Defendant Was Wired by FBI, Court Told : Courts: Ex-Compton Councilwoman Patricia Moore wore concealed device during corruption inquiry in Compton, prosecutor says. Same probe snared Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, convicted Friday.

Former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore, who contends she is the target of a government plot against black politicians, wore a concealed body wire for the FBI during an investigation of official corruption in Compton, a federal prosecutor said Monday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Potter made the disclosure during a federal court hearing on motions to suppress evidence and to dismiss the case against Moore.

Moore is scheduled to go on trial next month on charges of extorting bribes from two companies that had matters pending before the City Council in 1991 and 1992.

In response to a question from U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall, Potter said the government planned to use a number of self-incriminating statements Moore made to the FBI, the IRS and the grand jury.

Among them, he said, were statements she made while wearing a concealed body recorder for the FBI between March and August, 1994.

Outside the courtroom, Moore said she was forced to wear the recorder, but could not recall how many times she used it or who was recorded.

After her first indictment in 1994, Moore entered into an agreement to plead guilty and help the FBI as an undercover operative in an investigation of political corruption in Compton.

It was the same investigation that snared Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, who was convicted of extortion by a jury in the same courtroom Friday.

But earlier this year, Moore persuaded Marshall to let her withdraw her plea on grounds that she was not adequately represented when she entered it. The government then refiled charges.

At Monday’s hearing, Marshall agreed to hold an evidentiary hearing Jan. 5 on Moore’s request to suppress her alleged confessions.

The judge also dismissed without prejudice Moore’s motion to throw out the indictment on grounds of selective prosecution.

Moore, who says she is indigent, wants money to hire a statistician to document her claim that black elected officials are being selectively prosecuted across the country.

Before deciding that, the judge asked for a statement from the defense explaining who would perform the study, why it is necessary and how much it would cost.