*The Washington Post*
(Seven years later...)
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Saturday February 7, 1987
*Officials Describe 'Cult Rituals' in Child Abuse Case
Photos of Youngsters Seized At D.C. Warehouse, Probers Say
Authorities investigating the alleged abuse of six children
found with two men in a Tallahassee, Fla., park discovered
material yesterday in the Washington area that they say points
to a 1960's style commune called the Finders, described in a
court document as a "cult" that allegedly conducted "brainwashing"
and used children "in rituals."
D. C. police, who searched a Northeast Washington warehouse
linked to the group removed large plastic bags filled with color
slides, photographs and photographic contact sheets. Some photos
visible through a bag carried from the warehouse at 1307 Fourth St.
NE were wallet-sized pictures of children, similar to school
photos, and some were of naked children.
D.C. police sources said some of the items seized yesterday
showed pictures of children engaged in what appeared to be "cult
rituals." Officials of the U.S. Customs Service,
called in to aid in the investigation, said that the material seized
yesterday includes photos showing children involved in bloodletting
ceremonies of animals and one photograph of a child in chains.
Customs officials said they were looking into whether a child
pornography operation was being conducted.
According to court documents, computers and software were seized
from the warehouse, from a Glover Park apartment building and from
a van that was recovered in Tallahassee along with the children.
Yesterday's disclosures about the mysterious group grew out of an
investigation that was set in motion Wednesday by an anonymous
call to Tallahassee police about two "well-dressed men" who
were "supervising" six dishevelled children in a neighborhood park.
The men were arrested and charged with child abuse, according to
Tallahassee police.
Their links to the D.C. area have led authorities into a far-reaching
investigation that includes the Finders - a group of about 40 people
that court documents allege is led by a man named Marion Pettie - and
their various homes, including the duplex apartment building in
Glover Park, the Northeast Washington warehouse and a 90 acre farm
in rural Madison County, Va.
Tallahassee police, who arrested and charged men identified as
Douglas E. Ammerman and Michael Houlihan with child abuse, contacted
D.C. police Thursday in an attempt to establish the identities of
the children. They learned that D.C. police had heard of the Finders
group, according to Tallahassee police spokesman Scott Hunt. No
other member of the group had been located last night, police
sources said.
According to U.S. District Court records in Washington, a
confidential police source had previously told authorities that the
Finders were "a cult" that conducted "brainwashing" techniques at
the warehouse and the Glover Park duplex at 3918 20W. St. NW. This
source told of being recruited by the Finders with promises
of "financial reward and sexual gratification" and of being invited
by one member to "explore" satanism with them, according to the
documents.
According to the affidavit the source told authorities that
children were used in "rituals" by the members, and though the
source had never witnessed abuse of the children, the source said
the children's grandparents feared for their safety.
On Dec. 15, a D.C. police detective observed a clearing in the area
of the 3900 block W. St. NW where "several round stones had been
gathered" near a circle, as well as evidence that people had
gathered there, according to the document, which stated that "this
practice is sometimes used in satanic rituals."
Armed with that information and the report from Talahassee police
of the allegedly abused children, D.C. police sought search warrants
for the Glover Park residence and the warehouse.
Meanwhile, authorities in Florida attempted to learn more about
the six small children, described by a police spokesman as "hungry
and..pretty pathetic" who had set the investigation in motion.
The children, identified in a court document only by the first
names of Honeybee, John Franklin, Bee Bee, Max and Mary, were
described as "dirty unkept, hungry, disturbed and agitated". They
had been living in the rear of the van for some time, the document
said. Yesterday, police spokesman Hunt said one of the children,
a 6 yr. old girl "showed signs of sexual abuse" but that an
examination by a local doctor showed none of the children as
being ill.
Five of the children were uncommunicative, according to police,
and none seemed to recognize objects such as typewriters and
staplers. However, the oldest was able to give investigators some
information. She said that the two men "were their teachers,"
according to Hunt. She was not sure where they had been recently
or where they were going. But until recently, they had been
living in the District in "a house with other children and
adults." They lived mainly on a diet of raw fruit and vegetables,
she said.
The girl told the police that while they were in the District,
the children received instruction from "a man they called a Game
Caller or a Game Leader," according to Hunt.
According to the D.C. court document, a Tallahassee police
investigator identified this man as Marion Pettie, who the
confidential police source "also identified as the Stroller,
leader of this 'cult.'" The children have been placed in emergency
shelters in Tallahassee, according to Merril Moody of the Florida
Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. He said officials
were trying to identify them.
Neighbors of the W Street house last night identified the
photographs of two of the children as residents of the house.
Before their arrests in the park, Ammerman and Houlihan had
told police that they were teachers from Washington "transporting
these children to Mexico and a school for brilliant children,"
according to Hunt. When police asked the men where the children's
mothers where they said they were being weaned from their mothers.
Yesterday, U.S. Attorney Joseph E. diGenova said that authorities
were investigating "the crime of kidnapping" but that the
investigation "is not limited to that as the evidence evolves."
George Wisnowsky, spokesman for the FBI in Jacksonville, said
the FBI was "checking the transportation of children across state
lines for immoral purposes or kidnapping."
Authorities in Florida, who searched the van, found 20 floppy
computer discs and a device Hunt said could be used to hook into
a computer in another location by telephone. He said D.C. police
have obtained evidence that a computer linked to the group
received a call from Tallahassee late this week.
