Accused Burglar Suspected of Link With Terrorists, Police Say

A suspected terrorist who was arrested on burglary charges may have been planning “terrorist acts” in Los Angeles, police said in court documents made public Friday.

Robert Jackson Conn, 28, who had been living in West Los Angeles for about nine months, is a reputed associate of Italy’s Red Brigades, according to the court documents.

He was arrested at his apartment April 26 on burglary and theft charges filed against him in Maricopa County, Ariz., in 1981. He waived extradition and was sent back to Arizona. Word of Conn’s presence in Los Angeles was passed to U.S. authorities by Interpol.

According to a search warrant filed in Los Angeles Municipal Court by the Police Department’s Anti-Terrorist Division, Conn “became connected with Red Brigade members operating out of Pyrenees Mountain encampments in Southern France and Northern Italy” after fleeing the United States in 1981.

‘Terrorist Acts’

“There is a reasonable suspicion that Conn . . . may be engaged in planning or executing terrorist acts” in the Los Angeles area, the detectives wrote.

“In (my) expert opinion, Conn is currently engaged in acts in support of a terrorist organization,” Detective Ronald Shugar wrote. He gave no details.

Shugar wrote that after becoming associated with the Red Brigades, Conn participated in numerous bank and post office robberies. He was arrested in France in 1981 and subsequently was sentenced to five years in prison, Shugar wrote.

He served some of that sentence with his brothers, Jeffrey, 32, and Steven, 31, also believed to be connected with the Red Brigades, said investigator William Woolsey of the U.S. Marshal’s Office.

After his release from prison in France, Conn was expelled to Italy in mid-1985, the Los Angeles police detective stated.

Shoot-Out With Police

Shugar said Conn’s activities were unknown until June, 1987, when two Algerians were involved in a shoot-out with police in Brussels, Belgium. The Algerians were driving a car rented by Conn, Shugar wrote.

Two days later, Conn stole a car and a valuable computer program from his employers and dropped from sight, the detective stated. On July 11, Conn flew from Paris to London and then to Vancouver, B.C. He re-entered the United States and made his way to Los Angeles, where he rented an apartment on Eastborne Avenue.

Shugar said he interviewed Conn after his arrest and Conn admitted participating in burglaries and armed robberies in France.