Waco Spy Cries Foul
ATF Agent Claims He's a Scapegoat
   DALLAS--An undercover agent who infiltrated the Branch Davidian cult
says he became a scapegoat for a failed 1993 raid by the federal Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
   Robert Rodriguez, who also was involved in the 51-day standoff with
the sect, accuses ATF officials of blaming him for botching the
investigation in order to hide their own mistakes.
   Rodriguez's 18-page complaint, contained in a lawsuit filed Friday in
US District Court in Waco, Texas, alleges that bureau officials violated
his privacy and civil rights, defamed him and conspired to blame him.
   An ATF spokesman in Washington had no comment on the lawsuit, which
seeks unspecified damages.
   The cult near Waco was being investigated for alleged firearms
violations. When Rodriguez of San Antonio entered the compound on Feb.
28, 1993, hours before the scheduled raid, he found that sect leader
David Koresh had been tipped off to the operation.
   Four agents were killed in the raid and 86 Branch Davidians,
including Koresh, perished in the engulfing fire that swept the compound
when federal officials mounted a paramilitary assault on April 19.
   Two commanders who were fired last year after a US Treasury Dept.
review concluded they tried to make Rodriguez a scapegoat appealed their
dismissals and were reinstated to civilian ATF jobs.
                                          (From AP)



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