Meanwhile, authorities in Washington were busy searching the
warehouse and the Glover Park residence, side-by-side brick
apartment buildings that, according to neighbors, stood out in
the neighborhood because of a hot tub and satellite dish on the
roof. Only women and children lived there, though men visited
regularly, according to neighbors.
One woman from the neighborhood said the children from the house
were "easy to spot because they were so dirty," adding that
adults with them "seemed not to care." She said the group from
the house reminded her of "leftover hippies." But another
neighbor, college professor John Matthews, who said he had
lived at 3918 W St. for a short time while looking for an apartment,
said the residents were "a close-knit group" of feminists who liked
to help people and were not a cult. "The neighborhood talks about
them because of their life style," Matthews said.
The Fourth Street warehouse, which authorities said also was
used as a residence, had windows that were boarded shut. One
wall was covered with a huge map of the world, lit by floodlights.
Upstairs, mattresses were flung on the floors of various rooms.
Staff writers Joseph E. Bouchard, Ed Bruske, Mary Thonton,
John Harris and Linda Wheeler contributed to this report.
*U.S. News & World Report*,
Dec. 27, 1993/Jan 3. 1994
Through a glass, very darkly
Cops, spies and a very odd investigation
The case is almost seven years old now, but matters surrounding a
mysterious group known as the Finders keep growing curiouser and
curiouser.
In early February 1987, an anonymous tipster in Tallahasse, Fla,
made a phone call to police. Two "well dressed men" seemed to
be "supervising" six dishevelled and hungry children in a local
park, the caller said. The cops went after the case like bloodhounds,
at least at first. The two men were identified as members
of the Finders. They were charged with child abuse in Florida. In
Washington, D.C. police and U.S. Customs Service agents raided a
duplex apartment building and a warehouse connected to the group.
Among the evidence seized - detailed instructions on obtaining
children for unknown purposes and several photographs of nude
children.
According to a Customs Service memorandum obtained by U.S. News,
one photo appeared "to accent the child's genitals". The more the
police learned about the Finders, the more bizarre they seemed:
There were suggestions of child abuse, Satanism, dealing in
pornography and ritualistic animal slaughter.
None of the allegations was ever proved, however. The child abuse
charges against the two men in Tallahassee were dropped; all six
of the children were eventually returned to their mothers, though in
the case of two, conditions were attached by a court. In Washington,
D.C. police began backing away from the Finders investigation.
The groups practices, the police said, were eccentric - not illegal.
QUESTIONS. Today, things appear to have changed yet again. The
Justice Department has begun a new investigation into the Finders
and into the group's activities. It is also reviewing the 1987
investigation into the group to determine whether that probe was
closed improperly. Justice officials will not elaborate, except to
say the investigation is "ongoing" and that it involves "unresolved
matters" in relation to the Finders.
One of the unresolved questions involves allegations that the Finders
are somehow linked to the Central Intelligence Agency. Custom Service
documents reveal that in 1987, when Customs agents sought to examine
the evidence gathered by Washington, D.C. police, they were told that
the Finders investigation "had become an internal matter."
The police report on the case had been classified secret. Even now,
Tallahassee police complain about the handling of the Finders
investigation by D.C. police. "They dropped this case, one Tallahasse
investigator says, "like a hot rock." D.C. police will not
comment on the matter. As for the CIA, ranking officials describe
allegation about links between the intelligence agency and the
Finders as "hogwash" perhaps the result of a simple mix up with D.C.
police. The only connection, according to the CIA: A firm that
provided computer training to CIA officers also employed several
members of the Finders.
The many unanswered questions about the Finders case now have
Democratic Rep. Charlie Rose of North Carolina, chairman of the
House Administration Committee, and Florida's Rep. Tom Lewis, a
Republican, more than a little exercised. "Could our own government
have something to do with this Finders organization and turned their
backs on these children? That's what all the evidence points to,"
says Lewis. "And there is a lot of evidence. I can tell you this:
We've got a lot of people scrambling, and that wouldn't be happening
if there was nothing here."
Perhaps. But the Finders say there is nothing there - at least
nothing illegal. The Finders have never been involved in child
abuse, pornography, Satanism, animal slaughter or anything of the
kind, says the group's leader, Marion David Pettie. Pettie, too,
says the group has never been connected to the CIA. In an interview
with U.S. News, Pettie described the Finders as a communal,
holistic-living and learning arrangement. The group numbers some 20
members, Pettie says; they do freelance journalism, research
and "competitor intelligence" for a variety of mostly foreign
clients. The Finders work for no foreign governments, Pettie says.
Their duplex, in a residential Northwest Washington neighborhood, is
decorated with global maps and bulletin boards. Residents in
Culpepper, Va., 90 minutes from Washington, say the Finders operated
an office there, too, from time to time. That office contained
computer terminals and clocks reflecting different time zones from
around the world.
CIA officials say they referred all matters concerning the Finders
and the police investigation to the FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence
Division. FBI officials will not comment. Law enforcement sources say
some of the Finders are listed in the FBI's classified
counterintelligence files.
None of this fazes Pettie. He says the CIA's interest in the Finders
may stem from the fact that his late wife once worked for the agency
and that his son worked for a CIA proprietary firm, Air America.
Overall, says Pettie, "we're a zero security threat. When you don't
do much of anything, and you don't explain, people start rumors
about you." To judge from the latest case, some of the rumors can
last an awfully long time.
By Gordon Witkin and Peter Cary with Ancel Martinez
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