1997-06-10 -- Gathering, delivering, conspiracy of defense info





Gathering, delivering, conspiring of defense info-espionage



         United States Attorney Charles R. Wilson, together with

Albert Robinson, Special Agent In Charge of the Tampa Field

Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, John L.

Martin, Chief, Internal Security Section of the Department of

Justice, and the United States Army Intelligence and Security

Command, announced today the unsealing of a federal indictment

in Tampa, Florida, charging KELLY THERESE WARREN, formerly

known as KELLY THERESE CHURCH, formerly known as KELLY THERESE

NAUGHTON, a former member of the United States Army, with

espionage.

         Warren, 31, of Warner-Robbins, Georgia was arrested in

Georgia today by special agents of the Federal Bureau of

Investigation.

         Warren served at the United States Army's 8th Infantry

Division headquarters in Bad Kreuznach, Federal Republic of

Germany, from 1986 until 1988.  She was assigned to the G-3

Section where her duties consisted of administrative, clerical

assistance and preparing classified documents for publication

and distribution.  The G-3 Section's mission was to create,

devise, process, and coordinate the plans, training, and

operations of the 8th Infantry Division whose mission was to

participate in the coordinated defense of Western Europe in

the event of an attack from the former Warsaw Pact countries.

         Warren was named in a three-count indictment which

charges her in Count One with conspiracy to gather or deliver

defense information to aid a foreign government, and in Counts

Two and Three with the substantive crimes of gathering or

delivering defense information to aid a foreign government

with respect to her activities regarding two specific

classified documents.

         Ms. Warren is the fourth person to be charged in the

Middle District of Florida for conspiring to commit espionage

with Clyde Lee Conrad as a result of a joint FBI and United

States Army Intelligence and Security Command investigation

which has been ongoing for over ten years.  Roderick James

Ramsay was arrested in 1990 in Tampa for espionage, and after

he pled guilty he was sentenced on August 28, 1992, to thirty-

six years in prison by the Honorable Wm. Terrell Hodges.

Subsequently, Jeffrey Rondeau and Jeffrey Gregory were

arrested, and after they pled to espionage they were each

sentenced on June 24, 1994, to eighteen years in prison by the

Honorable Ralph W. Nimmons, Jr.  Ms. Warren's case has been

assigned to the Honorable Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, Chief

Judge, Middle District of Florida.

         Clyde Lee Conrad served on active duty with the United

States Army from 1965 to September 1, 1985, when he retired

with the rank of Sgt. First Class.  Conrad was arrested on

August 23, 1988, by German authorities.  Beginning in January

1990, Conrad was tried in the Federal Republic of Germany on

charges of high treason for espionage activities on behalf of

the Hungarian and Czechoslovakian intelligence services

between 1976 and 1988.  On June 6, 1990, the Koblenz State

Appellate Court convicted Conrad, and he was sentenced to life

in prison.  This was the most severe sentence handed down in

the Federal Republic of Germany for espionage since World War

II.  In addition, the Court ordered the forfeiture of

approximately $1.7 million.

         Specifically, indictment alleges that Warren knowingly

and willfully communicated, transmitted, and delivered

documents and information to representatives and agents of the

Peoples' Republic of Hungary and the Czechoslovak Socialist

Republic which related to the national defense of the United

States.  The indictment further alleges that the 8th Infantry

Division maintained classified U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and

NATO military documents including general defense plans for

the allied defense of Central Europe, plans for the use of

tactical nuclear weapons by the United States and NATO forces

and chemical warfare documents.

         If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum term of life

imprisonment.  The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United

States Attorney Walter Furr, United States Attorney's Office,

Tampa and James Candelmo, Trial Attorney for the Internal

Security Section of the Department of Justice.

         An indictment is merely a charge that a defendant has

committed a violation of a federal criminal law and every

defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proved

guilty.





U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida

Charles R. Wilson, United States Attorney

500 Zack Street, Fourth Floor

Tampa, Florida 33602

Main Office Number: 813-274-6000



Public Affairs Office: 813-274-6100; fax: 813-274-6200

Elizabeth Banister: Public Information Officer

ebaniste@justice.usdoj.gov

Archived News Releases/Documents: http://www.usdoj.gov/press.html

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