rigorousintuition.ca

"MPD seized computers, software, photographs, and biographical information concerning the Finders group from these locations. No evidence of child sexual exploitation, kidnapping, or any related crimes was observed, or obtained from this search."

Although no children were found large amounts of documents dealing with child rearing and shaping were recovered along with manuals for master plans and 'dirty tricks' for enemies of the Finders group.

the story actually starts at least as early as December of 1986, with a confidential female source who reported on the Finders "cult". It continues into January 1987, when she made contact again to state that they were "interested in exploring satanism." In February of 1987, the van was discovered in the park.

Threats Force Move TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Feb. 7 (AP) - The six children were moved from a shelter after officials there received telephone calls threatening to the children, the police said today. The children were moved to a site that was undisclosed and were being protected by armed guards after a half-dozen threats were telephoned Friday night to a temporary shelter in Tallahassee, according to a police spokesman, Scott Hunt. Mr. Hunt said the Finders cult might have been accustomed to selling or smuggling the children of its members out of the country.

Harvey » Sun Oct 27, 2019 1:51 pm wrote:

American Dream » Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:42 pm wrote:I'm finding the parallels between this story and that of the cult schools Tulsi Gabbard participated in to be so interesting- the abuse and trauma were on different levels but the intention to brainwash children was the same.

Nice opportunism. CULTure does tend to be something absorbed without one's volition.

Wombaticus Rex » Mon Oct 28, 2019 10:28 pm wrote:I've always been struck by that detail about the threatening phone call, and wondered if it was an insider tip:

Threats Force Move TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Feb. 7 (AP) - The six children were moved from a shelter after officials there received telephone calls threatening to the children, the police said today. The children were moved to a site that was undisclosed and were being protected by armed guards after a half-dozen threats were telephoned Friday night to a temporary shelter in Tallahassee, according to a police spokesman, Scott Hunt. Mr. Hunt said the Finders cult might have been accustomed to selling or smuggling the children of its members out of the country.

However, in light of what has been emerging: now I wonder if The Finders had access to PROMIS.

Has anyone seen a transcript of the computer BBS messages that go intercepted thanks to that bizarre phone booth find?

The Finders: CIA Ties to Child Sex Cult Obscured as Coverage Goes from Sensationalism to Silence

In February 1987, an anonymous phone tip was called into the Tallahassee police department reporting that six children were dirty, hungry, and acting like animals in the custody of two well-dressed men in a Tallahassee, Florida park. That phone call would kick off the Finders scandal: a series of events and multiple investigations even more bizarre than the initial report.

The trail would ultimately lead to allegations of a cult involved in ritual abuse, an international child-trafficking ring, evidence of child abuse confirmed and later denied, and ties with the CIA, which was alleged to have interfered in the case. No one was ever prosecuted in the wake of the initial 1987 investigation or a 1993 inquiry into the allegations of CIA involvement: official denials were maintained, and authorities stated that no evidence of criminal activity was ever found. However, documents that have emerged over time beg significant questions as to the validity of the official narrative.

In contrast with other historical human trafficking rings covered in the independent press, including those I have previously discussed, the Finders scandal presents as something of a phantom. This is in consequence of the lack of adult victims who have come forward, an absence of hard evidence viewable to the public, and an absence of extensive trials or convictions. Further impeding the willingness of most journalists to cover such a story were claims of ritualistic abuse that were hyped by corporate media at the time of the incident, as well as allegations of a CIA-led coverup that were less widely recognized by the legacy press.

The story is further complicated by the fact that it takes place in three basic stages: the initial 1987 investigation spread across multiple states and law enforcement agencies; a subsequent 1993 inquiry into allegations of a CIA coverup and interference in the 1987 investigation; and the emergence of Customs Service documents detailing new aspects of initial searches of Finders properties which was followed by the publication of hundreds of documents from both investigations to the FBI vault in 2019.

By initially sensationalizing the issue via the framing of the Finders as a satanic cult, the media profited from immediate shock value while permitting this very sensationalism to become the premise for dismissing other aspects of the story and Finders ties to the CIA to remain unexplored.

The 1987 Investigation

On February 4, 1987, two men dressed in suits and ties in the company of six bug-bitten, dirty, hungry children were arrested in Tallahassee, Florida, on charges of child abuse after a concerned citizen called local police. Initially, Tallahassee police were concerned that the children might have been kidnapped and were being trafficked across state lines. The U.S. Customs Service, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and the FBI became involved in the attempt to identify the two men based on suspicions of interstate criminal activity including the possibility of child pornography.

The story exploded on a national scale after investigators linked the pair, identified as Douglas Ammerman and Michael Houlihan (also referred to as Michael Holwell), with a Washington D.C.-based group known as the Finders, which authorities publicly referred to as a “cult.” Initially, Tallahassee police reported that at least two of the children showed signs of sexual abuse.

Houlihan and Ammerman first told police that they were transporting the children to a school for brilliant children in Mexico. However, this explanation as to the purpose of the children’s trip would change significantly, with Finders members later stating that the group were on an adventure in Florida. The Finders group was found to have multiple properties in Washington, D.C. and a farm in rural Madison County, Virginia. It also became clear that the Finders were highly skilled with early computer technology, which would become a major aspect of the case as it unfolded.

News reports across the country headlined allegations of ritual abuse for approximately six days after the initial arrests, before a tidal shift by both the media and authorities began on February 10. The New York Times reported on that day:

Local police officials announced here today that six children found last week in Florida had apparently not been kidnapped and that there was no evidence to show that the secretive group that has been raising them is a cult involved in child abuse. The statement from the Metropolitan Police Department conflicted with accounts from the police in Tallahassee, Fla., where the children were found, unwashed and hungry, last week. Officials there said this morning that at least two of the children had signs of sexual abuse.

As described by the Times and the Chicago Tribune, the children were placed in police protective custody after threats were received at the shelters where they had originally been housed. Eventually, the mothers of the children were reported to have been Finders members and the children were said to be transported by Houlihan and Ammerman with the full consent of their parents. Hence, suspicions of kidnapping and trafficking rapidly lost credibility, though issues of abuse remained. The original strong allegations of sexual abuse of at least two of the six children were eventually contradicted by Florida authorities.

In March 1987, Houlihan and Ammerman were released with charges dropped for lack of evidence, and all of the children were eventually returned to their mothers. The official and media consensus was that the entire issue was a miscommunication blown out of proportion, and that the Finders were simply a 1960’s-esque “alternative lifestyle community” with unusual education methods.

The 1993 inquiry into an Intelligence Community coverup

U.S. Customs Special Agent Ramon J. Martinez claimed in a memorandum that during his participation in the searches of two of the Finder’s properties in Washington he witnessed evidence of the Finders’ intent to traffick children and other potentially criminal acts. Martinez wrote that he was unable to review the evidence collected at the locations after multiple attempts to do so, and that he was eventually told by a third party at the MPD precinct that the Finders group had come under the protection of the CIA, which had interfered with the investigation by deeming the issue an “internal matter,” and had the case files labeled “Secret,” with no further action to be taken or evidence available for review. Clearly, Martinez’s account detailing what he witnessed presents a strong counter-narrative to the official story.

