Spy Suspect Hit With 11 New Espionage, Tax Counts

Spy suspect Jerry A. Whitworth was charged Tuesday in San Francisco with 11 new counts of espionage and income tax evasion by a federal grand jury that accused him of stealing secret war plans and communications documents for a Soviet spy ring reportedly operated by John A. Walker Jr.

The indictment charges that Whitworth, a retired Navy radioman from Davis, failed to pay income tax on $332,000 allegedly given him by Walker for stealing the sensitive military secrets. Federal authorities have called the Walker spy ring one of the most damaging espionage operations against the United States in 30 years.

The spy ring allegedly included Walker, Whitworth, Walker’s 22-year-old son, Michael, and John Walker’s 50-year-old brother, Arthur, now on trial in Norfolk, Va.

Whitworth, who is being held without bail in a Bay Area detention facility, will be arraigned on the new counts Thursday in San Francisco federal court. Whitworth was first indicted June 17 on one count of conspiracy to commit espionage.

The June indictment accused Whitworth of receiving $328,000 from Walker in exchange for Navy secrets. Tuesday’s charges added $4,000 to the total and indicated that Whitworth may have begun his alleged spying career with Walker as early as 1970. The previous indictment indicated that it began in 1976.

The new indictment accuses the 45-year-old Navy communications expert of making copies and photographing secret national defense documents from the carrier Enterprise between October, 1982, and May, 1983, including one that the FBI described in an earlier court hearing as a contingency plan for communications in the Indian Ocean in case of an outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East. The indictment does not say whether Whitworth turned the war plans over to Walker or the Soviet Union.

Another document Whitworth is alleged to have copied and delivered to Walker in 1980 was one containing information about what was described as the Navy’s “remote information exchange system.”

Whitworth is accused of reporting a total income of approximately $87,500 for the years 1979-1982, but of actually receiving far more. Deputy U.S. Atty. William Farmer said the basis of the tax fraud charges are that Whitworth received “at least part of” $332,000 from Walker during those years.

The indictment also charges that Whitworth and Walker conspired to hide the spy income from federal authorities by using cash and cashier’s checks, instead of personal checks, for payments and by using safe deposit boxes instead of checking accounts.

If convicted, Whitworth could be sentenced to life in prison.

Defense attorneys had expected Whitworth’s wife, Brenda Reis, also to be indicted on tax charges, because both signed the couple’s joint tax returns. However, Reis’ name did not appear in Tuesday’s indictment.

One defense source said he still expects Reis to be charged, but through “regular Internal Revenue (Service) channels,” rather than by a grand jury indictment.

James Larson, Whitworth’s attorney, said he will seek a new bail hearing for his client after Whitworth’s arraignment Thursday.