Perjury Indictments Reopen Bryant Trial
Manuscript prepared for The Chief of Police magazine
By: Leo F. Scanlon
An early June indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Washington DC is calling attention to a spectacular and unresolved allegation of corruption buried in the back files of the federal court system. The indictment of Paul Barrett, an obscure Mississippi Sheriff could begin unraveling allegations of widespread financial fraud by former officials of the U.S. Marshal's Service.
Barrett was a defense witness in last October's trial of J.C. Herbert Bryant Jr., the former head of the U.S. Marshal's Foundation. In that trial, Bryant testified that while serving as president of the foundation, he discovered a pattern of misuse of USMS funds by Marshals involved with the Foundation which totalled at least $680,000 "and possibly millions of dollars." He told the court that he had reported these facts to USMS officials, Justice Department IG officials, and the Senate Judiciary Committee--and to this day there is no visible effort to investigate these allegations.
Now, Paul Barrett, a Mississippi Sheriff who was a principal witness in the trial, and who had been awarded recognition as "Lawman of the Year" by the Foundation in 1992, has been charged with a five count felony indictment which alleges perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice stemming from his testimony in the case. Bryant's attorneys have filed motions which allege that there was a far more significant perjury--on the part of top Marshals officials who testified during the trial--than any committed by Barrett.
The wheels of justice are turning very slowly for Herbert Bryant. Millionaire, political activist, and self-professed law enforcement buff from Loudoun County, Virginia, Bryant was convicted of two federal felonies in the District of Columbia in October 1994; one count of False Impersonation of a Deputy U.S. Marshal, and a related count of Making a False Statement (to the effect the he was a Marshal); felony offenses which carry mandatory prison sentences. Federal District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who heard the bench (non-jury) trial, acquitted Bryant of a third count of carrying a pistol without a license.
Eight months later, Bryant has not been sentenced; defense motions for a new trial have not been ruled on by the court. Those developments are unusual, but no more unusual than the rest of the Bryant case. During the trial, Bryant was often portrayed as a well-intentioned, but somewhat hapless law enforcement "groupie" who got himself in trouble by flashing a toy badge and acting like a real live federale. His use of family funds to finance a private armory in Loudoun County was portrayed as the personal hobby of an overgrown rich-kid who liked to buy and play with police equipment. But there is something wrong with that picture.
For starters, J.C. Herbert Bryant Jr. is the scion of one of the wealthiest families in Loudoun County, with a family tree which includes one of the founders of the Ford Motor Company. His father was a high ranking military officer and businessman who descends from plantation owners in ante-bellum Mississippi, and his step mother, Magalen Ohrstrom, is at the center of "Hunt Country" politics in Northern Virginia. They boast political connections from the elite resorts of Palm Springs, Florida to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.. A former patronage appointee to high level positions in the Nixon administration, Herb Bryant socialized with the top law enforcement officials of several administrations, and during the time he ran his law enforcement foundation, ARGUS, he was working out of the office of Michael Moore, then the Director of the United States Marshals Service.
And if Bryant was merely a law enforcement "groupie," he was traveling in some very rarified circles. His Loudoun County ARGUS organization (Armed Response Group U.S.) [White U.S. Militia Group] was integrated with the activities of a multi-jurisdictional task force which assigned police personnel to training positions with ARGUS, secured military support for ARGUS operations, and integrated ARGUS with the County and State Police in Virginia, as well as with several regional law enforcement task forces (ROCIC).
That task force was headed by Henry Hudson, the top federal law enforcement officer in northern Virginia, the man who was in charge of the Marshals Service when Herb Bryant brought some very unwelcome attention to himself and his friends in the Marshall's service. These people have a lot more explaining to do than Herb Bryant ever will. Whoever Herb Bryant is, and whatever ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] was, there are real charges outstanding that the Marshall's Service was "out of control" through most of the Bush administration.
Although Bryant's defense argument failed to get him off the hook at trial, it may have inadvertently snared the bigger fish Bryant was swimming with. The story of how this came to be was told in open court, and with a few additional background details, that record is the basis of the revelations in this article.
Herbert Bryant was born in Virginia on October 2, 1939, and, according to his account, graduated from highschool just a little "too big for his britches" and so was sent to enlist in the Navy by his father, who felt him unfit to assume responsibilities managing the family financial and business interests. Seaman Bryant was trained as a stevedore in Cuba, worked a microfilm machine in Norfolk, served on a British ship, the "Sheffield," and acted as "ship's diver" on one assignment, but never spent significant time at sea. His hitch was so hum-drum that he could not, under oath, recall the name of a single ship-mate or commanding officer he served with.
In 1962 he entered the University of Miami, and left two years later. He apparently was still not ready to work for his father--but Herb Bryant comes from a world where "work" does not mean punching a clock or scrimping to make a mortgage payment and pay into a retirement plan. Financial security was his birthright, and would come to him, "as sure as death and taxes" you might say. So in 1964 Herb Bryant "went into business" dealing with the things that wealthy young men often know a lot about--cars and yachts.
