NORTHRIDGE : Rader, Acquitted of Murders, Is Freed

A British subject, acquitted last week on charges he murdered four members of a Northridge family who disappeared in 1982, has been released from custody by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Harvey Rader, 49, was released from the immigration service’s holding center at Terminal Island after friends posted $20,000 bail Tuesday. Following the conclusion of his murder trial, Rader was detained for allegedly using fraud to obtain a U.S. visa.

“He was tremendously relieved and excited to be free,” defense lawyer Joel R. Isaacson said. “His plans were to see his son, and have a good meal and a good night’s sleep, and figure out the rest of his life.”

Isaacson said Rader’s release from custody Tuesday was the first time since April, 1987, that he has been free. However, he faces a scheduled July 27 deportation hearing on charges that he obtained a U.S. visa through fraud in 1981 by concealing the fact that he had 13 criminal convictions in Britain.

Rader, a former Reseda auto shop owner, was acquitted July 8 of charges that he murdered former Israeli soldier Sol Salomon; Salomon’s wife, Elaine; their son, Mitchell, 9, and Elaine Salomon’s daughter, Michalle, 15.

It was the third time Rader has been tried on charges stemming from the disappearances. The first trial in 1989 ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked. In 1990, a second trial was declared a mistrial when it was discovered that the public defender was representing a prosecution witness as well as Rader.