Suspect in Cluster Bomb Case Held Without Bail

A man accused of trying to export cluster bomb technology to Saudi Arabia and Iraq was ordered held without bail Wednesday at the urging of prosecutors who said he could endanger “the world at large” if released.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Rymer refused to set bail for Anthony Cenci, one of three men who pleaded innocent earlier this month to charges that they tried to arrange lucrative deals to set up manufacturing plants for cluster bombs in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“Whenever we are involved with munitions of the type we have here, the combined effects munitions weapon, there’s a sense that unrestricted proliferation of that poses a danger not only to the immediate community but to the world at large,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Emmick.

‘Global Danger’

“I don’t think if the defendant leaves he has any interest in coming back. His release creates a global danger.”

Rymer said she was more worried that Cenci, of Costa Mesa, would disappear if released.

“Logic suggests that since the enterprise was formed there have got to be foreign contacts who are there and perhaps willing to be hospitable,” she said.

Cenci, Richard Nortman and Richard Schroeder were charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act by stealing plans for the cluster bomb and shipping plans and components abroad without proper U.S. State Department licenses.

Intercepted Package

Government officials say they intercepted at least one package from the men bound for Saudi Arabia with bomb components and plans in it.

Emmick said government investigators hope that they confiscated all the copies of cluster bomb data from the men, but they fear that if Cenci were released he could get copies they suspect are in a Swiss bank.

Emmick described Schroeder as “the mover and shaker” behind the plan because he did most of the negotiating with Saudi Arabian and Iraqi officials. The plan, Emmick said, turned on Cenci because he was the one who actually knows how to assemble the bomb.

Prosecutors claim that Schroeder and Cenci stole the technology from their former employer, Downey-based Aerojet Ordnance Co., the prime Air Force contractor for the bomb.

Offer Property Bond

In arguing for bail, Cenci’s lawyer, John Meyers, told Rymer that Cenci, his sister and his son had offered to post several properties as bond. He also emphasized that the technology allegedly shipped abroad is not classified and said that Cenci’s passport has been confiscated, limiting his travel abilities.

To minimize the importance of the government’s accusations, Meyers said Cenci told him that Aerojet officials had allowed visiting Japanese businessmen to examine parts of the non-classified cluster bomb technology.

“Aerojet was in the business of trying to sell it also,” he said.

After the hearing, Meyers told reporters he believes that any representations Cenci made to the Saudis and the Iraqis were insincere and part of a scheme to make quick money.

“I think he was scamming the Saudis and the Iraqis and never intended to deliver anything,” Meyers said.