FBI Infiltrator Was on Verge of Being Exposed

Even as the FBI was probing allegations of illegal arms trading by hate group members, white supremacists were compiling a detailed dossier on the chief federal informant and were preparing to expose him, according to documents and interviews.

A gregarious, heavyset man calling himself the Rev. Joe Allen had turned up in Southern California several years ago, flashing gold chains with Uzi and shark’s teeth charms dangling from them. He billed himself as a minister with Church of the Creator, and a Florida-based white supremacist group vouched for him.

But others grew suspicious when Allen offered to fund “underground activities for the white supremacist movement.” And they became concerned more than a year ago that Allen was betraying them. They were slow to act on their suspicions, however, in part because of feuding between two well-known white supremacy groups, the White Aryan Resistance and Church of the Creator.

Still, leaders of WAR and an investigator who works with the white supremacist movement said in interviews that they had just completed their background check of Allen a week ago and were prepared to “expose him to the fullest extent possible.”

Before the supremacists acted on their information, federal agents and police rounded up eight suspects on weapons charges involving dozens of illegal machine guns, rifles and shotguns. Sources said three of the white supremacists, including two juveniles, were members of the Fourth Reich Skinheads, a group accused of plotting to kill Rodney G. King and attack a black church congregation to incite a race war.

While the federal probe has raised grave concerns about the white supremacy movement and its capacity for violence, interviews with supremacists and law enforcement authorities also reveal a movement beset by rivalries and an obsession with rooting out government infiltrators. These internal divisions appeared to have worked to Allen’s advantage by impeding the white supremacists’ investigation into his background.

Sources close to the federal investigation said they knew some white supremacists harbored suspicions about Allen, and they believed he could be in danger. Although that was not the main reason for bringing the undercover operation to a halt last week, it was a consideration, they said.

“He’d been out there a long time,” one source said. “We knew it was only a matter of time before that was going to be a problem.”

In fact, documents and interviews with Southern California white supremacists suggest that Allen’s time had nearly run out.

Tom Metzger, founder and leader of the White Aryan Resistance, said he first met Allen about three years ago when Allen came to California. Metzger said he was suspicious from the start.

“I talked to him briefly,” Metzger said. “After we parted company, I didn’t want to have anything to do with this guy. We had bad vibes.”

In February, 1992, white supremacists began investigating Allen. But Allen hooked up with another white supremacist group, Church of the Creator, which mailed literature to him at a post office box in Orange County.

Allen rented a three-bedroom Newport Beach apartment just a few paces off the beach. He also settled into office space in a nearby light industrial area, converting it into what he called a “training center,” installing a whirlpool bath, weightlifting equipment and video cameras.

Flashing rolls of money and gold jewelry, Allen invited local skinheads to work out for free at his training center, which skinheads say he decorated with Nazi paraphernalia and guns. They say Allen offered hospitality--thick steaks and beer for barbecues--as well as money, including $500 used to bail out two or three young white supremacists in Canada.

Unknown to them, Allen had previous undercover experience. Although he is not named in law enforcement affidavits connected to the arrests last week, the lead undercover informant is described as someone who has been assisting the FBI since 1977 and who has “provided reliable information on at least two major undercover operations. Those undercover operations resulted in over 100 convictions.”

Sources close to the investigation have confirmed that the man who called himself Allen is the person described in the affidavits as “Confidential Informant 1.”

Metzger said that when he learned of the video cameras at Allen’s training center, it cemented his feeling that Allen was not to be trusted. Metzger warned members of his group to steer clear of Allen.

The informant kept at it, however, and succeeded in winning the confidence of some white supremacists. Affidavits filed in support of charges brought against eight people last week suggest that two of Allen’s earliest contacts were Geremy C. von Rineman and Jill Scarborough, both of Fullerton.

Allen ingratiated himself by buying a van for Rineman, who is paralyzed from the waist down, according to an investigator who works for the white supremacist movement. The investigator, who identified himself only as “D,” was contacted through Metzger. He described himself as a supporter of the movement who conducts counterintelligence work for white supremacist groups.