In '65 his father divorced his mother, and in '66 Herb divorced his wife. Herb S. remarried (to the very wealthy Magalen Ohrstrom) and later, Jr. remarried as well. In the mean time, he managed Austin Ford, which was owned by a friend. He also was "active" with his brother's business, Salem Yachts in Miami, where he doodled around on the Nixon presidential yacht, which was maintained by this yard.
Politics and law enforcement interested him, so in 1970 he volunteered to serve in the office of Nixon's press secretary Ran Zeigler, and then received a Schedule C (political) appointment to the Department of the Interior, where he apparently worked for Nathaniel Reed, the Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. In 1972 he transferred to the Department of the Treasury, and worked under William Hausman, director of the office of operations for the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, Trade, Tariff and Operations. Bryant testified that he was assigned to the Interpol office, which was run by Kenneth Giannoules. His appointment ended when the Nixon administration disintegrated in 1974.
After this tour in the "white collar" law enforcement world, Bryant was looking for some real action, so he returned to the family watering hole in Palm Beach, and signed up with the county Sheriff's department. Sheriff William Heitman was only too glad to accommodate the son of a prominent Palm Beach family, especially since Herb Jr. didn't need a salary, and "didn't want any rank." He worked road patrols, drove a 70 foot boat the department seized from some drug dealers, and did some plainclothes vice work. In Palm Beach that meant driving his own Rolls Royce as an undercover car. Herb Bryant was a socialite cop, and earned a feature in Parade magazine as "The Cop in a Rolls." A local reporter wrote up his exploits in an evidently forgettable novel with the suggestive title "The Paranoia Factor."
At about this time, the drug wars began heating up, and a lot of cops (who didn't have trust funds for their children) started to become casualties. Herb Bryant decided that his family interests would best be served if he didn't get killed fooling around as a deputy sheriff, so he left the streets and retired when his boss lost the election in 1977. He went back to boating for the next few years, with Salt Shaker Yachts, and like most rich people in 1980, dabbled in "real estate development."
Following his father's death in 1983, Herb Bryant found himself quite wealthy but "at a loss" as what to do with his life. As he tells the story, he took a trip down to the family estate--"Tara Plantation" in Vicksburg Mississippi, where he renewed his acquaintance with Warren County Sheriff Paul Barrett. According to Bryant's story, this visit was an epiphany, and sparked the idea of creating a foundation which would allow him to "lobby on behalf of law enforcement." With the enthusiastic support of his old friend Sheriff Barrett, Bryant deputized himself and set off on his mission to "lobby" in Washington.
In reality, things were not quite that simple. The foundation which Bryant founded upon his return from Tara Plantation was much more than a local law enforcement venture. All indications are that it was part of an array of projects sponsored under the auspices of the "Continuity of Government" project of the Federal Emergency Management Agency--a shop which produced some of the wildest schemes associated with Oliver North.
Mr. Bryant does not present himself as a sophisticated or Machiavellian strategist, but he was apparently eager to win the approval of people he respected and admired--particularly if they travel in circles where wealth and power guarantee position and authority in military and paramilitary organizations, public and private. Loudoun County was awash with this type of person in the early 1980s.
The families of the "Hunt Country," the Hanes', the Ohrstroms, the Arundels, the Olmsteads, the Bryants and others, were up to their eyeballs in the intrigue and scheming which whirled around "The Enterprise" being managed by their ambitious hireling, Oliver North. "War and rumors of war" were in the air, and Mr. North, who was regularly feted in the mansions of Middleburg, was busy writing operational plans for an extraconstitutional "emergency" government. Most of these families are "old hands" in the intelligence community, and some have trouble distinguishing between their private interests and the interests of the United States.
In the fevered imaginations of Mr. North and his co-thinkers, his meddling in the family squabbles of the Nicaraguans was about to precipitate a crisis deeper than any which the United States had ever seen. Social upheaval related to the adventures in Central America was predicted to exceed even the crisis of the civil war, and require something that Abraham Lincoln never had to resort to--the suspension of the constitution.
Somewhere in this maelstrom of crazy ideas and fantasies of coups and secret governments, someone proposed to create a private armamentarium which could be brought into play "when the time comes."
If you can believe that the very-political-sheriff of Loudoun County was unacquainted with the son of one of the wealthiest political activists in the jurisdiction, you can believe John Isom's version of how ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] came about.
Isom told the story this way in Judge Lamberths court: He was walking down the street in Middleburg one day, when he bumped into Herb Bryant. They didn't know each other, but got to talking, and Isom found Bryant's views on law enforcement "too good to be true." So he called Paul Barrett, verified Bryant's bonafides, and signed onto his plan to create a foundation which would use Bryant's money to purchase armored vehicles. These would then be loaned to local law enforcement agencies, who might find themselves involved in a confrontation similar to the then recent stand-off between the Philadelphia police and the "MOVE" organization. Isom had been at a conference in Pennsylvania during that fiasco, and was testified that he was deeply shaken by the tragedy, which steeled his resolve to provide "alternatives" for local law enforcement organizations. Out of this, came the "Armed Response Group U.S." or "ARGUS" as it was to be known.
