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.claude/settings.local.json
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@ -71,7 +71,37 @@
"WebFetch(domain:nrgiseternal.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:finderscult.wordpress.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.mail-archive.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:skepticalinquirer.org)"
"WebFetch(domain:skepticalinquirer.org)",
"WebFetch(domain:brockow.neocities.org)",
"WebFetch(domain:popularresistance.org)",
"WebFetch(domain:savingface.substack.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:voxfux.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.floridatrend.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:sonsoflibertymedia.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.solitaryroad.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:listverse.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:cavdef.org)",
"WebFetch(domain:theconsciousresistance.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:dorisvsutherland.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.citizensdawn.org)",
"WebFetch(domain:groups.google.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.linkedin.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:dokumen.pub)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.anti-gangstalking.center)",
"WebFetch(domain:anti-gangstalking.center)",
"WebFetch(domain:www.gnosticwarrior.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:darkideas.net)",
"WebFetch(domain:ebin.pub)",
"WebFetch(domain:diedsuddenlynews.substack.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:steemit.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:frontpagedetectivesonline.substack.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:thecandor.wordpress.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:cooperativeselfreliance.locals.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:chinainarms.substack.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:thelaststrawbook.wordpress.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:annienormal.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:charlessulka.com)",
"WebFetch(domain:danurtnowski.substack.com)"
]
}
}

24
00 - META/CHANGELOG.md
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- 2026-05-15T1315 · [[The Finders]]
- 2026-05-15T1308 · [[Marion Pettie]]
- 2026-05-15T1353 · [[Marion Pettie]]
- 2026-05-15T1352 · [[Stuart Miles Silverstone]]
- 2026-05-15T1350 · [[Isabelle Pettie]]
- 2026-05-15T1349 · [[Ramon J. Martinez]]
- 2026-05-15T1348 · [[Henry Skip Clements]]
- 2026-05-15T1348 · [[Charlie Rose (NC)]]
- 2026-05-15T1348 · [[Tom Lewis]]
- 2026-05-15T1347 · [[John J. Cox]]
- 2026-05-15T1347 · [[James Michael Holwell]]
- 2026-05-15T1346 · [[Douglas Ammerman]]
- 2026-05-15T1346 · [[John H. Stitcher Jr.]]
- 2026-05-15T1346 · [[The Finders]]
- 2026-05-15T1250 · [[Odyssey Foundation]]
- 2026-05-15T1250 · [[John David Norman]]
- 2026-05-15T1250 · [[Ted Gunderson]]
- 2026-05-15T1250 · [[Future Enterprises]]
- 2026-05-15T1249 · [[Stuart Miles Silverstone]]
- 2026-05-15T1249 · [[Ramon J. Martinez]]
- 2026-05-15T1248 · [[Robert Garder Terrell]]
- 2026-05-15T1247 · [[Isabelle Pettie]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[SIMWA]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Gerald Richards]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Ignacio Paz]]
@ -16,10 +23,3 @@
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Peter D. Stockton]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Harold Okimoto]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Michael Rossi]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Major Stone]]
- 2026-05-15T1156 · [[Steven Shaw]]
- 2026-05-15T1155 · [[Tina Sinatra]]
- 2026-05-15T1155 · [[Peter R. Phillips]]
- 2026-05-15T1155 · [[Peter Squire]]
- 2026-05-15T1155 · [[Roderick Sinclair]]
- 2026-05-15T1155 · [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]]

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Charlie Rose (NC).md Normal file
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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Congress
- The_Finders
- North_Carolina
- Democrat
summary: "Charles Grandison Rose III (1939-2012) was a Democratic congressman from North Carolina who served 24 years and, with Rep. Tom Lewis, received documents from Henry 'Skip' Clements in 1993 and helped pressure the DOJ to reopen the Finders investigation."
born: 1939-08-10
died: 2012-09-04
location: "Fayetteville, North Carolina"
---
Charles Grandison Rose III (1939-2012) was a Democratic congressman who represented North Carolina's 7th congressional district (covering the Wilmington and Fayetteville areas) for twenty-four years, from 1973 to 1997. Along with Rep. [[Tom Lewis]] (R-FL), Rose received documents from private consultant [[Henry "Skip" Clements]] in October 1993 and applied congressional pressure that contributed to the Department of Justice reopening its inquiry into [[The Finders]] case.[^1][^2]
### Background
Rose died on September 4, 2012, at age 73. He was known informally as the "mayor of the Capitol" for his work as chairman of the House Administration Committee from 1991 to 1994, the period during which he engaged with the Finders reinvestigation. His committee assignments also included membership on the House Agriculture Committee and, at certain points during his tenure, the House Intelligence Committee. He chaired a 1991 House committee investigation into the Bush administration's role in selling military supplies to Iraq, indicating prior engagement with intelligence oversight matters.[^1]
### Role in the Finders Reinvestigation
Rose received Clements's materials in October 1993 and joined Lewis in applying pressure to the DOJ. The CIA's formal response to the congressional inquiry was dismissive: a CIA spokesman told Rose, "This story is a non-story. I think of it as a nothing-burger." Despite this characterization, the congressional pressure, combined with the prospect of a CBS 48 Hours segment, was sufficient to prompt the DOJ's October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney to FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts tasking the FBI with a preliminary inquiry.[^2]
No specific public statements by Rose on the Finders beyond the general congressional pressure documented in contemporaneous news accounts have been located in accessible sources. His congressional papers are held at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (Special Collections, dlib.uncp.edu/digital/collection/charlierose) and may contain correspondence or reports not yet examined in connection with this case.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Wikipedia, "Charlie Rose (politician)."
[^2]: 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: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders.

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Douglas Ammerman.md Normal file
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---
category: "Other"
tags:
- Person
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- 1980s
summary: "Douglas Edward Ammerman, age 27, was one of two Finders members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida on February 4, 1987 while transporting six malnourished children in a van. All charges against him were dropped in March 1987."
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
Douglas Edward Ammerman, age 27 at the time of his arrest, was one of two members of [[The Finders]] detained by Tallahassee, Florida police on February 4, 1987, at Myers Park, while transporting six malnourished children in a van. He was charged with misdemeanor child abuse. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence on March 17-18, 1987.[^1][^2]
### The Tallahassee Arrest
Ammerman and [[James Michael Holwell]] were found with six children ranging in age from approximately two to seven years. The children were described by police and medical personnel as dirty, malnourished, unfamiliar with basic technology, and on a raw food diet dispensed only as behavioral reward. Both men were described by officers as well-dressed and declined to explain their relationship to the children in detail. They claimed they were transporting the children to a school for gifted students in Mexico.[^1]
Investigators found in the van a TRS-80 computer, twenty floppy disks, a telephone connection device, and a Chinese-English dictionary. The van was registered to [[The Finders]]' warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE in Washington D.C., which led to the February 5-6 raids on the group's properties.[^1]
Ammerman's brother David, who was not a Finders member, visited him in Leon County Jail and told TPD and FBI investigators that Douglas had visited their parents in Gainesville in January 1987, at which time he was accompanied by a boy he claimed was his own child.[^2]
A TRS-80 message recovered during the investigation, attributed to [[Marion Pettie]], directed both Ammerman and Holwell that if questioned by police they should state they were heading to Mexico to start a school. This indicates Pettie was aware of the trip and had prepared specific cover instructions.[^2]
### Legal Outcome
Ammerman was charged with misdemeanor child abuse. Bond was set at $100,000 and reduced to $20,000 on February 19, 1987. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence. He and Holwell were released on March 17-18, 1987. The Washington Post confirmed the dismissal in its article "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987.[^1][^2]
No federal charges were filed. Ammerman does not appear in the 2019 FBI Vault document release as a subject of any continued investigation beyond the initial 1987 incident. He appears in supplemental Finders membership documents under the aliases "Kenny Rogers" and "Earnest Angel." No known public interviews or subsequent public appearances have been documented.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^2]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: Washington Post, "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/03/18/two-finders-released/35b2bc13-e56d-4c72-a587-97fe83f9b7da/.

