Black Hebrews Leaders Being Investigated in Airlines Scam

High-ranking officials of the Black Hebrews, a controversial sect that claims its members are descended from the original tribes of Israel, are under federal investigation in connection with a $10-million stolen airline ticket scheme, The Times has learned.

The probe, considered extremely sensitive by the State Department because it involves a religious group, is centered in Chicago, but a key figure is facing trial in Los Angeles on passport fraud charges.

Clarence Turner Jr., ranked by State Department investigators as No. 6 in the Black Hebrews hierarchy, has been indicted on eight felony counts of violating passport laws and could receive a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted. His trial is scheduled to begin in June.

“We believe that he is involved in a significant number of stolen airline tickets,” said Ron Reams, special agent in charge of the State Department’s Los Angeles office.

Airline officials said the ticket investigation, which the FBI is conducting, involves numerous flights by sect members to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.

Stolen Tickets Found in Raid

In March, police raided Turner’s Southside Chicago residence, recovering stolen tickets and other airline materials such as ticket envelopes and travel first-aid kits.

Chicago Police Detective Tom O’Connor said one of the five people arrested in the raid, Leonard Owens, ranks “No. 3 or 4” in the sect.

“We feel the people we arrested are high-ranking leaders in the group,” O’Connor said. “Owens is considered one of the top men in the organization.”

O’Connor said police have turned the case over to the FBI and a federal grand jury has been taking testimony in Chicago.

Herb Briick, Chicago regional security manager for American Airlines, said the airlines affected in the scheme include American, Eastern, Delta, TWA, Republic, Pan American, World and U.S. Air.

Briick said Black Hebrews have turned up in other airline ticket schemes. He said one sect member was convicted in Virginia after airline tickets turned up missing in 1978 at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

The current scheme, which authorities said has gone on since 1979, works this way: A passenger with a stolen ticket from one airline goes to another airline and boards a flight. Because of reciprocal agreements between the air carriers, the airline the passenger boarded then bills the other carrier, which discovers that it has not been paid by the passenger.

Turner, 43, has been known to State Department authorities for some time.

“Turner was previously linked to passport fraud, having been detained by Dutch authorities for possession of an altered passport in the name of John Arthur Small Jr.,” State Department Special Agent George McCauley stated in an affidavit filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Ticket Allegedly Stolen

Last July, a man traveling with a U.S. passport in the name of Gary Keith Quarles boarded a flight from Boston to Zurich, Switzerland, using a TWA ticket. McCauley said the ticket was one of 392 stolen in Baltimore on Jan. 18, 1984.

McCauley said a check of Quarles’ passport photograph later showed that he was actually Clarence Turner. The passport was issued in April, 1982, at a time when the real Gary Quarles was in jail in Kansas.

McCauley said Turner traveled extensively with the false passport, including trips to France, England, Bermuda, Sierra Leone, Jordan, Jamaica, Egypt, Gambia, Senegal, Israel, Zimbabwe and Liberia.

Agents said they do not know why Turner traveled so extensively, but they assumed it was in connection with his religion.

In a separate case, Turner currently faces trial in Orange County on a forgery charge. He was arrested last summer by Costa Mesa police on suspicion of passing stolen travelers checks at the South Coast Plaza shopping center.

The Black Hebrews--numbering between 900 and 3,000, all black Americans--have been controversial since 1969, when its members began arriving in Israel and taking up residence in blue-collar communities in the Negev Desert.

Israeli Citizenship Claimed

Led by Ben Ami Carter, a former foundry worker from Chicago, members base their philosophy on the Old Testament, claiming that as descendants of the original tribes of Israel they are Jews entitled to automatic Israeli citizenship. The claim was rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1972.

Most members have renounced their U.S. citizenship and the Jerusalem government has made no secret of its lack of enthusiasm for the organization.

The sect adheres to a strict vegetarian diet, which prohibits milk and other dairy products.

Carter chose Israel as a homeland for the sect members after unsuccessfully trying to settle in Liberia. In 1966, Carter said he had a vision “to establish the prophetic kingdom of God” in Israel.

Reams, the State Department’s agent in charge in Los Angeles, said the current investigation is not aimed at the sect itself, only some members.

“The State Department has been accused of selective prosecution (by the sect),” he said. “That is not true.”