Mercenary Offers Tales of Secret U.S. Missions at Firebombing Trial

Frank Camper sat in a small visiting room outside his prison cell on Terminal Island last week, far from the exotic locales he claims to have passed through in his many adventures as a soldier of fortune.

Camper, who attracted worldwide attention last year as the owner of a controversial mercenary training school in Alabama, is standing trial in federal court here for allegedly firebombing two cars in San Bernardino County. The firebombing, federal prosecutors allege, was part of a bungled plot hatched by two private-school owners from Dana Point to harass ex-employees.

Camper and his Hueytown, Ala., training camp stepped into the media spotlight after FBI agents confirmed that information he provided led to the arrest of a group of Sikh extremists plotting to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Shortly before they were arrested in New Orleans, the Sikhs had graduated from Camper’s school. Suddenly he was a hero, his story told on “60 Minutes,” network news shows and in print, including the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

A Vietnam veteran, Camper claims to have worked as an undercover agent for the U.S. government since he was discharged by the Army in 1969. And he maintained in an interview last week that he actually was on a secret government mission when he was hired by Charlotte Wyckoff and Elizabeth Hamilton to teach their former employees a lesson.

He cannot reveal the nature of his assignment because “ . . . I have a security clearance that still exists,” Camper said in the interview at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution, where he is being held in solitary confinement. Government officials deny Camper’s contention that the firebombings were part of a secret national security operation.

When he is not in court, Camper spends the time in his cell writing books in longhand. A spokeswoman for Dell Publishing Co. Inc. in New York City confirmed that he has a contract with the company. His first book, titled “The Professional,” is due out next spring.

“I’m a writer,” said Camper, adding that he planned to retire from the mercenary business this year. He took a break once before, in 1974, and worked for three years as a mechanic for a Porsche racing team based in Jacksonville, Fla.

During his trial on Friday, Camper testified that two of his associates firebombed the cars without his knowledge. Camper told the jury that he was asleep when the homemade soap-and-gasoline bombs were set off early on the morning of Aug. 13, 1985.

The bombed cars belonged to two former teachers at a chain of schools owned by the Dana Point women. The women have pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Camper admitted Friday posing as “Joe Bonn,” a man interested in buying the schools, in order to collect information about the women whose cars were firebombed.

U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler denied several defense motions to dismiss the case against Camper, his girlfriend and a former teacher at his mercenary school.

Camper insists the information made public so far “is a fragment, a piece of something bigger.”

If he could introduce his evidence, “we’d blow them (the prosecution) out of the water,” Camper said.

Camper said his security clearance prohibits him from identifying his true employer. He also doubts the agency will step forward to defend him because he has been “disavowed” since his arrest last May on the firebombing charges.

“I’m out by myself,” Camper said.

Although he claims to have a longstanding relationship as a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies, “I just can’t see any agency standing up and saying anything. I don’t expect it.”

In disputing Camper’s claim to be on a government mission, one federal agent said Camper, who faces a maximum prison sentence of 75 years if convicted, should have no reason to risk a conviction by protecting an agency that has left him out in the cold.

Another federal source said Camper’s secret agent theory is a smoke screen. “Even if you assume everything is true, it is probably not a good defense,” said the source, noting that a person committing a crime for the government is not necessarily immune to prosecution.

The government prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles J. Stevens, declined to comment on Camper’s claims, but noted that Judge Stotler has given Camper ample opportunity to support his allegations since the trial began Oct. 28. So far, no evidence has been introduced.

Camper, 40, his girlfriend, Lee Ann Faulk, 28, and William Hedgcorth, 23, an instructor at Camper’s training camp, have pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of conspiracy, racketeering and firebombing charges. Four others indicted by a federal grand jury last spring have pleaded guilty to reduced charges and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.

When they entered guilty pleas last month, Wyckoff and Hamilton testified that they hired Camper to harass six former employees from their chain of private schools in Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Camper insists he does not work for individuals, only governments or organizations, including the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“My business is intelligence gathering and not working as a private detective,” Camper said. “They (Wycoff and Hamilton) truly didn’t know anything about anything. They were truly on the outskirts.”

Paul Johnson, a former instructor at Camper’s training school, testified last week that “Camper said two women in California were being terrorized by some people and they wanted us to come out and do something about it.”

Johnson also described how Camper drove him and the other defendants around to see the cars that were later destroyed. The defense team is scheduled to begin its case on Wednesday.

sh Not Technically Bombs

Walter M. Henritze Jr., Camper’s Atlanta, Ga., attorney, said he is planning to argue that the gasoline-and-soap-filled plastic milk containers used to set the cars on fire are not technically bombs under federal law.

Henritze also contends that the crime should have been classified as a simple arson, which is a state, not a federal offense.

To date, Henritze has not presented any evidence to support Camper’s contention that he was working undercover for a government agency. Yet, he said, every time Camper tells him something that seems totally outrageous, the information is confirmed by independent sources.

“He’s a work of imagination. That’s what appeals to me,” Henritze said in a recent interview.

Camper said his mercenary training school, located in the Alabama backwoods, acted as a magnet for intelligence gathering. In the past six years, it attracted students from 30 different countries who paid $350 for a two-week course in firearms, explosives, hand-to-hand combat and other survival skills.

Undercover Missions

When he was not teaching, Camper claims to have worked on numerous undercover missions for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the FBI. “The agencies hire individuals to do jobs they cannot conveniently or legally do,” Camper said. Then, if the outside agents are caught, the agencies deny any contact because, “we are easily expendable.”

Neither agency would affirm or deny whether there was a relationship with Camper.

“I can’t confirm any past association with Frank Camper,” ATF spokesman Tom Hill said. “You have to go on his word, not ours.”

Hill, who said he was familiar with the California case, described Camper as a “fascinating person.”

Tom Moore, a special agent in the FBI’s Birmingham, Ala., office, said he could not comment on Camper.

However, he said that Cecil Moses, the special agent in charge of the Birmingham office, appeared on “60 Minutes” and confirmed that Camper provided information to the FBI on various occasions.

The soft-spoken, bearded Camper said his relationship with both agencies began to sour after he was credited with helping the FBI arrest the Sikhs plotting to assassinate Gandhi.

“There was jealously between the agencies,” Camper said. “They are extremely hostile towards each other.”

Trying to Close School

Alabama state and federal officials said there is no sign of activity at Camper’s school. In August, 1985, the Alabama attorney general’s office filed a civil suit against Camper, alleging he was operating the school without a license. A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said Camper’s arrest accomplished what they were trying to do--close his school.

Camper insists the school has changed locations and not “missed a beat,” since his arrest.

Camper lives in a modest bungalow in Hueytown with his wife, Mavis, his 20-year-old son, Barrett, and his parents, Frank and Betty Camper.

Frank Sr. works in a foundry and has been supporting the family while Frank Jr. is in prison, according to Stephen Dreher, an independent film producer who said he has exclusive rights to Camper’s life story.

Members of Camper’s family could not be reached for comment.

When asked what a mercenary does to relax, Camper said he enjoys going to amusement parks, especially Disney World and Disneyland. In fact, two days before the alleged firebombings, Camper said, he and his friends spent the day at Disneyland.