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Henry Skip Clements.md Normal file
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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- The_Finders
- Florida
- 1990s
summary: "Henry T. 'Skip' Clements was a private consultant in Stuart, Florida who obtained copies of U.S. Customs Agent Ramon Martinez's 1987 reports on The Finders and brought them to Congress in October 1993, helping trigger the DOJ reinvestigation of the case."
location: "Stuart, Florida"
---
Henry T. "Skip" Clements was a private consultant based in Stuart, Florida, who obtained copies of U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]]'s 1987 reports on [[The Finders]] and, in October 1993, provided them to U.S. Representatives [[Tom Lewis]] (R-FL) and [[Charlie Rose (NC)|Charlie Rose]] (D-NC). The congressional pressure that followed contributed to the Department of Justice reopening its inquiry into the case in late 1993.[^1][^2]
### Background
Clements operated Technology Strategic Planning, Inc., a Florida corporation (Document Number L63993, incorporated April 4, 1990, dissolved August 23, 1996). The company taught private sector clients how to prevent industrial espionage and was described in one contemporaneous account as being staffed by former intelligence employees.[^1]
His involvement in child abuse investigations arose from personal circumstances: his child was among the victims at the Glendale Montessori School in Stuart, Florida, where owner James Toward pleaded guilty in 1989 (under an Alford plea) to child sexual abuse charges involving boys and received a twenty-seven year sentence. While investigating the Toward case and potential broader trafficking connections, Clements obtained a copy of Martinez's customs report documenting what investigators found during the February 1987 raids on [[The Finders]]' Washington D.C. properties, including the CIA interference claim. The specific means by which he obtained the documents has not been explained in any public source.[^1]
### Congressional Contact
In October 1993, Clements met with Rep. Tom Lewis, who represented a Florida district that included Stuart, and with Rep. Charlie Rose. Both men subsequently applied pressure to the Department of Justice. Lewis made public statements: "Could our own government have something to do with this Finders organization and turned their backs on these children?" An October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney to FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts, tasking the FBI with a preliminary inquiry, was issued in the context of this congressional pressure. The prospect of a CBS 48 Hours segment on the case contributed additional impetus.[^1][^2]
### Subsequent History
After the DOJ inquiry concluded without charges in 1993-1994, Clements does not appear to have continued public activity on the Finders case. Florida business records show him associated with a subsequent Chinese citrus export venture that collapsed amid fraud, unrelated to his intelligence consulting work. He is described in a Florida Trend profile approximately dated to 2013 as still pursuing closure on that separate matter, at which point he was approximately 62 years old. No record of his testimony in any formal proceeding related to The Finders has been located.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 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/. Also: OpenCorporates / Florida Division of Corporations, Technology Strategic Planning Inc., Document L63993. Florida Trend, "A Sense of Closure for Skip Clements," approximately 2013. https://www.floridatrend.com/article/16287/.
[^2]: 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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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- Computer_Operations
- 1970s
- 1980s
summary: "John J. Cox was a former member of The Finders associated with General Scientific Corporation, a Rockville, Maryland firm that appears in the group's FBI Vault documents. The precise nature of Cox's role - whether he founded the company and trained Finders members, or whether the Finders attempted to infiltrate the company - is disputed between a 1990s investigative memo and MPD Intelligence documents."
location: "Washington, D.C. area"
---
John J. Cox was a former member of [[The Finders]], the Washington D.C.-based communal group led by [[Marion Pettie]], associated with General Scientific Corporation of Rockville, Maryland. He appears in supplemental Finders membership documents listed as a former member, without aliases or further biographical detail. His name and the associated company name appear in the 2019 FBI Vault document release in connection with the group, but the nature of that connection is disputed between two sources that describe it in contradictory terms.[^1][^2]
### The Two Competing Accounts
An unsigned investigative memo of unknown provenance, circulated among researchers in the mid-1990s and described by journalist Wendell Minnick in the publication Unclassified (Winter 1995) as a document of "unknown origin" in which "some of the data has been independently verified," provides one version of Cox's relationship to The Finders. The memo states that in 1979 Pettie recruited Cox, described as "a computer specialist and founder of General Scientific, a computer firm specializing in classified defense contracts." According to this account, Cox trained several Finders members in computer programming and communications technologies, and took two or more of them to Costa Rica and Panama in 1980-81, where the group allegedly made contact with Costa Rican financial intermediaries and Cuban exile networks.[^3]
MPD Intelligence documents included in the 2019 FBI Vault release offer a different framing, describing The Finders as having "attempted to infiltrate General Scientific Corporation, Rockville, Maryland." This version reverses the directional claim: rather than Cox recruiting Finders members through the company, it suggests the Finders approached the company from outside.[^1]
These two accounts have not been reconciled in any accessible journalism or research. The "founder and recruiter" narrative derives entirely from the unsigned memo; the government record supports only an association between the group and the company name, with the MPD framing suggesting the Finders were the initiating party in whatever contact occurred.[^1][^3]
### FBI Vault Documentation
The December 1993 Secretary of State query generated during the DOJ reinvestigation listed "General Scientific Corporation, Rockville, Maryland" as item four among entity names associated with the Finders that the FBI asked the Maryland Secretary of State to search. This query, included in the 2019 FBI Vault release, confirms that federal investigators considered the company relevant to the case, without establishing what that relevance was.[^1]
### What Remains Unestablished
No accessible primary source has produced Cox's full middle name, birth or death dates, pre-Finders career history, or the specific nature and extent of any defense contracting work at General Scientific. The company may or may not be the same entity as a General Scientific Corporation incorporated in 1987 as a minority-owned government contractor focused on naval anti-submarine warfare and acoustic processors. No independent verification of the Costa Rica and Panama travel described in the unsigned memo has been produced. Cox has not given any known public interview, and his name does not appear in publicly accessible portions of the 2019 FBI Vault release beyond the corporate query.[^1][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019), Secretary of State query document.
[^2]: Finders supplemental membership document, circulated via alt.law-enforcement newsgroup (provenance uncertain).
[^3]: Minnick, Wendell L. "The Finders: The CIA and the Cult of Marion David Pettie." Unclassified, No. 35, Winter 1995. Unsigned "Investigative Leads" memo, no author or date, mid-1990s circulation.

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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/James Michael Holwell.md Normal file
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---
category: "Other"
tags:
- Person
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- 1980s
summary: "James Michael Holwell, age 23, was one of two Finders members arrested in Tallahassee, Florida on February 4, 1987 while transporting six malnourished children in a van. He also faced a charge of resisting arrest without violence. All charges were dropped in March 1987."
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
James Michael Holwell, age 23 at the time of his arrest, was one of two members of [[The Finders]] detained by Tallahassee, Florida police on February 4, 1987, at Myers Park, while transporting six malnourished children in a van. Early news reports used the name "Michael Houlihan" interchangeably; his legal name is confirmed as James Michael Holwell in court documents and FBI records. He appears under "Michael Houlihan" in Finders supplemental membership documents.[^1][^2]
### The Tallahassee Arrest
Holwell and [[Douglas Ammerman]] were found with six children ranging in age from approximately two to seven years. Both men were described by officers as well-dressed. They claimed the children were being transported to a school for gifted students in Mexico. Holwell was charged with misdemeanor child abuse and, additionally, with one count of resisting arrest without violence, a charge that did not apply to Ammerman.[^1]
The van used to transport the children was registered to [[The Finders]]' warehouse at 1307 Fourth Street NE in Washington D.C., triggering the February 5-6 searches of the group's properties. A TRS-80 message recovered during the investigation, attributed to [[Marion Pettie]], directed both men that if questioned by police they should state they were heading to Mexico to start a school.[^2]
Holwell's father was identified in at least one source as a New York high school mathematics teacher. No other background information about Holwell's pre-Finders life has been established in accessible public records.[^2]
### Legal Outcome
Bond was set at $100,000 and reduced to $20,000 on February 19, 1987. All charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Holwell and Ammerman were released March 17-18, 1987. The Washington Post confirmed the dismissal in its article "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987.[^1][^2]
No federal charges were filed. Holwell does not appear in the 2019 FBI Vault document release as a subject of any continued investigation beyond the initial 1987 incident. No known public interviews or subsequent public appearances have been documented.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^2]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: Washington Post, "Two Finders Released," March 18, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/03/18/two-finders-released/35b2bc13-e56d-4c72-a587-97fe83f9b7da/.

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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ramon J. Martinez.md
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@ -6,15 +6,15 @@ tags:
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- 1980s
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."
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. He was later disciplined for disclosing case information."
