JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- A former Weather Underground leader admitted to manufacturing explosives discovered in a raid on a Hoboken bomb factory, in exchange for having an indictment against himself and his common-law wife dropped.
In addition, an FBI probe has failed to turn up evidence linking Jeffrey Carl Jones, 34, and Eleanor Stein Raskin, 35, to the bungled $1.6 million Brinks robbery that unraveled an underground radical network in three states, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jones had been arrested with Ms. Raskin at their Bronx apartment three days after the aborted robbery, in which two police officers and a guard were killed in New York.
However, Hudson County Prosecutor Harold Ruvoldt Jr. said an ongoing FBI investigation failed to turn up evidence linking the couple to the Oct. 20 robbery.
Jones, a one-time leader of the Weather Underground, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of manufacturing explosive devices in connection with the bomb factory raid. In 1979, he and Ms. Raskin were indicted in Hudson County on charges of possession of a bomb and explosive devices with unlawful intent -- offenses that carried a maximum 10-year penalty.
The indictment grew out of a raid on their Hoboken apartment in which police confiscated bomb-making materials -- including powder, metal pipes and timing and detonation devices.
Under a plea agreement accepted by Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Gaulkin, Jones pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing an explosive device and could face up to 18 months imprisonment and a $7,500 fine.
In return, the indictment against Jones and Ms. Raskin will be dismissed at sentencing Dec. 17, according to Ruvoldt.
During a bail hearing before Gaulkin last week, the couple's Hoboken lawyer, Morton Stavis, disclosed he had been negotiating the surrender of his clients with Ruvoldt prior to their arrest.
Stavis said Jones, a founding member of the radical group, now plans to travel to Chicago to dispose of assault charges pending there since the late 1960s.
