Indicted in Presser Case : 50 FBI Agents to Rally in Support of Colleague

In an unusual action, at least 50 agents from the FBI’s Cleveland field office will demonstrate their support at the arraignment today in Washington of Robert S. Friedrick, the bureau supervisor indicted on charges of lying about alleged efforts to prevent the indictment of Teamsters President Jackie Presser.

“They’re coming down on annual leave at their own expense to show their personal support for Friedrick, who is a colleague,” said William Baker, assistant FBI director for congressional and public affairs.

Baker said that FBI headquarters had determined that enough agents will remain on duty at the Cleveland office “to respond to any situation that may arise. Therefore, we didn’t bar any such move on their part.”

Fewer Than 200 Agents

He declined to disclose how many agents are assigned to the Cleveland office, the FBI’s 12th largest, but other sources said the number is fewer than 200.

John T. Dunn, the FBI’s spokesman here, said the agents leave on a bus today at 2 a.m. “to lend their personal support” on the steps of the federal courthouse in Washington. He said he did not expect them to enter the courtroom or carry any placards or signs.

“In no way is this an official FBI activity or posture,” Dunn said. “We are not and cannot address the merits of the indictment. It’s a show of support for a colleague whom we know and respect and feel empathy for.”

Despite the FBI’s effort to underscore the unofficial “low-key” nature of the show of support, officials at the Justice Department criticized the action. “It’s dumb, and they’re going to be embarrassed when the facts (about the case) come out,” said one official, who declined to be identified.

Demonstrations in support of an FBI colleague charged with violating laws that the agents are sworn to uphold are not unprecedented. In 1977, for example, 300 FBI agents demonstrated outside the federal courthouse in New York in support of John J. Kearney, a former bureau supervisor indicted on charges of illegally opening mail and tapping phones in hunting for fugitives of the Weather Underground terrorist group.

‘Best of Intentions’

While his case was still pending--and before charges against Kearney were eventually dropped--he also drew support from then-FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley, who said that Kearney had been “motivated in all his endeavors by the best of intentions.”

However, in Friedrick’s case, FBI Director William H. Webster has given no such support. In fact, Friedrick has been suspended with pay for 30 days and told he faces dismissal.

Friedrick, 42, has served the FBI for 13 years and has headed the organized crime squad in the Cleveland office since August, 1981. It was in that capacity that he allegedly came into contact with Presser, overseeing the union leader’s work as a government informant.

‘A Stand-Up Guy’

An award-winning agent, he has been described by colleagues as “a stand-up guy who would do anything for the bureau and his fellow agents.”

Friedrick has been indicted on five counts of giving false statements in connection with the Presser case, and sources familiar with the investigation said he failed to pass a polygraph examination last January before admitting that he had met secretly last summer with Presser and the Teamster president’s lawyer.

The arraignment of Presser and two longtime union associates on federal charges of siphoning off more than $700,000 over 10 years, primarily from the Teamsters, was postponed Wednesday until Friday. A court clerk said that one of the defendants had a schedule conflict.