Jury Convicts Camp Owner of 2 Firebombings

A federal jury Monday convicted Alabama mercenary camp owner Frank Camper of firebombing two cars after two Orange County private school operators hired him to harass their former employees.

Camper, 40, owner of a Hueytown, Ala., school for mercenaries, was tried on the same charges last fall, but a mistrial was declared after the jury was unable to reach a decision.

Monday, after a four-week trial and three days of deliberations, the jury convicted Camper of conspiracy, racketeering and using a destructive device during a crime of violence. 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.

A Vietnam veteran who claimed to have performed numerous under-cover 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.

William Hedgcorth, 23, an instructor at Camper’s school, was convicted on the same four 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 both Camper and Hedgcorth face at least 10 years--and perhaps as long as 35 years--in prison.

“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.”

Plan to Appeal

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.

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

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 he was actually on a secret government mission when the two women hired him to teach their former employees a lesson.

7-Year Sentence

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 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.