Marines to Free Consulate Guard, May Discharge Him

The Marine Corps, encountering more problems in prosecuting embassy guards for security breaches, announced Wednesday that a former guard suspected of espionage is being released from the Camp Pendleton, Calif., brig because the military statute of limitations has expired in his case.

But the corps said it would seek to discharge Sgt. John J. Weirick, who was a security guard at the U.S. consulate in Leningrad in 1981 and 1982, and that it would refer his case to the Justice Department for possible civilian prosecution.

Detained in Brig

A Justice Department spokesman said that “we are going to take the case under review” but that there are no plans for civilian authorities to arrest Weirick on his release from the brig, where he has been detained since April 7.

Weirick, 26, of Eureka, Calif., was a member of the six-man Marine security detachment at the Leningrad consulate from Nov. 18, 1981, to Dec. 2, 1982. He was serving at the Marine Air Station at Tustin, Calif., when he was arrested last month for what Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims described at the time as “suspicion of espionage and unreported contacts with Soviet civilians, including women.”

However, military prosecutors ran afoul of the three-year statute of limitations set by the Uniform Military Code of Justice. Under civilian federal law, the statute of limitations is five years, the Justice Department spokesman said.

To Return to Unit

In announcing that Weirick would be freed from the Camp Pendleton brig, the Marines said he “will be returned to his unit in a full-duty status. However, because of the seriousness of the alleged offenses, it is anticipated that he will be recommended for administrative discharge.”

A Justice Department spokesman said that Weirick could be prosecuted under civilian law even while he is in the military. But the spokesman stressed that no decision will be made until the department’s review is completed.

The Marine Corps announced Weirick’s release only days after it had dropped the most explosive charges against Sgt. Clayton J. Lonetree, a former guard at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the first arrested in the investigation of security breaches.

A Marine general ruled last week that Lonetree could not be prosecuted for allegedly allowing Soviet agents into the embassy’s secure areas because the charges were based on hearsay evidence. But Lonetree was ordered held for a court-martial on charges that he allegedly provided classified information and documents to the Soviets.

Confession Recanted

Pretrial hearings are now under way for Lonetree’s accused accomplice, Cpl. Arnold Bracy, a former Moscow guard who has recanted a confession that figured prominently in the Marines’ case against Lonetree.

Pentagon officials have said that the only connection between Weirick’s case and those of Lonetree and Bracy is that Weirick’s alleged misconduct was discovered as the result of the Lonetree investigation.