THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050275
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 62 lines
Anti-abortion activist Jennifer Patterson Sperle pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to conspiring to burn women's health clinics in Norfolk and Newport News.
Sperle, 24, the mother of four young children, faces up to five years in prison for using lighter fluid, kerosene and traffic flares to try to set fire to the Peninsula Medical Center in Newport News and the Tidewater Women's Health Center in Norfolk.
Co-conspirator Clark Ryan Martin, 24, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in May after agreeing to testify against Sperle and others connected with clinic violence.
In return for pleading guilty, four charges against both Sperle and Martin were dropped: two for arson and two for using fire to commit a felony. Both will be sentenced later this year.
The indictments were apparently the first to emerge from a nationwide Justice Department investigation into an alleged conspiracy among anti-abortion activists.
Martin said through his attorney in May that he decided to plead guilty to spare his wife, Patricia, and their infant child the trauma of a lengthy absence.
Sperle, of Wichita, Kansas, had no comment Monday.
Before her March arrest, Sperle denied involvement and said she 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.
``It doesn't matter if you are innocent or guilty, somebody's going to jail - otherwise, it'll look like the government wasted money,'' Sperle said then, saying she had already made arrangements for someone to care for her three preschoolers. Sperle gave birth to her fourth child in September.
Without the plea agreements, Sperle and Martin both faced up to 20 years in prison for each charge of arson.
The indictment accused Martin and Sperle of conspiring to set and of setting fires at the two clinics in December 1994 and March 1995. Neither fire caused extensive damage.
According to the indictment, Martin provided roadside flares from his trunk to Sperle and went with her to the Peninsula Medical Center on Dec. 13, 1994. Sperle allegedly dropped the lighter fluid and a lit flare through the mail slot of the center.
On 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.
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 the use of disguises, toxic flammable liquids and sabotage of clinic water supplies. Sperle also provided an ``Army of God'' manual to another person, the indictment said. The manual describes violent techniques, including arson, for closing or destroying clinics.
Sperle was involved in the conspiracy before she moved to Kansas in June of last year. She was arrested in Wichita in March.
KEYWORDS: GUILTY PLEA ABORTION CLINIC ACTIVISTS FIRE by CNB