Guilty Plea in Skinhead Weapon Case : Crime: In a deal with prosecutors, woman would get probation but submit to drug treatment.

A 22-year-old Anaheim woman, arrested as part of a federal investigation into the criminal activities of white supremacist skinheads, pleaded guilty Monday to possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun.

In obtaining a guilty plea from Jill Marie Scarborough, federal prosecutors said they have agreed to recommend that she be given one year’s probation at her Jan. 3 sentencing in U.S. District Court. As a condition of probation, however, she would have to submit to frequent drug testing and treatment. Last month, Scarborough was ordered back into custody after failing her seventh straight drug test.

Scarborough had faced up to 10 years in jail, an additional three-year supervised probation period and a $250,000 fine.

In July, federal authorities arrested Scarborough and her boyfriend, Geremy C. Von Rineman, and charged them with possession of the 12-gauge shotgun. Two undercover FBI informants had befriended the couple and later paid $400 for the shotgun, according to a federal complaint.

“I believe the plea agreement is in her best interest, and the terms are very favorable to her, and I’m confident that the court will sentence her only to probation,” said James L. Waltz, Scarborough’s attorney.

Federal agents say that Von Rineman was a member of the Florida-based Church of the Creator, a white supremacy group, and that Scarborough shared his views. Von Rineman and Scarborough exchanged vows three years ago during an “Aryan Fest” in Oklahoma, according to friends.

After Von Rineman was shot and paralyzed in 1989 during a race-related incident in Van Nuys, Scarborough wrote to the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) newsletter and asked that her boyfriend’s assailants be found.

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Von Rineman is expected to be accepted into a diversion program, which could lead to the dismissal of the count against him. He is scheduled for a hearing on his case Monday.

Waltz asserted in motions filed last month with the court that the evidence against Scarborough and Von Rineman is weak and that the cases should have been dismissed for a number of reasons, including untimely prosecution.

Waltz said federal agents seized the gun in November, 1991, but did not file a complaint against the pair until nearly two years later.

In making a motion to have the indictment against her client dismissed, Waltz said the delay was “prejudicial to any defendant, and certainly the government should justify and/or explain the lengthy delay to the court’s satisfaction.”

Waltz’s motion also asserts that an FBI agent told Scarborough’s mother and her mother’s friend that federal authorities cared little about charging Scarborough, but rather were interested in obtaining information to be used against Tom Metzger, the founder of WAR. The charge was only filed, Waltz said in court documents, because Scarborough refused to cooperate.

“The pending charge could have been filed nearly two years ago, and nothing happened until the government commenced an independent investigation of Tom Metzger and his associates,” Waltz wrote.

The defense motion also said the shotgun did not belong to the couple but was left behind in an Anaheim apartment by the previous tenant. Because of the delay in charging Scarborough, he said, the weapon’s owner has been difficult to find.

In the past several months, federal authorities have denied allegations that the charges against any of the alleged skinheads were unfair, although Metzger and others say the government acted overzealously.

Last Thursday, Waltz withdrew his motions and agreed to have Scarborough plead guilty in exchange for the government’s recommendation of probation.