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Throughout his career, Gunderson encountered significant challenges and obstruction in his efforts to expose corruption. He observed a "turf battle problem" between [[Ralph Olberg]]'s group and certain factions within the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and their group, MSH ([[Management Science For Health]]), concerning the legitimate representation of the Afghan rebel leadership. His attempts to facilitate [[Michael Riconosciuto]]'s entry into the Witness Protection Program ultimately proved unsuccessful, as federal agencies, including the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], demonstrated reluctance to fully cooperate or acknowledge Riconosciuto's claims.[^1]
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### The Finders Investigation
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Gunderson became a central figure in publicizing the [[The Finders|Finders]] case after obtaining copies of U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]]'s reports from the February 1987 raids on The Finders' Washington D.C. properties. These reports -- filed February 7 and April 13, 1987 -- documented the contents of The Finders' warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE, including networked computer equipment, satellite links, files describing methods for obtaining children, and telex communications referencing international operations. The reports also documented Martinez's conclusion that the FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division had classified all Metropolitan Police reports as Secret and that a CIA official had told police the investigation had "become a CIA internal matter."[^2]
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Gunderson made the Martinez documents publicly available, hosting them on his website and distributing them to journalists and researchers. He authored a pamphlet titled "U.S. Customs Service Report on the Finders" and made public assertions that the CIA had orchestrated child trafficking networks, using The Finders as a central example. His distribution of the documents was the primary reason they reached a broader audience before the FBI Vault released official copies in November 2019.[^2][^3]
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When the FBI released several hundred pages of Finders-related documents in 2019, the release included Gunderson's diagrams of the [[McMartin preschool]] tunnels near the beginning of the first document batch alongside more substantive materials including the Martinez customs reports and the MPD report on CIA involvement. The placement of the tunnel diagrams -- material from a case widely regarded as discredited -- at the front of the release prompted commentary among researchers about whether the sequencing was incidental or intended to contextualize the Finders material within the broader "satanic panic" framework of the era.[^2]
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The 2019 FBI Vault release confirmed that the bureau had maintained files on Gunderson's private investigative activities and that his materials had been incorporated into its documentation of the Finders case. The inclusion also confirmed that the primary documents Gunderson had distributed for over two decades -- particularly the Martinez customs reports -- were authentic.[^3]
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### Child Abuse Network Investigations
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Gunderson later became involved in investigating organized child abuse networks and related conspiracy cases. His work intersected with the release of government documents concerning [[The Finders]] case. In 2019 the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] began dumping heavily redacted case files from their investigation into [[The Finders]], including a follow-up inquiry into a suspected coverup in 1993. Buried among these releases, sprinkled with red herrings such as Gunderson's diagrams of the [[McMartin pre-school tunnels]] near the beginning of the first batch, were three documents of instantaneous interest. It turned out a list of names and addresses had been found on [[The Finders]] men caught transporting children through [[Florida]].[^2]
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Beyond The Finders, Gunderson investigated and made public claims about organized child abuse networks connected to various institutions. His assertions were expansive, encompassing claimed connections between intelligence operations, drug trafficking, and child exploitation. Researchers and journalists who engaged his work have consistently noted that his documented primary source work -- particularly his distribution of the Martinez reports -- should be distinguished from his broader, unverified theoretical claims about CIA-orchestrated child trafficking networks.[^2]
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Gunderson's diagrams of the McMartin pre-school tunnels were included among the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] release materials, though their placement near the beginning of the document batch raised questions about whether they functioned as deliberate distractions from more substantive evidence. The McMartin pre-school case had become a focal point for debates about satanic ritual abuse and recovered memories, with tunnel allegations becoming a controversial element that was used to discredit survivor testimony. Gunderson's involvement in documenting these claims placed him within a network of investigators who pursued connections between institutional child abuse and intelligence operations.[^2]
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The release of [[The Finders]] files in 2019 revealed that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] had maintained extensive documentation on the group's activities, including surveillance reports and internal communications. Gunderson's materials, while included in the release, appeared alongside documents of more direct relevance to the case, such as the [[U.S. Customs]] memo compiled by [[Ramon J. Martinez]] and [[Metropolitan Police]] reports on [[Central Intelligence Agency]] involvement. The juxtaposition of his tunnel diagrams with these substantive documents raised questions about the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s organizational strategy in releasing the files.[^2]
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Gunderson's career trajectory exemplified a pattern among law enforcement personnel who moved from official agency work to independent investigation of organized abuse networks. His [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] background provided him with access to sources and documents unavailable to civilian researchers, while his independence from institutional constraints allowed him to pursue lines of inquiry that official investigations had abandoned or suppressed. The inclusion of his materials in the 2019 release suggested that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] had tracked his activities and considered his findings relevant to their own investigations.[^2]
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Gunderson died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, on July 31, 2011.
