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04/23/93
Author of report on cult has long criminal record; Man had predicted fiery end to standoff
By Victoria Loe / The Dallas Morning News
Frank X. Leahy, who provided the FBI with an analysis of the Branch Davidian standoff that predicted its fiery end, has a criminal record stretching back to 1962.
In 1990, according to court records, Mr. Leahy pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. At the time of his arrest, he was employed by the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Department office in Waco. The woman he was accused of stealing from was a client of the agency.
Mr. Leahy was originally accused of stealing about $100,000 from the woman, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, after obtaining a power of attorney from her, according to J.C. Rappe, an investigator for the McLennan County District Attorney's office. Mr. Rappe said most of the money was recovered.
Mr. Leahy, who describes himself as an independent religious researcher, denied Thursday that he stole anything from the woman. He called the charge "totally, totally bogus.'
He said he obtained a power of attorney from the woman only in order to hide her funds from others who were plotting to steal them. He said the charges against him were politically motivated.
He said he pleaded guilty because his parole for an earlier conviction had been revoked and he was tired of sitting in jail. He served less than a year in prison on the theft charges.
Although Mr. Leahy maintains his innocence in the 1990 case, he said he is "guilty, guilty, guilty' of other, earlier offenses, including a 1972 armed robbery conviction in Dallas for which he was sentenced to 50 years.
During his 11-year imprisonment on that conviction, he gained fame as an accomplished jailhouse writ writer. Sarah T. Hughes, the late, legendary Dallas federal judge, once lauded Mr. Leahy one of the best lawyers in Texas, although he was self-taught and not a member of the bar. She also called him one of the nation's top prison activists.
Mr. Leahy served two other stints in Texas prisons, stemming from felony hot check convictions in 1967 and 1970. Both times he was sentenced to two years. He went to federal prison in 1966 on an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to stealing a letter.
He has several other, lesser convictions for passing worthless checks and for drunken driving, most of them in the 1960s.
A copyright article Wednesday in The Dallas Morning News describing Mr. Leahy's prediction regarding the Branch Davidian siege drew the attention of the national media. It also drew calls from readers who pointed out Mr. Leahy's background. Calls to various law enforcement agencies revealed his criminal record.
The FBI confirmed that Mr. Leahy provided them with his analysis of David Koresh more than a week before his predictions came eerily true.
One passage in the report addresses the issue of whether or not Mr. Koresh was conning federal authorities. "This is not a con artist!' Mr. Leahy wrote. "Quite frankly, a good con artist would have come up with a better, more believeable story.'
Asked Thursday whether he was speaking from personal experience,
Mr. Leahy said, "I've known a lot of sociopathic personalities. That's
where that was coming from.'
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