FORMER OFFICIAL FOUND GUILTY ON 4 OF COUNTS IN ESPIONAGE TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100120014-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: June 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120014-3 STAT
Former Official Found
Guilty on 4 of Counts
in Espionage Trial
NEW YORK TIMES
6 June 1986
By STEPHEN ENGELIERG
Special to The New York Timm
BALTIMORE, June 5 - After delib-
erating for more than 12 hours, a Fed
eral Ju today found Ronald W. Pelton
guilty of selling highly sensitive irate -
ence secrets to the Soviet Union.
The jury found Mr. Pelton, a former
employee of the National Security
Agency, guilty of four counts arising
from his meeting with Soviet agents in
Vienna in 1983 for what he told two Fed-
eral agents was three to four days of
written debriefing.
But the jury acquitted him on one
count that was based on what prosecu-
tors had charged was a 1990 trip to
Vienna for the same purpose.
No Emotion Is Shown
Today Mr. Pelton showed no emotion
as the verdict by the jury of seven men
and five women was delivered in Fed-
eral District Court here. His attorney
said he planned to appeal.
Two jurors appeared visibly upset,
and they wiped tears from their eyes as
Mr. Pelton stared straight ahead. One
of them, Gloria Ross, 20 years old of
Baltimore, turned her back to the
hushed courtroom as she buried her
face in her hands.
Mr. Pelton, who is 44 years old, could
be sentenced to life sentences on three
counts, of conspiracy, espionage
and-
-attempted espionage, as well as 10
years and a fine of $10,000 for the fourth
count, revealing classified material re-
latin to communications me ence.
Federal District Judge Herbert F
Murray scheduled sentencing for July
28.
The case included an extraordinary
amount of public testimony by an
agency known for its reticence.
William P. Crowell Jr., the agency's
senior official responsible for inter-
cepting Soviet signals, told the jurors
that the information provided by Mr.
Pelton would have allowed the Soviet
Union to counteract some of the
projects his agency spents hundreds of
millions of dollars annually to operate.
the trial opened last week, Amer-
ican intelligence officials officials
warned the press not to speculate-054T
classified information that e
men WE in its EMrtrW
win a conviction.
The case was viewed as a victory for
the Justice Department's policy of
bringing espionage cases to trial, even
curityn information. Mr. Pelton, for-
merly a staff officer at National Se-
curity Agency who was arrested last
Nov. 25, was accused of compromising
some of the agency's sensitive projects
for intercepting Soviet communica-
tions.
These included a document on Soviet
signals of which Mr. Pelton was the au-
thor. Prosecutors called it an "ency.
clopedia" of the security agency's suc.
ceases and failures in intercepting
Soviet communications. Mr. Patton
was also accused of revealing five of
the agency's projects, one of which was
said by an agency witness to have pro-
vided a "considerable amount" of in-
telligence on military plans, maunuev-
ers, and capabilities of Soviet forces.
A limited amount of material was d.-
classified for use as evi ,
some of which was released over
or .
United States Attorney who prosecuted
the case, said the use of classified infor-
mation was "carefully prepared and
carefully scripted, and it went off as
1,
Fred Warren Bennett, Mr. Pelton's
attorney said his client would appeal
the conviction to the United States
Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
and, if necessary to the Supreme Court.
Concern Over Deliberations
Breckinridge L. Willcox, the United
States Attorney in Baltimore, said the
Government was "delighted" although
he acknowledged the length of the
deliberations had worried the prosecu-
tors.
"r think you're always concerned l
when a jury is out as long as they were
out," said Mr. Willcox. "I thought the
evidence compelled a guilty verdict
and compelled it in less than 12 hours."
The central evidence in the case
came from Mr. Pelton's statements to
the agents of the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation in two interviews on Nov.
24, 1985. Mr. Bennett urged the jury to
disregard those statements , as evi-
dence. He argued that they did not con-
stitute a voluntary confession on the
ground that the agents used trickery
and deception, hinting that he was
being considered for a role as a double
agent.
