Dukakis Not the Target of Probe--FBI : Agency Investigating State’s Plan to Buy Land for Penitentiary

The FBI said today it is investigating a plan to purchase land in the small Massachusetts town of New Braintree for a state prison but denied a Washington Times report that Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is a target of the inquiry.

Dukakis said his Administration had been “as open as it could possibly be” about the prison controversy.

“The FBI’s Boston field office is conducting an inquiry to ascertain whether federal statutes have been violated regarding the placement of a state prison at New Braintree, Mass., and/or the procurement of land for that prison,” FBI spokeswoman Kathy Bradford said in a statement issued in Washington.

“Gov. Michael Dukakis is not the subject of an investigation,” she said.

Residents Oppose Plan

The New Braintree prison siting issue is an ongoing controversy in Massachusetts as residents of the tiny community have vigorously oppose the siting plan. Dukakis has pursued the new prison to alleviate severe overcrowding at the state’s other facilities.

“We have very tough procedures for the acquisition of property,” Dukakis told reporters in Fall River after a meeting with mayors today.

“I assume it’s a continuation of the same kind of debate we have had about the New Braintree site ever since it began,” Dukakis said.

The FBI statement came in response to a front-page story in today’s Washington Times. The conservative newspaper said the bureau “is conducting a preliminary investigation of the conduct of Gov. Michael Dukakis and other high-ranking members of his Administration in connection with the 1986 selection” of the Braintree prison site.

Inside Information Probe

The paper said it had learned from law enforcement authorities, whom it did not name, that the FBI probe was “aimed at determining whether Mr. Dukakis or other state officials gave inside information to the owners of the site and whether the owners acted properly when they purchased the property and later offered it for sale to the state.”

Questions surrounding the prison developed when the owners of the former Pioneer Valley Academy in New Braintree--the proposed prison site--offered to sell the land to the state for $9.5 million.

A Norwood, Mass., development firm owned by Daniel Striar and Gary Jacobson purchased the land from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in December, 1985, for $3 million.

Jacobson has been a contributor to Dukakis’ political campaigns.

A state-funded appraisal of the property in 1986 valued the land at $8.7 million.

The current owners “aren’t going to make any $7-million profit on this piece of property,” said Kathy Robertson, a spokeswoman at the state planning division.