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
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[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^3]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: Martinez, Ramon J. U.S. Customs Service Reports, February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/ted-gunderson-fbi-the-finders.
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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ramon J. Martinez.md
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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ramon J. Martinez.md
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---
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category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
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tags:
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- Person
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- US_Customs
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- The_Finders
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- Washington_DC
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- 1980s
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summary: "Ramon J. Martinez was a U.S. Customs Special Agent based in Washington D.C. who conducted the primary federal investigation of The Finders' properties in February 1987 and authored the reports documenting the warehouse contents, the CIA interference claim, and the subsequent suppression of the investigation."
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location: "Washington, D.C."
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---
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Ramon J. Martinez was a U.S. Customs Special Agent based in Washington D.C. who conducted the primary federal investigation of [[The Finders]]' properties in February 1987. His reports -- filed February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987 -- constitute the principal primary documentary record of what investigators found at the group's warehouse and Glover Park properties, including the telex communications describing international operations involving children and the subsequent CIA interference in the investigation.[^1][^2]
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### The 1987 Finders Investigation
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Martinez was called in by Metropolitan Police to assist with the investigation after the van used to transport six malnourished children in Tallahassee, Florida on February 4, 1987 was traced to The Finders' warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE in Washington D.C. He executed search warrants on the warehouse and the Glover Park duplex alongside MPD Detective Bradley on February 5-6, 1987.[^1]
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His February 7, 1987 report documented the following at the warehouse:
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- Extensive networked computer equipment with satellite dish antennas on the roof
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- A large library including books on mind control
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- A video screening room with production capability
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- Sauna and hot tub facilities
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- Files referencing international contacts in London, Germany, the Bahamas, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Africa, and Costa Rica
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- A file labeled "Pentagon Break-In"
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- Documents with what Martinez described as "detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes" including impregnation, purchasing, trading, and kidnapping
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- Telex messages transmitted via MCI accounts to terminals across the United States and in foreign locations, including what Martinez identified as a purchase order for two children in Hong Kong through a contact at the Chinese Embassy[^1][^2]
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At the Glover Park duplex, Martinez found [[Stuart Miles Silverstone]] inside a room equipped with multiple computers, printers, and satellite communications equipment, and bags of color slides and photographic contact sheets containing images of children.[^1]
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Martinez's overall documented assessment: the files indicated "international trafficking in children, high tech transfer to the United Kingdom, and international transfer of currency."[^1]
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### CIA Interference and the April 1987 Report
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On February 6, 1987, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] took over the investigation and took possession of the computers and floppy disks seized from Finders properties. The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division directed the Metropolitan Police Department to classify all MPD reports as Secret and directed MPD not to brief the FBI's own Washington Field Office -- a division that puzzled Martinez and others at the time.[^1][^2]
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In late March or early April 1987, Martinez met with MPD Sgt. John H. Stitcher Jr., who informed him that the investigation "had become a CIA internal matter." An MPD report filed by Stitcher on February 19, 1987 had previously documented a CIA official's acknowledgment that the investigation was "treading on their toes" and that the CIA had a "vested interest" in the group.[^1]
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Martinez's April 13, 1987 report concluded: "The MPD report has been classified SECRET... FBI had withdrawn from the investigation... FBI Foreign Counter Intelligence Division had directed MPD not to advise the FBI Washington Field Office... No further information will be available. No further action will be taken."[^1]
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### Professional Consequences
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Martinez's reports were not released through official channels. Copies were obtained by retired FBI official [[Ted Gunderson]], who made them publicly available. The existence of the reports became widely known among researchers during the 1993 reopening of the investigation, when congressional representatives obtained copies from a private consultant named Henry T. "Skip" Clements.[^2]
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In 1994, the U.S. Customs Service proposed to remove Martinez from his position. The stated reason was improper disclosure of case information to a close co-worker of an individual under investigation. By letter dated December 7, 1994, the penalty was subsequently mitigated to a five-day suspension without pay and reassignment from Special Agent to Physical Security Specialist, GS-080-13, Security Programs Division. Martinez declined public comment on the matter.[^2]
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### Significance
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Martinez's reports, later confirmed and released through the FBI Vault's November 2019 document disclosure, remain the most detailed primary-source description of what federal investigators found at The Finders' properties. No second investigator present at the same raids independently confirmed all elements of his reports -- particularly the specific telex describing the Hong Kong children purchase -- in records accessible to the public.[^3] His April 1987 report provides the primary documentary basis for the claim that the CIA intervened to end the investigation.
