Figure in ADL Spy Case Arrested at S.F. Airport : Espionage: Former police officer is taken into custody upon arriving from Philippines, where he had fled after FBI interrogation.

A former San Francisco police officer who fled to the Philippines amid accusations that he funneled confidential law enforcement information to an investigator for the Anti-Defamation League was arrested at the airport here on 11 felony charges, police said Friday.

Thomas J. Gerard, who abruptly left the United States in October after the FBI questioned him about his activities, was apprehended Thursday night after a source in the Philippines told investigators that Gerard was returning home.

Gerard, 50, was booked into San Francisco County Jail early Friday morning on eight counts of theft of government documents and one count each of computer theft, burglary and conspiracy.

If convicted on all charges, Gerard could face 16 years in prison and $40,000 in fines. Bail was initially set at $250,000 after police argued that he was a flight risk, but it was later reduced to $20,000. A friend of Gerard was trying to post bail late Friday afternoon, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

Gerard returned to the United States because he missed his wife and child, with whom he lived on a houseboat in Sausalito, and “wanted to have his day in court,” said Police Capt. John Willett, his former boss and one of two arresting officers.

Gerard, an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1982 to 1985, also feared that the CIA was out to kill him, Willett said. In an interview with The Times last month, Gerard threatened to disclose illegal CIA support of death squads in Central America if he was indicted and tried on the San Francisco spying charges.

Gerard is a central figure in a scandal over an intelligence network operated by the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization. Investigators allege that Gerard illegally gave criminal histories and other confidential information to Roy Bullock, a San Francisco art dealer who said he has been an undercover ADL intelligence operative for 40 years.

Investigators said they found confidential police files in Bullock’s home computer--which contained entries on 10,000 people and 950 groups--and in boxes in his apartment. Files have also been seized under search warrants from ADL offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles but authorities have not disclosed their contents.

Gerard could not be reached for comment Friday, and his attorney, James Lassart, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. In the interview with The Times last last month, however, Gerard acknowledged snooping and sharing some information with Bullock, but denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Bullock and Gerard also are under investigation for selling intelligence to South Africa.

ADL officials have described Bullock as a $550-a-week independent contractor and have vigorously denied knowledge of any illegal activity. On Friday, ADL lawyer Jerrold Ladar said Gerard’s arrest “has nothing to do with ADL. Other than that, we have no comment on the case.”

Arab-American groups--which were a main target of the spying, according to police--applauded the arrest and pressed authorities to pursue the investigation.

“We urge investigators to carry this case forward and to publicly disclose the full extent of ADL and law enforcement involvement,” said James Zogby, head of the Arab American Institute in Washington.

Police, meanwhile, characterized Gerard’s arrest--the first in the inquiry into the spying scandal--as an unexpected breakthrough. A former police colleague of Gerard, Inspector Fred Mollat, visited Gerard several weeks ago and urged him to return home.

“I knew he wouldn’t want to live on an island on the lam forever, but we didn’t think it would happen this quickly,” Capt. Willett said. “This development really speeds up our timetable on the case.”

During his 25-year career on the police force, Gerard was a highly regarded officer known for his work in the department’s intelligence division. His last assignment was on the gang task force.

After FBI agents questioned Gerard last fall, he took early retirement and fled to the remote jungle island of Palawan, 300 miles south of Manila.

Gerard was arrested at 8:40 p.m. as he stepped from his Philippines Airlines flight. He was traveling alone and looked tanned but haggard after his six-month hiatus, police said.

“He was surprised when he saw us standing there, and got a shocked look on his face,” Willett said. “Then he said, ‘Hello, I’m back.’ ”