights to privacy, due process and the right to be secure from official oppression" by the government.
In his affidavit, Craig states that Francis was aiming for bigger targets by taking care of the smaller ones first.
"I guess the terminology would be, 'Flip the other people higher up the chain of command,'" said Craig.
"So he was trying to compromise them in order to force them into a situation of working with the government and implicating other people up the chain of command."
Craig, who has worked as a legal investigator and polygraph examiner for the CIA, FBI, U.S. Customs and the Drug Enforcement Agency, said Francis had overstepped his authority.
"You have to be very careful in that line of work," he said. "You just don't cross that line. And I just became convinced personally. My personal observation (is) that line was crossed."
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