Finders - Unclassified Article (Three Parts)

[wmin...@delphi.com]

PART I

Unclassified, No. 35, Winter, 1995, Pages 19-21.

"The Finders: The CIA and the Cult of Marion David Pettie"

Wendell L. Minnick

They're creepy and they're kooky, they're mysterious and
they're spooky, but they're not the Addams family - they're the
Finders. Kooky and spooky indeed, with ties ranging from the
CIA, wacky New Age groups, computer hackers, and child porn.
Based in Washington, D.C. the Finders have managed to build up
quite a mysterious aura.
But the mystery has eroded over the years. In February 1987
the Finders made the front page of major newspapers across the
country. Two members, Michael Holwell and Douglas E. Ammerman,
were arrested in Tallahassee Florida with a van and six Finders
children. Police were called to the scene after a concerned
citizen noticed half nude children being escorted around a park
by two well dressed men wearing ties. After a few questions and
inspection of the van, the two Finders were placed under arrest
for suspected child abuse.
Tallahassee police contacted the Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) concerning the two men. MPD
officers, backed by FBI and Customs agents, raided the Finders
warehouse and dorm. Leaked stories to the press weaved tales of
child pornography and Satanism involving a goat sacrifice with
children (the Finders refer to it as "Goatgate"). The press went
wild.
Then the unexpected happened. The case was dropped by
Federal authorities. Florida officials found themselves
dumbfounded by the action, and charges were discarded in Florida.
The Finders went back to whatever it is Finders do. The
press felt burned by the incident and stories on the group were
discouraged by editors. In December 1993 the Finders found
themselves back in the news. A disheartened Customs agent who
participated in the raids released documents detailing CIA
involvement in the termination of the Justice Department
investigation.
The documents described Finders interest in child abduction,
pornography, terrorism, bank secrecy, and explosives. Customs
documents detailed a gruesome collection of photographs taken at
the Finders farm involving children and the sacrifice of a goat.
"The photos portrayed the execution, disembowelment, skinning and
dismemberment of the goats at the hands of the children. This
included the removal of the testes of a male goat, the discovery
of a female goat's womb and the baby goats inside the womb, and
the presentation of a goats head to one of the children."
Finders showed an interest in local child care organizations
in the D.C. area. Finders also answered ads for babysitters and
tutors with the intention of gathering information on private
families. For what purpose was undetermined.
Child abduction and procurement was worldwide. "One telex
specifically ordered the purchases of two children from Hong Kong
to be arranged through a contact in the Chinese embassy there."
At the time of the raid Justice agents discovered a Chinese
student living with the Finders. Wang Geng-xin was a graduate
student in the Anatomy Department at Georgetown University. His
involvement has not been clarified.
One of the most damaging and disturbing aspects of the
Customs documents was the CIA's involvement with the Finders and
the CIA's termination of the criminal investigation. "The
investigation into the activity of the Finders had become a CIA
internal matter. The MPD report has been classified SECRET." A
Finder passport discovered during the raid included travel to
Moscow, North Korea, and Vietnam from 1956 to 1975. State
Department officials declared the "travel was legitimate and to
terminate further investigation."
The one line that crucifies the CIA and the Finders on the
same cross startles the imagination: "CIA made one contact and
admitted to owning the Finders organization as a front for a
domestic computer training operation, but that it had gone bad."
The 1993 release of these documents caused a minor furor in
Congress, FBI, and the CIA, but nothing more was done about the
Finders.
Even the family of Finders cult leader, Marion David Pettie,
now 75, has ties with the CIA. After Pettie left the Air Force
as a Master Sergeant in 1956, his wife joined the CIA as a
support secretary from 1957 to 1961. Serving for the CIA chief
of station in Frankfurt, Germany, and for the chief of security
in Washington. One of Pettie's sons, George Pettie, served in
the CIA's Air America in Vietnam.
Though there is no concrete evidence Pettie worked for the
CIA there is a questionable unsigned "Investigative Leads" memo
describing Pettie's relationship with the CIA. This document
claims Pettie was recruited in 1946 by Charles E. Marsh and sent
to Baltimore for counterintelligence training. In 1954 Pettie
recruited Eric Heiberg who later served as international student
director at Georgetown University and "talent spotter at
Georgetown University." Heiberg, who admits knowing Pettie,
denies ever serving as a CIA talent spotter. Pettie did attend
Georgetown from February 1956 to July 1956 in the School of
Language and Linguistics. However, the document claims Pettie
received "intelligence training" at Georgetown. Further, Pettie
attended a "USAF intelligence training school in Frankfurt...from
1956-1957." After this Pettie roamed Europe recruiting "a
network of agents." Including a trip to Moscow with Dr. Keith
Arnold who was "recruited in 1958 in Paris." The document moves
into the 1960s and 1970s where Pettie became involved in the
"beat movement."
At some point in the 1960s Pettie created a commune of
hippies on his farm near Culpeper, Virginia. The commune evolved
into a cult centered on his persona. The document claims Pettie
continued having strong ties to the intelligence community, but
the details are muddled in the hippie drug culture described at
length.
Around 1980 the cult abandoned the communal hippy lifestyle
by embracing technology and business. The membership varied
between thirty to forty members. They became engrossed in
computer technology and business practices.
Pettie maintained a bizarre living arrangement. Male and
female members were separated in different living quarters.
Pettie's girlfriend, Barbara "Bonnie" Sylvester, was given a
dominant role over the cult. According to journalist Andrei
Codrescu, who interviewed "Bonnie" during this time, the sexual
practices were odd. "Coupling was forbidden and sex was a favor
granted from above. When a woman felt the need for company she
called one of the men from the bunks below to comfort her. Men
were rotated to prevent attachments but nonetheless certain men
were called more often than others." The Customs documents
validate Finders odd sexual behavior, "The information was
specific in describing 'blood rituals' and sexual orgies
involving children."
Codrescu also described Finders globe trotting, "they sent
groups [of Finders] to various places they picked arbitrarily on
a globe in the Situation Room, with instructions to work various
jobs and bring back a certain sum of money." The CIA is also
mentioned, "the male founder [Pettie]...had once been in the CIA,
which is why the [the Finders] were also known as the DCIA
(Divine Central Intelligence Agency)."