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
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]
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. Both reports were included in the FBI Vault's November 2019 release of Finders documents under FOIA case number 1372462-0.[^1][^2]
### The 1987 Finders Investigation
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]
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]
His February 7, 1987 report documented the following at the warehouse:
@ -23,9 +23,10 @@ His February 7, 1987 report documented the following at the warehouse:
- A video screening room with production capability
- Sauna and hot tub facilities
- Files referencing international contacts in London, Germany, the Bahamas, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Africa, and Costa Rica
- A file labeled "Pentagon Break-In"
- A file labeled "Pentagon Break-In" (contents unexamined and unknown; the report records only the title)
- Documents with what Martinez described as "detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes" including impregnation, purchasing, trading, and kidnapping
- 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]
- 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
- "Intelligence files on private families," compiled through placement of babysitter and tutor advertisements in local newspapers[^1][^2]
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]
@ -33,24 +34,24 @@ Martinez's overall documented assessment: the files indicated "international tra
### CIA Interference and the April 1987 Report
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]
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.[^1][^2]
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]
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" and that "the Finders was a CIA front gone bad." 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," that the CIA had "had someone working on the case since it first broke," and that the agency had a "vested interest" in the group.[^1]
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]
### Professional Consequences
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]
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 during the 1993 reopening of the investigation, when congressional representatives obtained copies from private consultant [[Henry Skip Clements]].[^2]
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]
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.[^2]
### Significance
### Significance as a Primary Source
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.
Martinez's reports, confirmed authentic by the FBI Vault's 2019 release, remain the most detailed primary-source description of what federal investigators found at [[The Finders]]' properties. The key evidentiary limitation is that no second investigator present at the same raids independently confirmed all elements of his reports in records accessible to the public, particularly the specific telex describing the Hong Kong children purchase order.[^3] His April 1987 report provides the primary documentary basis for the claim that the CIA intervened to end the investigation.
### Footnotes
[^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.
[^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/.
[^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/.
[^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.
[^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/. Also: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders.
[^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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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Congress
- The_Finders
- Florida
- Republican
summary: "Thomas F. Lewis (1924-1998) was a Republican congressman from Florida who, along with Rep. Charlie Rose, received documents from private consultant Henry 'Skip' Clements in October 1993 and applied pressure to the DOJ that helped trigger the reinvestigation of The Finders case."
born: 1924
died: 1998
location: "North Palm Beach, Florida"
---
Thomas F. Lewis (1924-1998) was a Republican congressman who represented Florida's 12th congressional district from 1983 to 1993 and the 16th district from 1993 to 1995. He served six terms before retiring after the 1994 election cycle. Along with Rep. [[Charlie Rose]] (D-NC), Lewis received documents from private consultant [[Henry "Skip" Clements]] in October 1993 and applied congressional pressure that contributed to the Department of Justice reopening its inquiry into [[The Finders]] case.[^1][^2]
### Background
Lewis was born in 1924. His prior career included seventeen years as an executive at Pratt & Whitney aircraft, service as a B-25 gunner in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War where he attained the rank of master sergeant and was honorably discharged in 1954. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1980, the Florida State Senate from 1980 to 1982, and as mayor of North Palm Beach from 1964 to 1971.[^1]
He represented the Stuart, Florida area, where Clements was based, which accounts for how Clements made contact with his office.
### Role in the Finders Reinvestigation
After receiving Clements's materials in October 1993, Lewis made public statements questioning whether the government had protected The Finders at the expense of the children: "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." This quote appeared in U.S. News & World Report's December 27, 1993 coverage of the case.[^2]
Lewis introduced a resolution requiring the U.S. Customs Service to reinstate its Child Pornography and Protection Unit, citing data that child abuse arrests and convictions had fallen by half since the unit was dismantled and that staff time devoted to such cases had fallen to one-quarter of previous levels. This resolution was a direct legislative response to the Finders case and to what Lewis characterized as systematic deprioritization of child exploitation investigations. The resolution's outcome in the 103rd Congress has not been established in accessible records.[^2]
No formal congressional hearing transcripts, letters to the DOJ, or floor statements on the Finders specifically have been located in accessible online records beyond Lewis's public statements to journalists. He retired in 1994 and there is no indication he continued pursuing the matter after the DOJ inquiry closed.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Wikipedia, "Tom Lewis (American politician)." GovTrack.us, Thomas F. Lewis profile, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/thomas_lewis/406790.
[^2]: 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.

22
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Isabelle Pettie.md
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@ -6,32 +6,36 @@ tags:
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- Cold_War
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."
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. The Stitcher MPD report cited her employment period as 1950 to 1971."
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
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]
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]
### CIA Employment
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.
The precise dates of Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment vary across sources due to apparent inconsistencies in the underlying FBI Vault documents. MPD Sgt. [[John H. Stitcher Jr.]]'s February 19, 1987 report, which documented a conversation with a CIA official, cited her employment as running from 1950 to 1971. Other FBI Vault documents suggest a narrower range, more commonly cited in journalism as approximately 1952 to 1961.[^2][^3] She was listed in CIA records under the job title of staff stenographer.
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.
FBI Vault documents established that Isabelle Pettie held passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, three destinations among the most restricted for American citizens during that era and not ordinarily 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.
### Travel With CIA Awareness, 1969-1971
The Stitcher MPD report further documented that at least one Finders member's travel to Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam during 1969-1971 had been conducted with CIA awareness and facilitation. Whether this refers to Isabelle Pettie's own travel (she died before the 1987 investigation) or to a separate Finders member who traveled to the same destinations during that period is not clearly established in the partially redacted released version of the report.[^2]
### Discovery During the Finders Investigation
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]
Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment came to investigators' attention during the 1987 federal inquiry. 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]
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]
Stitcher's February 19, 1987 report documented a CIA official acknowledging Isabelle Pettie's employment 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]
### Significance to the CIA Connection Question
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]
Isabelle Pettie's documented employment, combined with [[George Pettie|her son George's]] work for [[Air America]] and [[Future Enterprises]]' training of CIA employees, constituted three overlapping family and organizational connections to the CIA. 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 substantive detail beyond confirming it.[^1]
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.
### Footnotes
[^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.
[^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.
[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^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/.
[^3]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also cited: 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/.

47
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John H. Stitcher Jr..md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- MPD
- CIA_Connection
- The_Finders
- Washington_DC
- 1980s
summary: "John H. Stitcher Jr. was a Metropolitan Police Department Intelligence Division sergeant who filed the key February 19, 1987 report documenting CIA acknowledgment of a 'vested interest' in The Finders. He died in May 1993, five months before the DOJ formally reopened its investigation, rendering him unavailable as a witness."
born: 1945
died: 1993-05-28
location: "Washington, D.C."
---
John H. Stitcher Jr. was a sergeant in the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C., assigned to the MPD Intelligence Division, who filed the primary document establishing CIA acknowledgment of involvement with [[The Finders]] during the February 1987 investigation. He died on May 28, 1993, at age 48, from septic shock, while working as a security guard at the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C. His death came approximately five months before the Department of Justice formally initiated its 1993 reinvestigation of the case, rendering him unavailable for interview.[^1][^2]
### The February 19, 1987 Report
Stitcher's report, filed February 19, 1987, was titled "Re: Finders involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency" and carried the classification markings "Confidential" and "Do Not Disseminate." It documented a conversation between Stitcher and a CIA special agent (name redacted in the released version) regarding the ongoing investigation of [[The Finders]] following the February 4, 1987 arrests in Tallahassee, Florida and the February 5-6 raids on the group's Washington D.C. properties.[^1][^2]
The report recorded the following from that conversation:
- When Stitcher asked whether the investigation was "treading on anyone's toes," the CIA agent responded "Sort of."
- The CIA agent stated the agency had "had someone working on the case since it first broke."
- The CIA confirmed that [[Isabelle Pettie]], the late wife of Finders leader [[Marion Pettie]], "was an employee of the agency from 1950 until 1971." (Other FBI Vault documents cite different dates for her employment; the discrepancy has not been resolved.)
- Travel by at least one Finders member to Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam during 1969-1971 had been conducted with CIA awareness and facilitation.
- The CIA stated it had a "vested interest" in the Finders; a substantial section of the released version of the report is redacted.
A separate MPD Intelligence Division report, filed April 13, 1987 and labeled Secret, concluded: "the Finders organization is and has been utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service." This second report is attributed to the Intelligence Division rather than to Stitcher personally; whether Stitcher contributed to it is not established in accessible sources.[^2]
### The CIA "Internal Matter" Statement
In late March or early April 1987, Stitcher told U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]] that the investigation "had become a CIA internal matter" and that "the Finders was a CIA front gone bad." Martinez recorded these statements in his April 13, 1987 customs memo. A November 1, 1993 DOJ summary separately noted that Stitcher had been contacted by an unnamed party and "told him to step away from the Finders case."[^1][^2]
### Death and Its Significance to the Investigation
Stitcher retired from the MPD and was employed as a security guard at the Australian Embassy at the time of his death. His cause of death, septic shock, is recorded in FBI documents that include his name unredacted specifically because he was deceased at the time of the FBI Vault release.[^2]
The 1993-1994 DOJ and FBI reinvestigation, initiated by Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney's October 26, 1993 memo to FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts, specifically noted Stitcher's death and his unavailability as a witness. His February 19 report and his oral statements to Martinez were the principal evidence of CIA interference in the investigation; without his testimony, the documentary record of the CIA agent conversation rested entirely on his written report and on Martinez's account. The 1993-1994 inquiry concluded without corroboration of the interference claim.[^2]
No other MPD reports by Stitcher specifically on The Finders beyond the February 19 document have been identified in publicly available records.[^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.