A man named Skip Clements allegedly communicated the U.S. Customs documents and other records to then-Florida Rep. Tom Lewis (R) and North Carolina Rep. Charlie Rose (D). Stemming in part from their protests, as well as the prospect of CBS’s 48 Hours producing a segment on the Finders story (which never aired), the Department of Justice announced it would investigate allegations of CIA interference in the 1987 investigation in late 1993. The previously mentioned congressmen claimed publicly that the Finders may have benefited from protection of the U.S. government agencies, with U.S.News & World Report writing in December 1993, (as the DOJ investigation was getting underway), that Lewis had asked:

Could our own government have something to do with this Finders organization and [have] turned their backs on these children? That’s what the evidence points to…. I can tell you that we’ve got a lot of people scrambling, and that wouldn’t be happening if there was nothing here.”

The DOJ’s investigation resulted in a verdict of no evidence of CIA interference and no evidence of criminal activity on the part of the Finders, and it represented the official and legal end of the story.

The 2019 publication of FBI Vault documents

Eventually, Customs documents including Ramon Martinez’s memo made their way onto the internet. The exact method by which this occurred remains murky, with the best copy of the documents being hosted by the website of now-deceased Ted Gunderson, who served as an FBI special agent in charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI.

I contacted Martinez in 2017 and confirmed that he authored the document and that it is genuine, but to date, he has otherwise refused to go on record to comment on the matter with me. Martinez has had limited communication with some other independent journalists, including Derrick Broze of the Conscious Resistance, who produced a documentary on the Finders case in 2019. I also described aspects of the Martinez memo and the Finders case as part of a report on alleged intelligence-tied child abuse scandals penned in August 2019 in the wake of Jeffrey Epstein’s death and renewed public interest in the overall subject matter.

Just months after Epstein’s death, in October 2019, the FBI began releasing hundreds of Finders investigation documents to their Vault. The publication sparked a storm of attention, but virtually no corporate press coverage aside from a piece by Vice, which framed any interest in the subject as a conspiracy theory.

On their face, the contents of the FBI Vault documents appear to contradict the allegations made by former Special Agent Martinez: they include statements from multiple officers involved in the investigation from various agencies to the effect that they experienced no overt interference in their work from the CIA. Yet, when one looks closely, the documents also corroborate significant aspects of Martinez’s allegations and substantiate questions regarding the Finders’ links with intelligence.

There is the admission that Isabelle Pettie, the wife of Finders leader Marion Pettie, worked for the CIA during the Cold-War era (Pettie also admitted that his son worked for the CIA-linked, Iran Contra-era Air America), and that it was her visas to North Korea, North Vietnam, Russia and elsewhere that had been approved by the State Department. Key documents from the MPD investigation are labeled secret, just as Martinez had claimed, which is bizarre on its face if we are to believe that the Finders were simply an odd “alternative living” commune.

These and other corroborating details add credibility to Martinez’s claims regarding having witnessed other documents that indicated international child trafficking, as well as his assertion that he was told that the case had been deemed a “CIA internal matter.”

The FBI’s Vault publication includes records from the preliminary Tallahassee police department investigation, the MPD investigation, heavily redacted records from the U.S. Customs Service, documents from the Washington Metro Field Office (WMFO) of the FBI, and other agencies, as well as the correspondence and documentation of the 1993 inquiry, mostly from the WMFO to FBI Headquarters. The documents are scattered throughout the three published sections in no coherent order, and are interspersed with news reports from the time ranging from the initial arrests and the child custody issue to the 1993 inquiry into CIA connections with and protection of the group.

Bizarrely, a map relating to the McMartin Preschool scandal is also included in the publication for no known reason, since at this time the cases are completely unrelated aside from both having contained allegations of satanic abuse. Regardless of the intent behind the document’s inclusion, it serves to further associate the Finders with the so-called “moral panic” scandals of the era, which I would argue distracts from the issue of intelligence ties to the case.

A fresh look

Before moving further into analysis of the available evidence, it’s important to recognize a number of problems we face in understanding the information published in the FBI’s Vault. First, a multitude of large, often critically placed redactions plague the documents, the most important of which are not labeled with privacy exemptions but are instead labeled “S,” presumably meaning that the information is classified as secret.

Another problem involves the fact that information requested by some agencies — especially during the 1993 preliminary inquiry into a CIA coverup — was not provided to the relevant investigating agencies. Then there is the phenomenon of information disappearing outright, including vanishing evidence and instances of records never having been kept, resulting in conflicting accounts of the existence of critical pieces of evidence.

This series will challenge both the sensationalism and the silence of establishment media surrounding the Finders narrative by examining the allegations made by the U.S. Customs documents in view of the FBI’s more recent Vault publications, which shed fresh light on the connections between the Finders and the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

Losing Finders: The Buried Documents that Linked the Infamous Cult to the CIA

Concerning the Finders cult — the elusive Washington, D.C.-based outfit whose antics and ties we began examining in Part 1 of this series — one set of documents in particular held the most explosive allegations made against the group and against the CIA for allegedly covering the story up. Despite their contents, almost no corporate press ever quoted from these documents or addressed the concerns they raise. This article will attempt to remedy that deficit of coverage by fully exploring what the documents have to say.

I previously described the 1987 arrest of two well-dressed men in Tallahassee, Florida, on charges of child abuse relating to six children found neglected, dirty, and hungry in their care. After the men were found to be members of the Finders, a multi-state investigation sparked a national media frenzy: for a week, headlines alleged satanic ritual abuse before downshifting radically. The entire scandal was eventually explained as a “miscommunication” regarding a “misunderstood” alternative-lifestyle community. But further questions would arise regarding allegations that the Finders were linked to the CIA and that the agency had spiked the investigation.

In my initial article introducing this series of deep dives into the Finders scandal, I mentioned the allegations made by former Customs Special Agent Ramon Martinez in the Customs reports he penned in 1987. To understand the overall Finders story, we must look at exactly what evidence Martinez claims to have witnessed and what that evidence suggests. His account is crucial because, if true, it undermines the established narrative that no evidence of criminality on the part of the Finders was ever found.

Although Martinez has refused to speak on the record, he did confirm to me in 2017 that he authored the Customs reports attributed to him and that they are genuine. Martinez has also spoken to other independent journalists, including the Conscious Resistance’s Derrick Broze. Journalists like Broze and Nick Bryant are among the few independent voices to have looked into both the Finders and Martinez’s records.

This piece will examine the three publicly available Customs Service documents, summarizing both the narrative and allegations they contain in context. Subsequent articles will evaluate specific aspects of Martinez’s allegations in greater depth. It should be noted that the first report in the Customs documents is five days older than the second report in the collection. Nonetheless, we will examine the documents in the order presented in the records available.

