Cases Wrapped Up Against Paramilitary Forest Unit

The case of the paramilitary would-be bounty hunters from Los Angeles was an odd one to start with and ended in much the same way.

They dressed in camouflage as they ran their unusual operations in the state’s forests last year. And the seven who were arrested in April were accused, among other things, of impersonating federal agents.

On Tuesday, the U. S. attorney’s office in Fresno announced that all the cases had finally worked their way through the courts. But in the course of it, the leader of the group, who claimed to have once been a colonel in the French Foreign Legion, unexpectedly pleaded guilty to all the charges against him just as his trial was about to begin.

Another of the participants demanded a jury trial even after being offered a plea bargain with no jail time. The jury quickly found him guilty of conspiracy to falsely impersonate a government employee and he can be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

In April, six men and a woman, all from the Los Angeles area, were arrested on charges stemming from allegations that the group ran illegal paramilitary operations in wilderness areas of the state, including stockpiling weapons and constructing a large bunker in Angeles National Forest.

They were also accused of saying they worked for a federal law enforcement organization called the U. S. Enforcement Agency. At the time, officials said the group’s members variously represented themselves as working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U. S. Postal Service and U. S. Customs Service. The U. S. Enforcement Agency was, in fact, a private company specializing in providing bouncers to nightclubs.

Last week, the last of the cases were settled. By then, charges against the woman had been dismissed, while three other participants pleaded guilty to lesser charges. That left Peter Thomas Clarke, the leader of the group; Jack Tsung Shieng Wu, Clark’s second-in-command, and Otis Cooper Jr., identified by officials as vice president of the actual U. S. Enforcement Agency.

Wu pleaded guilty to lesser charges of conspiracy to commit damage to public property and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Clarke pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, with no discussion of a plea bargain. Clarke could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and a $1-million fine.

Finally, Cooper demanded a jury trial, at which both Clarke and Wu testified against him. The jury found him guilty Thursday.