DETORE TRIAL Lawyers question defendant on discrepancies in his r & eacute;sum & eacute;

By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
CLEVELAND -- Richard E. Detore, who didn't finish college, can't explain why his r & eacute;sum & eacute; states he has a geophysics degree from the University of Maryland -- but can explain why some believe he has a doctoral degree.
The chink in his educational background came Tuesday afternoon as Detore testified in his own defense in U.S. District Court. The 43-year-old Virginia pilot, former chief operating officer of the now-defunct USAerospace Group, is accused of conspiring with J.J. Cafaro and Albert Lange Jr. to reward U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., who has since been expelled and imprisoned, with illegal gifts.
Cafaro, 50, of Liberty, owned USAG, and Lange was its chief engineer. Both have admitted their part in the gratuities conspiracy and testified against Detore.
Cafaro said he gave Traficant $13,000 cash and used Detore and Lange as middlemen to provide the corrupt congressman with roughly $27,000 in boat repairs, a welder, generator, dinners, cars and more. In return, Traficant pushed hard to get Federal Aviation Administration certification for USAG's laser lights aircraft landing technology, which never happened.
Explaining discrepancies
Thomas W. Mills Jr. of Dallas, Detore's lead attorney, dealt with discrepancies in his client's educational background early on in Tuesday's 21/2 hours of direct examination.
Detore admitted that he attended the University of Maryland for three years and did not earn a degree. Mills asked why some, such as Virginia attorney James J. Harney, believe Detore has a Ph.D.
Detore said it's possible that Harney thought he had a Ph.D. because pilots' licenses are equivalent to a Ph.D. and suggested he may have explained it that way to Harney.
Harney testified for the defense Tuesday, saying he saw Detore enter the office of Capri Cafaro, USAG vice president, in Manassas, Va., with an envelope filled with cash and minutes later return without it Dec. 16, 1999. Detore testified that she kept the $11,800, not him.
Capri Cafaro, J.J. Cafaro's 25-year-old daughter, testified last week that a $12,000 check was used to open a bank account for USAG and that she signed a few blank checks for Detore before she left town for the holidays. She said Detore cashed a check for $11,800, saying he needed cash for security manuals.
To testify for government
Harney was issued a subpoena when he stepped down from the witness stand. He is expected to be called by Ann C. Rowland, an assistant U.S. attorney, to testify as a rebuttal witness for the government.
Rowland told Judge Ann Aldrich that Harney knows a lot about the case. Without subpoenaing Harney for the government's case, Rowland was limited to cross-examination based only on what Harney testified about for the defense.
Rowland cross-examined Detore for 25 minutes before Judge Aldrich adjourned. He was back on the stand this morning.
On Tuesday, Rowland showed Detore a r & eacute;sum & eacute; that one of his previous lawyers had given to the government in June 2001, during its investigation of Traficant. She also handed Detore a declaration he made that yet another previous lawyer had filed with a motion in May 2002.
Both documents state that Detore earned a bachelor of science degree in geophysics from the University of Maryland in 1983.
Detore said the r & eacute;sum & eacute; is not his and he doesn't know where it came from.
Rowland asked how Detore's lawyer could have gotten the r & eacute;sum & eacute; from someone else. Detore didn't answer the question, saying only that he wasnot consulted and wasn't aware that a r & eacute;sum & eacute; had been turned over to the government.
The declaration, which Rowland said includes, "I earned a degree in 1983 in geophysics," had errors in it such as the degree statement, and the errors were corrected, Detore said.
University transcript
Rowland then showed Detore a University of Maryland transcript that purports to show a bachelor of science double-major degree dated 1983.
Detore said the transcript had been given to him by his father, who received it from people at the university. Detore told the jury that the document, which he left in his USAG office when he got fired, is not complete, and that the missing bottom portion says it is not a full transcript.
When asked by Mills, Detore acknowledged that he never served in the military. At least one character witness said that he had but wasn't sure which branch.
With Mills guiding the way, Detore denied every allegation lobbed by Cafaro and Lange. Detore said he wasn't aware of any gifts given to the congressman and denied helping Lange deliver the welder and generator to Traficant.
Detore denied telling Cafaro and Lange of the need to help Traficant because "he's helping us." He also denied any knowledge of Cafaro's paying for repairs to Traficant's decrepit 37-foot wooden boat or of the cover story that Lange was buying the vessel.
Lange, Detore said, wanted to buy the boat and fix it. Detore said Cafaro intended to rent the boat from Lange to test maritime applications of USAG's laser lights technology.
Detore said that he expressed concern about buying a boat from a public official but that he was assured that the House ethics committee OK'd the transaction as long as fair market price was paid.
Denies delivering check
As to the $26,000-plus check Cafaro said Detore delivered July 28, 1998, to Traficant to buy the boat, Detore said it didn't happen. He said he was in the process of moving from New Jersey to Virginia and, although in Manassas that day, didn't go into the office at USAG.
Detore said he became friends with Traficant, who sometimes needed a grasp of topics that arose with the FAA. Traficant, Detore said, wanted an independent review -- not bureaucratic spin.
The Virginia man acknowledged picking up dinner checks, paid by USAG, but said Traficant sometimes treated at the congressional dining room on Capitol Hill.
Detore acknowledged writing a $4,000 check in 1998 to a Maryland gubernatorial candidate at Cafaro's request but said it wasn't knowingly done to illegally funnel Cafaro money into the campaign. Detore said he thought he was paying for a photo because he'd been told of a photo opportunity with former President Bush.
Cafaro said he reimbursed Detore for the contribution and Detore knew beforehand of the plan.
Detore said Cafaro bounced checks, wasn't honest, misappropriated federal government contract money and more. Detore said he caught Lange defeating the USAG computer alarm system and deleting files and wanted to fire him.
Instead, Lange replaced Detore as chief operating officer when Cafaro fired Detore in March 2000. USAG went bankrupt and folded later that year.
meade@vindy.com