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Martinez, Ramon J. U.S. Customs Service Reports, February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987. Reproduced via FBI Vault and Ted Gunderson archive. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/ted-gunderson-fbi-the-finders.
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[^2]: MintPress News. "Losing Finders: How the US Government Worked to Keep the CIA Connection Secret." 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/finders-cult-us-government-worked-keep-cia-connection-secret/277948/.
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[^3]: Sword, Autumn. "Were 'The Finders' a CIA-Fronted Satanic Cult?" *Skeptical Inquirer*, February 28, 2023. https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/were-the-finders-a-cia-fronted-satanic-cult/.
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@ -3,15 +3,35 @@ category: "Intelligence & Government"
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tags:
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- Person
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- CIA
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summary: "Isabelle Pettie was a CIA employee and the late wife of Marion Pettie, the leader of The Finders."
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- The_Finders
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- Washington_DC
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- Cold_War
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summary: "Isabelle Pettie was a CIA employee and the late wife of Marion Pettie, leader of The Finders. FBI Vault documents confirm her CIA employment and her possession of passports to Cold War restricted destinations including North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union."
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location: "Washington, D.C."
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---
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Isabelle Pettie was a CIA employee and the late wife of [[Marion Pettie]], the leader of [[The Finders]]. Her employment with the CIA established a direct connection between the intelligence community and the leadership of The Finders, a relationship that became central to investigations into the group's activities and potential intelligence links.[^1]
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The discovery of Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment occurred during the broader investigation into The Finders following the February 1987 arrests of group members in Florida. As investigators examined Marion Pettie's background, they learned that his wife had worked for the CIA, and that one of their sons had worked for Air America, a CIA cutout used to traffic heroin in the golden triangle region during the Vietnam War. These family connections to intelligence operations raised questions about whether The Finders maintained formal or informal links to the agency.[^1]
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Isabelle Pettie was a CIA employee and the wife of [[Marion Pettie]], the founder and leader of [[The Finders]]. Her employment with the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] was confirmed by FBI Vault documents released as part of the 2019 Finders document disclosure, and was acknowledged by Marion Pettie himself in a 1993 interview with *U.S. News & World Report*: "his wife once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency."[^1][^2]
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The 1993 Department of Justice inquiry into CIA involvement with The Finders examined these connections in detail. The Washington Times reported in December 1993 that a Metropolitan Police document quoted a CIA agent confirming that the agency was sending personnel to a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises, for training in computer operations. While Isabelle Pettie's specific role within the CIA was not detailed in the publicly released documents, her employment provided a documented link between the intelligence community and the organization's leadership.[^1]
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### CIA Employment
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The significance of Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment extended beyond her individual role. The connection suggested that The Finders may have functioned as an unacknowledged intelligence asset, or that intelligence personnel used the group's infrastructure for training and operational purposes. The family's multi-generational involvement with intelligence-connected entities, including Air America and Future Enterprises, indicated a pattern of overlap between The Finders and the intelligence community that warranted the Department of Justice investigation.[^1]
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The precise dates of Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment vary across sources due to apparent inconsistencies in the underlying FBI Vault documents themselves. The most commonly cited range in journalism is approximately 1952 to 1961, though some documents suggest a start date as early as 1950 or 1951 and an end date as late as 1971.[^2][^3] She was listed in CIA records under the job title of staff stenographer.
