Jaywalk ‘Wanted List’ : Meese Pays Up; 2 More Reagan Pals on Spot

U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III got off the Los Angeles Police Department’s Sort-of-Wanted List Friday after court officials received his personal check paying off a 1980 arrest warrant for jaywalking.

But two other presidential associates remained at large.

Traffic Court officials disclosed that there are five-year-old arrest warrants for CIA Director William Casey and former Reagan campaign official William Timmons, who is now a Washington lobbyist.

Both men, like Meese, apparently failed to pay $10 jaywalking tickets that they received on June 11, 1980, while strolling with Meese near Reagan’s campaign headquarters in Southwest Los Angeles.

‘Immediate Notification’

The Los Angeles Police Department wasn’t planning just yet on hanging photos of Timmons, 54, and Casey, 72, in local post offices. “But if there are warrants outstanding, immediate notification of those people would be in order,” said Cmdr. William Booth, a department spokesman.

Casey could not be reached for comment. Timmons was chagrined when contacted Friday night at his home in Bethesda, Md.

“Uh-oh,” Timmons said, “I better not go back to that jurisdiction again. I thought I’d paid the dadgum thing.”

The memories of Los Angeles authorities, it seems, were equally hazy. They apparently long ago forgot that Casey and Timmons were wanted men.

A computer clerk searching records for another fugitive from justice last week inadvertently stumbled upon the warrant for Meese’s arrest. Such warrants are generally issued six weeks after a ticket goes unpaid.

After a spate of news stories this week, Meese promised to pay the $10 ticket--plus $120.50 in interest and penalties.

His personal check arrived by mail Friday along with a brief note in which Meese explained why it took so long for the city to get its money.

“He said he thought it was paid for five years ago,” said Marian Scritchfield, deputy Municipal Court administrator for metropolitan operations. Meese’s letter was written on plain stationary.

Inquiry to Officials

However, it was not until Friday afternoon, when Scritchfield and police officials were asked specifically about Casey and Timmons, that they realized Meese was not alone on the night he strayed from the law.

Timmons, who was Reagan’s deputy director for campaign operations, said that he, Meese and Casey were in the middle of an intersection walking from their hotel at dusk when the traffic signal changed from red to green. A motorcycle officer zoomed up, asked for identification and began writing tickets for jaywalking.

Timmons admitted that the 1980 bust was his first. “It was the only time I was ever caught,” he noted.