VA. WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO 2 COUNTS IN CIA CASE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
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
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
August 13, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000504650038-4.pdf67.77 KB
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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