Although the van broke down and later had to be towed away, the gesture may have helped gain Rineman’s confidence. Federal agents said Rineman and Scarborough gave Allen a sawed-off shotgun on Nov. 24, 1991, and Allen later paid them $400 for it.

Only 22 years old, Rineman is nevertheless a well-known white supremacist, having been shot in 1989 in a confrontation with black and Latino youths. He was lauded in white supremacist literature, and Metzger called on “all racialists” to lend him assistance.

When WAR leaders heard of Allen’s overtures to Rineman, Metzger said, they worried that Allen was again trying to “worm his way in” to the inner workings of white supremacy groups.

During the past year, there were a series of incidents that white supremacists say raised doubts about Allen’s credentials.

Metzger said Allen attended an Aryan Nation meeting in Idaho about a year ago. That struck him as odd because Aryan Nation followers are Christians, while Allen’s avowed group, Church of the Creator, is vehemently anti-Christian.

Once, according to the investigator who works for white supremacists, Allen was questioned at length about the doctrine of the Church of the Creator. Allen’s lack of knowledge was revealing, the investigator said.

Also, over Labor Day weekend, Allen traveled to Milwaukee for a white supremacist party, and some of those in attendance spotted him photographing license plates in the parking lot, according to Rick McCarty, executive director of Church of the Creator. At the time, McCarty said, he thought people were being paranoid about Allen.

Rineman apparently grew suspicious of Allen. They exchanged angry letters in white supremacist publications several months ago. Rineman accused Allen of being an informant, while Allen defended himself against those who are “spreading vicious lies about me” and said Rineman was a “spoiled brat.”

Rineman broke with the Church of the Creator, and on June 10, McCarty again rose to Allen’s defense. In the church newsletter, he reprinted Allen’s refutation of the charges against him and added his own support for Allen.

By then, however, the whispers about Allen had spread and were creating a rift between WAR and Church of the Creator.

One Church of the Creator member in Olympia, Wash., wrote to Metzger this month to say that he was breaking his ties with the church because of McCarty’s continuing defense of Allen.

“Joe Allen has bought his way into the . . . organization as so many a provocateur has done in the past throughout many a White Racial movement,” that member said in the unsigned letter.

Meanwhile, a check into Allen’s background turned up a number of suspicious signs, according to Metzger and McCarty. Allen’s business could not be traced, and his stationery used an address that turned out to be a post office.

In addition, white supremacists were skeptical because Allen did not appear to work and had claimed that he only paid $750 a month for his beachfront apartment.

McCarty, Allen’s most steadfast supporter, began to have his own doubts. In late June or early July, he called Metzger.

“Metzger said he was convinced the guy was an informant,” McCarty said in an interview. “But let’s say he is an informant. Who cares? Just don’t do anything illegal. That’s what I figured.”

Metzger said he consulted with other leaders of his group, and they decided to put Allen on the spot. Just one week before the arrests, Metzger’s Oklahoma-based director, Dennis Mahone, sent Metzger a note stating: “Joe Allen needs to tell about his past, I agree.”

Before they had the chance to confront Allen, however, federal authorities halted the undercover portion of their operation. On Thursday, they filed charges against eight people--six adults and two juveniles were charged with weapons violations. The two juveniles and one of the adults, all alleged members of the Fourth Reich Skinheads, also are suspected of plotting to kill Rodney G. King and to bomb the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. Although most of the adult suspects had no contact with the Fourth Reich Skinheads, Allen and an undercover FBI agent were investigating all eight.

Today, Allen’s training center is locked up. The government’s undercover probe is complete, although agents continue to compile evidence and more arrests may follow. Allen’s whereabouts are unknown.

But a few reminders of his efforts linger. On the outside wall of the training center hangs a sign: “Warning. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.”

Times staff writer Greg Hernandez in Orange County contributed to this article.