http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7428702p-7339570c.html
Hearing reveals purpose of raids
ROCKET LAUNCHERS: Agents seized weapons at Security Aviation.
By TATABOLINE BRANT and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 8, 2006
Last Modified: February 8, 2006 at 02:53 AM
The one man arrested in the government raids at Security Aviation and related companies had ordered an employee to buy two 16-tube rocket launchers for its fleet of Czech fighter jets, FBI agents testified before a federal magistrate in Anchorage on Tuesday.
And when the rocket launchers arrived in crates, the man, Robert F. Kane, a self-styled "commander" with no U.S. military service, boasted to an employee who saw them at the Security hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in October:
"Now I can conduct target practice."
The preliminary hearing Tuesday in the felony weapons possession case against Kane was the first public explanation for the massive raids last week at Security Aviation facilities at airports in Anchorage and Palmer, an office building on C Street housing Regional Protective Services, among other related companies, and at least one home.
No evidence was presented that Kane had obtained rockets for the launchers, which have red writing in Russian and were seized in Palmer Feb. 2. At one point during the 2 1/2-hour hearing, which will continue today, Kane's attorney, Michael Spaan, suggested Kane was just engaging in harmless "boy talk."
Kane is accused of orchestrating the purchase of the two rocket launchers from an Internet site and having them delivered to Security Aviation. The company and affiliates have purchased about seven two-seat L-39 jets since former Anchorage assistant district attorney Mark Avery bought Security Aviation last summer.
An FBI agent testified that the fuselage of one of the jets had stenciled lettering at the back seat: "Commander R.F. Kane."
A Security Aviation official said two weeks ago that the jets were used in contractual services with the U.S. military but would not elaborate.
Security Aviation president Joseph Kapper didn't return a call seeking comment Tuesday, and the person who answered the phone at Avery and Associates said Mark Avery wouldn't be taking calls.
Spaan, the U.S. Attorney for Alaska during the Reagan administration, suggested that the launchers were an accessory and not even operational. If they were anything otherwise, why would Kane have been so open about them?
Kane did at one point show one of the launchers to a top local Transportation Security Administration official, according to the FBI.
"If they were trying to keep it secret, they weren't doing a very good job -- would you agree?" Spaan asked Special Agent Matthew Campe at one point Tuesday.
"Yes," the agent said.
But the prosecution argued later that there was an air of secrecy surrounding the launchers -- Security Aviation employees had to sign confidentiality agreements not to talk about what went on at the business. And, when Kane showed the TSA official the rocket pod launcher, they claim, he said something to the effect of "the FAA could not see this."
The hearing at the U.S. Courthouse in Anchorage drew a large crowd of people who didn't want to comment or identify themselves.
Kane, 37, is not listed in the records as an owner of any of Avery's companies, but FBI agent Derek Espeland testified that Kane is believed to be a "principal" in at least one of them, Regional Protective Services, which owns some of the L-39 jets and stores them at the Security Aviation hangers.
As agents were searching her Eagle River home, Kane's wife volunteered that her husband was paid $20,000 a month by Regional Protective Services, agent Shawn Clapp of the federal Air Marshal Service told the court Tuesday. Agents searched the couple's Eagle River home -- which public records show is owned by one of Avery's companies --during last week's raids.
Inside, in a jacket and briefcase, agents say they found more than $20,000 in $20 and $100 bills, a silencer for a .45-caliber weapon, some international bank cards, a Greek passport for his Filipino wife which she could not explain, official-looking badges and identification cards with Kane's name, and folders emblazoned with images of various American and foreign intelligence agency logos -- the FBI, CIA, Britain's MI-6, the United Nations and something called the National Intelligence Agency. Agents also found numerous American military medals, even though Kane has no record of service, they said.
The FBI said in an affidavit filed in court that Kane has claimed to be affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community since at least 1996, at different times telling people he was a Navy SEAL and other times that he operated under the auspices of the FBI and CIA.
The prosecution suggested in their questioning that Kane was a fraud, saying he had a "pattern of impersonation." Spaan said the government was painting Kane as a "rogue cowboy" when he could have been working for the intelligence community.
The FBI said Kane's wife gave investigators the name of a Miami-based FBI agent whom she described as her husband's case officer. But the agents did not testify whether that tip proved to be true.
Among the items entered into evidence Tuesday was a color photo of Kane in a uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary with ribbons from the U.S. Navy.
Whether Kane worked for the U.S. government is a "subject of huge dispute," prosecutor Steven Skrocki told the court, but he suggested that was an issue for a later hearing or a trial.
Magistrate John Roberts did not let the two sides argue the matter very long, as it strayed from the purpose of the hearing: to determine whether the government had probable cause to hold Kane in jail.
At the heart of that decision was the charge against Kane: failure to register an explosive device.
The prosecution laid out its evidence to the court. They said they had four witnesses -- three former or current Security Aviation employees and the TSA agent -- as well as the two launchers themselves.
One of the former Security Aviation employees told authorities that Kane ordered an administrator at the company to do research on weapons that could be mounted on L-39s. The administrator located two of the launchers on an Internet auction site and Kane ordered their purchase, the former employee told the FBI. The person also told authorities the administrator discussed "hypothetical missions," which included attacks on terrorist camps.
Kane, who is tall with short dark hair and pale skin, sat quietly through the proceedings Tuesday, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his ankles in chains over pink socks and slippers. He appeared tired but calm, at times rubbing his eyes or leaning his head on his hand as his attorney questioned FBI agents.
Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at [email protected] or 257-4321. Daily News reporter Richard Mauer can be reached at [email protected].