It was notorious in the county that ARGUS was a great opportunity for John Isom to indulge his love of paramilitary uniforms, and for Bryant to surround himself with police paraphernalia. But Isom had a real police rank, and Herb Bryant didn't. They saw this as a "problem" which had to be rectified if ARGUS were to appear a credible agency. When your mother is throwing parties for the guys who are writing top secret plans to suspend the constitution, well, there's a solution for every problem. And the solution they came up with for this one has got Bryant's old friend Paul Barrett staring at a five count indictment for fraud perjury and witness tampering.
Barrett had begun his law enforcement career as a deputy Sheriff in Warren County Mississippi in 1960, and was asked by then Sheriff Henderson to provide assistance to a Mr. Chatham, who was the game manager for Tara. Chatham needed a deputy assigned to enforce the no-hunting law on the plantation, which was used as a game preserve by the Bryant family. From that time on, Barrett was a retainer of the family. He served at one point or another with the Warren County Sheriff and the Vicksburg PD (there as a motorcycle officer) and in 1968 was elected sheriff of Warren County. He has been reelected every four years since then, with continual financial support from the Bryant family.
During his talks with Barrett in the weeks following his father's death, Bryant indicated that he was contemplating moving down to Warren County, and asked for a deputies' position with the department. Bryant detailed his law enforcement background for Mr. Barrett thusly: "The show Miami Vice was popular then, so he understood what I had been doing."
Barrett swore him in as a deputy, and maintained him in that status even though Bryant never attended the law enforcement training program which Mississippi law requires all sworn law enforcement officers to complete within one year of taking the oath. At the time of the trial, Barrett had two other deputies in this status, and neither were allowed to carry weapons or exercise arrest powers. Barrett testified that Bryant had status as a full deputy despite his failure to meet this qualification.
No matter, Herb Bryant bought the department some vehicles and law enforcement paraphernalia, and assigned himself to use the equipment in the course of his mission to "lobby" on behalf of the Warren County Sheriff's department in Washington. While he was at it, Bryant arranged for "several ladies" to also receive deputy credentials of some sort from the department.
He set off for Loudoun County with Mississippi sheriffs plates on his car, and a badge in his wallet. He would be driving such a vehicle, a Chevy Suburban decked out to look like an official Marshals Service car, and would be flashing his ersatz Sheriff's credentials, on the day he was arrested in Washington.
With the political support of the Loudoun County elite, Bryant suborned a member of the wealthy Hanes family to chair the organization which was backed with his family money. They began pushing their idea in Washington, and Bryant meekly notes that on the basis of family connections he eventually got a brief meeting with John Warner, who "knew my father." Senator John Warner certainly did know his father, and his step mother, and immediately detailed a staff aid, an Army officer named Thomas Harvey, to work the ARGUS issue.
Harvey had graduated from West Point and spent most of his career networking on the fringes of the Reagan administration. He claims to have worked for the NSC, Richard Cheney, Strom Thurmond, and Vice President Dan Quayle. Sort of a "junior Oliver North" you might say.
Harvey reached out to contacts at the military storage depot at Cameron Station in Alexandria, and arranged for the equipment to be stored, and proposed that Bryant secure himself an appointment as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal in order to boost the image of ARGUS as a bonafide inter-agency law enforcement operation.
Harvey says he conceived the plan to upgrade the ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] idea into a national program, which would build similar foundations in each of the 9 federal regions of the country, and interface with military capabilities which would facilitate the transport of equipment on an interstate basis. This led to the idea that a Marshal's commission would be desirable, to give a credible multi-jurisdiction law enforcement credential to the ARGUS team. Harvey said he drew on contacts at the NSC and on contacts he knew from his logistics training in the military to make liason with Cameron Station. The National Guard said that they would store the equipment, and provide some "training" to ARGUS .
The Marshal's commission took more doing. Harvey says he made a cold call to John Twomey at USMS HQ in Arlington, since he knew that Twomey was in charge of the Special Deputy program for the entire Marshals service. Twomey listened to his pitch, and told him that there was no basis for the Marshal service becoming involved with the project, and refused to meet. According to Harvey and Twomey, this prudence of judgement evaporated as soon as Harvey mentioned the name of John Isom. The name of an old acquaintance convinced Twomey that the proposal was on the up-and-up, and he agreed to consider deputizing a civilian who was completely unknown to him.
The meeting between Twomey and Bryant occurred on April 3, 1987, at which point Twomey "became convinced" that the project had merit, and agreed to provide the special deputy credentials, as long as Bryant made sure that the ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] equipment would be available to other federal agencies, and that Bryant met the criteria for Special Deputy status: be a bonafide sworn law enforcement officer, qualify on a weapons range once per year, and take the Marshal's oath. Bryant was sworn in as a Marshal that day--Quite a rapid turn around on Twomey's part.
