SAN DIEGO : IRA Suspect to Face Charges in S.F.

A man alleged to be an escaped IRA terrorist was ordered sent to San Francisco on Tuesday to face charges of using false information to obtain a U.S. passport.

The man prosecutors say is 33-year-old Kevin Barry John Artt was indicted two weeks ago by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on charges of assuming the name of Kevin Thomas Keohane, a boy who died in 1970, and using his identity to obtain a passport six years ago.

U.S. Magistrate Leo S. Papas signed a removal order late Tuesday afternoon that handed Artt over to federal marshals from Northern California.

Defense attorney Marc Geller continually referred to his client as Keohane while before Papas, but he refused outside the courtroom to answer a question about whether that is his client’s true identity.

Prosecutors claim the man in custody escaped from the notorious Maze prison outside of Belfast in 1983, where he was sent after being convicted of gunning down a British prison official.

Artt was arrested June 3 at his houseboat moored on Mission Bay. Authorities said he lived in La Mesa and Carlsbad during his seven years in California and obtained both a driver’s license and a permit to sell automobiles under the name of Keohane.

Artt was brought into court under tightened security Tuesday. Clad in full leg and wrist shackles, he smiled and mouthed a few words to supporters gathered in the courtroom.