Espionage case tied to racist groups

People live in "houses" "condos" or "apartments." Rich people own "estates" or maybe "ranches" or "farms" if there is some livestock or crop production. "Country clubs" if there are recreational facilities. The Elks "lodge"? The VFW "outpost" or "station"? A church "center"? But white supremacists, members of "cults" and "militias" only live in one place: "compounds."...

Very,very good point!

It would be great if someone who knows how to do that would do it. This guy should not get away w/o a MCM.

Hmmm, Tacoma, Washington, again.

You might want to add this to any topics linked with Tacoma, WA such as the DC sniper timeline- these folks weremeeting someone in 1999 to exchange docs, docs on nuke, chem and bio warfare, etc. Iraq could court black extremists and white extremists at the same time easily enough- Lord knows the extremist groups all show up to the same antiwar marches...

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Web posted Sunday, February 9, 2003

Ex-National Guard officer, wife at center of espionage case

The Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- National Guard intelligence officer Rafael Davila admits he spent years bringing home secret and top-secret documents, stacking them in his basement and finally in a rented storage locker. He told the FBI he just wanted to read them.

Now in a case with ties to the shadowy world of white supremacists and anti-government militias, prosecutors are accusing Davila and his ex-wife, Deborah, of espionage. Investigators are still trying to track down hundreds of files apparently containing information about nuclear, chemical and biological warfare.

A federal indictment charges the Davilas with unauthorized possession of sensitive documents during the first eight months of 1999. Deborah Davila is also charged with trying to deliver the documents to an unidentified person in August of that year.

During a hearing last week, Davila, 51, sat silently with Deborah, 40, as prosecutors vilified them for allegedly exposing the nation to danger from terrorists and anti-government extremists.

"He doesn't care about the national security interest of the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Hicks said of Davila. A judge ordered the two held without bail.

The Davilas, whose marriage crumbled in 1999 after less than a year, have pleaded innocent. Prosecutors said there is no evidence that foreign governments are involved in the case.

The investigation actually began in 1999 after Deborah Davila called FBI agents in Spokane and told them she had secret documents obtained by her husband. But instead of cooperating, she repeatedly lied to agents and obstructed the investigation, Hicks said.

The FBI found that more than 300 top-secret documents were illegally distributed by Deborah Davila to addresses in North Carolina, Texas and Georgia in exchange for $2,000, prosecutors said.

The documents, which originally filled 12 to 15 boxes, have not been recovered, the FBI said. It was unclear who the documents were given to.

The government has refused to disclose the contents of the secret files, but an FBI agent said they had titles like "Strategic, Korea, Russia, chemical warfare, chemical mixtures, nuclear, biological."

According to the transcript of a rambling interview Rafael Davila gave the FBI in January 2000, he said he stole documents while he was a senior military intelligence officer with a top secret rating with the Washington National Guard's 96th Troop Command, based in Tacoma.

"All classified documents I received, I took home and stored," he told the FBI. "Because of the volume of the information and the fact that I never got around to reading them, I cannot remember specific classified documents."

"I blame the military for my access to classified documents and to my failure to properly handle, store, destroy or safeguard them because the Army freely gave me the documents and access," he said.

Col. Rick Patterson of the Washington Army National Guard, where Davila was an officer from 1990-1999, said the agency has extensive procedures to safeguard classified documents.

"People don't just walk away with documents," Patterson said. "It sounds so absurd to me."

Davila said he joined the Army out of high school in 1969, served 18 months in Vietnam and became a Special Forces soldier who won the Bronze Star. He spent 30 years in the Army and reserve units in Tacoma, Wenatchee and Spokane, eventually rising to the rank of major.

He blamed the missing documents on his wife, his fourth, telling the FBI "she had all of my stored records." FBI agent Leland McEuen also told the judge last week: "She tried to set up her husband to take the blame for her selling those documents."

Deborah Davila has been placed on leave from her job as a special education teacher in the Pasco School District. News of her arrest stunned students and colleagues alike.

"It's crazy," said Chris Bertram, a 17-year-old sophomore at Pasco High. "I would never have expected her to do that -- I guess that would be the perfect cover."

Her lawyer, Chris Phelps, did not return calls last week.

Deborah Davila is also charged with lying to federal agents when she said in 1999 she did not know Kirk Lyons of Black Mountain, N.C., a lawyer known for representing the Ku Klux Klan, White Patriot Party and Posse Comitatus. Lyons, who is not charged with any crime, said she attended his wedding at the Aryan Nations compound near Hayden, Idaho.

Prosecutors say Deborah Davila mailed a thick batch of documents to a North Carolina post office box where, a mysterious male caller told her, the documents would reach Lyons. Federal authorities said she mailed the documents and then received $2,000 by mail.

On Friday, Lyons denied receiving any documents from Deborah Davila and contended she was fabricating the story.

"If the government really thought I had this stuff, they would have had our door kicked in a long time ago," Lyons said.

If convicted, the Davilas could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000.

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Associated Press Writer Linda Ashton contributed to this report.

fyi

Thanks for the ping. Good post.

Thanks for the pings and links!

Good points. A trailer on a quarter acre can be a "compound" depending on who resides there.