Neo-Nazi Changes Plea, Admits Role in Brink’s Robbery Plot

A member of the white supremacist group The Order has switched his plea to guilty to federal charges he conspired with other neo-Nazis in a plot to rob a Brink’s Armored Car Co. vault in San Francisco of $30 million.

Ronald A. King, former operations manager at Brink’s, entered the plea Friday before U.S. District Judge Walter McGovern. Sentencing was set for Dec. 20.

Eleven other members of The Order are scheduled to go on trial Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle on federal racketeering charges alleging they were involved in a wide-ranging conspiracy to stage a right-wing revolution.

The Order also is accused of the execution-style slaying of Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg and the murder of one-time white supremacist Walter E. West.

Prosecutors specifically accused King, of Hayward, Calif., of conspiring with another Brink’s employee, Charles E. Ostrout, to help other members of the white supremacist group in their plans to steal $30 million from the company’s main vault. Ostrout also has pleaded guilty.

The robbery never took place, possibly because of the death of Robert Mathews, leader of The Order, during a siege by the FBI on Whidbey Island in December, 1984.

King is one of 10 people to plead guilty to counts involving crimes ranging from armored car robberies, counterfeiting and murder.

The 10 struck a plea bargain with federal prosecutors and are expected to testify against their former colleagues on trial.