Over the objections of the prosecu-
tion, Judge Murray told the jury they
could weigh a number of factors in con.
sidering whether to disregard the ad-
missions. These included the defend.
ant's physical and mental condition
and any threats, implied promises, or
other inducements offered by the
agents.
Notes From the Jury
Late Wednesday it appeared that the
jury was taking this argument seri-
ously when it sent opt a note asking the
judge for additional instructions on
that issue. Government prosecutors
appealed
en tot relax visibly today when
the jury s out a note at midday ask-
ing to examine evidence that Mr. Pel-
ton had deposited $12,300 in cash to his
bank accounts shortly after prosecu-
tors said he received a payment from
t agents.
Mr. Bennett said Judge Murray de-
clined his request for a post-verdict in-
terrogatory in which the jury would
have been asked whether they found
beyond a reasonable doubt that the con-
fession was voluntary. He had hoped to
obtain this information for use in a pos-
sible argument on appeal that the jury
did not have sufficent evidence for its
verdict.
Mr. Willcox said he believed that the
guilty verdicts showed the jury had ac-
cepted the confession as voluntary.
This verdict "fully vindicates the in-
vestigative techniques of the F.B.I.,"
he said.
The central character in the eight-
day trial, Mr. Pelton, had taken the
stand in his own defense and he ac-
cused the F.B.I. agents of misleading
him on whether he could have an attor-
ney present at questioning and whether
certain key statements were being
used against him.
But Mr. Douglass said Mr. Pelton
was a "con man" who was trying to
talk his way out of the biggest problem
of his life.
According to the agents, Mr. Pelton
15i19800wwas the I'blazostt mistake oin Jan
f his
life." Mr. Pelton denied making this
statement.
Life Style of Defendant
Mr. Bennett described his client as a
man in the grip of a midlife crisis in
1985 at the time the F.B.I. agents inter-
viewed him. Mr. Pelton, he said, was
estranged from his wife and was adopt-
ing the life style of the young woman he
was seeing. The lawyer said Mr. Pelton
was abusing alcohol and drugs and had
injected an opiate painkiller just six
hours before his final, and most dam-
aging interview with the F. F.B.I. agents.
According to the prosecution, Mr.
Pelton became a spy in 1980, about six
months after he had declared bank-
ruptcy and quit the National Security
Agency. His financial difficulties'
arose, Mr. Pelton said, when he tried to
build a home for his family and thieves
stole the building materials.
About six months later, with his re-
tirement funds spent, about $13,000,
Mr. Pelton made a phone call to Soviet
officials, according to prosecutors, of-
fering them something "very interest-
ing."
A tape of that Jan. 14, 1980 phone call,
was played to the jury through head-
phones..
Judge Murray admonished the
jurors not to discuss with anyone the in-
formation about where the call was in-
tercepted, saying it was classified. He
also told the jury not to disclose a map
ON
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120014-3
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120014-3
IL
they had been shown on which Mr. Fel-
ton drew a circle to show F.B.I. agents
the location of a project he had re-
vealed to Soviet agents. The location,
according to a. witness from the Na-
tional Security Agency, was several
hundred miles off but was still suffi-
cient to allow the Soviet technicians to
take countermeasures.
F.B.I. agents said Mr. Pelton told
..them he su
uent y met with a
el
res
ce officer in 1980 and
ence o t e Soviet m-
bsssador to
enna.. Agents saiaile_t 1
them he was paid $35,000 for the ma
terial.
William J. Case
the Director
Centra
me licence and Lieut. Gen.
William
om me
hector o the Na-
tio
ecu t
AgencY. reflected the
disquiet among mte Bence officials
when teev issued a s
emen May
the day a er t
open cau rm
ing reporters against "speculation and
re rtm e a s LRWnd the orma-
tion actually released at the trial."
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100120014-3