Peri Pleads for Forgiveness as He and Parents Weep

In an emotional plea for forgiveness Friday, Army Spec. Michael A. Peri told jurors that he regrets fleeing to East Germany and giving Communist officials there U.S. military secrets.

“I know I made a mistake. . . ,” Peri said. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I want forgiveness from the unit and the corps for what I’ve done.”

The 22-year-old soldier then burst into tears, according to a report by Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper. His parents, Fred and Winnie Peri of Laguna Niguel, sat behind him, holding hands and crying, during the final day of sentencing arguments at Peri’s court-martial on espionage charges in Fulda, West Germany.

Deliberations by a five-member jury of Army officers are expected to begin this morning.

Peri, a 1985 graduate of La Quinta High School in Westminster, pleaded guilty to espionage and other counts. He faces a maximum punishment of life in prison for crossing into East Germany on Feb. 20 with a laptop computer and floppy discs containing secret information on how his unit, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, would respond to a Soviet attack on West Germany. The computer discs also contained U.S. estimates of Soviet military strength, according to testimony.

Peri, who had been described as a model soldier, testified earlier that he acted out of frustration with his job as a military intelligence specialist. He said Friday that he received no money from the East Germans and returned voluntarily to the West because “I couldn’t handle leaving my parents behind, my friends behind.”

Although defense attorneys have insisted that Peri divulged no important secrets, the commander of his regiment testified Friday that the stolen documents included crucial information on U.S. electronic defense capabilities and caused serious harm to the United States and its European allies.

Maj. John N. Abrams also described Peri as a respected analyst and said that his selection of documents showed intelligence and cunning.

“The plans (that Peri took) show the wisdom and judgment of the field commander who is directing the battle,” Abrams said. Portions of the documents show “how I will specifically organize electronic warfare. It shows how I intend to use very scarce resources.”

As a result, he said, Communist military leaders now know “how I think and what my intentions are to deploy for battle.”

Prosecutors suggested Thursday that Peri’s fantasies of espionage were fueled by a magazine article about the Marine spy scandal in Moscow; he read the article just three days before crossing into East Germany. Peri had seemed fascinated with the story, friends told military investigators, and bragged that his security clearance allowed him access to information of the same type that Marines in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow allowed Soviets to view.

Called Immature, Isolated

But Peri’s parents and sister, Desiree, portrayed the soldier as an isolated, immature young man unable to cope with the pressures of his job. Fred and Winnie Peri said they were to blame for their son’s problems, and that the family’s eight moves throughout Europe and the United States were difficult for him.

“He’s been under a lot of stress,” said Fred Peri, contract administrator for Fluor Daniel Corp. in Irvine. “Maybe when we raised him, we didn’t teach him to deal with stress. We insulated him.”

Winnie Peri described her youngest son as “a perfect child--he never gave us any problems.”

“Maybe we did spoil our children,” she added. “We helped them along the way. I didn’t have possessions when I grew up. I wanted them to have it better than I had it. We’ve given them an opportunity to not grow up, to not mature. I see that might be wrong now.”

Psychiatrists called by the defense described Peri as emotionally stunted, perhaps as a result of being too sheltered as a child. A sanity board of three doctors also diagnosed Peri as having “narcissistic personality traits.”

‘Wrapped Up With Himself’

“He did not have a clear sense of self,” said Col. Robert Shearer, chief of the psychiatry department at Frankfurt Army Regional Medical Center. “He was so wrapped up with himself that he could not make connection with others, either male or female. It is our belief that he was not getting messages from the real world.”

According to a report prepared by military investigators and signed by Peri, the soldier packed a bag with clothing on the evening of Feb. 20, then breached security to enter the double-locked vault of the post’s intelligence unit where he stole a laptop computer and four computer discs. He then took a military vehicle without proper authorization and drove 61 miles to the village of Obersuhl, just a mile from the East German border.

Peri said he left the vehicle in a shallow ditch and climbed a 10-foot border fence. He wandered around in East Germany for about two hours before he was spotted by East German soldiers and taken to a military station. Red and green flares seen by West German customs officials at 11:15 p.m. on Feb. 20 are believed to have signaled the East Germans’ discovery of Peri.

Given His Choice

The soldier said he was taken to East Berlin and several “safehouses,” where he was questioned by East German officials in civilian clothing. On March 1, he related, he was asked if he wanted to leave or stay. He said he wished to travel to Austria. The Army computer and discs were returned to Peri, and on March 3, he traveled by train to Salzburg, Austria, where he had attended high school in the early 1980s.

Peri stayed in a five-star hotel. The next morning, he took a train to Fulda, where he surrendered to military police at 11th Cavalry headquarters.

In addition to espionage charges, Peri pleaded guilty to being absent without leave, violating a U.S. Army regulation prohibiting unauthorized travel within one kilometer of the East German border, and theft of a military vehicle and computer.