Pastor Urged Defendant to Lie, Prosecutors Say : Jail Conversations of Suspects in Abortion Clinic Bomb Plot Were Recorded

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they had tape-recorded two jail-house conversations in which a fundamentalist Baptist preacher charged in a conspiracy to bomb a San Diego abortion clinic urged another defendant in the case to lie to protect fellow church members.

At a hearing to determine whether the Rev. Dorman Owens would be released on bail, government officials charged that the pastor “attempted to obstruct justice” through witness tampering in two conversations with Eric Svelmoe, who is accused of placing a pipe bomb on the doorstep of the Family Planning Associates Medical Group in July. Svelmoe is now cooperating with prosecutors.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry A. Burns said the recordings, made before Owens’ arrest last week, “clearly demonstrate” that the pastor was “attempting to ensure” that the already jailed Svelmoe “not become a witness . . . against others in this conspiracy.”

Such evidence, Burns argued, supports the government’s contention that Owens should be detained pending his trial on seven felony counts in connection with the conspiracy.

Defense attorney Jan Ronis, meanwhile, disputed the charges and argued that the recordings largely suggest “a conversation between old friends.” Ronis said that Owens’ three sons and seven friends had volunteered to put their homes up as bond for the pastor’s release and said his client also has offered to relinquish his duties at the Bible Missionary Fellowship in Santee pending resolution of his case.

‘Willing to Remove Himself’

“He is willing to remove himself from the church if there is a concern about his contact with potential witnesses or defendants in the case,” Ronis said.

Federal Magistrate Barry Ted Moskowitz said he would make no decision on Owens’ fate until he listens to the tapes, which span 2 1/2 hours of conversations that occurred at the downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Svelmoe has been since his arrest immediately after the bomb attempt.

“It’s inescapable that I’m going to have to listen to these tape recordings,” Moskowitz said after a 90-minute hearing before a courtroom audience brimming with Owens’ relatives and church followers, one of whom clutched a worn, leather-bound Bible throughout the proceeding.

Moskowitz said he would attempt to determine whether “there are conditions that could be imposed” upon the pastor’s release that would allay prosecutors’ concerns that Owens may further attempt to influence witnesses in the case. Among options Moskowitz appeared to be considering were placing Owens under some form of detention in his own home or assigning him to a halfway house in the community. The magistrate will announce his decision Thursday.

Owens, 54, and six members of his congregation were arrested last week and charged with conspiring to bomb the Family Planning Associates Medical Group on July 27. The Santee church is widely known for its frequent pickets of family-planning and abortion clinics around San Diego and also has participated in many anti-homosexual demonstrations.

Other Conspiracies Alleged

Although the charges concern only the July incident, prosecutors allege that Owens and his followers also conspired to bomb two other organizations--a Planned Parenthood office and Womancare Clinic, a feminist health-care facility in Hillcrest.

Before Owens’ hearing Tuesday, officials from Womancare and the local chapter of the National Organization for Women held a press conference to urge Moskowitz to detain the pastor until his trial. Womancare Director Deborah Fleming, flanked by sign-bearing supporters, accused Owens and his followers of waging a “campaign of harassment against women that violates their rights to reproductive freedom.”

“This is not an isolated case,” Fleming said of the indictment. “This is part of a conspiracy on the part of these people against clinics throughout the nation . . . We believe (Owens) is responsible for the climate that exists here and the harassment we have been subject to and therefore oppose his release on bail.”

The indictment is the product of a three-month joint investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the San Diego Police Department. In July, police arrested Svelmoe, a 32-year-old carpenter, for allegedly placing a pipe bomb taped to a two-gallon gasoline can on the doorstep of the medical group on Alvarado Road. The fuse on the bomb burned out and there was no explosion.

According to the indictment, the seven defendants planned the bombing during a series of meetings in May and July of this year. At least one meeting allegedly took place in the church, while another is said to have occurred at Owens’ home in El Cajon.