First Report

The first record in the Customs compilation is authored by Customs Special Agent Walter Kreitlow, who was based in Tallahassee, Florida. A redacted version of Kreitlow’s report, dated February 12, 1987, can also be found in the FBI Vault publications on the Finders. Kreitlow recounts that the Customs Service was contacted by the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) requesting assistance identifying the two men arrested with six unkempt, hungry children the day prior. Kreitlow then contacts Supervisory Special Agent Bob Harrold of Reston, Virginia, to follow up on leads indicating links to Virginia and Washington, D.C., and reach authorities there who might provide more information. Kreitlow writes:

A short time later this office was contacted by Detective Jim Bradley of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department. Bradley indicated that the case here in Tallahassee appeared to be strongly related to a case he was currently working on in the Washington, D.C. area. He stated that the actions of the two men in custody in Tallahassee relative to the children just might give his case enough probable cause for search warrants to search the premises occupied by a cult group called the Finders.

Here we see reference to the fact that the Finders had come to the attention of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) before the arrest of Michael Houlihan (aka Michael Holwell) and Douglas Ammerman, in Tallahassee. As indicated in the FBI Vault documents, an MPD file on the Finders group was opened in 1986 after the police department received a tip alleging the Finders were ritualistically and sexually abusing children. However, the same documents indicate that, as the tipster in 1986 had not personally witnessed sexual abuse of a child, no criminal investigation was pursued at the time.

A report from the MPD’s Intelligence Division — authored on April 13, 1987, labeled “secret,” and explicitly stressing the “sensitivity” of the material (adding that the information “should not be disseminated outside this unit”) — details the official MPD narrative as to the initial involvement of the MPD in the investigation of the Finders. It states that, in 1986, “[redacted] called the intelligence division and reported that she had information concerning a cult operating in the District of Columbia.” The document states that the woman was subsequently “advised that although this group was unusual, they were committing no criminal offenses and the police department would only be interested if this group was involved in criminal activities.”

Finders Cult

The above MPD report is cited because it appears to conflict with the fact that Detective Bradley tells both Agent Kreitlow and, as we will see, Agent Martinez, that he is currently working a case on the Finders. It remains to be seen how the MPD could have ascertained that no criminal activity was taking place absent an investigation, and how Detective Bradley could be “currently pursuing a case” regarding the Finders, even informally, if no indication of criminal activity had been found.

Some news reports from the era stated that a complaint had been lodged regarding the group years prior to 1986 but, if accurate, this earlier complaint was not referenced by MPD synopses or reports contained in the FBI Vault publications, and may have taken place in a different jurisdiction or simply not have been recorded.

Kreitlow’s report concludes by stating that he put Detective Bradley in touch with the TPD and that, pending further information, the case “at this time” (meaning on February 12, 1987) would be closed because Customs violations had not been identified.

Second Report

In the next Customs Service report, dated February 7, 1987, Agent Martinez begins by recounting the initiation of his involvement in the Finders case. He reiterates that Kreitlow contacted Bob Harrold regarding the incident in Tallahassee. Martinez provides background information communicated by Kreitlow to Harrold and writes that he (Martinez) was contacted by Harrold who requested that he conduct computer checks related to the Tallahassee incident on the Customs child pornography database, which were negative. Martinez contacts Kreitlow to inform him that the checks were negative. Later that day, Martinez is contacted again by Harrold, who stated that MPD Detective Jim Bradley would be initiating search warrants at two Finders properties and that Customs was invited to participate, owing to the “continuing possibility of violations of law enforced by the Customs Service.” Martinez then contacted Bradley, who, in corroboration of Kreitlow’s report, informed Martinez that he was investigating the Finders. Martinez recounted:

Upon contacting Detective Bradley, I learned that he had initiated an investigation on the two addresses provided by the Tallahassee Police Dept. during December of 1986. An informant had given him information regarding a cult, known as the “Finders,” operating various businesses out of a warehouse located at 1307 4th St., N.E., and were supposed to be housing children at 3918/3920 W St., N.W. The informant was specific in describing “blood rituals” and sexual orgies involving children, and an as-yet unsolved murder in which the Finders may be involved. With the information provided by the informant, Detective Bradley was able to match some of the children in Tallahassee with names of children known alleged [sic] to be in the custody of the Finders.

Here we see that, according to Detective Bradley as recorded by Martinez, the informant who lodged accusations against the Finders in 1986 also provided information that was used to accurately identify some of the children in Tallahassee. Separate reports penned by Martinez and Kreitlow recall that MPD Detective Bradley made statements to the effect that he was actively investigating the Finders as of 1986. This appears to conflict with MPD’s account in the FBI Vault, which obscures the fact of Detective Bradley’s investigation of the Finders prior to the 1987 incident in Florida. Although Bradley’s investigation may have been informal, without the Customs Service reports, we would not know of its existence.

Martinez goes on to write that both he and Agent Harrold participated in searches of Finders properties on February 5, 1987:

During the execution of the warrant at 3918/20 W St., I was able to observe and access the entire building. I saw large quantities of children’s clothing and toys. The clothing consisting [sic] of diapers and clothes in the toddler to preschool range. No children were found on the premises.

As we will see shortly, the same report indicates that Finders messages were found suggesting that additional children still in Finders custody should be moved and law enforcement evaded. In addition, news reports from the time state that the Finders may have been “tipped off” on the day of the arrests when Tallahassee authorities attempted to contact the Finders by phone. These phone calls are documented in TPD records; however, the TPD indicated that it was MPD who called the Finders and who reported to TPD that they heard “strange” messages on the Finders answering machine.

In addition to calls by authorities giving early warning on the day of the arrests, it appeared that the Finders were in rapid communication about the incident via their computer network. TPD records indicate that a part-time TPD employee, who was also a student at Florida State University, found a computer in a phone booth on the evening of February 5, the day after the arrests. The computer was found to contain information regarding TPD investigators, and TPD ascertained that the computer’s owner was a member of the Finders. This becomes relevant to allegations made by Martinez that the Finders were not only aware of the incident but had sent out messages to “move” additional children and avoid police detection. In arguably the most damning allegations of criminality lodged against the Finders, Martinez writes:

Cursory examination of the documents revealed detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes. The instructions included the impregnation of female members of the community known as Finders, purchasing children, trading, and kidnapping.

There were telex messages using MCI account numbers between a computer terminal believed to be located in the same room, and others located across the country and in foreign locations. One such telex specifically ordered the purchase of two children in Hong Kong to be arranged through a contact in the Chinese Embassy there. Another telex expressed an interest in “bank secrecy” situations.

Other documents identified interests in high-tech transfers to the United Kingdom, numerous properties under the control of the Finders, a keen interest in terrorism, explosives, and the evasion of law enforcement. Also found in the “computer room” was a detailed summary of the events surrounding the arrest and taking into custody of the two adults and six children in Tallahassee, Florida on the previous night. There were also a set of instructions, which appeared to be broadcast via a computer network, [that] advised participants to move “the children” and keep them moving through different jurisdictions, and instructions on how to avoid police attention.

