ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA, VA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
EARL PITTS on Friday admitted trying to sell secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia. A CIA station chief reportedly will plead guilty Monday to espionage.
FBI supervisor Earl Pitts pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring and attempting to sell classified secrets to Russia and the former Soviet Union, and a former CIA station chief is expected to plead guilty to spying for Russia on Monday.
In what his attorney said was an effort to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison, Pitts, 43, a former FBI counterspy, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit espionage and a second count of attempting to commit espionage.
After Pitts' hearing in federal court, U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey announced, ``We anticipate there will be a guilty plea by [CIA officer Harold] Nicholson on Monday morning.''
She said that Nicholson will plead guilty to espionage. His lawyers declined to comment on that.
Nicholson is charged with selling secrets to Moscow since 1994 for more than $180,000 in a three-count indictment. But Fahey would not disclose any details of Nicholson's agreement to plead guilty.
Nicholson earlier had pleaded innocent to selling the identities of new CIA agents since 1994 for more than $180,000. His trial is to begin April 14.
Pitts stood at the lectern for 40 minutes while the judge questioned him about his plea. In pleading to conspiracy, Pitts said, ``I provided information I believed to be classified to persons I believed to be agents of the USSR and later to persons I believed to be agents of the Russian Federation.''
The conspiracy count covered his actions dating back to 1987.
He also pleaded guilty to a count of attempted espionage in October 1996 when he was dealing with FBI undercover agents he thought were Russian spies. Pitts told the court, ``I delivered a booklet which was marked `Secret' in a sealed envelope to a prearranged drop point where it would be picked up by people I believed to be agents of the Russian government.''
Prosecutor Randy Bellows said it contained ``methodology that remains current today and identifies sources of information that remain secret today.''
Pitts could be sentenced on the two counts to a maximum sentence of two life terms without parole.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Pittsby CNB