CAPTURED! RADICAL SOUGHT IN '75 L.A. BOMB CASE LIVED AS DOCTOR'S WIFE IN MINNESOTA.Byline: Phillip W. Browne and Bhavna Mistry Staff Writers Fugitive Kathleen Soliah was living a normal life in Minnesota - a mother of three, doctor's wife, part-time actress - when FBI agents arrested her Wednesday for her role in the Symbionese Liberation Army Symbionese Liberation Army small terrorist group that kid-napped Patty Hearst (1974–1975). [Am. Hist.: Facts (1974), 105] See : Terrorism , the radical group that kidnapped Patricia Hearst 25 years ago. Soliah, a 52-year-old Palmdale native accused of trying to kill Los Angeles police with pipe bombs a year after six SLA (1) (StereoLithography Apparatus) See 3D printing. (2) (Service Level Agreement) A contract between the provider and the user that specifies the level of service expected during its term. members were killed in an LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. assault, was arrested by FBI agents as she drove away from her home in St. Paul, Minn., authorities said. ``She seemed surprised and relieved at the same time,'' Los Angeles police Detective Tom King said during a news conference. ``She was living somewhat a high-profile life in Minnesota. She was an actress and was a member of an acting troupe.'' Soliah had been living as Sara Jane Olson with her doctor husband and three daughters, the FBI said. Neighbors said she had starred in local theater productions of ``The Lion in Winter'' and ``King Lear.'' Soliah was featured on ``America's Most Wanted'' on the 25th anniversary of the shootout Shootout Venture capital jargon. Refers to two or more venture capital firms fighting for the startup. in Los Angeles that left six SLA members dead. The show and a $20,000 FBI reward prompted tips about her to authorities. Her family in Palmdale took news of her arrest hard. ``This is so stupid,'' said her father, Martin Soliah. ``My daughter was not involved in this group.'' Martin Soliah said his daughter was in Guatemala in August 1975, when authorities say she tried to blow up two police cruisers by placing pipe bombs beneath them. The bombs did not go off. He said he has had little contact with her since she left Los Angeles. ``As a family, we're going to stand beside her and always will,'' said Martin Soliah, 81. ``We're going to back her all the way. We love our daughter.'' Soliah's son, Steven - a former lover of Hearst - also has been accused of being an SLA member. He was acquitted in federal court in 1978 of involvement in a 1975 bank robbery in Carmichael. A woman depositing her church's money was killed by a shotgun blast. Hearst said SLA member Emily Harris fired the shotgun while Soliah waited outside; however, only Soliah was charged. Hearing today Kathleen Soliah could be returned to Los Angeles within six weeks to face a five-count grand jury indictment issued in Los Angeles in February 1976. A hearing to confirm her identity and begin extradition was set for today, King said. She is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of possessing explosive devices and two counts of attempted murder of police officers. If convicted, she faces life in prison with the possibility of parole, said Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons Famous people named Gibbons include:
Other captured radicals from the 1960s and 1970s have received lighter sentences. Bernadine Dohrn, accused of conspiracy in a series of bombings by the Weather Underground, spent 11 years as a fugitive. The conspiracy charges against her were dropped, although she pleaded guilty to lesser counts stemming from anti-war protests. Katherine Ann Power Katherine Ann Power (b. January 25 1949) is an American ex-convict and long-time fugitive, who was placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted List in 1970, along with her accomplice Susan Edith Saxe, a fellow student at Brandeis University. , an anti-war radical implicated im·pli·cate tr.v. im·pli·cat·ed, im·pli·cat·ing, im·pli·cates 1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot. 2. in a fatal bank robbery in Boston in 1970, surrendered in 1993 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter. With continued good behavior Orderly and lawful action; conduct that is deemed proper for a peaceful and law-abiding individual. The definition of good behavior depends upon how the phrase is used. in prison, she can be freed in January. Martin Soliah claims he had a deal with the FBI to drop charges against his daughter. ``Two years ago they said there were no charges,'' said Martin Soliah. ``Now a new (FBI) guy comes in and changes everything.'' Los Angeles police Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. said detectives still believe Soliah was responsible for placing the bombs, possibly as revenge for the shootout with police. ``We are taking this case step by step with the development of her arrest, and the DA will have to judge the integrity of their 23-year-old evidence,'' Parks said. ``But we strongly believe she is responsible for those two bombs.'' The first bomb was found under a squad car parked at an International House of Pancakes on Sunset Boulevard, and the second was attached to a car at the Hollenbeck Division. Different views Soliah's father disputed the allegations. ``The LAPD said that she put a bomb under a police car,'' he said. ``It was a symbolic bomb; it wasn't going to go off. They had it on their desk. ``I just want them to tell the truth,'' he added. Police and Soliah's family paint vastly different pictures of the woman once known to her friends simply as Kathy. She is accused of belonging to the SLA, a group of about a dozen terrorists and bank robbers based in Berkeley that kidnapped Northern California newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974. Soliah graduated from Palmdale High School div style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 2em; width: 20em; text-align: right; font-size: 0.86em; font-family: lucida grande, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"> '''Palmdale High School with the Spirit and Service award. She belonged to the Spanish Club, the Pep Club and the California Scholarship Federation Started in 1921 by Charles F. Seymour, the California Scholarship Federation, or CSF, seeks to recognize students living in the state of California who possess high standards in academic scholarship, community service and citizenship. , and she participated in Powder Puff Football. Her father was an English teacher and football and track coach for many years. Her senior portrait shows a serious-looking brunette with collar-length hair and bangs. She also belonged to the Business Club and Girls Athletic Association and Future Teachers of America. Although her father didn't have much contact with his daughter, he says she was enjoying life as mother of three daughters, ages 12, 16 and 18. ``She has a normal life,'' he said. ``She is a homemaker and takes care of her kids.'' He said in her free time, Kathleen Soliah acts in local amateur theater and assists friends in political gatherings and fund-raisers. ``She's a great actress,'' he said, adding that she recently assisted with a local candidates night. A former Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. trustee remembered seeing Soliah in a college production of ``The Sound of Music'' in the 1960s. ``I couldn't believe that she ended up the way that she did,'' said Ross Amspoker, an attorney and Superior Court referee in Lancaster. ``She was a talented actress.'' Martin Soliah said his daughter has been married for at least 20 years. He said the couple worked in Zimbabwe together, where her husband was a doctor and she taught English. Soliah's neighbors in Minnesota described her as well-spoken, friendly and an avid jogger and gardener. ``She seemed very classy,'' said Gary Price, the neighborhood's letter carrier since 1983. Pat Kramer, who lives across the street, said she was a ``very down-to-Earth person'' who would bring a casserole to block parties, ``just like the rest of us did.'' Radical roots Soliah is not accused of Hearst's abduction Abduction Balfour, David expecting inheritance, kidnapped by uncle. [Br. Lit.: Kidnapped] Bertram, Henry kidnapped at age five; taken from Scotland. [Br. Lit. . The SLA, a band of leftist left·ism also Left·ism n. 1. The ideology of the political left. 2. Belief in or support of the tenets of the political left. left radicals with a seven-headed snake as its symbol, kidnapped Hearst from her Berkeley apartment in February 1974. She was 19. But then Hearst metamorphosed into Tania
Light, short-barreled rifle. The first carbines, from the muzzle-loading muskets of the 18th century to the lever-action repeaters of the 19th, were chiefly cavalry weapons or saddle firearms for mounted frontiersmen. during a bank robbery. She was arrested in September 1975 with two SLA associates, Bill and Emily Harris. The shootout with police took place at a South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. home on East 54th Street occupied by SLA members. A confrontation ignited the monumental gunbattle with hundreds of law enforcement officers, which ended in a fire that destroyed the home. Six members, including ex-con and leader Donald David ``Cinque'' DeFreeze, died in the gunbattle, which was broadcast to a national television audience. WHERE ARE THEY NOW A look at what has happened to some of the people connected to the Symbionese Liberation Army and the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst: Patricia Hearst Shaw Served two years of seven-year term for bank robbery before President Carter commuted sentence. Lives in Connecticut with husband Bernard Shaw and children. Appeared in two John Waters movies and several sitcoms. Board member of Meals on Wheels n. 1. A program that delivers hot meals to persons, such as the elderly or disabled, who are confined to their homes and unable to cook for themselves; also, the meals thus delivered. Such programs are usually conducted by governmental or charitable organizations. . Donald DeFreeze An escaped convict and SLA leader who called himself Field Marshal Cinque. He and five other SLA members - Camilla Hall, Nancy Ling Perry Nancy Ling Perry (September 19 1947 – May 17 1974) also known as Nancy Devote, Lynn Ledworth and Fahizah was an American member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Nancy Ling Perry was born in San Francisco to an upper middle-class family. , Angela Atwood, William Wolfe and Patricia Soltysik - were killed in shootout with Los Angeles police in 1974. Joseph Remiro and Russell Little Imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- three months before Hearst kidnapping in slaying of Oakland school superintendent. Little was later retried re·tried v. Past tense and past participle of retry. and acquitted. Remiro remains in prison. Bill and Emily Harris Captured along with Hearst in their San Francisco apartment. He served eight years for his part in the kidnapping. They later divorced. Now remarried with two children, he has been trying without success to get private investigator's license. SOURCE: Associated Press CAPTION(S): 4 Photos, Box Photo: (1--2) (1--Color only) Kathleen Ann Soliah is shown in a police booking photo, above, following her arrest Wednesday in Minnesota. At right, she speaks at the Angel Atwood Memorial held at Ho Chi Minh Ho Chi Minh (hô chē mĭn), 1890–1969, Vietnamese nationalist leader, president of North Vietnam (1954–69), and one of the most influential political leaders of the 20th cent. His given name was Nguyen That Thanh. Park in Berkeley in May 1974. Associated Press (3) Kathleen Soliah Shown in 1965 Palmdale High yearbook (4) An SLA poster shows Patty Hearst in front of the group's symbol. Associated Press Box: WHERE ARE THEY NOW (See text) |
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