In other words, Martinez alleges that he witnessed evidence of Finders’ intent to “produce,” kidnap, purchase, trade, and internationally traffic children for “unspecified purposes.” He states that the group had sophisticated communications capabilities that resembled an early version of the internet, linking computer terminals across the country and internationally; and we have independent verification of their technological competence via both TPD records and MPD reports.

Martinez describes a telex specifically ordering the purchase of children via the Chinese Embassy in Hong Kong, suggesting the Finders were participating in organized child trafficking and doing so at times via contacts in foreign governments. Martinez recounts evidence of Finders’ interest in “terrorism, explosives, and the evasion of law enforcement.” And he recounts that he witnessed Finders instructions telling members to “move ‘the children,’” with instructions on how to avoid police attention.

This last statement suggests that the group knew that their activities were illegal, that they had an unknown number of additional children in their care, and intended to move them to avoid detection by authorities due to that awareness. If Martinez’s report is accurate, we will never know how many other children were in the Finders’ custody or what ultimately happened to them. Given just this segment of Martinez’s account, one can conclude that the activities of the Finders warranted criminal investigation. At a minimum, if legitimate, the report tears apart the official narrative of the Finders case, which argues that no evidence of any criminal activity on the part of the Finders was ever found.

Missing evidence

It would be simple to evaluate, verify or debunk Martinez’s claims if records of what had been found at this location had been kept. However, the FBI Vault documents indicate that the evidence collected during these searches is unavailable (with conflicting accounts of what happened to it). Additionally, the Vault documents suggest that, aside from bare-bones search warrants, key records — including photographs and descriptions of the evidence found at the premises — are missing and the names of personnel on the scene that day were not recorded. This will be discussed in greater depth further along in the series but, in sum, the absence of evidence and even descriptions of such evidence gives us nothing to go on in weighing the word of the MPD and other authorities against that of Agent Martinez regarding exactly what was found on February 5 and 6 on the Finders’ properties — deepening the case’s aura of impermeable silence.

Martinez continued, describing his participation in the search of the other D.C. property owned by the Finders on the following day:

On Friday, 2/6/87, I met Detective Bradley at the warehouse on 4th Street, N.E. I duly advised my acting group supervisor, SS/A Don Bludworth. I was again granted unlimited access to the premises. I was able to observe numerous documents which described explicit sexual conduct between the members of the community known as Finders. I also saw a large collection of photographs of unidentified persons. Some of the photographs were nudes, believed to be members of the Finders. There were numerous photos of children, some nude, at least one of which was a photo “on display” and appearing to accent the child’s genitals.

I was only able to examine a very small amount of the photos at this time. However, one of the other officers presented me with a photo album for my review. The album contained a series of photos with adults and children dressed in white sheets participating in a “blood ritual.” The ritual centered around the execution of at least two goats. The photos portrayed the execution, disembowelment, skinning and dismemberment of the goats at the hands of the children. This included the removal of the testes of the male goat, the discovery of a female goat’s “womb” and the “baby goats” inside the womb, and the presentation of a goat’s head to one of the children.

This aspect of the case was seized upon by national media and authorities at the time. Alongside allegations of ritual abuse made by an informant, this facet of the story was focused on to the detriment of the other questions the story raised. Then — once doubt was cast on whether these images were, in fact, depicting a “satanic” ritual — the entire story slid one step closer to being summarily dismissed.

While the interpretation of the scene described above may be debatable, the fact that these images were found and that they depicted children involved in the slaughter and disembowelment of goats is also indicated in FBI Vault documents and in news reports from the time. The only aspect of the photographs that is debated is the intention behind the children’s participation. In other words, Martinez is not fabricating what he describes having witnessed. Unredacted TPD records, provided to me by investigative journalist and author Nick Bryant, indicated that nude pictures of children were also found in the blue van in which the six children and their two male “caretakers” were found living in Tallahassee. The question of whether child abuse occurred in reference to the six children recovered in Florida will be discussed in greater depth later in this series.

Finders Children

Martinez continued in the second report:

Further inspection of the premises disclosed numerous files relating to the activities of the organization in different parts of the world. Locations I observed are as follows: London, Germany, the Bahamas, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Africa, Costa Rica, and “Europe.” There was also a file identified as “Palestinian.” Other files were identified by member name or “project” name. The projects appearing [sic] to be operating for commercial purposes under front names for the Finders. There was one file entitled “Pentagon Break-In,” and others which referred to members operating in foreign countries.

While this section does not directly indicate criminal activity, it gives a glimpse into the global network the Finders were operating. It also raises questions about why an alternative-living “hippie” commune would be operating out of so many corners of the world. Why would they have a file titled “Pentagon Break-In”? If Martinez’s report is accurate, then the overall picture developing of the group is far more reminiscent of a spy ring than of a commune.

Martinez continues:

Not observed by me but related by an MPD officer, were intelligence files on private families not related to the Finders. The process undertaken appears to have been a systematic response to local newspaper advertisements for babysitters, tutors, etc. A member of the Finders would respond and gather as much information as possible about the habits, identity, occupation, etc., of the family. The use to which this information was to be put is still unknown. There was also a large amount of data collected on various child care organizations.

This last aspect was not witnessed directly by Martinez and made it less reliable than what he saw firsthand. Still, it makes sense in light of the previously discussed evidence indicating that the Finders actively attempted to “obtain” children. This particular allegation was partially corroborated in documents from the FBI’s Vault, where an MPD Intelligence Division report dated February 20, 1987 records an interaction with an unnamed woman, who was called because she nearly used a Finders member as a babysitter, and her information and that of her children were found in Finders’ files:

On February 19, 1987, Detective [Redacted] contacted [Redacted] … concerning a listing of her name and additional information contained in the “Finders” records. [Redacted] seemed very upset that they [sic] police were contacting her and Detective [Redacted] assured her that our only interest was that her name and information about her children were in the files. [Redacted] stated that she needed a babysitter and contacted Georgetown University for a referral. [Redacted] stated that she was given the name of [Redacted] and interviewed her telephonically. [Redacted] stated that she would have hired [Redacted] but she never showed up for a interview [sic]… [Redacted] asked what would have happened if the “Finders” got into her residence and Detective [Redacted] told her that he was unsure of any motives and that anything would be speculative.

Here we see corroboration of Martinez’s allegation that the Finders had obtained information regarding parents and their children and were attempting to gain employment as babysitters. Returning to Martinez’s account, we see that he describes the second Finders location in D.C. as follows:

The warehouse contained a large library, two kitchens, a sauna, hot-tub, and a “video room.” The video room seemed to be set up as an indoctrination center. It also appeared that the organization had the capability to produce its own videos. There were what appeared to be training areas for children and what appeared to be an altar set up in a residential area of the warehouse. Many jars of urine and feces were located in this area. I should also mention that both premises were equipped with satellite dish antennas.