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FBI Vault documents established that Isabelle Pettie held passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War -- three destinations that were among the most restricted for American citizens during that era and would not ordinarily be approved for travel by an employee listed as a staff stenographer.[^3] This discrepancy between her official job category and her documented travel authorizations became a focal point in discussions of the CIA's relationship to [[The Finders]] and to the Pettie family more broadly.
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### Discovery During the Finders Investigation
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Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment came to investigators' attention during the 1987 federal inquiry into The Finders. Metropolitan Police and U.S. Customs investigators learned of her background as they examined [[Marion Pettie]]'s personal history in the weeks following the February 4, 1987 arrests in Tallahassee, Florida.[^1]
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An MPD report filed February 19, 1987 by Sgt. John H. Stitcher Jr. described a CIA official acknowledging Isabelle Pettie's employment with the agency and stating that the investigation had been "treading on their toes" and that the CIA had a "vested interest" in the group.[^3] The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division subsequently classified all MPD reports related to The Finders as Secret.[^3]
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### Significance to the CIA Connection Question
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Isabelle Pettie's documented employment, combined with [[George Pettie|her son George's]] work for [[Air America]] and [[Future Enterprises|Future Enterprises' training]] of CIA employees, constituted three overlapping family and organizational connections to the CIA that investigators noted formed a pattern. The CIA's formal public position, articulated in 1993 by spokesman David Christian, characterized the agency's relationship with The Finders as "an indirect, tangential association" limited to the Future Enterprises computer training connection, and did not address Isabelle Pettie's employment in detail beyond confirming it.[^1]
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She had died before the 1987 investigation began. Her specific operational role, if any, within the CIA beyond her stenographer classification has not been established in accessible primary sources.
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^1]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation." *U.S. News & World Report*, December 27, 1993 / January 3, 1994.
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[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^3]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also cited in: MintPress News, "Losing Finders: The Buried Documents that Linked the Infamous Cult to the CIA," 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/losing-finders-buried-documents-link-infamous-cult-to-cia/277756/.
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After release, Norman continued crimes; by 1983, arrested in Pennsylvania for using boys in "Handy Andy" pornography, released on bail in 1985, then fled. In 1986, wanted in at least five states, he used jailhouse lawyer skills to reduce bail, posted $7,500, and skipped, apprehended in Illinois in July 1987. Norman died in 2011 after spending his later life in and out of prison and parole programs.[^1]
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### Connection to The Finders
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When [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] investigators examined the address book carried by the two [[The Finders|Finders]] members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida on February 4, 1987 -- [[Douglas Ammerman]] and [[James Michael Holwell]], who were transporting six malnourished children -- names in that address book appeared in FBI files related to Norman's network. According to FBI file notes cited in secondary sources, two individuals named in the address book appeared in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to Norman's Odyssey Foundation child prostitution investigation. A third name appeared in an FBI Buffalo field office file concerning [[NAMBLA]] members suspected of murder connections.[^1]
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The address-book overlaps represent the primary documented connection between The Finders and Norman's network. The underlying FBI documents establishing this connection are cited in secondary sources including *Eye of the Chickenhawk* and the NAMBLA-related investigation files; they were also referenced in the FBI Vault's November 2019 Finders document release. No direct organizational relationship or personal contact between Norman and Finders leadership has been established in accessible primary sources.
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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- Person
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- CIA
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- Military
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summary: "Marion Pettie was the leader of The Finders, a group that law enforcement and researchers have described as a commune or cult operating in the Washington D.C."
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- The_Finders
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- Washington_DC
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summary: "Marion David Pettie (1920-2003) was the founder and leader of The Finders, a Washington D.C.-based communal group investigated in 1987 for child trafficking connections. A retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant with family ties to the CIA and Air America, Pettie served as the group's 'Game Caller' for approximately three decades."
