
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 1, 1994                   TAG: 9402010160
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: PORTLAND, ORE.                                LENGTH: Medium

HARDING IMPLICATED

Jeff Gillooly, the former husband of Tonya Harding, has told investigators that Harding helped plan the assault on her figure-skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan, Gillooly's lawyer said Monday.

Ronald Hoevet, the lawyer, said Gillooly told federal investigators last week that Harding had given final approval for the Jan. 6 attack in Detroit, where Kerrigan was struck above the right knee and kept from competing in the national championships.

The lawyer said Gillooly's account was fully detailed and included many points that could be corroborated by phone logs and bank records.

Harding, who initially denied any knowledge of the plot, said last week that she had learned several days after the attack that people close to her had been involved.

However, in more than 10 hours of interviews with investigators Jan. 18, she consistently denied knowing anything in advance about plans for the attack.

Gillooly identified Harding as an important figure in planning the attack only after he learned that she had told authorities that he had played the central role, his lawyer said. She had been telling him privately that she did not implicate him in her statements to the investigators, Hoevet said.

Gillooly, 26, a former warehouse worker who is currently unemployed, is scheduled to appear in court this morning to accept a plea-bargain offer from the Multnomah district attorney's office.

Hoevet said his client has accepted a proposal of pleading guilty to a single count of racketeering in exchange for telling his version of what happened.

Meanwhile, Harding's name was on the list of 12 figure skaters submitted by the U.S. Olympic Committee Monday to the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, but a statement from executive director Harvey Schiller said the USOC is "prepared under its constitutional procedures to initiate any action deemed appropriate relative to the conduct of any athlete now entered in the Games."

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.

Keywords:
INFOLINE

by CNB