This description sounds bizarre, yet multiple aspects of it match nearly word-for-word with other descriptions of the site, including references to satellite dish antennas, indications of “mind control,” and roped-off areas that were described in other documents as “sets.” A Tallahassee police report contained in the FBI Vault, dated 2/08/87, states:

Detective MPD [redacted] contacted this investigator. He advised that he had been on the search warrant at the warehouse. He stated that they found a large amount of computer goods, a hot tub, sauna, large t.v. room, a library of books (some concerning mind control), a satellite disc [sic] on the roof, and various stage-like settings of rooms that were roped off.

Though the subject of mind-control also sounds bizarre, this is far from the only place it is referenced in official documentation of the investigation and it will be discussed later in association with evaluating allegations of child abuse against the Finders.

Martinez concludes his report by describing MPD’s procedure for sorting and documenting evidence, and states that he was assured the evidence would be fully available to the Customs Service. Interestingly, Bradley tells Martinez that he is only interested in pursuing the issue of child abuse:

I discussed the course of action to be taken by MPD with Detective Bradley. He stated he was only interested in making the child abuse case(s). I was assured that all of the evidence would be available to U.S. Customs in furtherance of any investigative/criminal action pursued. MPD Personnel were to begin around-the-clock review and sorting of the evidence until completed. Customs will have access after this is accomplished. This will include several U.S. Passports discovered during the search… It should take three to five days for all the information to be sorted, reviewed, logged by MPD. I will maintain contact with Detective Bradley until the evidence is again accessible.

Clearly, Martinez is under the impression that MPD is not only carefully and legitimately logging and reviewing evidence but that it will be made available to review further within a week of the searches.

Third Report

The subsequent and final publicly available Customs document penned by Martinez is dated April 13, 1987 — more than two months after his previously discussed report. In it, he summarizes salient points from his earlier report:

On Thursday, February 5, 1987, Senior Special Agent Harrold and I assisted the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) with two search warrants involving the possible sexual exploitation of children. During the course of the search warrants, numerous documents were discovered which appeared to be concerned with international trafficking in children, high tech transfer to the United Kingdom, and international transfer of currency.

Martinez goes on to describe what followed after the searches were completed, stating:

On March 31, 1987, I contacted Detective James Bradley of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). I was to meet with Detective Bradley to review the documents seized pursuant to two search warrants executed in February 1987. The meeting was to take place on April 2 or 3, 1987.

On April 2, 1987, I arrived at MPD at approximately 9:00 a.m. Detective Bradley was not available. I spoke to a third party who was willing to discuss the case with me on a strictly “off the record” basis.

I was advised that all the passport data had been turned over to the State Department for their investigation. The State Department, in turn, advised MPD that all travel and use of the passports by the holders of the passports was within the law and no action would be taken. This included travel to Moscow, North Korea, and North Vietnam from the late 1950’s to mid 1970’s.

The individual further advised me of circumstances which indicated that the investigation into the activity of the FINDERS had become a CIA internal matter. The MPD report has been classified secret and was not available for review. I was advised that the FBI had withdrawn from the investigation several weeks prior and that the FBI Foreign Counter Intelligence [sic] Division had directed MPD not to advise the FBI Washington Field Office of anything that had transpired.

No further information will be available. No further action will be taken. No action to be taken on the basis of this report.

And with that, the Customs reports conclude.

Cover-up of a cover-up?

Clear references to Agent Martinez and the allegations made in his Customs reports can be found in the FBI Vault Finders documents. A heavily redacted FBI Washington Metro Field Office (WMFO) synopsis — dated April 29, 1994, and classified “Secret” — includes a section that, though redacted, obviously describes Martinez’s claims, specifying his being unable to review evidence collected by the MPD. The synopsis indicates that the “third party” unnamed in Martinez’s final memorandum, who told Martinez that the Finders case had been deemed a CIA internal matter, was, in fact, MPD’s Sgt. John H. Stitcher Jr., whose name was not redacted because he died prior to the 1993 inquiry.

According to an obituary published by The Washington Post, Sgt. Stitcher died on May 28, 1993, at the age of 48 as a result of “septic shock.” We also learn from Stitcher’s obituary that he had retired by the time of his death and had been working as a security guard for the Australian Embassy in D.C. As will be discussed later, Sgt. Stitcher was also one of the few individuals involved with the investigation who corroborated CIA “interference” in the case outside of the Customs reports. Not only are we missing records of critical evidence, but we also can’t hear directly from the law enforcement officer who allegedly communicated a CIA cover-up to Martinez and would likely have verified this part of the Customs report based on his statements documented elsewhere.

FBI Vault Finders

A heavily redacted document from the FBI Vault mentioning Stitcher and the CIA dated April 29, 1994

The only media report to directly quote significant portions of the Customs documents has been duly scrubbed from the internet, though it is documented in the FBI Vault collection: the piece was penned by Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Paul M. Rodriguez for The Washington Times in 1993. Rodriguez would also break the D.C. “call-boy scandal” in June 1989. The article states:

A Metropolitan Police document dated Feb. 19, 1987, quotes a CIA agent as confirming that his agency was sending its personnel to “a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises, for training in computer operations.” And a later Customs Service report says that the CIA “admitted to owning the Finders organization as a front for a domestic computer training operation but that it had ’gone bad.’” A senior Customs Service official confirmed the content of the memos and said the agency “only had a small role in the case.”

This is a critical allegation, which was later cited by the Associated Press and categorically denied by the CIA. What’s interesting is that we see Rodriguez citing not only Martinez’s reports but also a Customs document that does not appear to have been made public to date, as the admission that the Finders was a “front” for the CIA does not appear in the currently-public Customs documents.

Although FBI Vault documents refute the claim that the MPD case file on the Finders was labeled secret, Martinez never alleged that every document had been classified; he stated that he was told “the MPD report has been classified secret and was not available for review.” It is in fact true, as seen in the MPD reports included in the FBI Vault publication, that MPD synopses and critical reports of the case are indeed labeled “Secret.” Again, this corroborates Martinez and undercuts the established narrative of the Finders story, adding weight to the scale in favor of Martinez’s honest recording of what he witnessed. To the obvious point: why label such reports secret, then lie about it, if no evidence of criminal activity or an intelligence-led cover-up existed?

The remainder of this series will be focused on evaluating the evidence located in the Customs documents, specifically that pertaining to intelligence agency involvement with the Finders.

Losing Finders: How the US Government Worked to Keep the CIA Connection Secret

The Finders Scandal — events that took place several decades ago, which I have explored in the two previous parts of this series — might be perceived as very much in the rear-view mirror. It is of great contemporary relevance, however, because it raises questions of ongoing significance — particularly in an era where American-style kompromat is seen by many to have an undiminished, if not augmented, role in our politics — about the rogue, untouchable nature of the intelligence community and its assets. The connection between the CIA and the Finders cult is one of the most explosive and significant aspects of the whole Finders scandal because, if substantiated, it would constitute not simply an outlandish and perhaps criminal group purported to be abusing and trafficking children, but one sanctioned by the most powerful government on earth.