In fact, the record shows that this procedure either never really occurred, or was premised on documents which were fraudulent.
On April 6, three days after Bryant's meeting with Twomey, an "oath of office" was filed with the Warren County Sheriff's Department, bearing Bryant's signature, and attesting that Bryant is a "sworn" deputy of the department. Bryant says he never saw the document prior to trial, and testified that the signature is not his.
Eight months after Bryant's trial, the U.S. Attorney indicted Barrett for falsely testifying that he had signed the oath of office. The prosecution theory, which is the most likely explanation of what actually went on, is that Bryant called Barrett after his meeting with Twomey, described the criteria for his new Marshal status, and Barrett created a document which would back-stop Bryant's credentials.
Such an occurrence would not have been unusual, since Bryant and Barrett both testified that Bryant frequently signed letters with Barrett's signature, especially if the letter written on Warren County Sheriff's stationary somehow involved Bryant's activities in Virginia. In fact, both Bryant and Barrett testified that a letter purportedly sent by Barrett to the Marshal's service vouching for Bryant and his credentials was written by Bryant, and signed by Bryant with Barrett's signature.
In any case, this credential is clearly a fake, and the implication is that Bryant had no authority to possess weapons in the District of Colombia, and that fact could cause him to face a re-trial on the weapons charges which were dismissed by Judge Lamberth last year.
But the fakery didn't stop there. Dr. Robert Colvin, who was at that time an official with the Virginia State Crime Commission Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, concocted a hyperbolic biography of Bryant which claimed that "General (sic) Bryant is a highly decorated and honored veteran of the Military, law enforcement, and intelligence fields. His impressive and unique career accomplishments have involved work with local, state, federal, and international arenas of law enforcement. He has been awarded the Medal of Honor once, the Medal of Valor eight times and the Distinguished Service Medal forty times."
Dr. Colvin does not indicate who awarded these medals, but who's worrying about details? The biography continues:
Of course, nominated doesn't mean he got any of those awards, but:
The Senate commendations, for whatever they are worth, are the only real accolades awarded to Bryant, and they are the handiwork of Thurmond's former employee, Thomas Harvey, the military officer from John Warner's staff who hooked ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] up with the U.S. Marshals Service. Harvey was not only the Sherpa for ARGUS on capital hill, he was a paid retainer of the Bryant family. In 1990 he was the recipient of a $50,000 grant to his "Global Environmental Development Foundation" awarded by Mrs. Ohrstrom-Bryant, who also graciously hosted a conference for Harvey at Tara Plantation. Mrs. Ohrstrom-Bryant is today a board member of Harvey's corporation, the Global Environment and Technology Foundation.
Bryant's friends began to pile accolade upon accolade on his shoulders. The biography written by Colvin cited him as "Commander" of "Task Force USU9", a fictitious title and fictitious unit designation concocted, according to Bryant "because it sounded military."
In September 1989, with Special Deputy U.S. Marshal Major General J.C. Herbert Bryant, Jr. now a well known figure at the Arlington headquarters of the U.S. Marshals Service, Herb Bryant was asked to take over the U.S. Marshal's Foundation. The foundation was a support organization which had been created when Stanley Morris was director of the Service. It was originally designed to bolster the image of the Marshals Service, build morale, organize a commemorative museum, and raise funds for an array of "widows and survivors" benefits programs for the families of Marshals slain in the line of duty. The director of the Service was the Chairman of the Board of the foundation.
The staff of the foundation included Ted Calhoun, who was the professional historian of the Marshals Service, Gerry Bullock, legal counsel to the Marshals, and Jack McCrory, a special assistant deputy. The original board also included the holster maker John Bianchi, an Appeals Court judge from New York as well as others. The main activity of the foundation was supposed to be the construction of the memorial in Oklahoma. The foundation secured land from the Oklahoma Industrial Commission, borrowed unsecured loans from local bankers, and poured funds into a project which left vendors unpaid all over town. Work came to a halt and "grass was growing" on the unfinished structure when Bryant got involved.
In November 1989, K. Michael Moore replaced Stanley Morris as Director of the Marshals Service. It was the first appointment made directly by a President, and reflected the results of several years of aggressive PR by previous directors who worked to build the Marshals' reputation. Moore set out to upgrade the trappings of his office. He replaced his motorpool Mercury sedan with a Lincoln Continental, and spent $15,000 to convert a kitchenette and conference room into an executive dining room with chandelier just yards from his office door. The next thing he did was ask Herb Bryant to take over the Marshals Foundation.
Bryant was known to be especially close to Moore, and from this point on, according to testimony from other Marshals, Bryant worked right out of Moore's office in Arlington, and was known to have "carte blanche" at headquarters.
Bryant's testimony as to the next sequence of events is somewhat confused. His apparent confusion conveniently masks whatever knowledge he may have had about the fraudulent activities which had been going on in the Foundation. In his testimony he says that he was appointed director of the Foundation in December 89 or January of 1990, and first learned of the debts owed by the Foundation at that time. Yet, in a letter to Gerald Arenberg, (TITLE...) dated December 28 1990, Bryant says that the debt crisis caused the board to stop all activity at the memorial on November 8, 1989.
