6 Members of Paramilitary Group Charged

Five men and a woman were arraigned in federal court Monday on charges stemming from allegations that the group ran illegal paramilitary operations in wilderness areas in the state, including stockpiling weapons and constructing a large underground bunker in Angeles National Forest.

Of the six, two were held without bail: Peter Thomas Clark, 34, of Culver City, and John Delacruz, 30, of Los Angeles. Bail ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 was set for the other four, identified as Jack Tsung Shieng Wu, 23, of Simi Valley; Rebecca Lynn Perkins, 27, of Montebello; Daniel Gomez, 21, of Los Angeles, and Robert Ramos, 29, of Whittier.

A seventh person, Darren Delacruz, was being sought by authorities. A man identifying himself as Delacruz told The Times by telephone Monday that he was contemplating turning himself in.

He also said that he, his brother, John, and Perkins had left the organization after only two days because of the bizarre nature of Clark, its leader.

“This guy is really sick and deranged,” the man said.

All were charged with conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, impersonation of a U.S. officer and malicious destruction of federal property.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the defendants said that investigators had been overzealous in investigating the activities, which involved building camps in national forests and, officials maintained, impersonating federal agents when confronted by law enforcement officers in the Sequoia and Los Padres national forests.

“The case has been blown out of proportion, believe me,” said Clark’s lawyer, William O’Bryan. “Impersonating an officer--give me a break, folks, that’s nothing.”

Monday’s events were the culmination of a series of happenings stretching back to February, when a group of seven people was seen in the Sequoia National Forest. According to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, they had built a trench and seemed to be running a paramilitary operation.

Officials said members of the group identified themselves as part of the U.S. Enforcement Agency, giving the impression they were federal agents who worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Customs Service. (The U.S. Enforcement Agency is, in fact, a private company that specializes in providing bouncers to nightclubs.)

The same thing happened in Los Padres National Forest, near Santa Barbara, when five of the group were again quizzed by a sheriff’s deputy. Finally, some group members were seen building a bunker in Angeles National Forest.

The six group members arraigned Monday were arrested over the weekend.

During the course of the arraignment, it became clear that Clark was considered the ringleader of the operation. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Hardiman said Clark, who carries an Irish passport, claimed to have been a colonel in the French Foreign Legion. But Hardiman said Clark could have been no more than 14 or 15 years old at the time, although a certificate was discovered in Clark’s apartment attesting to his enlistment in the Foreign Legion.

“On its face it is of dubious authenticity,” Hardiman said of the certificate.

It also emerged from the hearing that Clark and another of the group, identified as Eric Steffen, who was not charged, had gotten into a fight. Steffen apparently had to be rescued by another group member, Wu, who also was identified as a major financial backer of the operation.

The man identifying himself as Darren Delacruz said Clark’s idea was for the group to become international bounty hunters. Members, who dressed in camouflage fatigues and carried weapons in their forest operations, were preparing for that task, he said. But Delacruz said he did not think the group had done anything illegal.

“No one even fired a shot,” he said.