From: Rosemary Waigh <rwaigh@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Trutt readings, part two
Reply-To: rwaigh@zooid.UUCP (Rosemary Waigh)
Organization: The Zoo of Ids
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 02:57:18 GMT

(March 1989)

"Informant Paid by U.S. Surgical Reveals Bombing Attempt Was a Set-Up"

"At deadline, the attempted bombing of U.S. Surgical Corporation headquarters
November 11 looked much like a set-up planned to discredit the animal rights
movement.  On January 12, Norwalk, Connecticut police confirmed that they
had arrested alleged bomber Fran Trutt in an ambush arranged by Marc Mead, 
a paid spy for the anti-animal rights consulting firm Perceptions
International.  Further, Mead admitted, 'The checks came from Perceptions, but
I was paid by U.S. Surgical.'  Mead said he was hired for $500 a week to spy
on Trutt two months before the bombing attempt, and was the second Perceptions
employee to follow her.  He acknowledged giving Trutt part-time work in his
cleaning business, Window Wizard, plus a little under $300 in cash to help her
meet her rent.  According to Trutt's legal advisors, Mead also gave her $1,200
to buy four pipe bombs from undisclosed sources.  Trutt said she intended to
scare U.S. Surgical president Leon Hirsch, but did not want to kill anyone.

"Mead himself was arrested January 12 on bad check charges dating to 1986.
He has been arrested for bouncing checks before, and was convicted of mail
fraud in 1984.

"Perceptions International, based in Stratford, Conn., uses a Washington, D.C.
post office box to publish two animal rights disinformation newsletters, _The
Animal_Care_Committee_Reporter_ and _The_Animal_Rights_Reporter_.  Owner Jan
Reber formerly ran a firm called Security Perception, a self-described anti-
terrorism information service.  Jim Motavalli of _The_Fairfield_Advocate_
reported in 1982 that the staff, 'at three east coast offices,' included 'a
former assistant director of the FBI, a refugee from military intelligence,
and Reber himself,' whom Motavelli assumed was ex-CIA.

"Mead's sister, Liz Evans, formerly worked for Perceptions.  She now works for
U.S. Surgical, in close contact with security chief James Rancourt.

"Private eye Richard Novia of East Coast Investigations, hired to probe the
Trutt case for Friends of Animals (FoA), says he has evidence Perceptions 
hired informats to spy on the group and possibly bugged their head office.

"Leading animal rights groups have obtained private counsel for Trutt to make
sure the case goes to trial, instead of being settled by plea bargaining
while big questions remain unanswered.

"U.S. Surgical continues killing dogs in sales demonstrations, and the protest
campaign organized by FoA continues as well.  Over 300 people rallied outside
the corporate headquarters January 13, including guest speakers Ingrid Newkirk
of PETA, Dr Murry Cohen of the Medical Research Modernization Committee, and
Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

"At 1:30 P.M. the same day, perhaps in an attempt to control the damage, 
Hirsch gave a press conference in which he 'denied categorically that Trutt
had been set up by USSC.'  Hirsche's unsubstantiated statement prompted a
period of intense questioning by the attending media, which included,
besides the local press, several network television correspondents and the
major wire services.  The conference came to an abrupt halt when Hirsch
stomped out of the room after refusing to answer further questions about his
firm's involvement in Mead's legal defense and other related issues.

-- Merritt Clifton"



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