In his letter to Arenberg, Bryant also claims that he terminated a program, which had been in effect, of selling gold plated honorary Marshals badges and credentials in return for a $1000.00 donation to the foundation. Bryant intended to replace these practices with "professional" fundraising efforts. During the next thirty days, Bryant says that Moore sent various people who had been involved in funding the foundation to Bryant, so that he could begin trouble shooting the problems which plagued the organization.
He says that the first thing he learned was that the Marshals involved with the foundation wanted out of the assignment. The marshals, he says, felt that it was "inappropriate" for them to work for the foundation while being paid by the Service. "Inappropriate" is a euphemism: other sources say it was a case of rats leaving a sinking ship. And, in fact, Bryant says that he soon learned from former Oklahoma Attorney General G.T. Blankenship, who was involved with the foundation, and with banking circles in Oklahoma, that an unnamed Marshal had borrowed $100,000.00 to support the museum effort, yet the loan was no where reported in the books of the foundation. The banks were very nervous as to the status of that and other debts of the foundation.
This was the tip of the iceberg. In his trial testimony Bryant says that he discovered that the foundation owed $680,000, and that "millions of dollars" of government funds had perhaps been illegally diverted for use of the foundation, from the Marshal Service budget. The money was squandered, he says, on parties, limousines, and personal expenditures by foundation employees.
Bryant took the preliminary evidence to the chief counsel of the Marshal Service, and was told that it was well known that these things were going on, and he says he was shown a large file containing details of the situation. According to Twomey, there already was an Inspector General's investigation underway.
By his account, Bryant then began a campaign to clean the situation up, travelling around the country to meet with the old board and asking them to resign. At this point, he discovered that the foundation had been improperly incorporated, so he allegedly hired someone to re-incorporate the foundation, like its predecessor, in Virginia.
There is an IRS form 990 tax filing from 1989 which shows a United States Marshals Foundation with a Sterling Virginia P.O. box, and reported assets of $647,000. There is a federal tax i.d. number (54 1384892) on the form, but no state registration. The filing would likely have been made by Jack McCrory, a former assistant to the Director of the Marshals who maintained a P.O. box in nearby McLean, and ran the foundation at that time. According to an article in Law Enforcement News of August 1990, McCrory was rumored to have left the country at the point the foundation collapsed. The State of Virginia has no public record of any such corporation, before or after Bryant was involved.
Bryant began raising funds to payoff the back debts "and protect the Service from embarrassment" associated with the scandal-plagued foundation. In February 1990 he met with Henry Hudson, then the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to fill him in on all the details. Hudson was a politically ambitious former Sheriff's Deputy in Arlington county, who rose to the rank of U.S. Attorney, and was nominated by the Bush administration to replace Michael Moore as director of the Marshals Service. He was no stranger to Herb Bryant or his backers in Loudoun County.
Under questioning from his attorney, Bryant said that he also met with the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to discuss the situation.
In spite of his alleged efforts to alert authorities to wrong-doing at the foundation, Bryant himself appears to have violated the laws in his efforts to pay off the foundation's debts. In February 1992 Bryant organized a gala fundraiser for the foundation in Beverly Hills, to which he brought Paul Barrett, and nominated him to receive the award of "Lawman of the Year" from the foundation. In return, Barrett arranged for Bryant to receive the honorary Major General rank in the Mississippi National Guard, a favor done by Governor (and later ambassador to Saudi Arabia) Ray Davis.
According to a letter sent to Gerry Arenberg by the State of California, there is no record of the U.S. Marshals Foundation being registered to raise charitable funds in that state in 1992, at the time Bryant chaired the event. Nor was the foundation registered in 1993, when the chairman reported that the Hollywood gala raised $500,000.
Finally, on February 5, 1992, the Office of Professional Responsibility opened up its official investigation of the problems with the foundation, and events began to move. In late February '92 Bryant was contacted by Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post, and was subjected to a 5 hour "aggressive" interview regarding ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group]. "It was clear that he was bent on destruction..." Bryant complained.
The immediate effect of the media inquiries and the resulting publicity in Loudoun was that it "called the viability of ARGUS into question." The county council began investigating the relationship between ARGUS and Isom's department, and was generally shocked and surprised to learn that hey were involved with a virtual private army.
Things were to go from bad to worse for Bryant from this point on. With the heat being turned up on the whole Marshals Service mess, Henry Hudson had a lunch with Bryant to spell out the facts of life, now that the strange relationship of Bryant to numerous law enforcement agencies was under scrutiny, and questions were being asked about his real military and law enforcement backgrounds.
"Among the people who knew him...I...there came a time to warn Mr. Bryant to stop using military titles, to explain that it was not in his best interest to do so. It was personal advice, because the practice offends people..." Hudson said.
