Church Member Pleads Guilty in Bomb Case

A member of the Bible Missionary Fellowship church pleaded guilty Monday to one count of maliciously attempting to “damage and destroy” a San Diego abortion clinic and was allowed to be freed from jail pending his sentencing next month.

With Eric Svelmoe’s release Monday night from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, at least one area abortion provider that has been heavily picketed by members of the fundamentalist Baptist church warned that “the women of San Diego will no longer be safe.”

“My initial reaction is one of shock,” said Patricia O’Neil, an associate director of the Womancare clinic. “I’m convinced Eric Svelmoe was caught and is now accused and I’m concerned he may conspire to plant more bombs.

“So, do I consider Eric Svelmoe a personal threat? Yes, I do. I surely do.”

Svelmoe’s attorney, Richard Boesen, said: “I don’t think they have anything to worry about. I believe it (the crime) was an aberration and an incident not likely to ever happen again.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry A. Burns also said that Svelmoe had repented of the attempted pipe bombing during his incarceration over the past four and a half months and no longer posed a danger to society.

The government allowed Svelmoe to plead guilty to one charge, dismissing four other counts in the July 29 indictment, in return for his cooperation in the prosecution of six other church members in the attempted abortion clinic bombing, in addition to the Rev. Dorman Owens.

“He’s had a change of heart,” Burns said. “Three or four months of reflection has allowed him to come around.”

Under the terms of his guilty plea, Svelmoe, 30, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam scheduled a sentencing date for Jan. 25.

The judge also gave Svelmoe one week to post a $250,000 surety bond, and ordered that, if he is released, he refrain from any contact with members of the church in Santee and that he not possess any firearms or explosives.

The judge did permit Svelmoe to visit his parents in Huntington Beach and to travel to Riverside County, where he has worked as an airplane mechanic.

Cooperated With Authorities

Svelmoe was arrested in July after a San Diego police intelligence officer watched him place a pipe bomb at the Family Planning Associates Medical Group on Alvarado Road. He has since cooperated with federal authorities in their widening investigation, which led to charges being filed Nov. 5 against Owens and six other parishioners for conspiring to bomb the clinic.

Owens, pastor of the church, has also been charged with witness tampering as a result of tape-recorded visits he made to see Svelmoe in jail. Owens remains in MCC, after twice being denied bail.

At Monday’s hearing, Svelmoe, the father of three children--one of them born after he was arrested--gave a succinct recounting to Gilliam of the attempted bombing.

“I placed a destructive device, a pipe bomb taped alongside a gas can, next to the door and lit the fuse,” he said. “Then I drove away from the area.”

Asked by the judge if he was aware of the services provided at the clinic, Svelmoe replied: “At the time, it was a family planning clinic that performed abortions.”

‘Believes in Repentance’

Svelmoe pleaded guilty to a charge that he “did maliciously attempt to damage and destroy, by means of fire and explosives,” the Family Planning Associates clinic. The charges dismissed against him alleged that he manufactured, possessed and transported the pipe bomb, and was carrying a .357-magnum revolver at the time of his arrest.

Asked after the hearing why Svelmoe pleaded guilty to part of the indictment, Boesen said: “That’s always a client’s decision. He’s a Christian. He believes in repentance and he believes in accountability and he’s living up to those standards. And he thought that this decision was in his best interests.”

Burns was asked what assurance the government now has that Svelmoe will not attempt to conspire with other church members to cover up their responsibility in the bomb conspiracy.

“That’s unlikely,” the assistant U.S. attorney said. “Particularly in light of the fact that Pastor Owens is in custody. I think the word is out that we will not tolerate that kind of behavior. That’s the last thing they will want to do.”

Burns also said he fully expects Svelmoe to cooperate as a key government witness when Owens and the other defendants stand trial next year. “He’s an important witness,” Burns said. “He knew of the involvement of the others. He was one of the key conspirators himself.”

‘Heighten Our Security’

But others, like O’Neil from Womancare, worried that Svelmoe’s release was a threat to San Diego area abortion providers. “We’ll have to heighten our security, just as we would if Dorman Owens got out,” she said. “I know that Eric Svelmoe did what he did out of his strong moral and religious beliefs, which I doubt have changed much in such a short time.”

Also on Monday, Womancare filed a motion for a new trial in federal court in a case it lost in September to five abortion protesters who were falsely arrested outside the Hillcrest clinic.

The protesters were awarded a total of about $60,000 after a federal court jury found that their First Amendment rights were violated when Womancare officials made citizens’ arrests, believing that the protesters had gone beyond a court injunction for picketers imposed against Owens and his church members.

In their motion for a new trial, Womancare noted that one of the arrested protesters was Cheryl Sullenger, who is also one of the church members charged in the bomb conspiracy of the Family Planning Associates clinic.

She added that Womancare also hopes to present new evidence that anti-abortion groups, such as members of the Bible Missionary Fellowship, had planned to bomb two clinics along with the Family Planning Associates this summer. She said the two others were Womancare and a Planned Parenthood center in Pacific Beach.