[^2]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019). Also: 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/.

30
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Marion Pettie.md
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@ -12,35 +12,39 @@ died: 2003-10-24
location: "Washington, D.C. / Culpeper, Virginia"
---
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]
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]
### Early Life and Military Service
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]
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]
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]
### Alleged Intelligence Connections
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]
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.
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.
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]
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]
### The Finders and the Game Caller Role
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]
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]
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]
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]
### The John Cox Connection
An unsigned investigative memo circulated in the mid-1990s, of unknown provenance, claimed that Pettie recruited computer specialist [[John J. Cox]], described as the founder of [[General Scientific Corporation]] in Rockville, Maryland, in 1979. The memo alleged Cox trained Finders members in computer programming and communications, and took members to Costa Rica and Panama in 1980-81. MPD Intelligence documents in the 2019 FBI Vault release offer a different account, describing The Finders as having "attempted to infiltrate" General Scientific rather than having been recruited through it. The company name appeared in a December 1993 Secretary of State query generated during the DOJ reinvestigation. The two accounts have not been reconciled in accessible sources.[^5]
### The 1987 Investigation
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]
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]
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]
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," that the CIA had "had someone working on the case since it first broke," and that the agency had a "vested interest" in the group. The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division classified MPD reports Secret and directed MPD not to brief the FBI's own Washington Field Office. A separate April 13, 1987 MPD Intelligence Division report concluded the group "is and has been utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service." All charges against the two arrested men were eventually dropped.[^1][^5]
### Post-1987 and Final Years
@ -52,13 +56,13 @@ Pettie gave no extended public interviews after 1996. He died on October 24, 200
### 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]
- [[Isabelle Pettie]] (wife, deceased by 1987): Confirmed CIA employee, approximately 1950-1971 per the Stitcher MPD report. 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.
[^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.
[^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," FOIA case number 1372462-0, 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.

1
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Stuart Miles Silverstone.md
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@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ tags:
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

139
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Finders.md
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@ -13,13 +13,14 @@ summary: "The Finders was a Washington D.C.-based communal group led by former A
location: "Washington, D.C."
start: 1970
---
The Finders was a Washington D.C.-based communal group led by former [[U.S. Air Force]] Master Sergeant [[Marion Pettie]] that came to public attention on February 4, 1987, when two of its members were arrested in Tallahassee, Florida while transporting six malnourished children in a van. The ensuing investigation uncovered extensive computer networks with satellite communications, international files referencing operations in multiple countries, and documents describing methods for obtaining children. A federal inquiry was opened, then abruptly closed after the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] acknowledged an interest in the group. The case was partially reopened in 1993 following congressional pressure, then closed again without criminal charges. In November 2019, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] released several hundred pages of investigative records through its online Vault repository.[^2][^3][^4]
The Finders was a Washington D.C.-based communal group led by former [[U.S. Air Force]] Master Sergeant [[Marion Pettie]] that came to public attention on February 4, 1987, when two of its members were arrested in Tallahassee, Florida while transporting six malnourished children in a van. The ensuing investigation uncovered extensive computer networks with satellite communications, international files referencing operations in multiple countries, and documents describing methods for obtaining children. A federal inquiry was opened, then abruptly closed after the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] acknowledged an interest in the group. The case was partially reopened in 1993 following congressional pressure, then closed again without criminal charges. In November 2019, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] released several hundred pages of investigative records through its online Vault repository under FOIA case number 1372462-0.[^2][^3][^4]
### Origins and Structure
The Finders coalesced in the late 1960s around [[Marion Pettie]], who had been hosting open-house gatherings at his Washington D.C. residence since at least the 1940s. The formal communal structure took shape around 1971 at Pettie's home in the Glover Park neighborhood.[^5] Pettie described no formal membership requirements: "Nobody signs anything."[^5] Members pooled finances into what [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] called the "Invisible Bank," with some members contributing life savings to the communal fund.[^5]
The group blended Taoist philosophy with New Age and Human Potential Movement concepts. Members were typically well-educated professionals who rejected conventional employment as an obstacle to what Pettie called spontaneity. Pettie functioned as the "Game Caller" -- a title the children in the group also used for him -- directing members on assignments called "projects" that could range from mundane tasks to international travel, and exercising final authority over communal life.[^5][^6] His stated life philosophy, offered to journalist Eddie Dean in 1996, was "to know everything and do nothing."[^5]
The group blended Taoist philosophy with New Age and Human Potential Movement concepts. Members were typically well-educated professionals who rejected conventional employment as an obstacle to what Pettie called spontaneity. Pettie functioned as the "Game Caller," a title the children in the group also used for him, directing members on assignments called "projects" that could range from mundane tasks to international travel, and exercising final authority over communal life.[^5][^6] His stated life philosophy, offered to journalist Eddie Dean in 1996, was "to know everything and do nothing."[^5]
Beginning around 1980, children were raised communally rather than by biological parents. The group believed this practice replicated what members described as original Native American child-rearing. Children were not enrolled in conventional schools and were separated from their parents for months during group-organized trips described as educational adventures. Neighbors reported seeing dozens of children at the Virginia farm during summer periods, sometimes naked or appearing distressed.[^7]
@ -27,9 +28,9 @@ Beginning around 1980, children were raised communally rather than by biological
The group maintained several interconnected properties:
- **3918-3920 W Street NW, Glover Park, Washington D.C.:** Two attached red brick buildings containing approximately eight apartments, renting rooms at five dollars per night. Women and children lived here. A duplex portion contained a satellite communications setup.[^5][^2]
- **1307 Fourth Street NE, Washington D.C.:** A 10,000-square-foot warehouse owned of record by [[Robert Gardner Terrell]]. Men lived here. The space contained a large library, two kitchens, a sauna, a hot tub, a video production room, extensive computer equipment, and satellite dish antennas on the roof.[^2][^3]
- **The Farm, Nethers, Madison County, Virginia:** Approximately 90 acres near Shenandoah National Park and Old Rag Mountain. Neighbors reported vans arriving at night with children who were sometimes heard crying.[^5][^7]
- 3918-3920 W Street NW, Glover Park, Washington D.C.: Two attached red brick buildings containing approximately eight apartments, renting rooms at five dollars per night. Women and children lived here. A duplex portion contained a satellite communications setup.[^5][^2]
- 1307 Fourth Street NE, Washington D.C.: A 10,000-square-foot warehouse owned of record by [[Robert Gardner Terrell]]. Men lived here. The space contained a large library, two kitchens, a sauna, a hot tub, a video production room, extensive computer equipment, and satellite dish antennas on the roof.[^2][^3]
- The Farm, Nethers, Madison County, Virginia: Approximately 90 acres near Shenandoah National Park and Old Rag Mountain. Neighbors reported vans arriving at night with children who were sometimes heard crying.[^5][^7]
#### Membership
@ -37,31 +38,43 @@ The active membership roster circulated during the 1987 investigations listed: [
[[Robert Gardner Terrell]], a former [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] appeals officer and certified public accountant, served as the group's principal spokesman and financial manager. He was associated with [[Future Enterprises]], a computer training company that conducted business with the CIA.[^2][^3]
#### John J. Cox and General Scientific
An unsigned investigative memo of unknown provenance, circulated among researchers in the mid-1990s and described by journalist Wendell Minnick in the publication Unclassified (Winter 1995) as a document of "unknown origin" in which "some of the data has been independently verified," claims that in 1979 Pettie recruited John J. Cox, described as a computer specialist and founder of General Scientific, a firm specializing in classified defense contracts. The memo alleges Cox trained several Finders members in computer programming and communications, and took two or more of them to Costa Rica and Panama in 1980-81.[^11]