In previous entries in this series, I’ve presented a general overview of the Finders cult and the multiple stages in which the story has unfolded, and I’ve highlighted the claims made in the most repressed and damning documents associated with the case: U.S. Customs documents penned by Special Agent Ramon Martinez. If his reports are accurate, the CIA stepped in to cover up the criminal activity of the Finders in the initial 1987 investigation, with the agency implicitly claiming association with the cult by rendering the issue “an internal matter.” This would link the CIA with evidence of organized child trafficking, child abuse and allegations of ritual abuse and mind control.

As early as 1993, US News & World Report was accurate in describing the Finders case as one viewed “through a glass, very darkly.” As I wrote in the introduction to this series, the more one peers into the Finders case, the more one sees that what we have available to us in terms of hard evidence is at best fragmentary; however, what evidence we do have available is damning enough that it deserves to be reckoned with.

This segment will further explore the connections between the group and U.S. intelligence that have previously been touched upon. To do so, it’s necessary to reiterate that the involvement between the CIA and the Finders is at issue in multiple stages. First, there is the group’s murky history, especially that of Finders founder Marion Pettie. Intelligence connections are then indicated during the 1987 investigation of child abuse charges stemming from the incident in Tallahassee Florida, and such ties are subsequently documented while being ‘officially’ disputed by the the1993 Department of Justice inquiry. We will examine the history and larger context of the Finders in terms of CIA operations of the era, before discussing indications of CIA involvement in the 1987 case and the documents from the 1993 inquiry.

Founding of the Finders

The leader of the Finders cult was Marion G. Pettie, a former Air Force master sergeant who admitted that his son worked for CIA-front Air America. Pettie’s wife, Isabelle, is admitted in FBI vault documents to have worked for the CIA from 1951 to 1971 (although some documents state that her period of employment ended in 1961), and it is also admitted that she was given passports to North Korea, North Vietnam, the Soviet Union and elsewhere during the height of the Cold War. That she would travel to such strictly prohibited locations suggests she was more than a simple “staff stenographer,” as the documents attempt to portray her.

Specifically, an explosive investigative report written by Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sgt. John Stitcher (though his name is redacted, the report is confirmed elsewhere to have been penned by him) on February 19, 1987, is labeled “Confidential” and “Do Not Disseminate,” and is titled “Re: Finders involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency.” It contains Sgt. Stitcher’s description of what an unnamed CIA special agent stated in terms of the agency’s involvement with the Finders, which reads in part:

S/A [redacted] was guarded but frank in his responses. He confirmed that [redacted] Isabelle, now deceased, was an employee of the agency from 1950 until 1971. When asked if our investigation was “treading on anyone’s toes out there,” [redacted] replied “Sort of”… He acknowledged that they have had someone working on the case since it first broke on the news media. He also stated that the agency is aware that during the period 1969-1971 [redacted] had traveled to Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam… [three line redaction labeled “C”].

The significance of Sgt. Stitcher’s report cannot be overstated. Given the fact that the CIA coined the phrase “plausible deniability,” it is remarkable that the agency would admit that Isabelle Pettie worked for them for 21 years. The report relates that travel of at least one Finders member to restricted countries is admitted to have been undertaken with CIA awareness and facilitation. The agency is described as having a “vested interest” in the Finders and, although a large section is redacted under the classification Confidential, there is the suggestion that the CIA was involved in funding the Finders’ “operation.” The report continues:

… As a practical matter, what is not being said is as important as what S/A [redacted] has said. [Redacted] acknowledged that we are treading on their toes and that they have had someone working on the case since Feb 5 when it broke. They apparently have a vested interest in [redacted] and/or the group. They have not contacted any of the investigating agencies while they have been working on the case. They are also aware that [Redacted] traveled to prohibited countries during a period of hostilities that could only have been arranged by them. Finally, he stated that [two line redaction labeled “C”] This could explain a lot about the groups [sic] funding, which we have been unable to document to this point. [Entire redacted paragraph labeled “C”].

… Regardless of what type of operation they may have been engaged in, there will be no justification for the way the children have been treated, and the matter will be addressed in Family Division, Superior Court.

Elsewhere in the FBI Vault documents, it is specified that at least some of the passports referenced above were given to Isabelle Pettie. However, the passport holder’s name is redacted in Sgt. Stitcher’s crucial report, and multiple redactions are labeled Confidential rather than as a privacy exemption — despite the fact that Isabelle Pettie’s name is usually unredacted because she had died prior to the investigation.

This raises questions as to whether Isabelle was the only Finders member given passports to restricted countries that must have been known and facilitated by U.S. intelligence during the Cold War. We also know that the passports to restricted locations were the ones recovered during the searches of the Finders properties in Washington, D.C., as they are specifically described by Ramon Martinez, issued for travel to the same countries Stitcher recounts, and the time period of the passports matches. The passports are also listed (though not described) in the search warrants contained in the FBI Vault Documents. The fact that they were recovered at a D.C. Finders property would suggest that they were relevant to the more current Finders activities and membership at the time of the 1987 investigation. In addition, it highlights the accuracy of Martinez’s account, as it is yet another example of evidence he witnessed and accurately described that was documented elsewhere.

Returning to Finders cult leader Marion Pettie, we find that he was also known to have had access to international “military” transportation, despite being allegedly retired from military service long before 1987. In a Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) report dated February 10, 1987 (unredacted copies of which were provided to me by journalist and author Nick Bryant), Lt. Lee Hart of Culpeper Virginia is recorded as having stated that he had had contact with the Finders, and that “Pettie himself would probably go to Andrews Air Force Base and get a military plane flight to China.” That law enforcement would appraise Pettie as being able to simply show up at an Air Force base and obtain international transportation while the Finders were under a multi-state, multi-agency investigation speaks to Pettie’s direct and active involvement with military and intelligence interests, in addition to that of his wife and son.

An interview with Finders member and spokesperson Tobe Terrell, conducted by Derrick Broze of The Conscious Resistance, provides some corroboration of Pettie’s military connections and suggests the origins of his intelligence work. Terell told Broze that Pettie “… was in the Army Air Corps, which became the U.S. Air Force. He was highly regarded by the brass and they asked him if he would like to become an intelligence officer.” Despite this admission, during the rest of the interview, Terrell strenuously denied that the Finders were linked with the U.S. government or intelligence operations. Instead, Terrell claims, Petite retired after 20 years of working for the military and was “trained but never assigned” in intelligence work.

As stated earlier, we know Pettie had been a master sergeant in the Air Force, but was he still working for the military or intelligence while heading the Finders group, and is this why he could so easily obtain “military” transportation? Pettie himself admits that he began his stint in hippiedom while simultaneously working for the military. An interview with Pettie conducted by the Washington City Paper in 1996 states:

The group’s roots stretch back to a pre-WWII Washington, D.C., open house run by Pettie when he was an Army sergeant. There, he claims to have become a full-time student of human nature. “I rented two apartments about 55 years ago,” he testified at the court proceedings, “and opened them up for anybody that wanted to come in, and the idea in my head was that they were going to teach me something about power, money, or sex.”

This admission is remarkable in that it shows that Pettie’s interactions with the “alternative lifestyle” community began very early in his military service, prior to the Second World War and the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. We can deduce, then, that his decades of association with the dawning New Age sphere may have been associated with his military work.

