[fla-left] [news] Marion Co. abortion doctor indicted in federal extortion charges. (fwd)

[Michael Hoover <hoov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

forwarded by Michael Hoover

> Sounds like this indictment is designed to have a chilling effect on
> abortion rights in Marion County, which is one of the more right-wing and
> reactionary locales in Central Florida. My first reaction is that the
> charges aren't true.
>
> Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 18:54:44 -0400
> Subject: Orlando Dr. Pendergraft  indicted
> From: now0700@xxxxxxxx
>
> NOWnet, The Florida NOW Feminist Communication Network 1-888-5-FLANOW
>
> OCALA - The owner of a local clinic that performs abortions has been
> indicted in federal court on extortion charges.
>
> The five-count indictment, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in
> Jacksonville, alleges that Dr. James Scott Pendergraft and his
> Orlando-based real estate adviser, Michael Spielvogel, conspired to
> extort millions of dollars from Marion County government by making false
> and fraudulent statements in a civil lawsuit Pendergraft filed in
> December 1998.
>
> That lawsuit named the county, the city of Ocala, police chief Morrey
> Deen, Marion County Sheriff Ed Dean, former sheriff Ken Ergle and a dozen
> anti-abortion activists as defendants, alleging that the city and county
> failed to provide adequate protection to the Ocala Women's Center at 108
> N. Pine Ave. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges dismissed that
> suit last December, after Pendergraft and attorney Roy Lucas failed to
> pursue it.
>
> The new criminal indictment alleges Pendergraft and Spielvogel lied in
> that suit by saying County Commissioner Larry Cretul threatened
> Spielvogel and the clinic. The indictment also alleges that Pendergraft
> and Spielvogel, through Lucas, threatened to bankrupt the county with a
> $100 million lawsuit.
>
> Pendergraft and Spielvogel now are subject to arrest if they do not turn
> themselves in to federal officials, U.S. District Court spokesman Steve
> Cole said late Wednesday. Once in custody, they will be subject to a bond
> hearing before a federal magistrate, Cole added.
>
> Reached at his Fort Lauderdale clinic Wednesday afternoon, Pendergraft
> said he was unaware of the indictment.
>
> The indictment calls statements Spielvogel made against Cretul in sworn
> affidavits "false, fictitious and libelous," and calls the entire civil
> suit "a scheme to extort the payment of money from Marion County."
>
> On Feb. 24, 1999, Spielvogel signed an affidavit alleging that Cretul
> said in a telephone conversation that he knew Spielvogel's wife worked
> for Pendergraft and that he (Cretul) "wouldn't send any of his family
> members to Ocala if he were in my situation."
>
> The same affidavit also alleges that Cretul "pointedly and threateningly
> reminded (Spielvogel) of the earlier fire bombings in Ocala at (a
> previous abortion) clinic that had been twice destroyed by 'unsolved'
> arson," and that "it's not an 'if,' but a 'when' that this new clinic is
> bombed that concerned him."
>
> Spielvogel also alleged in the affidavit that Cretul referred to a
> Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic bombing that killed one man and
> seriously wounded a nurse, and said it was "nothing compared to what will
> happen in Ocala."
>
> The affidavit went on to state that Pendergraft was in the room with
> Spielvogel when he allegedly spoke with Cretul, and could attest to
> Spielvogel's "terror and reaction."
>
> The criminal indictment alleges Pendergraft and Spielvogel repeated those
> statements in March 1998, in a letter to Virgil "Bill" Wright III, the
> attorney who represented the county in the civil case, and in an
> injunction demand filed days later in federal court.
>
> Spielvogel also allegedly repeated the comments about Cretul at a meeting
> in Wright's office in March 1998, at which time Pendergraft said he was
> present at Spielvogel's home during the alleged telephone conversation
> between Spielvogel and Cretul. At that meeting, Pendergraft and his
> attorney, Lucas, reportedly said they would "bankrupt Marion County, and
> would ask for a jury verdict of more than $100 million."
>
> Because both are scheduled to be a witnesses against Pendergraft and
> Spielvogel, Cretul and Wright both declined to comment Wednesday.
>
> Spielvogel has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for
> comment. Marti MacKenzie, Pendergraft's Orlando-based spokeswoman, said
> Pendergraft and his attorneys had been aware for some time that the
> doctor was under investigation.
>
> "The timing of the indictment was unexpected, but his defense team will
> be taking whatever measures available to protest, and to argue his
> innocence," MacKenzie said.
>
> "From day one, Ocala was an extremely hostile environment, from the
> government to the fundamentalists. He will fight this battle as he has
> previous battles."
>
> Anti-abortion protesters have picketed the Ocala Women's Center since it
> opened in mid-1998.
>
> The clinic will remain open for now, MacKenzie said.
>
> "There are no plans to close anything at this time," she said.
>
> Rick Cundiff covers the courts. He can be reached at
> rcundiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, or at 867-4130.