JEWEL THEFT CREATES PROBLEMS FOR HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400290014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: August 2, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

ST SAN
Approved For Rq >_
.__u=UST 2,965
,.' .-;,,.LnED HOME
CPYRGHT
-
,
..
por
s
e
to police the theft home, managed to distract Army in an Office of Stra-
-..'. ~.amc:,ds and sapphires from his home on the ttenti f h
o
r r V I! `w+} J
e e -po ice.
WAS:=NG' ON, D.C: - Ti.,; ;heft cl' more than $26,000 'Both Mrs. Tofte end I were
in jewels the home of a nigh ranking officer of the temporarily absent. The ma-
Central n c?_;i'-ence Agency (CIA) is creating major prob-, terial was being guarded by
le ns or C.. _ -ector Richard Helms. my mother-in-law. Personnel
no my mot er- tegic Services obtained U.S.
`' or in-law, and roamed the house cltize 1943
s
ip m
?ceiy
formerly c Anoka, Minn., for a period of time. No war- n
was a key figure in
`i told an insurance investiga- Tofte rant or other official. identi- the planning and staging of
tor that Mrs. Tofte's ?jewels fication was displayed at the
~~ the successful CIA opera-
were stolen during the same time. tiors in Guatemala. He took
period that CIA security of. "I found later that the cIA part In the planning and ar-
ficers were in their home at material, some private and ;angements for the Bay of
i6 7 Thirty Fifth . Street, personal property, and Mrs. gigs
but was one of those
Tofte's study, they found CIA
papers.
"On Sunday, 24 July, 1966,
the material in question was
removed fron-. my premises
under agency (CIA) supervi-
,IA ?IJWtl w me at Lne, time 1 British commandos, and after
:..;s V. _' te, r rmer Mason City, Iowa, business- of this writirio entered my a tour in the United States
of:icer
ha
C
re
t
d
Approved For Release 2000/08/0
,
N.W., Washington, D.C., on ' Tofte's valuable jewelry were Iwho was vocal in warning
a security check involving f
?'? from IU premises," against it in?the light of what
CIA papers that Tofte had
taken home.
"It had been taken there
uy me for the purpose of
homework," Tofte reported
to police. "This is customary
for executives and senior
personnel in key positions,
as well as employes of cer-
tain ranks and responsibili-
ties."
TWO`'CiA investigators,
posing as a .man and woman
j trying to root or buy a home,
entered ti 7e Tofte home on
July 23, while he and his wife
were away. They persuaded
Mrs. Charlotte Leister, moth-
er-in-law of Tofte, to permit
them to look around.
1? On the third floor, In 11'
Tofte stated, ie considered poor prepara-
BEFORE Tofte had re- ons and morale of Cuban
turned home to learn that ! refugee groups who were to
the CIA documents and jew-
elry were missing, he was
contacted by CIA personnel
investigators and was es-
corted to the CIA headquar-
ters at Langley, Va., for ex-
tensive questioning of
matter to th~ police because
of CIA Implications.
It is reported th..t Tofte
has learned .:,ie identity of
tho-CIA security officers who
turned those names over to,
insurance investigators.
Tofte, born in Denmark,
was a member of the Danish
underground, worked with
take part. ,
TOFI'E HAS b e e n in-
formed by his superiors that
there was no, evidence that
he had "cc. :omised" any
of the CI,-. japers in his
posse_ssinn However he has
group o u,vez>ugatoro under
the supervision of a "Mr,
Hank Shor" who was not
further identified.
"I requested to see my
chief supervisor, Mr. Tracy
Barnes, and later the agen-
cy's legal counsel Mr. Law-
rence Houston in view of the
bizarre circumstances surrounding the proceedings,';
Tofte told police. -
Although Tofte was a
$25,000-a-year officer with r jewelry. ?
? close personal relationship
with Helms, Barnes, , and
ouston, he was unable to
see Barnes or Houston for
several, days during which he
been informed that having
classified agency papers in
his home represented a vio-
lation of agency rules that
could be grounds for dis-
charge.
Tofte has indicates he :..
tends to fight any discharge
effort, and he has also
served notice that he wants
"the best insurance investi-
gators _in the business" to
The $20,000 in jewelry is
reported to be ?a part of
about - $100,000 in' jewelry
Mrs. ? Tofte owns. It is in-
cured for $25,000 "because
.at is about all she wears or
He saw Barnes on Thurs. 1 X' out, tit any one time."
I, ay, July 28, for a brief noon
?,? eetincr and was permitted
CP i3 HTth Houston in
1 at'ternnan of Frirav
OF E `: '. S reported by
:ends "outra ,u11
and had be.
ved th t he and his wi%
4lASRMR-A5-0QOffi 0
040029001.478