THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270404
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ AND LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Two anti-abortion activists were indicted Tuesday on federal conspiracy and arson charges stemming from fires at abortion clinics in Norfolk and Newport News.
Jennifer Patterson Sperle, 23, was arrested Tuesday in Wichita, Kan., where she lives with her husband and three children. Clark Ryan Martin of Norfolk, whose wife Patricia testified Monday before the grand jury that indicted her husband, planned to turn himself in to authorities, his lawyers told the Justice Department.
The indictments are apparently the first in the wake of a nationwide Justice Department investigation into an alleged conspiracy among anti-abortion activists.
The Newport News investigation was believed to have resulted from a 16-month national inquiry based in Alexandria into abortion clinic violence. That probe ended in January with no indictments, charges or evidence of a national conspiracy to target clinics. The local grand jury began Feb. 28.
The five-count indictment accused Sperle and Martin of conspiring to set and of setting fires at the two clinics in December 1994 and March 1995. Neither fire caused extensive damage.
Witnesses who testified before the grand jury were asked about the activities of three local anti-abortion activists. The activists were identified as Sperle, who moved from Norfolk to Wichita in June; Ed Hyatt, a Virginia Beach man who is a friend of Sperle's; and another man, apparently Martin, who is in his mid-20s. Hyatt was not charged in the indictment.
Sperle last month denied any part in a local conspiracy but said she fully expected to go to jail. U.S. Attorney General ``Janet Reno has spent so much money that somebody has to go to jail,'' Sperle said in a phone interview on Feb. 29.
``I've already made arrangements for my children,'' Sperle said then, adding that she is pregnant. ``It doesn't matter if you are innocent or guilty, somebody's going to jail - otherwise, it'll look like the government wasted money.''
Martin and his wife declined to comment after her 30-minute appearance before the panel Monday. Martin, a political science student at Old Dominion University, was among four men who were arrested after they chained themselves together in the Newport News clinic in May 1994.
Witnesses before the grand jury were asked about fires at the Tidewater Women's Health Clinic in Norfolk, which opened in April 1995, and at the Peninsula Medical Center for Women in Newport News, several anti-abortion activists said.
One of the fires, at the Peninsula center on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News, was set in December of 1994. In that case, a burning traffic flare was tossed through a mail slot to ignite lighter fluid.
Another fire was set at the Norfolk center in the 800 block of Norfolk Square in March 1995.
According to the indictment, Martin provided roadside flares from his trunk to Sperle and went with her to the Peninsula Medical Center on Dec. 12 or Dec. 13, 1994. Sperle allegedly dropped the lighter fluid and a lit flare through the mail slot of the center. The damage included melted carpet.
Sometime between March 3 and March 6, the indictment said, Sperle obtained two gallons of kerosene and a glass cutter and used the tools to gain access to the Norfolk clinic. She and Martin then allegedly used a heavy post to break a clinic window, poured kerosene inside and ignited it.
In June, two months after the clinic opened, a security guard discovered an empty gas can in the parking lot, fire officials said. The next day, clinic workers reported smoke, but firefighters did not find anything when they arrived.
The indictment also said Sperle and Martin met with several other people to discuss violent attacks on abortion clinics and to provide information about how to destroy clinics. Specifically, the indictment charged, Sperle met and discussed with other people how to break into clinics and start fires.
Methods included uses of disguises, toxic flammable liquids and sabotage of clinic water supplies.
Sperle also allegedly provided an ``Army of God'' manual to another person. The manual describes violent techniques, including arson, for closing or destroying clinics.
If convicted, Sperle and Martin could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The two could also face an additional five years if convicted under the conspiracy statute.
Donald Spitz, a Chesapeake anti-abortion activist with ties to both Sperle and Martin, defended the two on Tuesday.
``If they did commit these deeds, they committed them to save innocent babies, and the government, (by) putting them in jail for that, will bring the wrath of God down upon this country.''
Of Martin, whose wife is eight months' pregnant, Spitz said: ``He's been very pro-life and very concerned about the babies that are dying. . . . I talked to him this afternoon and told him of indictments. He started praying to Jesus. . . .''
Suzette Caton, a spokeswoman for the Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk, is also familiar with Martin and Sperle. The two have been picketing the East Little Creek Road clinic for roughly a year, she said.
``We're pleased that the federal government is taking the violence against abortion providers and facilities seriously,'' said Caton of Tuesday's indictments. by CNB