Wife Only a Follower in Disappearance, Witness Says

A former Santa Monica teacher, charged with helping her husband steal a motor home and $120,000 from a Glendale accountant who mysteriously disappeared, is a timid woman with low self-esteem who did not question the actions of her husband, a psychologist said Wednesday during the final day of testimony in the couple’s trial.

Jan Vicki Fine, 38, and Stanley Alan Hershey, 46, are on trial in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on 18 counts of conspiracy, transportation of stolen vehicles across state lines and illegal use of automated banking cards.

The vehicles and money belonged to Gordon T. Johnson, 62, who sold his Glendale house after he retired last year, bought a $219,000 motor home and a four-wheel-drive Suzuki and took up a life of travel with his dog.

But Johnson and the dog have not been seen or heard from since he telephoned relatives Oct. 15, 1989, after leaving Bend, Ore. Authorities suspect that Johnson was killed on Oct. 15 or Oct. 16 and that his body may have been dumped in Lake Shasta in Northern California. No murder charges have been filed because murder is not a federal offense. But local authorities are still conducting a murder investigation.

Fine and Hershey were arrested by the FBI March 1 in Las Vegas, where they were found with Johnson’s Suzuki and banking cards. They had left the motor home at a recreation park in Arizona.

Fine testified that her husband told her that Johnson gave them the vehicles and money for spiritual reasons.

Hershey’s only defense by his court-appointed attorney was that the government has no proof that Hershey and Fine did not have permission from Johnson to use his credit cards, checking account or his motor home and the Suzuki. He did not testify and no witnesses appeared in his defense.

But Fine’s attorney attempted during the six-day trial to separate her client from Hershey. Federal Public Defender Franny Forsman portrayed Fine, who is due to give birth to her first child Nov. 8, as emotionally insecure and subservient to the demands of others.

Fine testified that she and her husband, both teachers with master’s degrees, practiced “channeling,” in which they relied on spirits to guide their destiny. She said she believed her husband had a special connection with a spirit guide.

“I wanted to trust what Stan said to me,” she told a jury. “He had no reason to lie to me. Our association with Gordon was spiritually directed. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Fine said in court on Tuesday that she was ill the day Johnson disappeared but admitted that she and her spouse had spent time with the man at Lake Shasta.

Fine said she, her husband and Johnson stayed at the lake--the couple in their motor home and Johnson in his--but that she last saw Johnson on Oct. 14 when they had dinner together. She said she stayed inside her camper on Oct. 15. Johnson and his motor home were gone by Oct. 16, when Fine and Hershey went boating on the lake, Fine testified.

Fine said her husband told her Johnson decided to drop off his motor home in Redding and return to Los Angeles. Her husband also told her that Johnson gave them permission to use the motor home and his bank account, Fine said.

She said she was not aware until after their arrest that they had spent almost all of Johnson’s life savings.

“I didn’t know until this came about that Gordon had no other money. . . . Again, I was under the impression we had permission and were doing nothing wrong,” Fine said.