FD-350 clipping '2 Convicted in D. B. Cooper Fraud Case' (Los Angeles Times)

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

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2 Convicted in D. B. Cooper Fraud Case

BY DARYL LEMBKE Times Staff Writer

SEATTLE — Two men were convicted in federal court here Wednesday of fraudulently selling a story of how "D. B. Cooper" hijacked an airliner, with one of them impersonating the hijacker.

A jury of three women and nine men deliberated five hours Tuesday night and Wednesday before finding William J. (Jack) Lewis, 33, and Donald Sylvester Murphy, 50, guilty of all charges.

Both were found guilty of two counts of inducing former Newsweek contributing editor Karl Fleming, 45, to travel across state lines for the purpose of defrauding him and of a third count of conspiring to defraud him.

Lewis was also convicted of a fourth count of using a wire (in this case, the telephone) to defraud.

Possible Sentences

U.S. Dist. Judge Walter T. McGovern set Jan. 19 for probation hearing and sentencing. Lewis could receive up to 30 years in federal prison or $31,000 in fines or both. Murphy could receive a maximum sentence of 25 years or $30,000 in fines or both.

Jury foreman George Wittrock, a planner for the Boeing Co., said the deciding factor was the replaying in the jury room of tapes recorded when Lewis, acting as the go-between, phoned Fleming in Los Angeles last Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and other tapes recorded in Seattle when Fleming interviewed Murphy. Fleming testified in the eight-day trial that the two Bremerton, Wash., real estate men had flimflammed him into believing that he was interviewing the real "D. B. Cooper" when he questioned Murphy at length on tape and film.

The defendants claimed that he knew all along that Murphy was playing the role of "D. B. Cooper" but went along with it to obtain an exciting story.

Wittrock said the jury believed the tapes proved conclusively that Fleming thought he was dealing with the real hijacker.

1971 Hijacking

A man giving the name "D. B. Cooper" hijacked a 727 jet airliner Nov. 23, 1971, demanded and got $200,000 and parachuted out on a flight from Seattle to Reno.

No trace has ever been found of the man or the money.

Fleming placed an ad in Seattle newspapers last Dec. 23, urging "D. B. Cooper" to contact him and tell his story "to an absolutely discreet and trustworthy writer for responsible national magazine, without jeopardizing your safety in any way."

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

I-8 Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, Calif.

Date: 12/21/72 Edition: Thursday final Author: Daryl Lembke Editor: William F. Thomas Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: Los Angeles ☐ Being Investigated

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SEARCHED......INDEXED...... SERIALIZED......FILED...... DEC 21 1972 b6 b7C

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DB Cooper-24852

At the time, Fleming was a contributing editor in Los Angeles for Newsweek magazine, for whom he had worked 11 years. More than a month after placing the ad, Fleming got a telephone call from a man whom he identified in court as Lewis. The man said he could put Fleming in touch with the hijacker, whom he described as a family man disillusioned by being let out of his job at the Boeing company after 14 years of service.

Palevsky Backing

Fleming flew twice to Seattle and paid for the publication, TV and movie rights to the hijacker's story. The $30,000 and $5,000 in expense money was put up by Max Palevsky, 48, a wealthy Los Angeles businessman who was to share equally with Fleming in profits from the story.

Murphy, a real estate man and former operator of heavy construction equipment who said he went broke two years ago because of a drinking problem, admitted he posed as "D. B. Cooper" for lengthy interviews by Fleming.

He said that at Lewis' suggestion, he "boned up" on the hijacking by going to the library and reading newspaper accounts of it. He said he even drove to a sky diving field near Seattle, watched parachute jumps and had a sky diver explain his technique.

Murphy testified that Lewis gave him 17 pages of notes and a script which he used as the basis for his remarks in the interviews, by Fleming. Murphy had never worked for Boeing and said he had never jumped from a plane.

Went to FBI

During four days on the witness stand last week Fleming insisted that he thought he was interviewing the real hijacker. A [guess: More] than a month after ing the real hijacker. Newsweek before Newsweek was scheduled to run a cover story based on the interviews, Fleming had an attorney friend go to the FBI and tell agents about the interviews.

An investigation by the FBI turned up discrepancies, Newsweek canceled the story and the FBI arrested Murphy and Lewis last May 2.

Both Lewis and Murphy admitted in their testimony that they lied when interrogated by the FBI. They claimed they did so to protect Fleming's story. They also maintained Fleming knew all along that Murphy was not "D. B. Cooper."

Lewis claimed that after he had placed an ad carrying the heading, "D. B. Cooper," in a Bremerton newspaper to attract attention to lots which he had for sale, a man whom he believed to be the real hijacker called him in the middle of the night. He said that the notes which he took from this and subsequent calls from the same man were turned over to Murphy so that he could give an authentic impersonation of the hijacker.

'I Need a Body'

Lewis quoted Fleming as remarking, after being informed that the real hijacker would not be available for the interviews: "I need a body."

When he got his story twisted during cross examination by Asst. U.S. Atty. Larry Finegold, Lewis blurted at one point: "I told many lies to the FBI. I mean, it's impossible to keep the lies straight."

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Attorney Tony Savage representing Murphy, said Fleming and Palevsky "got themselves in this spot." "Mr. Fleming is going to wind up a fool or a cheat, regardless of the verdict, and I suspect he'd prefer the former," Savage said. He said Palevsky was angered at being sub- poenaed to testify at the trial because "he doesn't want to get involved, be- cause he wanted to keep his skirts clean." Palevsky last week dropped his support of Fleming's newspaper, L.A., causing it to suspend pub- lication. Fleming said Palevsky was angered at him for not informing him that he would have to appear at the trial, an appearance that caused him to defer a trip to Europe. Asked if this was the reason Palevsky dropped his support for the news- paper, Fleming replied that it also could be "be- cause these proceedings have revealed I'm a pretty stupid guy."

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