A separate and partially contradicting account appears in MPD Intelligence documents included in the 2019 FBI Vault release, which describe The Finders as having "attempted to infiltrate General Scientific Corporation, Rockville, Maryland," framing the relationship as an infiltration effort rather than Cox recruiting into the group.[^3] The December 1993 Secretary of State query generated during the DOJ reinvestigation listed General Scientific Corporation, Rockville, Maryland as one of several entity names associated with the Finders.[^3] Cox appears in supplemental Finders membership documents listed as a former member, without aliases or biographical detail. He has not given any known public interview, and his specific role - whether as founder, employee, or point of contact - has not been established in independently accessible primary sources.[^11]
### Marion Pettie's Background and Intelligence Connections
[[Marion Pettie]] was born in 1920 and grew up in Culpeper, Virginia, where his family had lived for ten generations. He dropped out of school after ninth grade. He served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and retired in 1956.[^5] His wife, [[Isabelle Pettie]], was a CIA employee; FBI Vault documents confirm her employment, though the precise dates cited across sources vary, with estimates ranging from approximately 1952 to 1961.[^3] She was listed as a staff stenographer but was issued passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War -- travel that would not ordinarily be approved for an employee in that category.[^3] Pettie confirmed in a 1993 interview with *U.S. News & World Report* that his wife "once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency."[^4]
[[Marion Pettie]] was born in 1920 and grew up in Culpeper, Virginia, where his family had lived for ten generations. He dropped out of school after ninth grade. He served as a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and retired in 1956.[^5] His wife, [[Isabelle Pettie]], was a CIA employee; FBI Vault documents confirm her employment, though the precise dates cited across sources vary, with estimates ranging from approximately 1952 to 1961, and the Stitcher MPD report citing 1950 to 1971.[^3] She was listed as a staff stenographer but was issued passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, travel that would not ordinarily be approved for an employee in that category.[^3] Pettie confirmed in a 1993 interview with U.S. News & World Report that his wife "once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency."[^4]
Pettie's son [[George Pettie]] worked for [[Air America]], the CIA proprietary airline that operated in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and was documented to have transported narcotics from the [[Golden Triangle]].[^4] George Pettie had broken contact with his father by 1985 and was operating a home inspection business in Northern Virginia at the time of the 1987 investigations. In a 1987 interview he described the circa-1971 Glover Park gatherings as "the beginning of a new life" for his father and followers.[^5]
Marion Pettie consistently denied CIA employment in public interviews, stating: "The reason the CIA wouldn't hire me is that they wouldn't have the control factor over me."[^5] He acknowledged studying intelligence agencies since the 1930s and described himself as Taoist by inclination. His open houses in Washington from the 1930s onward drew intelligence figures, diplomats, and journalists, though Pettie described these gatherings as self-financed social events rather than operational meetings.[^5]
An anonymous three-page investigative memo circulated among researchers in the 1990s alleged a more formal intelligence relationship: that in 1946 Pettie served as chauffeur to General [[Ira Eaker]], then commanding general of Army Air Forces in the Mediterranean, and that 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 service and surround himself with what Weigner called "kooks," to provide cover for intelligence recruitment and infiltration of counterculture movements. Weigner died in September 1990; his *Washington Post* obituary confirmed a career in Air Force intelligence and the CIA.[^5] These claims are unverified and the memo's authorship is unknown. They are not corroborated by accessible primary sources.
An anonymous three-page investigative memo circulated among researchers in the 1990s alleged a more formal intelligence relationship: that in 1946 Pettie served as chauffeur to General [[Ira Eaker]], then commanding general of Army Air Forces in the Mediterranean, and that 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 service and surround himself with what Weigner called "kooks," to provide cover for intelligence recruitment and infiltration of counterculture movements. Weigner died in September 1990; his Washington Post obituary confirmed a career in Air Force intelligence and the CIA.[^5] These claims are unverified and the memo's authorship is unknown.
### The Tallahassee Arrest, February 4, 1987
At Myers Park in Tallahassee, Florida, on February 4, 1987, local police received reports of two well-dressed men with six visibly dirty and malnourished children living out of a van. The men were identified as [[Douglas Edward Ammerman]], age 27, and [[James Michael Holwell]], age 28, both from Washington D.C.[^2][^8]
At Myers Park in Tallahassee, Florida, on February 4, 1987, local police received reports of two well-dressed men with six visibly dirty and malnourished children living out of a van. The men were identified as [[Douglas Ammerman]], age 27, and [[James Michael Holwell]], age 23, both from Washington D.C.[^2][^8]
The six children ranged in age from approximately two to eleven years. They were described by police and medical personnel as bug-bitten, dirty, underfed, and on a raw food diet dispensed only as behavioral reward. The children appeared unfamiliar with modern technology including telephones, televisions, and toilets, and demonstrated unfamiliarity with the names of rooms in a house. When questioned about their origins, the children stated they were being taken to a special school in Mexico for brilliant children. They indicated they had been "weaned from their mothers" and were "under the control of the game caller." One child stated that the group would go to people's houses, babysit, and eat whatever was available and "do what those people wanted" but would not elaborate further.[^1][^2]
The six children ranged in age from approximately two to seven years. They were described by police and medical personnel as bug-bitten, dirty, underfed, and on a raw food diet dispensed only as behavioral reward. The children appeared unfamiliar with modern technology including telephones, televisions, and toilets, and demonstrated unfamiliarity with the names of rooms in a house. When questioned about their origins, the children stated they were being taken to a special school in Mexico for brilliant children. They indicated they had been "weaned from their mothers" and were "under the control of the game caller." One child stated that the group would go to people's houses, babysit, and eat whatever was available and "do what those people wanted" but would not elaborate further.[^1][^2]
Florida HRS physician Dr. Moorer found two children with findings consistent with sexual abuse, including one showing signs of sodomy and another of vaginal penetration. A subsequent psychiatric examination by Dr. Nahman Greenberg found "no signs of recent sexual or physical abuse."[^8] Items found in the van included a TRS-80 computer, twenty floppy computer disks, a telephone connection device, and a Chinese-English dictionary.[^2]
Florida HRS physician Dr. Moorer found physical evidence consistent with possible sexual abuse in two of the six children. A subsequent psychiatric examination by Dr. Nahman Greenberg found "no signs of recent sexual or physical abuse."[^8] Items found in the van included a TRS-80 computer, twenty floppy computer disks, a telephone connection device, and a Chinese-English dictionary.[^2]
Ammerman and Holwell were charged with misdemeanor child abuse. Bond was initially set at $100,000, reduced to $20,000 on February 19. Five women identifying as the children's mothers arrived in Tallahassee from Washington around February 12: Kristin Knauth, Judy Evans, Paula Arico, Carolyn Said, and one additional woman.[^8] On March 11, Judge Victor Cawthon returned three children to their mothers without restrictions and declared three children state dependents pending further supervision. All charges against Ammerman and Holwell were dropped for lack of evidence, and they were released on March 17-18, 1987.[^8]
[[Douglas Ammerman]] and [[James Michael Holwell]] were charged with misdemeanor child abuse; Holwell faced an additional count of resisting arrest without violence. Bond was initially set at $100,000 each, reduced to $20,000 on February 19. Five women identifying as the children's mothers arrived in Tallahassee from Washington around February 12: [[Kristin Knauth]], [[Judy Evans]], [[Paula Arico]], [[Carolyn Said]], and [[Patricia H. Livingston]].[^8]
#### Custody Proceedings and Outcomes
Florida state awarded temporary custody of all six children on February 5, 1987. On February 28, Judge Victor Cawthon awarded temporary custody of all six to the mothers pending a final hearing. On March 11, 1987, Cawthon ruled that three of the children be returned to their mothers unconditionally, while three older children were declared state dependents and placed under state supervision. Two mothers, directed by Pettie not to hire lawyers and not to respond to court proceedings, returned to Washington D.C. and forfeited their custody proceedings; their children became the state dependents. On June 1, 1987, a Florida judge sent two of the three state-dependent children to foster homes. The final disposition, as documented in press coverage, left four children returned to mothers and two in foster care.[^8]
All charges against Ammerman and Holwell were dropped for lack of evidence, and both were released on March 17-18, 1987.[^8]
### The Washington Raids, February 5-6, 1987
The white van used to transport the children was registered to the 1307 Fourth Street NE warehouse. Metropolitan Police in Washington D.C. already had preexisting information from an informant about The Finders' practices. Search warrants were secured for the warehouse and the Glover Park property, and Virginia State Police separately raided the Madison County farm on February 6.[^2]
