FBI Arrests 2 People on Espionage Charges

AP ^ | February 5, 2003

[Indy Pendance]

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- FBI agents arrested a former Washington Army National Guard officer and his ex-wife on espionage charges alleging they attempted to sell national security secrets.

Rafael Davila, 51, and Deborah Davila-Cummings, 46, were arrested Tuesday and ordered held without bail.

The charges of retaining and attempting to pass national security documents without authorization were contained in an indictment filed in federal court.

"This case involves the sale of `top secret' and `secret' documents involved with the defense of the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl Hicks said in court Tuesday.

The nature of the documents wasn't detailed in the indictment, and Hicks declined to comment outside court. U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt also wouldn't discuss specifics of the case.

"These allegations are very, very serious," McDevitt said.

The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday that Davila-Cummings is accused of attempting to pass the top-secret documents to attorney Kirk Lyons of Black Mountain, N.C. Lyons, who is named in the indictment but not charged, has represented former Texas Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam and James Wickstrom, head of the Posse Comitatus.

The was no immediate comment from Lyons, whose telephone number is unlisted.

The indictment accuses Davila-Cummings of attempting to pass top-secret U.S. documents sometime in August 1999. Her former husband is accused of "unauthorized retention" of national security documents that she is accused of attempting to deliver.

Davila was arrested at his parents' home in Ontario, Ore., authorities said. His former wife, a special education teacher, was arrested at her home in College Place, near Walla Walla.

Both face up to life in prison if convicted.

[dakine]

Idiots...I hope they fry...

[Damocles]

Both face up to life in prison if convicted.

This sentence would seem a bit light in the face of treason. I thought treason was punishable by death...

[Redbob]

Lessee, they're accused of passing U.S. secrets to...Americans.

But some Chinaman at Los Alamos passes U.S. nuclear weapons secrets to the Red Chinese, and he walks.

Sounds fair to me.

[caltrop]

Prior to Jonathan Pollard, I'd have thought so too.

[newgeezer]

Both face up to life in prison if convicted.

Whatever happened to the firing squad?

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

PLEASE PLEASE SAY IT IS BILL AND HILLARY CLINTON.

[hoosierskypilot]

Nah, let's turn them loose. To chastize them would be a double standard since the CNN regularly gives away our troop movements on international television.

On second thought, maybe we should imprison CNN, as well.

I vote...the latter.

[hoosierskypilot]

By the way, what nationality is "Davila?"

[leadpenny]

I agree. They should at FACE the death penalty.

We didn't fry Ames, Pitts, Hansson and a couple othes. I read today that the retired Air Force Sergeant, now on trial, is facing the death penalty. This is going to continue until somebody gets the chair.

[m1-lightning]

The details were not released because it would be too humorous if the top secret documents turned out to be an inventory sheet for coffee supplies.

[Wallace T.]

That a National Guard officer would try to pass military secrets to an attorney who may have ties to the white supremacist and militia communities is unusual. Are the latter groups preparing for an insurrection or a race war? Or, perhaps, have Muslim extremists with a shared hatred for "Zionists" and "the Conspiracy" made common cause with the anti-Semitic white separatist groups? There have been reports that Timothy McVeigh associated with Middle Eastern males before the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.

Someone named Rafael Davila would not be the first person you would suspect of having white supremacist ties. (Of course, he could be a Spaniard or a Latin American of European Spanish descent.) But then again, wasn't McVeigh's convicted accomplice, Terry Nichols, married to a Filipina? Mixed race marriages are the equivalent of blasphemy in white supremacist circles.

I wonder if there isn't more to the anti-Semitic, white supremacist underground than the trailer trash, redneck stereotype.

[VaBthang4]

Agreement.

[VaBthang4]

Man, that's alot of thinking.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The indictment accuses Davila-Cummings of attempting to pass top-secret U.S. documents sometime in August 1999. Her former husband is accused of "unauthorized retention" of national security documents that she is accused of attempting to deliver.

The phrase "former husband" is significant here. I'll bet one of them ratted the other one out for revenge over the divorce and failed to negotiate an immunity deal.

What's truly sad here is that after the Wen Ho Lee debacle, how can you prosecute these two? Wen Ho Lee stole nuclear secrets, he probably gave them to the Chinese, and Reno's justice department "accidentally" mishandled the case so that Lee walked. If these people (and the Clintons) are not on death row, that shows me that stealing and divulging classified information isn't even a crime anymore. Wen Ho Lee was rewarded with a full apology, a fat severence package, a high-dollar settlement, and full retirement.

[JudyB1938]

I live for the day when I see national headlines that state ...

EXECUTED FOR TREASON.

I won't mention who I think should be first - but FReepers know who it is.

[Grampa Dave]

Time to bring back the death penalty for those who sell or give away our nation's secrets.

This cost lives of our servicemen or puts them into harm's way.

Also, time to bring back the loyalty oath for anyone with even a confidential clearance.

[Grampa Dave]

Real simple just because while under the Clintons, there was no Controlling Legal Authority, doesn't excuse every traitor from then on.

Collect the evidence, present it and have them arrested. If they did in while on active duty or after active duty, call them back in the service and have a court martial.

If they are found guilty of treason, lock them up in Leavenworth or shoot them!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Agreed, these two should get life in front of a firing squad. As far as I'm concerned, these two, Wen Ho Lee, and the current crop of prisoners that are convicted of espionage should be executed.