At the same time as the flap in Loudoun County and the publicity in the Post, George Terwilliger at DOJ promulgated a new and stricter policy with regard to issuing Special Deputy credentials. Terwilliger had oversight of this aspect of the Marshal's operations, and had decided that there would be no more than one or two such special credentials renewed, and informed Hudson of that. Hudson also warned Bryant that he should not submit an application for renewal of his credentials, so as to avoid having an official denial of the renewal on his record.
Bryant resigned from the foundation on March 2, 1992, and appointed his secretary at ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group], Karen Herson, to be the "Acting Executive Director" of the foundation. He resigned his Marshals' credentials by letter in April, and his status expired officially on June 30, 1992. Twomey made arrangements for Bryant to send his credentials and badge to HQ by Federal Express.
If the headquarters group thought that dumping Herb Bryant would take the heat off their cover-up of the scandal involving the foundation, they couldn't have been more wrong. Herb Bryant was a time-bomb waiting to go off.
It was an accumulation of minor transgressions--falsifying a sheriff's credential from an obscure county in Mississippi, illegally domiciling a vehicle with out-of-state tags in violation of local registration and tax laws, and masquerading for too long as an official of the Marshall's Service--which precipitated a much bigger crisis for Bryant, and his "friends" as well. The explosion occurred on September 2, 1992, when "Major General" Bryant made the mistake which brings low even the mightiest in Washington DC--he parked his car illegally.
Before the day ended Herb Bryant would wish he had never seen a Marshals badge, and his "best friends" at headquarters would put on a full backing bell and be steaming away from Seaman Bryant with all possible speed, and even the Attorney General of the United States, none other that William Barr (who was George Bush's "Mr. Fix-it" at the CIA, and knew a mess when he saw one) would be sending telegrams to USMS Director Henry Hudson telling him to deal with the situation.
The morass of conflicting testimony presented by the Marshals involved in the arrest and subsequent release of Bryant on that day is evidence that the "headquarters crowd" at the Marshals Service knew that they were looking at a real big problem.
Bryant's errors began the night before the event, according to his account. He had scheduled a session at a shooting range in Fauquier County at which he would introduce his ARGUS secretary, Karen Herson, to the art of shooting handguns. Bryant has no particular law enforcement or military training, but is proficient with handguns and rifles, and he had determined that Ms. Herson "was interested in law enforcement" and decided that he would see if she had an aptitude with small arms. So he brought a selection of weapons of different calibers and designs in order to "familiarize her with their use."
Bryant had previously arranged for her to receive credentials from Sheriff Paul Barrett as well, making her a full-fledged member of the ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] "team." Unlike her boss, she understood these to be honorary credentials, with no law enforcement powers associated. She thought the badge was "Cool."
Bryant testified that the session went late, and he arrived home late for dinner ("and in trouble...") and didn't put away the weapons in his van, which included: a S&W .44 magnum; a Freedom Arms .22 cal. 1" derringer; a Colt .357 Python; a Beretta 9 mm large frame; a Beretta 9mm small frame; and an H&K SP89 semi auto pistol; plus magazines, ammunition, and cases and other paraphernalia. The next morning he met Herson at the office, as they had arranged to go to Crystal City to book a conference room for a September meeting of the board of the foundation, and planned to have lunch with her brother, Michael Herson, who worked in the Pentagon.
As it turned out, Michael Herson had an appointment at lunch which he couldn't break, so they offered to drive him to his meeting, and then go to lunch themselves. Herson's meeting was in Washington, near 18th and L Streets, and Bryant and his secretary (still driving his van which was loaded with weapons) decided to eat at the nearby Mayflower Hotel.
It was a bad choice. The Mayflower Hotel is heavy with VIP activity in normal times, and on that day, the Arab-Israeli peace talks were in progress and the Israeli delegation was quartered on the fourth floor of the hotel.
Bryant had parked his vehicle right in front of the De Sales Street entrance, at the beginning of a no-parking zone which is maintained by the hotel for the use of the secret service or other federal agencies which might be accompanying a dignitary to a function at the hotel. While Bryant was in the hotel, a Shin Beth security officer assigned to the Israeli delegation noticed the weapons which were visible in the rear of the vehicle.
Both hotel and State Department Security personnel were notified, and the DC police were summoned as well. Both local and federal officials immediately noted that Bryant's vehicle, a dark blue Chevy Suburban, with hidden police lights and radio equipment, had a windshield placard which said "U.S. Marshal's Service" (in very large type) and bore the seal of the service, and had, (in very very small type at the bottom) the notation "bicentennial commemoration."
It had a Mississippi license plate number "SO 3" which appeared to be some sort of law enforcement designator, and they assumed it might mean "Special Operations 3" and be an out-of-state vehicle of the Marshal's Service. The Metropolitan Police Department called for a crane to tow the illegally parked vehicle, but first contacted the office of the Marshall of the District of Columbia, located in the Federal Court building, to find out if the vehicle was theirs.
At this point, Bryant came out of the hotel, stood in the doorway surveying the scene, and waited a minute or two in the hope that what appeared to be "deep shit" would go away. Judge Lamberth added, "and you didn't know just how deep the shit was going to be did you?"
