Plea OKd in Mosque Bomb Plot

A federal judge on Monday reinstated a plea bargain between prosecutors and a former Jewish Defense League member who admitted conspiring to bomb a Culver City mosque and the field office of an Arab American congressman.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew means that Earl Krugel, a 62-year-old dental technician from Reseda, now faces a 10- to 20-year prison term, instead of a mandatory 45 years behind bars if he had been convicted at trial.

After a closed-door hearing last year, Lew vacated Krugel’s plea deal and ordered him to stand trial, apparently for failing to live up to a pledge to cooperate with federal investigators.

The FBI is believed to have pressed Krugel for any information he might have about the unsolved 1985 slaying of Arab American activist Alex Odeh.

Odeh, western regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was killed by a bomb that exploded when he opened the front door of his Santa Ana office.

Over the years, the FBI has investigated several onetime JDL members in connection with the slaying. No charges have ever been brought, and the JDL has denied any involvement.

Lew did not explain why he decided to reinstate Krugel’s plea agreement. Without elaborating, he cited a legal brief filed under seal by Krugel’s defense lawyer, Jay Lichtman, and acknowledged an objection by Assistant U.S. Atty. Gregory Jessner. The judge set sentencing for Sept. 22.

After the ruling, Krugel smiled and, though shackled at the wrists, extended a congratulatory handshake to his lawyer. Neither Lichtman nor Jessner would comment on Lew’s change of mind.

Krugel has been in custody since December 2001, when he was arrested with JDL national director Irv Rubin on charges of conspiring to plant bombs at the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and at a field office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa (R-Vista).

Rubin, 57, died in 2002 after he apparently jumped from a second-floor balcony outside his cell at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. His death was ruled a suicide.

After Rubin’s death, Krugel negotiated a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to conspiring to bomb Issa’s office, which carried a mandatory 10-year sentence, and violating the rights of worshipers at the King Fahd Mosque, which calls for a sentence of up to 10 years.

In exchange for his cooperation, the prosecution agreed to drop seven other counts lodged against Krugel.