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3ay sosmous jo sous | spuons pus. Aupung. wenAnweg woven 2k = 946s “ung, R (Continued from Page A-1) Probst, a lawyer from Pine Bluff, Ark., who was a former key aide to the ‘late crime-fighting Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark. Probst, 42, was jndicted_last_week by a federa} grand jury in Little Rock on 14. counts of bank robbery, arson conspiracy. He is scheduled to tes- tify before a grand jury in Washing- ton next week. Probst, a longtime friend of the b ery Investigation Focuses On FBI Aide . Arkansas, Sources said Probst at one point was cooperating with federal pros- ecutors here in their probe of the bank robbery ring in return for reduced charges in the case. But Prosecutors decided to ask for in- dictments of Probst on all the charges after they learned he was passing information about the probe to his friend in the FBI, sources Said. men were announced in Little Rock, official under investigation, is When the Arkansas indictments charged with receiving money he against Probst and the three other new was stolen from seven ban] in five states and with conspiracy to nT an_ insurance compan’ through claims for a deliberately set, Sestaurant_fire. jal is suspected of having directed or helped plan the back robberies, which involved banks in Huber Heights and Ga- hanna, Ohio; Springfield and Car- thage, Greensboro, N.C.; Southaven, Miss.; and Olathe, Kan. Probst_is free on_$50,000_bong alter pleading innocent to the charges and is awaiting trial next month. He faces a possible prison sentence of up to 115 years and $50,000 in fines if convicted on all the charges. Three other Pine Bluff men also are charged with conspiracy in con- . Rection with the arson case. As a legislative aide and former chief administrative assistant to McClellan in the mid-1960s, Probst helped author major anti-crime leg- islation then pending in the Senate. He also was a campaign aide to former Sen. J. William Fulbright, D-~, Ark., and Sen. Dale Bumpers, Dp. i = Ment, fourth ws US. Attorney George Proctor said Probst was slated to appear before the grand jury in Washington to testify on a “national security” matter. Sources said the “ Sources said the “national securi- ty” matter in question is the sus- pected involvement of the FBI, official in the bank robberies._Al, ough Probst_is expected to be with investigators now that he him- self has been indicted. “We're a witness only and not a target of the Washington investiga- tion,” Probst's lawyer, Bart Mullis of Pine Bluff, said in a telephone interview. He said he had been instructed by Prosecutors not to say anything more about the probe. GET GOING with Gilbert Love! His new Go Guide is available in The Press public service depart- loor, for only $3; tuGe | thougl pec! t iven immunity from_prosecution . on his testimony to the gran ny jury, sources said it is not clear i, whiner he has decided to cooperate “ITEM BEITER 3% FHM THE SUE Abscam, Verdicts Upheld NEW YORK (UPI) — A federal appeals court has upheld the’ A scam convictions of four former igressman, saying they were all . Slew caught in the act on video. two-year FBI probe... 2 “et 3-0 ruling yesterday by the* ond US Circuit Court of Ap) ‘ as ‘the first by a federal appeals« court involving any of the seveh members of Congress convicted result of the investigation. ~The court upheld the convictions New York, Erank Thompson of Ney Michael Myers and Jersey, and Mi 7 both -. of Pennsylvania. Oy Pat The court, however, ordered-b ial on a conflict of interest count rei Mi hy and lowered fines against him from $20,000 to $10,006. “The four congressmen ‘Wi caught on videotape in the very abt f committing federal crimes,’ Strate Judge Yon Newnan Tor the court, me : ane a " though subject, investigation yu; x ‘some criticism, affords no basis for rejecting the convictions,” he sajq. Newean noted his apj dealt only with trials of the defendants and said 1B bscam investigation. -_- In other Abscam trials involving members of Congress, former Sen. is iNliams, D-N.J., and for- re ET Fenris’ of South Carolina and Richard Kelly of. Hoy -.- ida also were ical oni St z cal corruption.