Witness Says Moore, Undercover Operative Behaved Like Lovers

Trying to prove that she was illegally entrapped, Patricia Moore’s defense team elicited testimony Tuesday that an undercover FBI operative appeared to be romantically involved with the former Compton councilwoman.

The defense also drew an admission from an FBI agent that the undercover operative, Stan Bailey, failed to get prior approval for a trip he made with Moore to Baja California and for assistance he gave her during her 1991 campaign for mayor.

Moore, who is being tried in federal court on charges of extorting more than $62,000 from two Compton businesses, contends that she was set up by Bailey, an ex-convict who had worked on other cases for the FBI.

According to the defense, Bailey took advantage of her emotional vulnerability, conned her and her friends out of money and then deserted her, leaving her drugged, beaten and raped after an overnight stay in his apartment.

Over two days of questioning that ended Tuesday, Bailey denied having any romantic relationship with the 47-year-old defendant. He also denied beating or raping her.

But under questioning by defense lawyer Cheryl C. Turner, Katie Foster, a 77-year-old Compton resident, recalled seeing Moore and Bailey behaving like lovers during a campaign get-together at her home in 1991.

“He was holding her hand, and another time he had his arm around her,” Foster said.

The defense lawyer asked Foster about a conversation she had with Bailey in which he allegedly spoke of “getting engaged” to Moore, but U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled that it was hearsay and inadmissible.

Another defense witness, Tasmind Irvine, who repairs Moore’s cars--including a 1973 Rolls Royce--in exchange for room and board, testified to seeing Bailey around the house five or six times.

Irvine said it appeared to him that they had a personal relationship, although he offered no specifics.

Bailey’s behavior was the focus of defense questioning of FBI agent Kevin Adley, who recruited and supervised the undercover operative.

Under his arrangement with the FBI, Bailey was to notify Adley before any planned meetings with Moore.

But the agent acknowledged that Bailey once took an unauthorized trip to Rosarito Beach, Mexico, with Moore. Bailey previously testified that he and Moore slept in separate bedrooms at a home owned by a friend of his.

Under questioning by defense lawyer Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., Adley said he did not learn about the trip until afterward.

“Did you complain to Mr. Bailey about it?” asked Mesereau.

“Yes, sir,” replied the agent.

Adley also said he did not learn until Tuesday that Bailey played an advisory role in Moore’s unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Compton in 1991.

Nor did he learn until afterward that Bailey went to an auction with Moore, or that she gave him some crystal pieces for his Long Beach apartment, Adley testified.

But Adley also maintained that Bailey’s role in the Moore investigation was “very limited” and that Bailey did not witness any solicitation or receipt of bribes.

Under a scenario prepared by Adley, Bailey introduced himself to Moore in 1990 as a public relations representative for Compton Energy Systems, which was seeking City Council approval to construct a $250-million waste conversion plant in Compton.

Moore is accused of extorting $50,100 from Compton Energy Systems in payoffs that were secretly recorded by the FBI on audiotape and videotape.

Compton Energy’s president, John Macardican, was a cooperating witness in the FBI probe. He had crossed swords with Moore in the mid-1980s when she succeeding in blocking a similar proposal before the City Council.

Bailey’s assignment, according to Adley, was to bring Moore and Macardican together. Adley denied Mesereau’s suggestions that Bailey was recruited because he, like Moore, is an African American.

“I wanted a glib individual who would pick up and synthesize facts on a very short-term basis,” he said, and Bailey had a “proven track record” of providing reliable information to the FBI for several years.