BULLETIN

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Thomas Lippert, 25, of New Ulm, pleaded guilty today in Federal Court here to two counts of conspiracy to kidnap.

Lippert admitted to the judge that he conspired with Harold Tenneson to kidnap two women.

The 10 a.m. plea ended negotiations and will mean a possible maximum sentence of 10 years prison and $20,000 fine total. All other charges against him were dropped.

He will be transferred to a federal facility for psychological testing and returned to the court after 90 days for sentencing.

Judge Jesse Eschbach gave Lippert a few days to get his affairs in order before entering the federal facility.

Lippert said in court that he knew what he was doing was in violation of the law,”that’s why I pleaded guilty to it.”

The two charges Lippert admitted were conspiring with Tenneson to transport in interstate commerce a South Bend woman for the purpose of physical and psychological experimentation; and transporting Susan Cochran for a similar purpose.

By SALLY DU FOUR

and ANGIE RIZZO

Special Journal report

FORT WAYNE, IND. — A newlywed of 25 days, Thomas Lippert went on trial today here in the so-called “love experiment”kidnapping case.

Lippert, 25, of New Ulm, is charged with abducting a Purdue University coed Feb. 19 and performing experiments to make her fall in love with him.

The trial was originally scheduled for mid-June but was delayed after defense attorneys requested mental exams for the defendant. Lippert has been free on bail since March. His parents raised the $20,000 cash bond.

ON JULY 28 a marriage license was issued in Hennepin County for Lippert and Kathleen Marie Bowar, 25, Minneapolis. They were married Sept.6 in Mound by Rev. J.D. Rusthoven,according to Hennepin County records.

It is understood Lippert’s wife worked in an insurance office in Minneapolis. She did not accompany Lippert to Fort Wayne, according to Lippert’s attorney, F. Lee Bailey. Lippert’s first marriage was dissolved in June 1974. His former wife, Patricia A. Lippert,had filed for divorce in September 1972 after three years of marriage. The couple had no children.

A YEAR AGO about this time Lippert was teaching Sunday School at a New Ulm church, commuting each week from Marshall where he was an assistant professor at the college. As winter drew near there were many Sundays he didn’t show up and over the holidays he was replaced.

Today he sat in a blue leather chair with wooden arms, his attorneys ranged beside him at the defense table. Gold carpeting and blue velvet drapes contributed to the dignified elegance of the federal courtroom. Walls woodpaneled part-way up had muted olive-green brocade fabric above the wood. The clock on the rear wall was convenient for Judge Jesse Eschbach’s eyes.

Lippert’s chief attorney, F. Lee Bailey, and entourage arrived early today at the federal courthouse and were closeted with prosecutor John Wilks at 8:30 a.m. when Lippert arrived at the courthouse alone in a cab.

Lippert was wearing a plaid suit, grayish-beige background with blue and yellow plaid. Before the 9 a.m. starting time he waited alone in an auxiliary jury room. Guards were posted at either end of the second floor hallway.

BAILEY, DRESSED in a dark business suit, was wandering up and down the hall sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup for a few minutes prior to entering the courtroom.

When asked if any precedents will be set in Lippert’s case that might apply to the Patricia Hearst case he said,”There are some theories that might be relevant but that’s as far as it goes.”

Bailey is chief defense counsel for heiress Hearst, who has claimed she was kidnapped and brainwashed.

Bailey was asked how many witnesses he will call in Lippert’s defense and said, “I haven’t even a vague idea, it’s all up in the air.”

LIPPERT AND one of his students, Harold Tenneson, 21, Burnsville, were arrested March 13, the same day Susan Wells Cochran, 22, the coed allegedly kidnapped, was found in good health sitting alone in the college library at Marshall.

Tenneson pleaded guilty last March to the kidnapping charge against him and agreed to be a government witness against Lippert as part of a plea-bargain.

Bailey, taking time off from defending newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in San Francisco, declined to answer questions about defense plans in the Fort Wayne trial.

Judge Jesse Eschbach will hear the trial in U.S. District Court after attorneys select from 100 prospective jurors.

New Ulm Daily Journal

Oct. 1, 1975