Orange County Man Accused of Selling Computers to Soviets Seized in the Yukon

A fugitive Orange County man, charged in 1983 with selling computer technology to the Soviet Union, has been arrested in the tiny Yukon fishing town of Teslin by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal who had seen his photo on a wanted poster.

Charles McVey, 57, was arrested Wednesday after RCMP Cpl. Daniel Fudge spotted him in a restaurant the day before. McVey, who was on the U.S. Customs Service’s list of the 10 most-wanted high-technology smugglers, had been missing since before his indictment on charges of illegally shipping more than $15 million worth of computer equipment to the Soviet Union.

The scheme was believed to have been one of the largest illegal computer export businesses ever investigated by the U.S. Customs Service’s “Operation Exodus,” aimed at stopping the flow of technology to the Soviet Union.

Fudge spotted McVey Tuesday and made the arrest Wednesday, after obtaining an arrest warrant. Accompanied by other law enforcement officials, he took the 6-foot-3, 300-pound businessman into custody at a private residence where McVey had been staying during a fishing trip. McVey surrendered peacefully, Fudge said.

“He didn’t seem surprised,” Fudge said. “He admitted he was McVey and that he was wanted in the States.”

Faces Extradition

On Friday afternoon, McVey appeared in court in Vancouver, Canada, to face extradition proceedings, a spokesman said. His case was postponed until Monday, when McVey is expected to apply for bail.

McVey lived in Villa Park and ran several Anaheim-based businesses before the indictment. Last year he was fined $1.24 million by the U.S. Commerce Department in absentia and was denied all export privileges for 30 years.

Fudge, a 15-year member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who was assigned to the three-man detachment in Teslin only three weeks ago, said he had not been contacted by U.S. authorities to be on the lookout for McVey and there apparently had been no recent renewed effort by customs officials to track him down.

But Fudge said he had been notified by another Mountie who had been posted in Teslin previously that McVey could be in the area. The other officer had spoken with a resident who “said he might be around,” Fudge said. So Fudge pulled out the file on McVey that was kept in the Teslin office and reviewed the photograph and information on the fugitive.

According to the Customs Service, McVey was traveling on a Guatemalan passport issued in Rome under the name of Carlos Juan Williams.

‘Said a Lot of Things’

Fudge said he chatted with McVey during a two-hour drive to the Mounties’ Yukon headquarters in Whitehorse, but Fudge was reluctant to divulge many details.

“He said a lot of things,” Fudge said. “Guatemala was mentioned. He said he had been residing there over a year.”

McVey also mentioned living in Switzerland, the Mountie said, adding: “I got the impression that he’s fairly well to do. I don’t think he suffers in wants too much. The man’s a very bright individual. He knows what’s facing him, and he’s well aware of the consequences, of what’s going to happen to him if he’s convicted.”

According to the Customs Service, if McVey is convicted on the original charges, he could receive a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison and more than $500,000 in fines.

The 1983 indictment charged McVey and two others--Rolf Leinhard, a Swiss national, and Yuri Boyarinov, a Russian national--with illegally exporting $15 million worth of state-of-the-art computers and peripheral equipment to the Soviet Union during a 4 1/2-year period. They were also charged with conspiracy and making false statements to government officials. Leinhard and Boyarinov remain fugitives.

Times staff writer John Tighe contributed to this article.