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Arraignment for FBI Agent Richard Miller, the first special...

By MARTIN P. HOUSEMAN

SAN DIEGO -- Arraignment for FBI Agent Richard Miller, the first special agent ever accused of espionage, was delayed today, but the accused spyexpressed his innocence to charges he sold classified documents to the Soviets.

U.S. District Court Judge Roger McKee granted a defense request that the case be moved to Los Angeles, where Miller was a counterintelligence agent, and postponed formal arraignment until Oct. 15.

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Miller, arrested Tuesday night at his San Diego County home, appeared at the brief arraignment proceeding with attorney John Moot, who failed in an attempt to get bail set for his client.

Miller's attorney indicated his client will plead innocent at the arraignment.

Government prosecutor Ray Edwards Jr. argued the no-bail order was appropriate in espionage cases.

Federal investigators charged Wednesday that it was Miller's personal relationship with Svetlana Ogorodnikova that led to their suspicion the 20-year FBI veteran was passing classified material to her and her husband. A long investigation resulted in the first arrest ever of an FBI agent on espionage charges.

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Miller is accused of selling the documents for $65,000 in gold and cash.

Ogorodnikova, 34, and her husband, Nikolay Ogorodnikov, 51, were arrested late Tuesday night as well. The government said Ogorodnikova was a major in the KGB, the Soviet intelligence service.

Bail for the couple was denied when federal prosecutors argued that if the they were freed the Russians would use 'the full force of the KGB to get them out of the country.'

FBI sources indicated Miller, who lived with his family on a financially troubled avocado ranch in San Diego County, was having a sexual relationship with Ogorodnikova, who he had met while acting in his counterintelligence capacity.

But an FBI affidavit indicated that agents believed Miller was more interested in money than romance, and said the former agent '... was not interested in a long-term relationship, but rather wanted to receive a large amount of money in a short period of time.'

The FBI said Miller wanted to be paid $50,000 in gold and $15,000 in cash.

Miller, a Brigham Young University graduate, is the first FBI agent ever charged with spying for a foreign nation, and his arrest stunned the 76-year-old agency.

A Salt Lake City television station (KSL) reported Wednesday night that Miller was excommunicated from the Mormon Church three months ago because of his relationship with Ogorodnikova. Neighbors said the Miller family was active in the local Mormon Church.

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Attorney General William French Smith said: 'Every now and then a rotten apple is bound to show up.'

FBI Director William Webster said the case was 'an aberration on the proud record of patriotic and dedicated service of thousands of special agents throughout our history.'

The FBI said Miller admitted giving Ogorodnikova a classified FBI document on at least one occassion. That document, the FBI said, '... would give the KGB a detailed picture of FBI and U.S. intelligence activities, techniques, and requirements.'

Agents said actions were being taken to minimize the security loss.

Neighbors said Miller lived at his 10-acre avocado ranch on weekends and at a house in Los Angeles during his work week. They said the Millers were heavily in debt because of plummeting avocado prices.

A well-dressed teenage son of Miller's waved off reporters Wednesday, pleading for privacy and saying the family was not used to dealing with the press.

The FBI said it used court-authorized wiretaps, searches and interviews with Miller and the Russian immigrants in their investigation and concluded that Miller '... and Ogorodnikov and Ogorodnikova, both known contacts of the Soviet intelligence community, have conspired to provide classified FBI documents to the Soviet government.'

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Miller was assigned to interview Russian immigrants as part of his counterintelligence work.

'We became alarmed when we realized his relationship (with Ogorodnikova) had gone beyond a professional one and became a personal one,' said an FBI official in Washington. 'That is what aroused our interest.'

The charges of conspiracy and espionage carry possible life sentences.

The Russian couple, who did not speak or enter pleas at their arraignment Wednesday, were ordered to return to court later this month. Miller was held at a federal jail in San Diego.

A neighbor described Ogorodnikova as 'an agitator, using obvious Communist tactics full of intrigue.' Her husband was described as more withdrawn.

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