Iran Deal Expected to Shade Theft Case : Lighter Sentences Seen for S.D. Ring That Stole Military Parts

Defense attorneys for seven people scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 24 for shipping stolen military hardware to Iran say they expect lighter sentences to be handed out because of recent disclosures that the U.S. government has been sending secret arms shipments to the Iranians.

In July, 1985, federal investigators cracked a San Diego-based theft ring that was diverting U.S. military equipment to Iran for its war against Iraq. A two-year investigation yielded several arrests of sailors and civilians, including the ringleaders, brothers Franklin P. and Edgardo P. Agustin.

According to federal indictments, the Agustins and the five defendants scheduled to be sentenced later this month, and others charged in the case, sent an estimated $7 million worth of military parts to Iran. Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip Halpern has argued repeatedly that the stolen parts sent to Iran represented a serious breach of national security because they were going to a hostile power.

But press reports from Washington revealed this week that, for the last 18 months, the Reagan Administration has secretly sent arms and spare parts to the Iranians. Defense attorneys in the San Diego case pointed out that the secret shipments were being sent while the government was investigating and arresting members of the Agustin ring. Administration sources have told The Times that the shipments were personally approved by President Reagan to secure the release of U.S. hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

On Thursday, a Justice Department spokesman said that U.S. prosecutors are reviewing pending prosecutions of persons charged with shipping arms to Iran in light of the covert arms shipments.

While acknowledging that their clients stole U.S. military parts, defense attorneys in the San Diego case said they will file pre-sentencing briefs trying to persuade U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen that lighter sentences are in order.

Warren R. Williamson, attorney for Antonio G. Rodriguez, a sailor and a defendant in the case, said that Halpern’s argument that the shipments threatened national security have been undercut by this week’s disclosures.

“This case doesn’t deal only with sending restricted parts to Iran. It also deals with theft, so there’s still a basis for prosecution. But this week’s development clearly undercuts Halpern’s argument,” said Williamson. “It’s highly relevant in the area of sentencing. It’s one thing to be sentenced for stealing things and sending them to a hostile power, and it’s another thing for simply stealing parts.”

“The government has taken a position that is clearly false,” Williamson continued. “They’ve been saying these awful things about (Ayatollah) Khomeini, but at the same time they turn around and ship him all these weapons. They said my client was helping to send arms to a hostile power, but the United States has been caught with dirty hands because it was doing the same thing.”

Halpern said that Williamson and the other attorneys are “still missing the national security implications” of the case.

“The national security implications revolve around the fact that, by stealing these parts, the defendants disabled the capability of the U.S. military. By shipping the parts to Iran, they created shortages for the U.S. military,” Halpern said.

U.S. officials said that some of the parts that were sent to Iran by the theft ring included infrared mapping devices, which are used to help a pilot “see” through sandstorms, and inertial navigation aids. The officials said that these items were not available to some U.S. pilots.

Defense attorney Walter Lundstein, who is representing Pedro M. Quito in the case, said that probation officials have recommended a one-year sentence for his client. But Lundstein also expects that Nielsen, who has a reputation as an independent-minded judge, will probably lighten the sentences for the others.

“This is one hell of a double standard that the government is following. The only difference in what the government is doing and what these people did is that the government is not stealing the parts,” said Lundstein.

U.S. arms shipments to Iran have been embargoed since 1979, when Khomeini’s followers seized the U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months. Reagan put Iran on the State Department’s “terrorist list” in 1981, and the country has remained there.

“The disclosures that the U.S. has been sending arms to Iran takes a lot of the air out of their argument that the defendants harmed national security, but most importantly it makes a farce of Reagan’s executive order,” said Lundstein.

But Halpern said that Reagan has the authority to send arms shipments, even to a hostile country, if the shipments are in the national interest.

“The President could send an atom bomb to the Iranians if he wanted,” Halpern said. “But the President can do this and send arms shipments because he has the authority. Just because the President can do it doesn’t mean that a private citizen can go about shipping military parts to Iran.”