U.S. Customs Special Agent **[[Ramon J. Martinez]]** was the principal federal investigator at the Washington D.C. properties. His reports, filed February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987, constitute the primary documentary record of what investigators found.[^2][^3]
U.S. Customs Special Agent [[Ramon J. Martinez]] was the principal federal investigator at the Washington D.C. properties. His reports, filed February 7, 1987 and April 13, 1987, constitute the primary documentary record of what investigators found.[^2][^3]
#### Warehouse Findings
@ -71,17 +84,23 @@ At the warehouse, investigators found:
- A large library including books on mind control and psychological operations
- A video screening room with production capability
- Sauna and hot tub facilities
- Files referencing international contacts and activities in [[London]], [[Germany]], the [[Bahamas]], [[Japan]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Malaysia]], Africa, and [[Costa Rica]]
- A file labeled "Pentagon Break-In"
- Files referencing international contacts and activities in London, Germany, the Bahamas, Japan, [[Hong Kong]], Malaysia, Africa, and Costa Rica
- A file labeled "Pentagon Break-In" (see below)
- Photographs of unidentified individuals including nude images and images of children
- Documents describing "explicit sexual conduct" between members
- Documents with what Martinez described as "detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes," including methods described as: impregnation of female members; purchasing; trading; and kidnapping[^2][^3]
- Documents with what Martinez described as "detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes," including methods described as: impregnation of female members, purchasing, trading, and kidnapping[^2][^3]
Martinez documented that files contained printouts of messages transmitted through an MCI telex account to networked computer terminals across the United States and in foreign locations. Among the telex messages, Martinez identified what he described as a purchase order for two children in Hong Kong to be arranged through a contact at the Chinese Embassy.[^2][^3] No second investigator present at the raid independently confirmed this specific document in accessible records, and the Skeptical Inquirer's 2023 analysis noted its existence rests on Martinez's reports alone.[^8]
Martinez documented that files contained printouts of messages transmitted through an MCI telex account to networked computer terminals across the United States and in foreign locations. Among the telex messages, Martinez identified what he described as a purchase order for two children in Hong Kong to be arranged through a contact at the Chinese Embassy.[^2][^3] No second investigator present at the raid independently confirmed this specific document in accessible records.[^8]
Additional documents referenced bank secrecy practices, technology transfers to the [[United Kingdom]], and currency movement across multiple international jurisdictions. Martinez's overall assessment was that the files indicated "international trafficking in children, high tech transfer to the United Kingdom, and international transfer of currency."[^2]
Additional documents referenced bank secrecy practices, technology transfers to the United Kingdom, and currency movement across multiple international jurisdictions. Martinez's overall assessment was that the files indicated "international trafficking in children, high tech transfer to the United Kingdom, and international transfer of currency."[^2]
Evidence gathered from the properties also included what Martinez's report described as intelligence files on private families, apparently compiled through placements of tutor and babysitter advertisements.[^2]
#### The "Pentagon Break-In" File
Among the documents observed at the warehouse, Martinez noted in his April 13, 1987 report the existence of a file entitled "Pentagon Break-In." His report records only the title; he did not describe the file's contents, and his subsequent loss of access to the seized materials - after the FBI transferred jurisdiction and classified the case - prevented any follow-up examination. No investigator, journalist, or FOIA release has produced a description of what the file contained. It is unknown whether the title referred to a literal unauthorized entry, surveillance of Pentagon personnel, an exercise or game, or something else. The file is mentioned in secondary sources only as a notation from Martinez's memo.[^2][^3]
#### The Babysitter and Tutor Advertisement Method
Martinez's April 13, 1987 report documented information provided by an MPD officer regarding an intelligence-gathering method used by the group: "the group would respond to local newspaper advertisements for babysitters, tutors, etc. and then a member of the Finders would gather as much information as possible about the habits, identity, occupation, etc., of the family." Evidence of this activity was found among the warehouse documents, described in the FBI file summary as "intelligence files on private families." The specific newspapers targeted, the geographic scope, the volume of families targeted, and the period over which this was conducted are not established in available records. The 1993 DOJ reinvestigation did not examine this method independently.[^2][^3]
#### Glover Park and Stuart Miles Silverstone
@ -93,96 +112,102 @@ Virginia State Police found at the Madison County farm what they described as ev
### CIA Involvement and Investigation Suppression
On February 6, 1987, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] took over the investigation and took possession of computers and floppy disks seized from Finders properties. The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division directed the Metropolitan Police Department to classify all MPD reports related to The Finders as Secret, and further directed MPD not to advise the FBI's own Washington Field Office of what had occurred -- a division that confused investigators at the time and was later documented in FBI Vault records.[^2][^3]
On February 6, 1987, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] took over the investigation and took possession of computers and floppy disks seized from Finders properties. The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division directed the Metropolitan Police Department to classify all MPD reports related to The Finders as Secret, and further directed MPD not to advise the FBI's own Washington Field Office of what had occurred.[^2][^3]
An MPD report filed February 19, 1987 by Sgt. John H. Stitcher Jr., titled "Re: Finders involvement with the CIA," 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.[^2][^3] Stitcher died in 1993 before he could be interviewed during a subsequent Department of Justice inquiry.
MPD Sgt. [[John H. Stitcher Jr.]] filed a report on February 19, 1987, titled "Re: Finders involvement with the CIA," marked Confidential and Do Not Disseminate. The report documented a conversation with a CIA special agent (name redacted in released versions) that included several significant admissions. When Stitcher asked whether the investigation was "treading on anyone's toes," the CIA agent responded "Sort of." The CIA agent stated the agency had "had someone working on the case since it first broke." The report confirmed Isabelle Pettie's CIA employment and documented that travel by at least one Finders member to Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam during 1969-1971 had been conducted with CIA awareness and facilitation. Large sections of the released version of the report remain redacted.[^3]
In late March or early April 1987, Martinez met with Stitcher, who told him the investigation "had become a CIA internal matter." 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."[^2]
A separate MPD Intelligence Division report dated April 13, 1987 - distinct from Stitcher's February report and labeled Secret - concluded that "the Finders organization is and has been utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service." This is among the most direct official characterizations in any government document of the relationship between the group and the CIA.[^3]
The investigation was declared closed by the FBI in early 1987. An FBI spokesman stated investigators had found no evidence of federal violations including kidnapping or use of children for pornographic purposes.[^1]
In late March or early April 1987, Martinez met with Stitcher, who told him the investigation "had become a CIA internal matter." A November 1, 1993 DOJ summary notes that Stitcher had been contacted by an unnamed party and "told him to step away from the Finders case." 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."[^2]
In 1994, the U.S. Customs Service proposed to remove Martinez from his position for what it described as improperly disclosing case information to a close co-worker of an individual under investigation. By letter of 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.[^3]
Stitcher died on May 28, 1993, from septic shock, at age 48. He was working as a security guard at the Australian Embassy at the time of his death. His death came approximately five months before the DOJ formally initiated its 1993 reinvestigation, rendering him unavailable for interview. The FBI's 1993-1994 inquiry notes specifically record his death and his unavailability as a witness.[^3]
In 1994, the U.S. Customs Service proposed to remove Martinez from his position for what it described as improper disclosure of case information. The penalty was mitigated by letter of December 7, 1994 to a five-day suspension without pay and reassignment from Special Agent to Physical Security Specialist, GS-080-13.[^3]
### Future Enterprises and the Computer Training Connection
[[Future Enterprises]] was a private company that provided computer training to CIA employees during the 1980s. In a 1993 public statement, CIA spokesman David Christian confirmed: "CIA sent some employees to a company called Future Enterprises, Inc. for computer training in the nineteen eighties." Christian denied any CIA ownership of or organizational relationship with the company, characterizing the Finders connection as involving one member who worked as a "part-time accountant."[^4]
[[Robert Gardner Terrell]], described in sources as a former IRS appeals officer and the warehouse's owner of record, was that member. Terrell was associated with Future Enterprises as a computer trainer. Vice president Joseph Marinich confirmed in contemporaneous reporting that CIA employees had received training at the company during the 1980s.[^4] The CIA's public position was that employees who received training at Future Enterprises did so in the normal course of procurement and that no one in the agency knew of any connection between Future Enterprises and The Finders at the time.[^4]
