VA. WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO 2 COUNTS IN CIA CASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650038-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: August 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650038-4
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
13 August 1985
a. Woman Pleads Guilty to 2 Counts
N
J By Caryle Murphy
Washmgtoe Post Staff Writer
A former employe of the CIA in
Ghana pleaded guilty yesterday to
two violations of a law prohibiting
disclosure of the identities of people
working for the CIA, but pleaded
not guilty to 16 other related
charges, including espionage.
Sharon M. Scranage, 29, appeared
before U.S. District Court Judge
Richard L. Williams in Alexandria,
who set Oct. 7 as the date for her
jury trial on the other charges.
"Our position is that Sharon com-
mited the acts to which she ac-
knowledges her guilt," her attor-
ney, Brian Gettings, said after-
wards. "But she's not guilty of es-
pionage; she's not guilty of conspir-
acy and there were extremely mit-
igating circumstances surrounding
that which she pleaded guilty to."
Scranage's former Ghanaian boy-
friend, Michael Agbotui Soussoudis,
also appeared before Williams yes-
terday and pleaded not guilty to
charges of espionage and receiving
classified information from
Scranage when they were dating in
Ghana in 1983 and 1985.
Soussoudis, 39, who is a first
cousin of Ghana's leader, Flight Lt.
Jerry Rawlings, was charged last
week in a separate eight-count in-
dictment and is being held without
bond. Williams set Oct. 15 as trial
date for Soussoudis, whom govern-
ment prosecutors allege is a
Ghanian intelligence agent.
Scranage, accompanied by her
parents and other family members,
appeared composed, answering Wil-
liams' questions in a loud, clear
voice. She declined comment after
the hearing. Arrested July 10, she
was released to her parents' cus-
tody a week later after they put up
the family home in King George,
Va.. to secure a $25,000 bond.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin
Williams said Scranage's guilty
pleas, which relate to the less se-
rious charges in her indictment,
were not part of a plea arrangement
and that "the government intends to
in CIA Case
go forward with each and every oth-
er count .... "
Gettings said he had been unsuc-
cessful in his attempts to negotiate
a plea arrangement with the U.S.
attorney's office in Alexandria.
The two counts to which Scranage
pleaded guilty charge her with re-
vealing to Soussoudis the identities
of two covert CIA agents, referred
to in court papers as John Doe I and
John Doe 2, "well knowing that ...
the United States was taking affir-
mative measures to conceal such co-
vert agents' intelligence relation-
ship" to the United States.
Prosecutor Williams said the gov-
ernment would have "presented ev-
idence from CIA employes, includ-
ing a former chief of station, which
would corroborate the existence of
the two covert agents, John Doe
No. 1 and John Doe No. 2, as CIA
informants."
Williams said that Scranage, "after
a confrontation and argument at her
house with Soussoudis," told him the
identity of John Doe 1 and confirmed
"that John Doe No. I had previously
been meeting at her residence with
the CIA's chief of station."
According to the government's
case, Soussoudis asked Scranage
"about her recruitment and prior
positions with the CIA. He told her
that there was no need for her to
worry, and that nothing was going
to happen to her."
Judge Williams deferred setting a
sentencing date for Scranage. The
maximum penalty for the charges is
10 years and a $50,000 fine.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650038-4