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born: 1920
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died: 2003-10-24
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location: "Washington, D.C. area"
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location: "Washington, D.C. / Culpeper, Virginia"
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---
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Marion Pettie was the leader of [[The Finders]], a group that law enforcement and researchers have described as a commune or cult operating in the Washington D.C. area. The children in the group called him the game-caller. Pettie was a former [[U.S. Air Force]] Master Sergeant, a background that provided him with military training and connections that would later become relevant to investigations into the group's activities.[^1]
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Pettie's personal connections extended into the intelligence community. His late wife, [[Isabelle Pettie]], had been a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] employee. One of his sons had worked for [[Air America]], a CIA cutout used to traffic heroin in the golden triangle region during the Vietnam War. These family connections to intelligence operations became central to inquiries into whether The Finders maintained operational links to the CIA or functioned as an unacknowledged asset.[^1]
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Marion David Pettie (1920-2003) was the founder and leader of [[The Finders]], a Washington D.C.-based communal group that came under federal investigation in February 1987 following the arrest of two members who were transporting six malnourished children in a van in Tallahassee, Florida. A retired [[U.S. Air Force]] Master Sergeant with documented family connections to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and its proprietary airline [[Air America]], Pettie functioned within the group as the "Game Caller" - the title used both by adult members and by the children under the group's care - for approximately three decades until the group's announced dissolution in 1987.[^1][^2]
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The investigation into The Finders intensified in February 1987 when two members of the group were arrested in Florida for transporting children. U.S. Customs agents and Metropolitan Police in Washington D.C. discovered preexisting information from an informant stating that a group calling themselves the Finders were conducting brainwashing techniques and that children were used in rituals. Search warrants were secured for a warehouse and a nearby duplex house owned by Pettie, which were raided on February 5.[^1]
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### Early Life and Military Service
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Inside the warehouse, investigators discovered hot tub and sauna facilities, various film sets, a video screening room, a library containing books on mind control, and a room full of networked computer equipment with a satellite link on the roof. Files seized during the raids contained detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes, including the impregnation of female members of the community, purchasing children, trading, and kidnapping. Other files contained printouts of telex messages sent to networked computer terminals across the United States and abroad, including a purchase order for two children in [[Hong Kong]] to be arranged through an official at the [[China|Chinese Embassy]].[^1]
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Pettie was born in 1920 in Culpeper, Virginia, where his family had lived for what he described as ten generations. He dropped out of school after ninth grade. He served in the [[U.S. Army]] before and during World War II, later transitioning to or serving within the U.S. Air Force, where he attained the rank of Master Sergeant. He retired from the Air Force in 1956.[^2]
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The 1993 [[Department of Justice]] inquiry into CIA involvement with The Finders revealed that Future Enterprises had provided software training for CIA employees, and that an employee of the company named [[Robert Garder Terrell]] was a member of The Finders who had been let go in February 1987. The Washington Times published an article in December 1993 citing a Metropolitan Police document dated February 19, 1987, quoting a CIA agent as confirming that the agency was sending personnel to a [[Future Enterprises]], for training in computer operations.[^1]
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From at least the 1940s, Pettie hosted open-house gatherings at his Washington D.C. residence. He described these as self-financed social events that drew intelligence figures, diplomats, journalists, and others. Pettie stated in a 1996 interview with the *Washington City Paper* that he had studied intelligence agencies since the 1930s, tracking the evolution from the Office of Naval Intelligence through the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^2]
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### Alleged Intelligence Connections
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An anonymous three-page investigative memo of unknown provenance, circulated among researchers during the 1990s, alleged a more formal intelligence relationship. The memo claimed that in 1946 Pettie served as chauffeur to General [[Ira Eaker]], then commanding general of Army Air Forces in the Mediterranean Theater, and that newspaper publisher [[Charles Marsh]] subsequently arranged for Pettie to receive counterintelligence training. The memo further alleged that Colonel [[Leonard N. Weigner]] of the USAF directed Pettie to retire from active duty and surround himself with "kooks" in order to provide cover for intelligence recruitment and the infiltration of counterculture movements, with Major [[George Varga]] serving as Pettie's case officer until Varga's death in the 1970s.[^2]
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Weigner died in September 1990. His *Washington Post* obituary confirmed a career in Air Force intelligence and the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^2] The memo's specific claims regarding Weigner as Pettie's handler and Marsh as a facilitator are unverified and not corroborated by any accessible primary source.
