2 Mercenaries Convicted of Bombing Cars

LOS ANGELES —  A federal jury Monday convicted the owner of an Alabama mercenary camp and one of its instructors of firebombing two cars after a pair of Orange County school operators hired the camp owner to harass their former employees.

Frank Camper, 40, was convicted of conspiracy, racketeering and using a destructive device during a crime of violence, after a four-week trial and three days of deliberations. The jury deadlocked on two counts of arson and one count of possessing a destructive device in connection with the Aug. 13, 1985, firebombing of two cars in San Bernardino County.

William Hedgcorth, 23, an instructor at Camper’s school, was convicted on the same counts as Camper. Camper’s girlfriend, Lee Ann Faulk, 28, was acquitted of all five counts with which she had been charged.

Federal prosecutors said Camper and Hedgcorth face at least 10 years--and perhaps as long as 35 years--in prison.

Camper, owner of a Hueytown, Ala., school for mercenaries, had been tried on the same charges last fall, but a mistrial was declared after the jury was unable to reach a decision.

A Vietnam veteran who claimed to have performed numerous undercover missions for the U.S. government, Camper testified at both trials that his associates destroyed the cars while he was asleep.

“It’s not over yet,” Camper said Monday as he left the courtroom in shackles.

“I think the jury’s verdict implies that he was less than candid on the stand,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles Stevens said of Camper. “They completely rejected his testimony.”

Stevens said the government would move to dismiss the charges on which the jury deadlocked.

Camper’s attorneys said they planned to appeal the verdict because the jury was not allowed to hear anything about Camper’s work for the U.S. government as a paid informant. Camper claims to have worked for the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Hired for ‘Security’

“All they knew is that he ran a mercenary camp and he came to California,” said Lee DelGrosso, one of Camper’s attorneys from Birmingham, Ala.

During both trials, Camper admitted that Elizabeth Hamilton and Charlotte Wyckoff of Dana Point hired him to provide “unconventional security” in response to a a wave of vandalism at their chain of private schools in Orange and San Bernardino counties.

But Camper insisted that his associates acted without him when they blew up the cars belonging to two former school employees. In an interview, Camper contended that he was actually on a secret government mission when the two women hired him to teach their former employees a lesson.

Hamilton and Wyckoff previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and racketeering charges. Last month, Hamilton was sentenced to seven years in prison. Wyckoff is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27.

Two other defendants, Paul Johnson and James Cuneo, also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

When they entered their guilty pleas, the women said they hired Camper and his associates to protect them from a wave of vandalism and telephone threats. The pair said they saw Camper on a cable television show and decided that he would be the perfect person to protect them.

Camper and his associates spent several weeks in Orange County training Wyckoff and Hamilton to use guns and designing an escape plan for the women to flee the country if their lives were in danger, according to trial testimony.

“Having sat on the bench for 10 years, this certainly has to be one of the most unusual cases that’s come before the court,” said U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler. She set a June 1 sentencing hearing for Camper and Hedgcorth.

Jury foreman Brian Warpack of Moorpark said the jury had noted “numerous inconsistencies” in testimony throughout the trial. Warpack said the jury gave Camper “some credibility” but did not give too much credibility to testimony from Cuneo and Johnson, who testified for the government.

Juror Forrest Moodie of Big Bear Lake said there was not enough “clear evidence” to convict Faulk. He said the original vote was 11 to 1 for acquittal, but the jury later voted unanimously to acquit her.

“I’m relieved,” a tearful Faulk said. “I’m concerned with Mr. Camper’s guilty verdicts, but I’m sure his attorneys will do everything they can.”

Faulk said she plans to return to Birmingham, where she works as a secretary for an appraisal firm.

After the verdict was read, Faulk hugged her wheelchair-bound mother, who was at the trial every day, and left the courtroom saying she had to call Camper’s family in Alabama with the news.

Times staff writer Kim Murphy contributed to this story.