Part 53, page 113

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

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

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Fleeing motorist with cash not skyjacker, police report

By DON HANNULA

Skagit County Sheriff John Blynton said today officials are convinced there is no connection between the Thanksgiving Eve skyjacker and a man arrested near Mount Vernon last night with a substantial amount of money.

Unofficial reports that the man was carrying $435,000 in foreign currency were erroneous, State Patrol officials said. The State Patrol was the source of that information.

They said they still had not determined the value of the foreign money but the total "is more like a few thousand dollars."

THE CONFUSION stemmed from 117 Brazilian 10,000 - Cruzeiro notes the man was carrying. He told them they were old Cruzeiros, which made the 10,000 notes worth $1.40 each — or a total of $163.80.

If the 10,000-Cruzeiro notes had been new, they would be worth $1,400. That would make the total $163,800.

That possibility immediately gave rise to suspicions the man might be connected with the skyjacking in which $200,000 ransom was paid.

SKAGIT COUNTY sheriff's officials, after conferring with a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent in the area, said it was established the man was not the skyjacker, who parachuted from the hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines jet between Seattle and Reno November 24.

The State Patrol arrested the man, Hendrikus P. Kasbergen, 42, of Fresno, Calif., about 10 miles north of Mount Vernon on Interstate 5 last night.

State Patrol officials said troopers chased him at speeds up to 130 miles an hour from Marysville after a trooper stopped him for speeding. Officials said he drove off while a trooper was writing him a ticket.

The State Patrol said both tires blew out and the man drove on the rims at speeds close to 90 miles an hour before they caught fire.

KASBERGEN is in custody, charged with reckless driving and failing to stop for an emergency vehicle.

When taken into custody, he had $1,300 in American money, $500 in Canadian and an assortment of Brazilian, Chilean, Peruvian, Mexican and Australian money.

Officials said the Dutch man spoke with a heavy accent and was difficult to understand. This made it difficult to determine the value of the foreign currency, they said.

They said the man gave no reason for fleeing.

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p. D1 Seattle Times Seattle, Wash.

Date: 12/2/71 Edition: Final Author: Don Hannula Editor: Henry McLeod Title: UNSUB; aka Dan Cooper, Northwest Airlines Fl 305, PD to Seattle, 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING; EXT Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: Seattle ☐ Being Investigated

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DB Cooper-22451