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Pettie consistently denied CIA employment in public statements. In the most direct formulation, given to journalist Eddie Dean in 1996: "The reason the CIA wouldn't hire me is that they wouldn't have the control factor over me."[^2] In a 1993 interview with *U.S. News & World Report*, however, Pettie confirmed that his wife [[Isabelle Pettie]] "once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency" and that his son [[George Pettie]] worked for [[Air America]], the CIA proprietary airline that operated in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.[^3]
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### The Finders and the Game Caller Role
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Pettie's communal gatherings evolved into The Finders, a group that coalesced in the late 1960s and established a formal communal structure around 1971 at his Glover Park house in Washington D.C. Pettie functioned as the "Game Caller," structuring the group's activities through assignments he called "projects" - which could range from mundane domestic tasks to travel abroad - and exercising final authority over communal life.[^1][^2]
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He described no formal membership requirements: "Nobody signs anything." His stated personal philosophy, offered to Eddie Dean, was "to know everything and do nothing."[^2] The group blended Taoism with New Age and Human Potential Movement concepts, and members pooled finances into what [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] called the "Invisible Bank."[^1]
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Beginning around 1980, children in the group were raised communally rather than by biological parents. Pettie described this practice as replicating what he believed were original Native American child-rearing traditions. Children were not enrolled in conventional schools and were removed from their parents for months during group-organized travel described as educational.[^4]
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### The 1987 Investigation
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The February 1987 arrests of [[Douglas Ammerman]] and [[James Michael Holwell]] in Tallahassee while transporting six malnourished children prompted searches of The Finders' Washington D.C. warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE and the Glover Park duplex. Investigators found extensive computer networks with satellite communications, files describing methods for obtaining children, and telex communications referencing international operations. [[U.S. Customs]] Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]] documented the contents in reports dated February 7 and April 13, 1987.[^1][^5]
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An MPD report filed February 19, 1987 by Sgt. John H. Stitcher Jr. described a CIA official acknowledging Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment and stating that the investigation had been "treading on their toes" and that the agency had a "vested interest" in the group. The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s Foreign Counterintelligence Division classified MPD reports Secret and directed MPD not to brief the FBI's own Washington Field Office. All charges against the two arrested men were eventually dropped.[^1][^5]
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### Post-1987 and Final Years
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By 1996, when journalist Eddie Dean interviewed Pettie in Culpeper, Virginia, Pettie was 76 years old and living in his ancestral hometown. He denied that The Finders had engaged in any criminal activity and characterized the group name as informal: "There's no such thing as the Finders. It's just a group term for people who like to hang around me."[^2]
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A 1996 court appearance involved Pettie being unable to locate a briefcase containing approximately two million dollars in land deed documents. [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] announced the group's dissolution on March 11, 1987, though activity was observed at the former warehouse address as late as October 1991.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Pettie gave no extended public interviews after 1996. He died on October 24, 2003, in Culpeper, Virginia.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Family
|
||||
|
||||
- **[[Isabelle Pettie]]** (wife, deceased by 1987): Confirmed CIA employee, approximately 1952-1961. Held passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union.[^5]
|
||||
- **[[George Pettie]]** (son): Worked for [[Air America]]. Had broken contact with his father by 1985 and was operating a home inspection business in Northern Virginia at the time of the 1987 investigation. He described the circa-1971 Glover Park gatherings as "the beginning of a new life" for his father and followers.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." *Washington City Paper*, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/.
|
||||
[^3]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation." *U.S. News & World Report*, December 27, 1993 / January 3, 1994.
|
||||
[^4]: Fisher, Marc and John Mintz. "Finders Group Has Its Roots in Popular '60s Hippie Refuge." *Washington Post*, February 7, 1987.
