Metzger Used Contributions to Pay His Bills, Records Show

PORTLAND, Ore. —  Half the money contributed to Tom Metzger and his White Aryan Resistance was used by the white supremacist for his Visa credit card bill and other personal expenses, court documents indicate.

The personal items paid from the Fallbrook man’s WAR account include garbage bills, credit card payments, premiums on personal insurance and even $260 in payments for a hairpiece.

A detailed listing of Metzger’s finances is contained in hundreds of pages of exhibits entered into evidence during Metzger’s civil trial last month in Portland for the wrongful death of Mulugeta Seraw.

Seraw, 27, was a black Ethiopian immigrant who was beaten to death by Portland skinheads in November 1988. A Multnomah County jury held last month that Metzger, 52, his son John, 22, and their White Aryan Resistance organization took part in a civil conspiracy that resulted in Seraw’s death by intentionally sending recruiters to Portland with the mission to incite violence against blacks and Jews.

Jurors awarded the Seraw family a record $12.5-million judgment against the Metzgers. Attorneys in San Diego are evaluating Metzger’s assets and seizing his personal property to satisfy the award.

The bank deposits cover a three-year period from 1987 to 1989. They only show money deposited into Metzger’s White Aryan Resistance checking account. Because Metzger and WAR could have received money not deposited into the WAR account, the total assets of his operation could have been much greater.

Testimony from the trial, for instance, alleged that two-thirds of the money Metzger received in the mail was cash.

But comparatively little money was deposited into the account in cash, according to the records. Most deposits were the more than 1,700 personal checks, written in small amounts by people throughout the country. The amount of the checks ranged from 40 cents to $1,250.

In total, the records showed that $62,196 was deposited to Metzger’s WAR account during the three-year period covered by the court exhibits, and that Metzger spent $30,009--roughly 48% of it--on either his TV repair business or on personal family expenses.