Others Arrested

Prosecutors say the defendants bought chemicals, gunpowder and other materials to build the pipe bomb and gave the materials to Svelmoe, who allegedly tested “explosive devices” in Ocotillo, a small community near El Centro, and in the desert outside Yuma. Court documents also say Svelmoe detonated a bomb in an open area near Jamul the day before he allegedly planted a similar device at the Family Planning Associates Medical Group.

Also arrested in connection with the episode were the Rev. Kenneth Neal Felder, 39, of El Cajon, the associate pastor; JoAnn Kreipal, 37, a Santee housewife; Christopher Eugene Harmon, 24, an apartment manager in Spring Valley, and his wife, Robin Lynn Harmon, 22, manager of a beauty supply company, and Randall Ray Sullenger, 35, of El Cajon, and his wife, Cheryl Dean Sullenger, 32.

Like Owens, they are all charged with conspiracy to bomb and to commit arson, unlawful possession of a destructive device, manufacturing a destructive device, interstate transportation of explosives and attempted bombing and arson. The maximum penalty for each of the counts is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In a separate indictment, Owens is charged with attempting to persuade Svelmoe to withhold testimony from prosecutors during two conversations the pair had on Nov. 2 and 3 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. If convicted of that charge, Owens faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Cooperating With Prosecutors

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Svelmoe was cooperating with prosecutors and agreed to tape-record the conversations he had with Owens. Summarizing salient aspects of the conversations, Burns said the recordings reveal “a not-so-subtle effort (by Owens) to make Svelmoe persist in his denials” of guilt to prosecutors.

Burns said the tapes show that Owens made “a religious appeal” urging Svelmoe to stand firm and not cooperate with the government and also made “an appeal based on money,” asking the jailed man whether “he has enough money to get by” and assuring him “we will provide whatever money he needs.”

Owens allegedly also told Svelmoe he has contacted others involved in the scheme and that they “will stand firm . . . He reiterates time and again that without Svelmoe’s cooperation, the government will not have a case,” Burns said.

Burns said the tapes also show that the pastor attempted to persuade Svelmoe to provide testimony that is “fairly close to accurate” but does not implicate two of the defendants, the Rev. Felder and Kreipal. Finally, Burns charged that Owens urged Svelmoe to “make false statements by saying he does not recall” certain aspects of the alleged conspiracy.

Owens’ “entire effort is seeing to it that he’s not given up by Mr. Svelmoe,” Burns said.

As if “aware of the consequences of his actions,” the pastor frequently lowered his voice to a whisper and at one point wrote comments to Svelmoe on a note card later confiscated by prosecutors, Burns said. And on Nov. 3, government officials’ attempt to videotape the conversation was spoiled when Owens noticed a two-way mirror and moved to another section of the jail-house conference area.

The prosecutor concluded that based on such conduct, Owens could be expected to again attempt to tamper with witnesses and therefore should not be released. Burns also said that Owens had twice been arrested and cited for contempt of court for violating restraining orders prohibiting him from picketing within a certain range of an abortion clinic.

‘Cannot be Trusted’

“Our position is that given his extreme philosophy and views that he just cannot be trusted,” Burns said. “He feels he is immune from court orders . . . and characterizes the war he is fighting as not just a war against the abortionists but a war against the court.”

Defense attorney Ronis presented a dramatically different summary of the tape recordings, arguing that “at no time in listening to this tape could one come to the conclusion that these were anything but two old friends talking about a whole lot of different things.”

Ronis noted that it was Svelmoe who initiated the conversations--not Owens--and said Svelmoe’s cooperation with the government represented a “betrayal” of an old friend. Ronis said the conversations between the two men did not focus solely on the current case but ranged from dissatisfaction over the resolution of the Sagon Penn case to expressions of mutual admiration for Lt. Col. Oliver North.

The defense attorney conceded, however, that the second conversation contained comments somewhat “damning” to Owens, namely that the pastor said “it might be better if in his debriefing he exclude the mention of certain people.”

“That is of concern to Rev. Owens but in no way do I mean to suggest that it justifies his detention,” Ronis said. He requested that Moskowitz allow his client to return home under the supervision of a family member and under conditions deemed appropriate by the court.

Relatives and followers of Owens, who began lining up for seats in the courtroom almost an hour before the hearing, declined to comment on the case.