|
||||
[^5]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: Martinez, Ramon J. U.S. Customs Service Reports, February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/ted-gunderson-fbi-the-finders.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
30
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Stuart Miles Silverstone.md
Normal file
30
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Stuart Miles Silverstone.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Other"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- The_Finders
|
||||
- Washington_DC
|
||||
- Computer_Operations
|
||||
- 1980s
|
||||
summary: "Stuart Miles Silverstone (alias: Steve Learner) was an active member of The Finders found by U.S. Customs investigators inside the group's satellite-equipped computer room at the Glover Park duplex during the February 1987 raids."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Stuart Miles Silverstone, who operated under the alias Steve Learner, was an active member of [[The Finders]] and was found by U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]] inside a satellite-equipped computer room at the group's Glover Park duplex during the February 1987 federal raids on The Finders' properties.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Discovery During the 1987 Raids
|
||||
|
||||
When U.S. Customs and Metropolitan Police investigators executed search warrants on The Finders' Glover Park duplex at 3918-3920 W Street NW on February 5-6, 1987, Silverstone was found inside a room containing multiple computers, printers, and satellite communications equipment. Large plastic bags filled with color slides, photographs, and photographic contact sheets including images of children were also seized from the same area.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The room Silverstone occupied at the duplex appears to correspond to the communications hub through which the group's telex messages were generated. Martinez's reports identified telex communications found at the warehouse and duplex -- transmitted through MCI accounts to terminals across the United States and in foreign locations -- including what Martinez described as a purchase order for two children in Hong Kong through a contact at the Chinese Embassy.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Membership and Aliases
|
||||
|
||||
The active membership roster circulated during the 1987 investigations listed Silverstone by his alias "Steve Learner." His given name Stuart Miles Silverstone appears in investigative documents; some sources list a date of birth in June 1941, though this has not been independently verified. His specific formal role within [[Future Enterprises]], the computer training company associated with The Finders that conducted business with the CIA, is not established in accessible primary sources.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Silverstone is not known to have given any public interviews or made any public statements in connection with the 1987 investigation or subsequent inquiries. He does not appear in the 1993 DOJ/FBI follow-up inquiry records accessible through the FBI Vault.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Martinez, Ramon J. U.S. Customs Service Reports, February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/ted-gunderson-fbi-the-finders. Also: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019).
|
||||
|
|
@ -3,15 +3,40 @@ category: "Intelligence & Government"
|
|||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CIA
|
||||
summary: "Robert Garder Terrell was an employee of Future Enterprises and a member of The Finders who was let go from the group in February 1987."
|
||||
- The_Finders
|
||||
- Washington_DC
|
||||
- Computer_Operations
|
||||
summary: "Robert Gardner Terrell (aliases: 'Tobe Terrell,' 'Genghis K. Plato') was the principal spokesman and financial manager of The Finders, a former IRS appeals officer and certified public accountant who was associated with Future Enterprises, a company that provided computer training to CIA employees."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
---
|
||||
Robert Garder Terrell was an employee of [[Future Enterprises]] and a member of [[The Finders]] who was let go from the group in February 1987. His simultaneous employment at a company that provided software training for [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] employees and membership in The Finders established a direct operational link between the group and the intelligence community.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The connection between Terrell, Future Enterprises, and The Finders emerged during the 1993 Department of Justice inquiry into CIA involvement with the group. Investigators learned that Future Enterprises had provided software training for CIA employees, and that Terrell was a member of The Finders who had been released from the group in February 1987. The timing of his departure coincided with the intensification of law enforcement scrutiny following the arrests of Finders members in Florida that same month.[^1]
|
||||
Robert Gardner Terrell -- known within [[The Finders]] as "Tobe Terrell" and in some group documents as "Genghis K. Plato" -- was the principal spokesman and financial manager of The Finders, a former IRS appeals officer and certified public accountant who was associated with [[Future Enterprises]], a company that provided computer training to [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] employees during the 1980s.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Future Enterprises functioned as a corporate entity linked to The Finders' operations. A Metropolitan Police document dated February 19, 1987, quoted a CIA agent confirming that the agency was sending personnel to a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises, for training in computer operations. Terrell's position within this corporate structure suggested that he may have been involved in facilitating these training arrangements or in managing the technical infrastructure that supported both the company's legitimate business and The Finders' other activities.[^1]