Various of the officers from the different jurisdictions began to ask what status the vehicle had, and the questions came up "is this with the Marshals Service" and "are you a Marshal?"
Bryant that he "implied" his affiliation with the service, by telling his questioners that "it would be better if the Marshals would comment" on his affiliation. No one heard him say that he wasn't a Marshal. Bryant asked if he could make a call to locate someone at USMS HQ who could "vouch" for him, and tried to reach Hudson and Twomey.
Upon learning that Hudson was out of town, and Twomey was at lunch, Bryant tried to reach Herb Rutherford, whom he had met once at a Marshal's function. Rutherford is the Marshal of the District of Colombia, and is one of the first career Marshals to be appointed a full Marshal. The person he reached was William Griffin, Rutherford's assistant. Griffin assigned his Supervisory Deputy, Robert Williamson, to go to the scene. Williamson was accompanied by other Marshals as well.
Williamson first asked Bryant if he was a Marshal. Bryant said yes, Williamson asked him from which district, Bryant didn't know, and Williamson became suspicious, then demanded credentials. Williamson, MPD officers, and a State Department Security officer all testified that they heard Bryant clearly identify himself as a Special Deputy Marshal during this questioning--more than once.
Bryant then produced his sheriff's badge, which didn't impress Williamson, and he re-contacted Rutherford and explained the situation. Williamson summed up his evaluation for one of the DC cops: "this is all a bunch of political bullshit, and if it was up to me I'd lock his ass up."
Rutherford was reached on his car phone, and immediately recognized who Bryant was. He had been lunching with a colleague from the FBI, Herb Branch, and he recalled turning to him and joking "I suggest that you all get down there, and the Secret Service as well, so it won't just be 'the U.S. Marshal's Service versus Herbert Bryant.'"
Rutherford placed a call to HQ in Arlington, in an effort to reach Hudson. Hudson was unavailable, and he was put through to one of his assistants, Duke Smith. Rutherford's evaluation of the problem wasn't far from Williamsons' blunt remark to the DC police, but the politics of the situation were getting messy. Twomey, Smith, Hudson, Moore, and the other "friends of Herb Bryant" at Marshals headquarters are part of an "old boys network" of white, politically connected high ranking officials in the Marshals Service. They are either attorneys, like Moore and Hudson, or law enforcement professionals, like Twomey and Smith, who came to the Service from other agencies.
Rutherford is a career Marshal, and is one of the first careerists to ever be appointed a full Marshal. In addition, he is one of the highest ranking black law enforcement officers in the country, and as Marshal of the District of Colombia, inherits a legacy which stretches back to Frederick Douglas. Judge Lamberth noted that it is well known that there is bad blood between the DC Marshals and the headquarters crew.
Rutherford simply told the court that in his opinion, Twomey and Smith were a "clique," and were "no good" for the Marshal's Service. With regard to their friend, who he was about to detain, Rutherford explained that he knew "that this was not just some yahoo--this was a powerful man." He told Williamson to wait while he tried to reach Twomey to clarify Bryant's status.
From here on, Rutherford and Twomey tell different versions of the events. Allen Croft, Bryant's defense attorney has filed papers calling attention to the fact that the contradictions between Rutherford and "the clique" of Twomey and Smith are so great that someone committed perjury.
In a subsequent call, Smith and Twomey were reached in their office, and conferenced with Rutherford on the situation. Rutherford asked Twomey if Bryant was a Special Deputy, and Twomey said that he wasn't sure.
Twomey testified that he did know for sure, and said that he told Rutherford that Bryant was definitely not a SDM of any type, and further instructed Rutherford that "the essence of my instructions were that under no circumstances should anyone indicate that Bryant is a Marshal." Rutherford says Twomey never said any such thing.
Smith, who is now a director of training at the Glynco Georgia Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, did not recall--at least not "clearly"--any such statement. In general, Smith suffered "major vagueness" in all of his testimony regarding the statements made by Twomey to Rutherford--statements which he would have heard directly, and could have verified on behalf of Twomey or Rutherford--but didn't.
Finally, Twomey and Rutherford agreed to the MPD request that they take Bryant and his guns into custody, so that the MPD would not have to get involved in the mess. Twomey said "Well if that's what they are willing to do, that is what we should do."
So Rutherford instructed Williamson to bring Bryant and his stuff to the courthouse. Bryant's car was impounded and his weapons inventoried by the Marshals in the District. The problem wasn't over however, since the Marshals were now holding a "hot potato" who was nothing but bad news for everyone. Rutherford didn't trust Twomey and Smith, and Twomey and Smith were backing away from Bryant, and the problems had only begun.
Within a day or two of the events, Herb Rutherford was told by USMS public affairs director Steve Boyle that he would be called by the Post's O'Harrow, who, according to Rutherford, was on a "fishing expedition" and was trading detailed stories about ARGUS [White U.S. Militia Group] in an attempt to get Rutherford to comment on Bryant's relationship to the USMS.
