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Black Crawling Systems Archive Release 1.0 (L0pht Heavy Industries, Inc.)(1997).ISO
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Finders_Article.txt
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1996-07-08
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From the Radio Free Michigan archives
ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot
If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to
bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu.
------------------------------------------------
Source: U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, DEC. 27 1993/JAN. 3 1994
THROUGH A GLASS, VERY DARKLY.
Cops, Spies and a Very Odd Investigation.
By Gordon Witkin and Peter Cary with Ancel Martinez.
The case is almost seven years old now, but matters
surrounding a mysterious group known as the Finders keeps
growing curiouser and curiouser.
In early February 1987, an anonymous tipster in Tallahassee,
Fla., made a phone call to police. Two "well-dressed men"
seemed to be "supervising" six disheveled and hungry children
in a local park, the caller said. The cops went after the case
like bloodhounds - at least at first. The two men were
identified as members of the Finders. They were charged with
child abuse in Florida. In Washington, D.C., police and U.S.
Customs Service agents raided a duplex apartment building and a
warehouse connected to the group. Among the evidence seized:
detailed instructions on how to obtain children for unknown
purposes and several photographs of nude children. According to
a Customs Service memorandum obtained by U.S. News, one photo
appeared "to accent the child's genitals."
The more police learned about the Finders, the more bizarre
they seemed: There were suggestions of child abuse, Satanism,
dealing in pornography and ritualistic animal slaughter.
None of the allegations was ever proved, however. The child
abuse charges against the two men in Tallahassee were dropped;
all six of the children were eventually returned to their
mothers, though in the case of two, conditions were attached by
a court. In Washington, D.C., police began backing away from
the Finders investigation. The group's practices, the police
said, were eccentric - not illegal.
Questions.
Today, things appear to have changed yet again. The Justice
Department has begun a new investigation into the Finders and
into the group's activities. It is also reviewing the 1987
investigation into the group to determine whether the probe was
closed improperly. Justice officials will not elaborate,
except to say that the investigation is "ongoing" and that it
involves "unresolved matters" in relation to the Finders.
One of the unresolved questions involves allegations that the
Finders are somehow linked to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Customs Service documents reveal that in 1987, when Customs
agents sought to examine the evidence gathered by Washington,
D.C. police, they were told that the Finders investigation "had
become a CIA internal matter." The police report on the case
had been classified secret. Even now, Tallahassee police
complain about the handling of the investigation by D.C.
police. "They dropped this case," one Tallahassee investigator
says, "like a hot rock." D.C. police will not comment on the
matter. As for the CIA, ranking officials describe allegations
about links between the intelligence agency and the Finders as
"hogwash" - perhaps the result of a simple mix-up with D.C.
police. The only connection, according to the CIA: A firm that
provided computer training to CIA officers also employed
several members of the Finders.
The many unanswered questions about the Finders case now have
Democratic Rep. Charlie Rose of North Carolina, chairman of the
House Administration Committee, and Florida's Rep. Tom Lewis, a
Republican, more than a little exercised. "Could our own
government have something to do with this Finders organization
and turned their backs on these children? That's what all the
evidence points to," says Lewis. "And there is a lot of
evidence. I can tell you this: We've got a lot of people
scrambling, and that wouldn't be happening if there was nothing
here."
Perhaps. But the Finders say there is nothing there - at
least nothing illegal. The Finders have never been involved in
child abuse, pornography, Satanism, animal slaughter or
anything of the kind, says the group's leader, Marion David
Pettie. Pettie, too, says the group has never been connected to
the CIA. In an interview with U.S. News, Pettie described the
Finders as a communal, holistic-living and learning
arrangement. The group numbers some 20 members, Pettie says;
they do freelance journalism, research and "competitor
intelligence" for a variety of mostly foreign clients. The
Finders work for no foreign governments, Pettie says. Their
duplex, in a residential Northwest Washington neighborhood, is
decorated with global maps and bulletin boards. Residents in
Culpepper, Va., 90 minutes from Washington, say the Finders
operated an office there, too, from time to time. That office
contained computer terminals and clocks reflecting different
time zones from around the world.
CIA officials say they refer all matters concerning the
Finders and the police investigation to the FBI's Foreign
Counterintelligence Division. FBI officials will not comment.
Law enforcement sources say some of the Finders are listed in
the FBI's classified counterintelligence files.
None of this fazes Pettie. He says the CIA's interest in the
Finders may stem from the fact that his late wife once worked
for the agency and that his son worked for a CIA proprietary
firm, Air America. Overall, says Pettie, "we're a zero security
threat. When you don't do much of anything, and you don't
explain, people start rumors about you." To judge from the
latest case, some of the rumors can last an awfully long time.
------------------------------------------------
(This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the
Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer.
All files are ZIP archives for fast download.
E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)