[[Robert Gardner Terrell]], described in sources as a former IRS appeals officer and the warehouse's owner of record, was that member. Vice president Joseph Marinich confirmed in contemporaneous reporting that CIA employees had received training at the company during the 1980s.[^4] An MPD report dated February 19, 1987 cited a CIA agent confirming the agency was sending personnel to "a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises, for training in computer operations," using language that directly identified Future Enterprises as a Finders corporate entity.[^4]
### The 1993 Congressional and DOJ Investigation
The case was revived in 1993 when Henry T. "Skip" Clements, a private consultant in Stuart, Florida, obtained copies of Martinez's customs reports. Clements provided the documents to U.S. Representatives Tom Lewis (R-FL) and Charlie Rose (D-NC). Lewis made public statements questioning whether the government had protected The Finders at the expense of the children.[^4]
The case was revived in 1993 when [[Henry "Skip" Clements]], a private consultant in Stuart, Florida, obtained copies of Martinez's customs reports. Clements, who had become involved in investigating child abuse networks following his child's victimization at the Glendale Montessori School in Stuart, provided the documents to U.S. Representatives [[Tom Lewis]] (R-FL) and [[Charlie Rose]] (D-NC). Lewis made public statements questioning whether the government had protected The Finders at the expense of the children: "Could our own government have something to do with this Finders organization and turned their backs on these children?"[^4]
Congressional pressure, combined with the prospect of a CBS *48 Hours* segment on the case, prompted the Department of Justice to reopen the matter. An October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney tasked the FBI with a preliminary inquiry into the CIA interference allegations.[^3]
Congressional pressure, combined with the prospect of a CBS 48 Hours segment on the case, prompted the Department of Justice to reopen the matter. An October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney tasked FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts with a preliminary inquiry into the CIA interference allegations.[^3]
The Washington Times published what became the key investigative piece in the reopening: reporter Paul M. Rodriguez (a four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee) published "CIA tied to cult accused of abuse; Justice probes links to Finders" on December 17, 1993.[^3] Rodriguez was described by colleagues as the only journalist to directly quote significant portions of the Martinez customs documents. *U.S. News & World Report* followed on December 27, 1993 with "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation" by Gordon Witkin, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez, which contained the interview with Marion Pettie confirming his wife's CIA employment and his son's Air America service, as well as CIA spokesman Christian's formal statement.[^4]
The Washington Times published what became the key investigative piece in the reopening: reporter Paul M. Rodriguez, a four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, published "CIA tied to cult accused of abuse; Justice probes links to Finders" on December 17, 1993.[^3] U.S. News & World Report followed on December 27, 1993 with "Through a glass, very darkly: Cops, spies and a very odd investigation" by Gordon Witkin, Peter Cary, and Angel Martinez, which contained the interview with Marion Pettie confirming his wife's CIA employment and his son's Air America service, as well as CIA spokesman Christian's formal statement.[^4]
The DOJ and FBI concluded their inquiry in late 1993 and early 1994. A November 16, 1993 memo from Tallahassee Police Chief Mel Tucker stated that no outside agency, domestic or foreign, had contacted anyone in his department to influence the investigation.[^8] The CIA's formal position, per David Christian, was that any connection to The Finders was "an indirect, tangential association" through the Future Enterprises training relationship alone.[^4] No criminal charges resulted and the case was again closed.
The DOJ and FBI concluded their inquiry in late 1993 and early 1994. A November 16, 1993 memo from Tallahassee Police Chief Mel Tucker stated that no outside agency had contacted anyone in his department to influence the investigation.[^8] No criminal charges resulted and the case was again closed.
Lewis introduced a resolution requiring the U.S. Customs Service to reinstate its Child Pornography and Protection Unit, citing data that child abuse arrests and convictions had fallen by half since its dismantling, though the resolution's fate in the 103rd Congress has not been established in accessible records.[^12]
### Connection to John David Norman's Odyssey Network
The two men arrested in Tallahassee were found carrying an address book. According to FBI file notes cited in secondary sources, individuals named in that address book included one person appearing in an FBI Buffalo field office file concerning [[NAMBLA]] members suspected of murder connections, and two persons appearing in FBI Dallas field office file 145-0 relating to [[John David Norman]]'s [[Odyssey Foundation]] child prostitution investigation.[^1][^2]
[[John David Norman]] (October 13, 1927 - May 22, 2011) was convicted multiple times between 1960 and 1998 on child molestation and child pornography charges. He founded the Odyssey Foundation in Dallas in the mid-1960s as a front for procuring teenage boys for prostitution and distributing child pornography nationally through a network of clients he called "sponsors."[^9] The address-book overlaps documented in FBI records represent the primary documented connection between The Finders and Norman's network; the underlying FBI documents have not been independently reviewed through accessible primary sources.
[[John David Norman]] (October 13, 1927 - May 22, 2011) was convicted multiple times between 1960 and 1998 on child molestation and child pornography charges. He founded the [[Odyssey Foundation]] in Dallas in the mid-1960s as a front for procuring teenage boys for prostitution and distributing child pornography nationally. The address-book overlaps represent the primary documented connection between The Finders and Norman's network.[^9]
### Ted Gunderson's Investigation
[[Ted Gunderson]], a former FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles, Memphis, and Dallas field offices who retired from the bureau in 1979 and established a private investigation firm, obtained copies of the Martinez customs reports and made them widely available, hosting them on his website and distributing them to journalists and researchers. Gunderson authored a pamphlet titled "U.S. Customs Service Report on the Finders" and made public assertions regarding CIA orchestration of child trafficking networks, citing The Finders as a central example.[^3] He died of cancer on July 31, 2011. His role was that of a private investigator and public advocate rather than an official government investigator, and his broader claims about CIA child trafficking programs have not been corroborated by accessible primary sources.
[[Ted Gunderson]], a former FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles, Memphis, and Dallas field offices who retired from the bureau in 1979, obtained copies of the Martinez customs reports and made them widely available before any official release, hosting them on his website and distributing them to journalists and researchers. Gunderson authored a pamphlet titled "U.S. Customs Service Report on the Finders" and made public assertions regarding CIA orchestration of child trafficking networks.[^3] He died on July 31, 2011.
### Media Coverage and the Satanic Panic Context
Initial coverage broke in the *Washington Post* on February 7, 1987, through a series of articles by Marc Fisher and John Mintz describing cult rituals and the warehouse contents.[^1] D.C. Police Chief Maurice T. Turner announced on February 10, 1987 that police had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.[^1]
Initial coverage broke in the Washington Post on February 7, 1987, through a series of articles by Marc Fisher and John Mintz describing cult rituals and the warehouse contents.[^1] D.C. Police Chief Maurice T. Turner announced on February 10, 1987 that police had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.[^1]
The case emerged during the height of what social scientists later termed the "satanic panic" - a period in the mid-1980s characterized by widespread allegations, often unsubstantiated, of ritual abuse at daycare centers and by organized cults. The FBI's public closure of the investigation without charges, combined with media pivot toward skeptical coverage, followed a pattern seen in other contemporaneous cases. The *Washington Post* subsequently published an opinion piece dismissing the case as an artifact of this climate.[^1]
Washington City Paper journalist Eddie Dean conducted the definitive long-form profile of Pettie in a May 24, 1996 piece titled "Finders' Keeper," based on a direct interview with Pettie, then 76, in Culpeper, Virginia. It remains the most substantial journalistic account of the group based on primary access to its founder.[^5]
The case emerged during the height of what social scientists later termed the "satanic panic," a period characterized by widespread allegations of ritual abuse at daycare centers and by organized cults. Washington City Paper journalist Eddie Dean conducted the definitive long-form profile of Pettie in a May 24, 1996 piece titled "Finders' Keeper," based on direct interview with Pettie in Culpeper, Virginia. It remains the most substantial journalistic account based on primary access to the group's founder.[^5]
### The 2019 FBI Document Release
In November 2019, the FBI released several hundred pages of documents about The Finders through its FBI Vault online repository (vault.fbi.gov/the-finders), organized in four parts. The FBI described The Finders as among the most-requested topics in its Vault system.[^3]
In November 2019, the FBI released several hundred pages of documents about The Finders through its FBI Vault online repository (vault.fbi.gov/the-finders), organized in four parts, under FOIA case number 1372462-0. The FBI described The Finders as among the most-requested topics in its Vault system.[^3]