In the story which appeared, the Post asserted that Bryant had been let go because the Marshal's Service had told the Washington Police that Bryant was a Marshal. Officials of the Metropolitan Police Department immediately ordered an investigation by the Internal Affairs unit, and contacted Twomey in order to retrieve Bryant's weapons.
Rutherford went to Hudson and suggested that there be an investigation of the incident by the IA of the Marshal's as well, in order to determine if the Post's account were accurate. Hudson nixed the idea.
The next event is at the center of contradictory testimony. According to Williamson and Rutherford, Twomey called Rutherford at home after the Post article appeared, and asked if Bryant had identified himself as a Marshal. Rutherford said that he heard from Williamson that Bryant had, and then arranged a conference call so that Williamson could explain directly to Twomey. Williamson got on the line with both of them, and replied that yes, Bryant had identified himself as a "Special Deputy U.S. Marshal." Twomey asked Williamson if Bryant had said that he "was, as in today, or that he had been, as in the past?" Williamson told Twomey that Bryant had clearly stated that he was, contemporaneously, a Special Deputy Marshal.
Twomey denied ever making the call. Here again, Croft points out that that someone committed perjury. It might be a gamble to determine who it was, but Herb Bryant had very few "friends" left in the Marshall's service at that point, and has little to lose now.
In any case, the pressure was building fast, and on September 24, Henry Hudson received a call from an aid to Attorney General William Barr, who told him that Barr had heard of the incident and the account that the Marshal's had bailed out Bryant. Despite his reluctance to act on Rutherford's earlier suggestion of an internal investigation, Hudson was now in the spotlight, and as soon as he was prodded by Barr, he called Richard Henkenson at the Inspector General's office to discuss the matter. Normally, Hudson said, the department would do a fact check on such an incident, but since the issue was before the Attorney General, he went to the IG office.
By September 29, the IG was conducting interviews and on October 16 the IG launched an official investigation, and began warning people before they were questioned. The result of that investigation is secret. Bryant's attorneys were within fifteen minutes of securing a copy through FOIA proceedings when the U.S. Attorney stopped the release of the documents on the grounds that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter.
FOIA requests by other investigators, including Arenberg, asking for records of the OPR or IG investigations into the problems with the Marshals Foundation have been stonewalled.
But that situation could change if the indictment of Paul Barrett represents a serious effort to get to the bottom of this mess. The scandals surrounding the "clique" in the Marshals Service continue to swirl.
Michael Moore left the Marshals and returned to his native Florida where he accepted an appointment as a federal judge and once again became surrounded in controversy. In October of 1993, Moore withdrew from all criminal cases after newspapers in Miami and Washington published stories about a grand jury probe of allegations that he accepted bribes while he was the director of the Marshals Service.
According to press accounts of the probe, Moore, along with two other Marshals, Daniel Horgan of Florida, and Charles Healy in New York, accepted illegal gratuities from Central Security Systems of Staten Island, a now defunct firm which once paid cash bribes to secure court house security contracts. Four months earlier, Moore had accepted $1600.00 in complimentary limousine rides and theater tickets during a trip to New York City.
The three officials went on a company sponsored boat trip while attending a week long Marshals conference at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami. At the time, Horgan was responsible for approving the company's billings in South Florida--to the tune of $80,000 to $150,000 per month. Healy monitored Central Security contracts in New York. John Calandra and Anthony Manfre, two top Century Security officials who attended the conference plead guilty to bribery charges and are cooperating in the corruption probe.
Moore's indiscretion has led to a blizzard of law suits filed by defense attorneys who are demanding new trials for their clients on the grounds that Moore had no business trying cases involving the U.S. government while he knew he was under investigation. Attorneys for the defendants in one particularly sensitive case, the fraud prosecution of officials of the drug linked Republic National Bank, argued that "A suspicious and doubting observer might conclude that Judge Moore's actions were influenced by latent conflicts of interest."
Not surprisingly, Moore is less than popular with Florida prosecutors who are working the tough job of convicting top level drug pushers. With the recent indictment of Michael Abell, the former top Prosecutor in the DOJ who went to work for the Cali Cartel, it is getting harder to tell who wore the white hats in the Bush administration "War on Drugs."
And Moore was not the only tainted Marshal who has problems with "conflict of interest." Gerome Bullock, the former Marshal of the District of Colombia who was also involved with the Marshals Foundation, is now working for the Inspector General's office of the DOJ. He is the person who was in charge of the investigation of the Marshals' actions on September 2, and is also involved in the investigation which is looking into questions involving the Marshals Foundation.
More broadly, the stench of corruption and bias that wafts out of the "clique" at the Marshals Foundation is complemented by some very real charges of racial bias brought against Marshals officials in New York City by Bill Scott, a highly decorated career Marshal whose story was told in Police Times (issue #).
MORE DETAILS ABOUT 'ARGUS' [WHITE U.S. MILITIA GROUP] AND TOP POLITICAL CONNECTIONS