Export Case Suspect Flees U.S., Kin Says

Richard K. Smyth, an Orange County engineer facing trial on charges that he illegally shipped nuclear triggering devices to Israel, has left the country with his wife and does not plan to return, a relative said Wednesday.

“He got up and left on his own and never contacted anyone,” said Randy Risvold of Irvine, Smyth’s son-in-law. “The family has not heard word one from them.”

Risvold said he did not know exactly where Richard and Emilie Smyth are, or how he knew the couple had fled. But he said they are not in the “U.S. or its territories.”

The Smyths’ car is missing, but their 27-foot sailboat is docked behind their waterfront home in Huntington Harbour.

The 55-year-old defendant failed to appear Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for his trial, marking his seventh day as a fugitive. A warrant for Smyth’s arrest was issued Aug. 14 when he did not appear for a hearing.

Smyth, who served as an adviser to the U.S. Air Force and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was indicted May 16 on charges that he exported about $60,000 worth of krytrons--two-inch triggering devices--to Israel. Although krytrons have many applications, the Israelis said they use them for conventional weapons research.

After the indictment, Risvold said, Smyth was forced to close his business, Milco International Inc. in Huntington Beach, because clients canceled their consulting contracts.

Risvold said his father-in-law also got a foreclosure notice for his heavily mortgaged home. Smyth already had borrowed money against the house to support his business, when he again used the equity in the home to secure $200,000 for legal fees and a $100,000 bond to gain his freedom. The house is now listed for sale in the $900,000 range, the realtor handling the matter said.

Finally, Smyth’s top-level U.S. government security clearances were recently revoked without a hearing.

Alan Croll, Smyth’s Los Angeles attorney, said: “I think it is true that there was considerably more pressure placed on Dr. Smyth and adverse decisions thrown his way beyond the indictment. Collectively, he has been assaulted and beleaguered.”

Risvold said his wife, Dawn, and her brother, Ernest Smyth, have been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony against their father. The daughter was vice president in charge of exports for Smyth’s company when the krytrons allegedly were shipped.

“Dawn sent the telexes and did all the paper work,” Risvold said. She was “fresh out of high school” at the time, he said.

The defendant’s mother, Pauline Smyth, said her son visited her Huntington Beach home Aug. 8 and invited her to join him and his wife on a trip to Santa Catalina Island to “get away from the telephone” for a few days. He was “very, very worried about the case,” she said.