The description of his “open” apartments closely parallels the activities of recognized figures associated with the infamous MK-ULTRA project, in which the CIA experimented with efforts to achieve mind control, sometimes on unwitting subjects. In an excerpt from his book “Chaos, Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties,” journalist Tom O’Neill writes of Dr. Louis Jolyon West’s use of a hippie open house in association with MK-ULTRA studies funded by the CIA:

In the Haight, West arranged for the use of a crumbling Victorian house on Frederick Street, where he set up what he described as a “laboratory disguised as a hippie crash pad.” The “pad” opened in June 1967, at the dawn of the summer of love… Passersby were welcome to do as they pleased and stay as long as they liked, as long as they didn’t mind grad students taking notes on their behavior. According to records in West’s files, his “crash pad” was funded by the Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry, Inc.… papers in West’s desk that revealed that the Foundations Fund was a front for the CIA.

This echoes Marion Pettie’s early use of two apartments, and a later Finders property known as Ragged Mountain Ranch. The Washington Post reported that “anyone could get an organic meal without charge, without questions” at the rural location. In addition, a TPD report — dated February 9, 1987 — documents the statements of one of the children recovered in Florida to the effect that a man they knew as “Mr. Lucky” lived at a rural Finders property. The document adds that “information from the FBI identifies Lucky as Ronald Alleman, an ex-Green Beret,” with Green Beret being a reference to U.S. Army Special Forces. The child providing information regarding Alleman states that he had “lots of medicine.” He was also mentioned by another Finders child in reference to basements at a D.C. Finders location. That yet another member of the Finders would have a military background is of interest in terms of questioning the narrative that the group was simply an alternative lifestyle commune.

We’ve discussed the intelligence ties of Marion Pettie and his wife Isabelle, but it should be reiterated that Pettie claimed that his son worked for Air America, an airline recognized as a CIA front that was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. As reported by journalist Whitney Webb, Air America would go on to be renamed Southern Air Transport and would be associated with notorious child-sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his close associate Leslie Wexner. As Webb has pointed out, Epstein would also claim to have worked for the CIA, and he would reportedly receive a sweetheart prosecution deal because he “belonged to intelligence.”

I have previously mentioned that the topic of “mind control,” which many associate with the CIA’s MK-ULTRA project, comes up numerous times throughout the Finders investigation. The topic will be looked at in more detail in a future discussion of the Finders in relation to child abuse; however, it’s worth mentioning here regarding CIA-Finders ties that former Nebraska State Senator John Decamp, author of “The Franklin Coverup,” claimed that the Finders were associated with the CIA and that they were abusing children by means of indoctrination. He reportedly said on December 27, 1993, in response to a question regarding the explosive US News And World Report article:

I was getting information anonymously. I found out later that it came from CIA people who were concerned about what had happened. The CIA has denied any involvement in it, even today. But there is enough documentation to show that children, at a fairly tender age, were being used for sexual purposes, to compromise people, and for the “mind control” nonsense. Why? I don’t know, and I don’t claim to know.

What’s going on in Culpeper, Virginia?

In addition to the parallel between the activities of Marion Pettie and the “hippy crash pad” of Dr. Louis Jolyon West, we see that the Finders attempted to “take over the city government” of Culpeper, Virginia — a location where one of the most infamous figures of the MK-ULTRA program would choose to retire as, of all things, an “eco-hippy.” An April 13, 1987 MPD Intelligence Division report, contained in the FBI Vault and labeled “secret,” reads in part:

Special Agent [Redacted] of the Virginia State Police stated that this group appeared to be a survivalist organization with attempts to take over the city government in Culpeper[,] Virginia.

I FOIA’d the Virginia State Police for records pertaining to the Finders. Their response was to claim that the relevant documents do not exist. The fact that the Finders were reported to have attempted to hijack a city’s local government is, to say the least, not the kind of activity one would associate with a harmless but eccentric hippie commune.

Culpeper would also become the home of the CIA’s Sidney Gottlieb, whom The New York Times described in 2019 as “the brains behind the eventual C.I.A. program it helped spawn, MK-ULTRA, the notorious research endeavor that employed mind-altering drugs, including LSD.” The same article goes on to describe Gottlieb as “a chemist with a deep-seated interest in mysticism, … the first person the United States government ever hired to find ways to control human minds.”

Gottlieb retired not simply in the same location where the Finders allegedly attempted to take over city government, but also under the same cultural impetus: he spent the last years of his life as an “eco-hippy,” according to the Daily Beast and the Times, the latter writing: “Eric, Nils and Alice… tracked down Sidney Gottlieb in his ecologically correct home in Culpeper, Va., where the retired spymaster was raising goats, eating yogurt and preaching the values of peace and environmentalism.”

While there are no currently available links to directly connect Marion Pettie and Gottlieb or the activities of Dr. Jolyon West, the parallel of the guise of a hippy crash pad and Gottlieb’s retirement as an eco-hippy in the same location the Finders attempted to take over represents part of a larger context for understanding the Finders and the bizarre manner in which the CIA was operating during the same time frame.

CIA Involvement in 1987 investigation

Reports from the MPD during the 1987 investigation also conclude that there was a connection between the CIA and the Finders. I’ve cited the blockbuster MPD report penned by Sgt. Stitcher, which outlined CIA interest in the Finders case and documented the decades of CIA employment of Isabelle Pettie. A report filed by the MPD — dated April 13, 1987 — summarizes MPD findings on the Finders group. As intimated by Martinez’s memo, the report was labeled “Secret.” The document, which I also cited in Part Two of this series, includes an odd psychological take on the threat posed by the group, in addition to the conclusion that the group was used by the CIA:

It is the writers [sic] belief that the Finders organization is and has been utilized by the Central Intelligence Agency as a disinformation service spreading non essential, non critical information to various organizations throughout the United States and overseas. This group to [sic] the most part is made up of over-educated non-achievers who lack the inborn initiative to succeed on their own. Therefore they fell in with a charismatic leader who gave them direction and self importance. To [sic] the most part this organization individually is harmless, However, [sic] when directed and monitored by a controlling factor they are capable of destructive and illegal activities.

Questions raised by the report include what the author meant by monitoring and direction from a “controlling factor” making the cult “capable of destructive and illegal activities.” Unfortunately, the typo-riddled MPD assessment lacks citation of evidence for any of its claims, and does not explain on what basis its speculation has been made. This is in stark contrast with the reports penned by Agent Martinez, which described specific pieces of evidence he witnessed and were virtually free of attempts at psychological analysis or speculation as to the group’s motivation or goals. Nonetheless, that we have the MPD admitting in its own assessment that the Finders were “utilized by the CIA” is remarkable and worth documenting, as it further substantiates that the CIA was involved with the group and would have been motivated to end investigations into the group’s activities.

