New York -- One of the suspects in an alleged Russian
spy ring has admitted that he worked for Russia's intelligence service,
federal prosecutors say in court documents obtained by CNN Thursday.
The suspect known as Juan Lazaro made a "lengthy post-arrest
statement on June 27," according to a bail letter provided by the U.S.
Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
He
allegedly told federal agents that he was not born in Uruguay, that
"Juan Lazaro" is not his real name, that his house in Yonkers, New York,
had been "paid for by the 'Service' and, although he loved his son, he
would not violate his loyalty to the 'Service' even for his son," he
said after he waived his Miranda rights, prosecutors say.
The
document also says Lazaro, who is married to co-defendant Vicky Pelaez,
told agents she delivered letters to the "Service" on his behalf, and
that he refused to provide his real name to prosecutors.
Lazaro
appeared Thursday at a detention hearing in a New York Federal courtroom
to determine whether he qualifies for bail. His bail arraignment has
been adjourned for the day. No future court date has been set.
The
judge set bail for Pelaez at $250,000 plus $10,000 in cash and ruled
she will have to wear an electronic monitor.
Pelaez is a longtime
U.S.-based columnist for the Spanish-language El Diario newspaper.
The judge denied bail for two other
alleged spies, Richard and Cynthia Murphy of Montclair, New Jersey.
Judge
Ronald Ellis said the "government's case against them is strong" and
there are many questions about the couple, noting, "I just don't know
who these people are."
The bail letter also mentioned the New
Jersey couple, describing a 2009 message from Moscow to the alleged New
Jersey conspirators, a message that has now been decrypted. It goes into
detail about the mission of the alleged spies, saying "The only goal of
our Service and all of us is security of our country. All our
activities are subjected to this goal."
"Only for reaching this
goal you were dispatched to the U.S., settled down there, gained legal
status and were expected to start striking up useful acquaintances,
broadening the circle of your well-placed connections, gaining
information and eventually recruiting sources."
The bail letter
also talks about a search warrant executed this week at a safe-deposit
box associated with the alleged New Jersey conspirators, saying it
contained eight unmarked envelopes, each containing $10,000 in
apparently new $100 bills.
The hearings of two other alleged
Russian spies, Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley, were
delayed until July 16 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Attorneys for the
couple, who were led handcuffed and shackled into federal court in
Boston, said they are contesting their identities. That means the
government will have to prove who they are when the hearings resume.
Attorney Peter Krupp called the charges against the couple
"extremely thin" and said the government "essentially suggests they
infiltrated neighborhoods, cocktail parties and PTAs."
The
couple's children appeared with them in court. The two boys, reportedly
16 and 20, said nothing as they watched the proceedings.
Heathfield
is employed as a consultant, and his wife is in real estate.
Officials
announced the arrests of the 10 alleged spies on Monday. An 11th
suspect is at large after being briefly detained in Cyprus.
Three
other suspects appeared briefly in federal court in Alexandria,
Virginia, on Thursday.
The cases of defendants known as Patricia
Mills, Michael Zottoli and Mikhail Semenko were continued until Friday
-- Zottoli and Mills because their lawyers said they had received new
information, and Semenko because he said he had not been able to hire a
lawyer.
A source with knowledge of the case said the Juan Lazaro
confession was not the information that led defense attorneys to ask for
a delay in the Zottoli and Mills cases. But the source would not say
what the information is, or whether it will be revealed publicly in
court Friday.
Meanwhile, the two children of Zottoli and Mills, 1
and 3 years old, are being cared for by family friends, an Arlington
County, Virginia, spokesman said late Tuesday.
Mills and Zottoli
did not speak in court. Semenko spoke only briefly and with a slight
Russian accent.
The 10th suspect held in the United States, known
as Anna Chapman, has already had a hearing and was ordered detained.
The suspect who is at large is Robert Christopher Metsos, 55, an
alleged go-between who dug up money buried by other suspects, according
to court papers.
He was arrested on an Interpol "red notice" in
Larnaca, Cyprus, on Tuesday but was released on bail pending further
proceedings, police there said. He was told not to leave the country and
was ordered to check in nightly with police.
He did not check in
Wednesday, and police are searching for him, a spokesman said.
At
the time of his arrest, he was traveling on a Canadian passport and was
about to board a flight to Budapest, Hungary. Metsos faces extradition
to the United States.
His disappearance came two days after the
U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of 10 people on charges of
being Russian agents involved in a long-term mission in the United
States.
The Justice Department said the suspects were supposed to
have recruited intelligence agents, but were not directly involved in
obtaining U.S. secrets themselves.
They were charged with
conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying
the U.S. attorney general, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of
five years in prison, the Justice Department said. Nine also were
charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, which has a maximum
penalty of 20 years in prison.
The case resulted from a multiyear
investigation conducted by the FBI, the U.S. attorney's office and the
Justice Department's National Security Division, according to a Justice
Department statement.
The Russia operation is believed to date
back to the 1990s, according to court documents. They say the FBI
conducted extensive electronic surveillance of the suspects for years
and surreptitiously entered residences to take photographs and copy
documents.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the suspects
committed no actions directed against American interests and the arrests
are "unfounded and have unseemly goals."
"We do not understand
the reasons why the U.S. Department of Justice has made a public
statement in the spirit of the Cold War," said a statement on the
ministry's website.
"Such incidents have occurred in the past,
when our relations were on the rise. In any case it is regrettable that
all these things are happening on the background of the 'reset' in
Russian-U.S. relations announced by the U.S. administration."
Russia's
prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said American police were "out of hand"
but expressed the hope that relations would not be harmed.
"I
hope the positive developments that have been accumulated recently will
not be damaged," Putin said.
Assistant Secretary of State P.J.
Crowley expressed similar sentiments Wednesday.
"As
we've made clear -- and as I think officials in Moscow have made clear
-- we are going to work as hard as we can to move beyond this and
continue to focus on the many issues with which we have common
interest," Crowley said.
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