Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 16, 1994 TAG: 9401160094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From the Boston Globe and The Associated Press
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Long
The source, who insisted on anonymity, also said the suspect alleges Harding had helped stage a November death threat against herself as part of the plan.
A new witness on Saturday accused Harding's ex-husband of being the mastermind behind the plot to injure Kerrigan.
The new witness, 20-year-old Sarah Bergman, a classmate of bodyguard Shawn Eckardt, told a private investigator that Jeff Gillooly "was the mastermind behind this." Gillooly is Harding's ex-husband, but the two still live together. He has denied any involvement in the Kerrigan assault.
Gillooly was among four people for whom warrants had been requested by Detroit police, The Detroit News reported in today's editions. The other three have already been charged.
Detroit police completed their investigation and sent their reports to prosecutors for review, recommending charges of felonious assault and conspiracy.
Gary Crowe, the private investigator who first revealed the alleged plot, told The Associated Press that Bergman was in Eckardt's house when a plan was discussed to "get Kerrigan" in Detroit.
He said Eckardt told Bergman the person on the telephone was Gillooly.
Bergman and Eckardt took the same course Crowe taught at nearby Pioneer Pacific College.
Bergman said Eckardt told her details of the plot.
"He was talking about contracts, and if this goes through and she gets attacked, and then there's threats on Tonya, he's going to be in the limelight and other skaters are going to need bodyguards and he's going to be able to fix other people up with contracts and get money," Bergman said.
Harding's chances of going to the Winter Olympics are "looking pretty grim," a skating official said Saturday.
"It may be a rolling stone that rolls right over her," said Claire Ferguson, president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
A source said that Shane Minoaka Stant, 22, the alleged hit man who was arrested Friday in Phoenix, told authorities Harding was in on the plot from the beginning.
"He said he was sent to Boston to do the job, and flew there, but never could get a good shot at Kerrigan alone," the source said. "He said Harding was in on it way back and that the death threat had been a phony."
In November, Harding pulled out of the Northwest Pacific regionals after a death threat was phoned in to the rink. It was then that she hired Shawn Eric Eckardt as her bodyguard.
Even if she is not indicted, Harding could be thrown off the U.S. Olympic team if skating authorities are convinced her bodyguard or others employed by her were involved in the attack.
"That's possible," Ferguson said from Orlando, Fla. "We would need some legal advice as to where we stood."
It would take a majority vote by the skating association's 45-member international committee to remove Harding from the team, though she could appeal the action and take legal steps to block it.
Meanwhile, Harding and Gillooly emerged in public, driving away from their home in Beavercreek, Ore., in a luxury rental car.
Harding said she wanted to get some rest and couldn't talk to reporters. When they returned, they spoke briefly: "We can't talk about the specifics," Gillooly said, "and we're just as anxious to talk to you guys as you are to us. There will be more in a few days."
Harding added: "Yeah, hopefully."
The source implicating Harding said authorities at the moment prefer to keep the evidence against her sealed. Boston TV station WCVB said Friday it was sticking to its Wednesday story that there is a sealed arrest warrant on Harding.
Officially, authorities have said there are no indications Harding, 23, was involved.
In Portland, Ore., Friday, Harding's bodyguard, Eckardt, and his associate, Derrick Brian Smith, the alleged getaway car driver in the attack in Detroit, were arraigned before Circuit Court Judge Donald Londer. Both suspects pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree assault.
Minutes after Eckardt's arraignment Friday, his attorney told reporters that his client had admitted his involvement in the attack to Portland police, and said he was "surprised" Gillooly had not been arrested as well.
Though one Multnomah County official denied that Harding was under investigation, another, Deputy District Attorney Norman W. Frink, said Friday that Gillooly was "still a person of interest" and the investigation was not yet closed.
Authorities still are investigating whether Gillooly helped hatch the plot to injure Kerrigan, as Eckardt detailed in his story to the Multunomah County Sheriff's Department detectives last week. Sources said Eckardt claimed Gillooly had asked him to find someone to injure Kerrigan before the U.S. Figure Skating National championships, a charge Gillooly has denied.
Eckardt apparently also admitted that he contacted Smith, a former Portland area resident, in Phoenix, where he now lives, about joining the attack.
On Friday in Phoenix, Stant, an avid bodybuilder, turned himself in to surprised FBI agents at their downtown headquarters shortly before 2 p.m. EST, becoming the third man charged in the scheme.
It was Stant, authorities said, who actually wielded the collapsible nightstick, struck Kerrigan before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, and smashed through a glass door to escape to a getaway car.
by CNB