I previously discussed the allegations made by Customs Special Agent Martinez to the effect that the Finders investigation revealed evidence of obvious criminality on the part of the Finders — including child trafficking, intent to kidnap, trade, and purchase children, among other crimes — but that the investigation was shut down by the CIA. Martinez reportedly learned of this development from Sgt. Stitcher, the previously cited MPD detective who wrote reports indicative of CIA involvement with the Finders. As I previously wrote, Stitcher passed away from septic shock prior to the 1993 DOJ inquiry into allegations of a CIA coverup of the original investigation, leaving him unable to corroborate or expand on Martinez’s allegations.

In a copy of Martinez’s whistleblower complaint, provided to me by independent researchers of We’ve Read The Documents, we see additional confirmation that Sgt. Stitcher was in fact the individual who informed Martinez that the Finders investigation had been rendered a CIA internal matter. Martinez wrote of his attempts to review evidence collected at Finders properties in Washington, D.C. during the initial 1987 investigation:

… I attempted to access the evidence collected for a period of approximately two months. I was unsuccessful in gaining that access and was informed by Sergeant Stitcher (now deceased) that the Finders was a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) front gone bad, and that the evidence was unavailable.

That Sgt. Stitcher could have corroborated CIA interference in the 1987 investigation were he alive at the time of the 1993 inquiry is clear, thanks to an additional summary of the preliminary DOJ inquiry — dated November 1, 1993 — contained in the first section of the FBI’s Finders Vault publications, which states in part:

[Redacted] also advised that he had been told that documentation had been located in the WMPD files to indicate that SGT. John Stycher [sic] (deceased), who had been his sergeant during the Finders search, had been contacted by a [redacted] had told him to step away from the Finders case.

1993 DOJ inquiry

We also have the allegations made in 1993 by journalist Paul Rodriguez of The Washington Times, which I’ve previously discussed, to the effect that additional Customs Service documents record the CIA’s admission to “owning the Finders organization as a front for a domestic computer training operation.” The article also details the statement made by Sgt. Stitcher in his previously mentioned February 19, 1987 MPD report:

A Metropolitan Police document dated Feb. 19, 1987, quotes a CIA agent as confirming that his agency was sending its personnel to “a Finders Corp., Future Enterprises,” for training in computer operations.

We further see that in the third section of the FBI Vault documents, an FBI Washington Metropolitan Field Office (WMFO) summary classified “Secret” — dated April 29, 1994 — indicates that the MPD’s Intelligence Division and the CIA had such a close working relationship that they would simply call each other to check in on ongoing investigations:

In the 1987 time frame, the MPD Intelligence Division had a working relationship with the CIA where they could make direct telephonic inquiries concerning ongoing investigations… during the course of the Finders investigation, someone in MPD Intelligence Division related that he was told that one of the FINDERS group members [two line redaction classified Secret] indicated that “… this information did not influence the outcome of the investigation at all”…

The same synopsis specifically includes the CIA’s records relating to the Finders as provided to WMFO during the 1993 DOJ inquiry: two entire paragraphs of these results are redacted under the classification “S,” meaning Secret.

Who is conducting this investigation, really?

That the 1993 DOJ inquiry served to stamp out questions raised about the connection between the Finders and the intelligence community is unsurprising, and not only because such connections would be highly embarrassing for multiple agencies of law enforcement and intelligence. It’s especially predictable given the fact that the DOJ passed off the actual investigation of the allegations of a CIA coverup to the FBI, which again passed the responsibility of investigating to the WMFO.

In the previously cited 1993 article from The Washington Times, Paul Rodriguez reported that the DOJ was looking into the Finders case, and that it had initiated a “special task force” to do so. Rodriguez’s article was later quoted by the Associated Press. This kind of framing by the DOJ belied the fact that the department itself was doing very little “investigating” and, judging by the FBI Vault documents, had reduced its role to rubber-stamping the conclusions of the WMFO that were passed along by the FBI’s upper brass.

This is dubious work, as the WMFO had collaborated with the MPD in the initial 1987 Finders investigation, as acknowledged in synopses dated 1994, compiled by the WMFO. Also, according to Martinez, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division instructed the MPD “not to advise” the WMFO of “anything that had transpired.” In other words, the DOJ and FBI were relying on a field office already heavily involved in the initial investigation, and apparently intentionally kept in the dark, to investigate its own findings: if there had been interference, WMFO would have hardly been a neutral or fully informed third party appropriate to investigate it.

That the DOJ asked the FBI to investigate the issue is demonstrated by a WMFO synopsis contained in the Vault documents — dated April 29, 1994 — which states:

By memorandum dated 10/26/93, from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney, Criminal Division, Department of Justice (DOJ), to Assistant Director Larry A. Potts, the DOJ requested that the FBI conduct a preliminary inquiry into allegations made by [redacted] concerning child sexual abuse by a group known as the “Finders,” and what role, if any, was played by the United States Intelligence Community.

As to the WMFO being tasked with the bulk of the work in the 1993 investigation, an example of this is seen in a WMFO memo sent to the FBI Director — dated November 15, 1993 — which reads:

The WMFO case file on the “Finders” was reviewed and summarized for FBIHQ in referenced WMFO 11/6/93 teletype. The MPD case file was reviewed by WMFO on 11/4/93. Copies were made of significant documents and sent to FBIHQ via facsimile… on 11/9/93, a photocopy of the entire MPD file was obtained and hand carried to FBIHQ.

Here we see that the WMFO is not simply summarizing its own involvement in the 1987 case, but also reviewing the MPD case file for the FBI, determining what are or are not “significant documents,” and sending them to FBI Headquarters. Likewise, the vast majority of substantive summaries and synopses contained in the Vault documents are compiled by the WMFO. It is self-evident that the integrity of the results of such an investigation is highly questionable.

Conclusion: Where the evidence leads

We have established that Marion Pettie had an extensive military background that coincided with the earliest days of his setting up the hippie-style open apartments that would later develop into the Finders group. We’ve seen that Marion’s wife Isabelle spent over 20 years working for the CIA, and that Pettie claimed his son worked for the CIA front Air America, which was later tied to Jeffrey Epstein. We know that Finders members included an ex-Green Beret. The CIA was reported by MPD Sgt. John Stitcher to have run the Finders as a front gone bad, and Ramon Martinez recounts that the CIA interfered in the 1987 investigation of the Finders case. Before the 1993 DOJ inquiry could verify these allegations with Stitcher, he died. We’ve also established that a 1993 DOJ inquiry into the Finders criminal activities and the CIA’s role in covering up these activities should not be viewed as conclusive or even reliable in its determination that no evidence to back such claims was ever found.

To summarize the work of this piece and its predecessor: It is my conclusion that, based on the evidence available to us and analyzed so far, we can factually state that the Finders was connected with the CIA and that Agent Martinez’s Customs reports are credible. This in turn should serve as a trail marker for those exploring the complex and often obscured role the intelligence community has played and continues to play in American life.

Elvis » Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:27 pm wrote:Has anyone made any documentaries about the Finders?

This is a campaign to help fund a trip to Washington DC to film interviews for a documentary about a little known but much maligned group known as The Finders.