The released documents included the 1993 DOJ inquiry paperwork, the Tallahassee Police Chief's November 1993 memo, and records of the FBI's internal preliminary inquiry. They confirmed that the FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division had directed MPD not to brief the FBI's Washington Field Office, and that MPD reports had been classified Secret. The documents did not resolve the central disputed questions: whether the CIA maintained a formal operational relationship with The Finders beyond the Future Enterprises training connection; whether the telex message describing a Hong Kong children purchase order was authentic; or whether child trafficking as described in Martinez's reports occurred.[^3][^8]
The released documents confirmed the classification of MPD reports as Secret, the direction not to brief the FBI's own Washington Field Office, the Stitcher CIA report, and the April 13, 1987 MPD Intelligence Division conclusion that the group had been "utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service." They did not resolve whether the CIA maintained a formal operational relationship beyond the Future Enterprises training connection, whether the Hong Kong telex represented a genuine trafficking order, or whether child trafficking as described in Martinez's reports occurred.[^3][^8]
A 2023 analysis by *Skeptical Inquirer* (Autumn Sword, "Were 'The Finders' a CIA-Fronted Satanic Cult?", February 28, 2023) concluded that the released records did not support the CIA-front or child trafficking interpretations, characterizing the affair as substantially shaped by the satanic panic context and by the particular investigative lens of the era.[^8]
When the FBI assembled its released file, the documents included diagrams by Ted Gunderson relating to the McMartin preschool tunnel allegations, placed near the beginning of the first document batch alongside more substantive investigative materials including the Martinez customs reports and the Stitcher MPD report. The placement prompted commentary among researchers about whether the sequencing was incidental or designed to contextualize the Finders material within the broader satanic panic framework.[^3]
### Dissolution and Aftermath
### Dissolution and Continued Activity
On March 11, 1987, as the custody proceedings concluded in Florida, [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] announced to the press that The Finders were "breaking up" after approximately seventeen years: "You won't hear from the Finders again until the year 2000." He gave a follow-up interview to the Associated Press on March 23, 1987 confirming the group's dissolution.[^5][^2]
On March 11, 1987, [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] announced that The Finders were "breaking up" after approximately seventeen years. He gave a follow-up statement to the Associated Press on March 23, 1987 confirming dissolution: "You won't hear from the Finders again until the year 2000."[^5][^2]
In October 1991, MPD officers observed activity at the previously raided Fourth Street NE warehouse: well-dressed men operating rental cars and luxury vehicles entering the building at late and early morning hours, on at least one occasion with a young male child, after midnight. A van operator told officers he "did research stuff and babysat children for diplomats." Officers found the explanation suspicious, given the neighborhood and hours, but no further action was documented.[^1]
On October 22, 1991, MPD Intelligence officers observed activity at the former Fourth Street NE warehouse, which the group did not sell until 1994. Officers documented "numerous well-dressed males, who operate rental cars and expensive luxury type models" entering the building at late-night and early-morning hours. Officers also observed adult males with a young male child entering the building. A van operator stopped by officers claimed to have "baby sat children for diplomats" and acknowledged the neighborhood was "not fit for babysitting activity." The MPD report, included in the FBI Vault release (pages 147-148 of the released materials), noted "possible child pornography." No follow-up federal investigation of this incident was documented in accessible records.[^3]
Marion Pettie died on October 24, 2003, in Culpeper, Virginia.[^5]
In 2018, Terrell gave his first public interview in over twenty-five years to journalist **Derrick Broze** of The Conscious Resistance Network, followed by another in 2021. The interviews were incorporated into Broze's documentary "Who Will Find What The Finders Hide?" released in March 2019.[^10] Terrell denied all criminal allegations throughout.
In 2018, [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] gave his first public interview in over twenty-five years to journalist Derrick Broze of The Conscious Resistance Network, followed by another in 2021. Both were incorporated into Broze's documentary "Who Will Find What The Finders Hide?" released in March 2019.[^10] Terrell denied all criminal allegations throughout.
### Documented vs. Alleged
The following are confirmed by primary sources:
- [[Isabelle Pettie]] worked for the CIA (FBI Vault documents)
- [[Isabelle Pettie]] held passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union (FBI Vault documents)
- [[George Pettie]] worked for [[Air America]] (Marion Pettie, *U.S. News & World Report*, 1993)
- [[Isabelle Pettie]] worked for the CIA, approximately 1950-1971 per the Stitcher report, approximately 1952-1961 per other FBI Vault documents
- [[Isabelle Pettie]] held passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Soviet Union
- At least one Finders member traveled to Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam during 1969-1971 with CIA awareness and facilitation, per the Stitcher report
- [[George Pettie]] worked for [[Air America]] (Marion Pettie, U.S. News & World Report, 1993)
- CIA sent employees to [[Future Enterprises]] for computer training (CIA spokesman David Christian, 1993)
- [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] was associated with Future Enterprises (multiple sources)
- The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division classified MPD reports Secret and barred the FBI's own Washington Field Office from being briefed (Martinez reports; FBI Vault)
- A CIA official told MPD investigators the case was a "CIA internal matter" and acknowledged agency interest in the group (MPD Sgt. Stitcher report, February 19, 1987, cited in FBI Vault documents)
- [[Robert Gardner Terrell]] was associated with Future Enterprises
- The FBI's Foreign Counterintelligence Division classified MPD reports Secret and barred the FBI's own Washington Field Office from being briefed
- A CIA official told MPD investigators the case was a "CIA internal matter," had a "vested interest" in the group, and that the agency had "had someone working on the case since it first broke" (Stitcher report, February 19, 1987)
- An MPD Intelligence Division report concluded the group "is and has been utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service" (April 13, 1987)
The following are alleged in investigative reports or secondary sources but not confirmed by independently accessible primary evidence:
- That The Finders functioned as a CIA operational front or training program
- That the CIA directed suppression of child abuse investigations
- That the Hong Kong children telex represented a genuine trafficking order rather than fantasy material or a misidentified document
- The specific claims in the anonymous 1990s investigative memo regarding Colonel Weigner, Major Varga, and Charles Marsh as handlers
- That the Hong Kong children telex represented a genuine trafficking order
- The specific claims in the anonymous 1990s investigative memos regarding Colonel Weigner, Major Varga, Charles Marsh, and John Cox
### Footnotes
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^2]: 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.
[^3]: MintPress News. "Losing Finders: How the US Government Worked to Keep the CIA Connection Secret" and "Losing Finders: The Buried Documents that Linked the Infamous Cult to the CIA." MintPress News, 2019. https://www.mintpressnews.com/losing-finders-buried-documents-link-infamous-cult-to-cia/277756/. Also: FBI Vault, "The Finders," vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (November 2019 release, four parts).
[^4]: 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.
[^5]: Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." *Washington City Paper*, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/.
[^6]: Fisher, Marc and John Mintz. "Finders Group Has Its Roots in Popular '60s Hippie Refuge." *Washington Post*, February 7, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/02/07/finders-group-has-its-roots-in-popular-60s-hippie-refuge/2d6b5d9d-904f-4acd-a371-f560fca68b39/.
[^7]: Fisher, Marc and John Mintz. "Officials Describe 'Cult Rituals' in Child Abuse Case." *Washington Post*, February 7, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/02/07/officials-describe-cult-rituals-in-child-abuse-case/11f05df1-48e0-41f7-b46d-249c0bd2bc39/.
[^8]: 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/.
[^9]: Norman, John David. Wikipedia, citing FBI Dallas field office files and multiple conviction records. See also [[John David Norman]].
[^2]: 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.
[^3]: FBI Vault, "The Finders," FOIA case number 1372462-0, vault.fbi.gov/the-finders (released November 2019, four parts). Also cited: MintPress News, "Losing Finders" series, 2019-2021. https://www.mintpressnews.com/losing-finders-buried-documents-link-infamous-cult-to-cia/277756/.
[^4]: 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.
[^5]: Dean, Eddie. "Finders' Keeper." Washington City Paper, May 24, 1996. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/287890/finders-keeper/.
[^6]: Fisher, Marc and John Mintz. "Finders Group Has Its Roots in Popular '60s Hippie Refuge." Washington Post, February 7, 1987.
[^7]: Fisher, Marc and John Mintz. "Officials Describe 'Cult Rituals' in Child Abuse Case." Washington Post, February 7, 1987.
[^8]: 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/. Also: Washington Post, "Fla. Judge Sends 2 Finders Children to Foster Homes," June 1, 1987.
[^9]: Norman, John David. See also [[John David Norman]].
[^10]: Broze, Derrick, and Jeremy Martin. "Who Will Find What The Finders Hide?" Documentary. The Conscious Resistance Network, March 2019. https://theconsciousresistance.com/thefinders/.
[^11]: Minnick, Wendell L. "The Finders: The CIA and the Cult of Marion David Pettie." Unclassified, No. 35, Winter 1995. Unsigned "Investigative Leads" memo, no author or date, circulated mid-1990s.
[^12]: Rodriguez, Paul M. "CIA tied to cult accused of abuse; Justice probes links to Finders." Washington Times, December 17, 1993.