Richard Miller, a twenty-year FBI counter-intelligence veteran, is called into his Los Angeles field office subjected to polygraph tests, fired, then arrested and charged with espionage. Miller is described by his stepfather-in-law as an "active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" who "served well" in a variety of positions, including Sunday School instructor and home teacher. However, LDS church headquarters confirms Miller was excommunicated previous summer for reasons unnamed. The national press reports Miller was engaged in a "sexual affair" with Soviet spy and KGB "major" Svetlana Ogordnikov. Miller had asked for $65,000 in cash and gold in exchange for classified information. twenty-one months later Miller, a BYU graduate and returned missionary, is convicted of expionage and bribery and is sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He is the only (former) FBI agent ever convicted of espionage. In 1989 his conviction is overturned when the admission of
polygraph results is deemed an error. A third trial is held and Miller is convicted again and sentenced to 20 years. He is released in 1994 following a reduction of his sentence by a federal judge.
[On This Day in Mormon History, http://onthisdayinmormonhistory.blogspot.com]
No comments:
Post a Comment