|
||||
### Background and Role Within The Finders
|
||||
|
||||
The Washington Times reported on these connections in December 1993, citing both the U.S. Customs memo compiled by Ramon J. Martinez and Metropolitan Police reports. The article brought public attention to the overlap between The Finders, Future Enterprises, and CIA training programs, with Terrell's dual role serving as a specific example of this convergence. The investigation did not establish whether Terrell was aware of the full scope of The Finders' activities or whether his involvement was limited to the technical and training aspects of the operation.[^1]
|
||||
Terrell had a prior career as an appeals officer with the Internal Revenue Service before becoming associated with [[Marion Pettie]] and The Finders. He held the warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE in Washington D.C. -- the group's primary male residence and operational hub -- in his name as owner of record.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Within the group, Terrell managed what he called the "Invisible Bank" -- a pooled communal fund into which members contributed finances, in some cases including life savings.[^2] He was a certified public accountant and handled the group's finances in this capacity. He was also associated with Future Enterprises as a computer trainer. The CIA confirmed in 1993 that it had sent employees to Future Enterprises for computer training during the 1980s; CIA spokesman David Christian described Terrell's role there as that of a "part-time accountant," though Terrell's own descriptions of his work at the company described computer training.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1987 Arrests and Dissolution Announcement
|
||||
|
||||
When the two Finders members were arrested in Tallahassee on February 4, 1987, and federal and Metropolitan Police investigators subsequently raided the warehouse and Glover Park properties, Terrell functioned as the group's public face. He was identified in contemporaneous reporting as the group's spokesman and made statements to journalists in the days following the raids.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 11, 1987, as a Florida judge ruled on custody of the six children involved in the Tallahassee case, Terrell announced to the press that The Finders were "breaking up" after approximately seventeen years of operation: "You won't hear from the Finders again until the year 2000." On March 23, 1987, he gave a follow-up statement to the Associated Press confirming the group's dissolution.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The announcement of dissolution did not prevent the group's continued investigation. U.S. Customs records document that a U.S. Customs proposal to remove agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]] from his position in 1994 cited his disclosure of case information to a co-worker of someone under investigation. Activity was also observed at the former warehouse address as late as October 1991, when Metropolitan Police officers found well-dressed men with children entering the building after midnight.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Future Enterprises and CIA Training Connection
|
||||
|
||||
The 1993 Department of Justice and FBI inquiry into The Finders examined Terrell's role at Future Enterprises closely. The Washington Times published a December 17, 1993 article by investigative reporter Paul M. Rodriguez citing both Martinez's customs documents and an MPD report dated February 19, 1987, in which a CIA agent confirmed the agency was sending personnel to "a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises, for training in computer operations."[^3] This language -- "Finders Corp." -- in the MPD document suggested a direct institutional identification between the two entities, though the CIA's public position maintained the connection was limited to one Finders member working as a part-time accountant at an otherwise independent firm.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Post-1987 Public Statements
|
||||
|
||||
Terrell gave no extended public interviews for over twenty-five years following the 1987 investigation. In 2018 he agreed to be interviewed by journalist Derrick Broze of The Conscious Resistance Network -- the first such interview since the investigation. A follow-up interview was conducted in 2021. Both interviews were incorporated into Broze's 2019 documentary "Who Will Find What The Finders Hide?" Terrell denied all criminal allegations throughout and described The Finders as a philosophical and communal organization.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." *Washington City Paper*, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/.
|
||||
[^3]: Witkin, Gordon, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez. "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation." *U.S. News & World Report*, December 27, 1993 / January 3, 1994. Also: Rodriguez, Paul M. "CIA tied to cult accused of abuse; Justice probes links to Finders." *Washington Times*, December 17, 1993.
|
||||
[^4]: Broze, Derrick, and Jeremy Martin. "Who Will Find What The Finders Hide?" Documentary. The Conscious Resistance Network, March 2019. https://theconsciousresistance.com/thefinders/.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
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