Hearing reveals purpose of raids
ROCKET LAUNCHERS: Agents seized weapons at Security Aviation.
By TATABOLINE BRANT and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 8, 2006
Last Modified: February 8, 2006 at 02:53 AM
The one man arrested in the government raids at Security Aviation and related companies had ordered an employee to buy two 16-tube rocket launchers for its fleet of Czech fighter jets, FBI agents testified before a federal magistrate in Anchorage on Tuesday.
And when the rocket launchers arrived in crates, the man, Robert F. Kane, a self-styled "commander" with no U.S. military service, boasted to an employee who saw them at the Security hangar at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in October:
"Now I can conduct target practice."
The preliminary hearing Tuesday in the felony weapons possession case against Kane was the first public explanation for the massive raids last week at Security Aviation facilities at airports in Anchorage and Palmer, an office building on C Street housing Regional Protective Services, among other related companies, and at least one home.
No evidence was presented that Kane had obtained rockets for the launchers, which have red writing in Russian and were seized in Palmer Feb. 2. At one point during the 2 1/2-hour hearing, which will continue today, Kane's attorney, Michael Spaan, suggested Kane was just engaging in harmless "boy talk."
Kane is accused of orchestrating the purchase of the two rocket launchers from an Internet site and having them delivered to Security Aviation. The company and affiliates have purchased about seven two-seat L-39 jets since former Anchorage assistant district attorney Mark Avery bought Security Aviation last summer.
An FBI agent testified that the fuselage of one of the jets had stenciled lettering at the back seat: "Commander R.F. Kane."
A Security Aviation official said two weeks ago that the jets were used in contractual services with the U.S. military but would not elaborate.
Security Aviation president Joseph Kapper didn't return a call seeking comment Tuesday, and the person who answered the phone at Avery and Associates said Mark Avery wouldn't be taking calls.
Spaan, the U.S. Attorney for Alaska during the Reagan administration, suggested that the launchers were an accessory and not even operational. If they were anything otherwise, why would Kane have been so open about them?
Kane did at one point show one of the launchers to a top local Transportation Security Administration official, according to the FBI.
"If they were trying to keep it secret, they weren't doing a very good job -- would you agree?" Spaan asked Special Agent Matthew Campe at one point Tuesday.
"Yes," the agent said.
But the prosecution argued later that there was an air of secrecy surrounding the launchers -- Security Aviation employees had to sign confidentiality agreements not to talk about what went on at the business. And, when Kane showed the TSA official the rocket pod launcher, they claim, he said something to the effect of "the FAA could not see this."
The hearing at the U.S. Courthouse in Anchorage drew a large crowd of people who didn't want to comment or identify themselves.
Kane, 37, is not listed in the records as an owner of any of Avery's companies, but FBI agent Derek Espeland testified that Kane is believed to be a "principal" in at least one of them, Regional Protective Services, which owns some of the L-39 jets and stores them at the Security Aviation hangers.
As agents were searching her Eagle River home, Kane's wife volunteered that her husband was paid $20,000 a month by Regional Protective Services, agent Shawn Clapp of the federal Air Marshal Service told the court Tuesday. Agents searched the couple's Eagle River home -- which public records show is owned by one of Avery's companies --during last week's raids.
Inside, in a jacket and briefcase, agents say they found more than $20,000 in $20 and $100 bills, a silencer for a .45-caliber weapon, some international bank cards, a Greek passport for his Filipino wife which she could not explain, official-looking badges and identification cards with Kane's name, and folders emblazoned with images of various American and foreign intelligence agency logos -- the FBI, CIA, Britain's MI-6, the United Nations and something called the National Intelligence Agency. Agents also found numerous American military medals, even though Kane has no record of service, they said.
The FBI said in an affidavit filed in court that Kane has claimed to be affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community since at least 1996, at different times telling people he was a Navy SEAL and other times that he operated under the auspices of the FBI and CIA.
The prosecution suggested in their questioning that Kane was a fraud, saying he had a "pattern of impersonation." Spaan said the government was painting Kane as a "rogue cowboy" when he could have been working for the intelligence community.
The FBI said Kane's wife gave investigators the name of a Miami-based FBI agent whom she described as her husband's case officer. But the agents did not testify whether that tip proved to be true.
Among the items entered into evidence Tuesday was a color photo of Kane in a uniform of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary with ribbons from the U.S. Navy.
Whether Kane worked for the U.S. government is a "subject of huge dispute," prosecutor Steven Skrocki told the court, but he suggested that was an issue for a later hearing or a trial.
Magistrate John Roberts did not let the two sides argue the matter very long, as it strayed from the purpose of the hearing: to determine whether the government had probable cause to hold Kane in jail.
At the heart of that decision was the charge against Kane: failure to register an explosive device.
The prosecution laid out its evidence to the court. They said they had four witnesses -- three former or current Security Aviation employees and the TSA agent -- as well as the two launchers themselves.
One of the former Security Aviation employees told authorities that Kane ordered an administrator at the company to do research on weapons that could be mounted on L-39s. The administrator located two of the launchers on an Internet auction site and Kane ordered their purchase, the former employee told the FBI. The person also told authorities the administrator discussed "hypothetical missions," which included attacks on terrorist camps.
Kane, who is tall with short dark hair and pale skin, sat quietly through the proceedings Tuesday, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his ankles in chains over pink socks and slippers. He appeared tired but calm, at times rubbing his eyes or leaning his head on his hand as his attorney questioned FBI agents.
Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at [email protected] or 257-4321. Daily News reporter Richard Mauer can be reached at [email protected].
