The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 5

1st break in 'Freedom II' case Las Vegas lawman held in the mystery of the disappearing yachts Ml mm kM a. 111 l- 2 I 53 IIS I 1 mmmmm Nov. 17, 1982 rrfr S.F. EXAMINER A5 Rain ends record cold spell in S.F. Wet, warmer weather swept into the Bay Area today as a Pacific storm brought rain and a forecast for more of the game through Sunday.

By noon today, the storm had only dropped a tenth of an inch of rain in downtown San Francisco. Temperatures around the Bay were noticeably warmer today, ending two days of record-breaking cold. The National Weather Service predicted a chance of rain through Sunday. At noon today, it was 51 in San Francisco, 50 in Oakland and 53 Redwood City. Today's forecast called for highs in the upper-50s to mld-fiQs, with tomorrow morning's lows in the mid-Ms to low 50s.

S.F. rainfall (in inches) Lasl 24 hours to 4 a.m 1 inches Season lo date 4.10 inches Normal to date 2.48 inches To date last year 5.4 inches July 1 to June 30 normal 20.66 inches They told Coast Guard officials their 51-foot yacht struck rocks and foundered off the coast. In their first Interview with their rescuers, Russell and Dozier said their two female companions had disappeared with the Freedom But in the weeks following the alleged sinking of the $500,000 sailboat, Russell and Dozier changed their accounts of the accident and the names of the women lost at sea. Two women Susan Russell, 30, and Kristin Tomlin, 20 were later determined to be the victims presumed dead at sea. When the survivors dropped from sight several days after the accident, Marin County investigators began to unravel the Freedom II mystery.

Along with information implicating Russell and Dozier in an insurance scam with Reinertson, Investigators found evidence that the men were both married to one of the lost women Cherie Anne Dozier, also known as Suzanne or Susan Russell. Records of the Freedom purchase and registration showed the vessel was illegally documented. A trace of the yacht's origin revealed the Freedom II probably was the Inspiration, a yacht that Reinertson had reported stolen by men matching the description of Russell and Dozier. Divers probed the area where the Freedom survivors claimed the boat went down, but they found only bits and pieces of a vessel that may have been the "stolen" boat Up until this month. Shields had no clues of the elusive sailors' whereabouts, although they were reported by various sources as living in a deluxe Hawaiian condo, sailing off Puerto Vallarta and bar-hopping in Nevada.

Reinertson remained in Las Vegas, having netted about $35,000 in insurance after paying $75,000 to a Newport Beach bank for the Inspiration. Russell and his wife Susan met Robert Dozier in a Honolulu bar in 1974, according to Dozier's family. Six years later, the trio popped up in Virginia City. While they were in Nevada, Russell visited the Los Angeles harbor community of Wilmington several times, where, according to a boat broker, he was negotiating the By Jennifer Foot Examiner staff writer A Las Vegas man charged with insurance fraud in connection with the mysterious Freedom II yacht scandal has surrendered to Los Angeles authorities. The arrest yesterday was the first court action in a yearlong investigation of the missing sailboat and its elusive crew.

Douglas L. Reinertson, an investigator with the Las Vegas public defender's office, was released on his own recognizance. Los Angeles police issued two other warrants in connection with an alleged plot to collect insurance on a missing sailboat Reinertson had reported it stolen, but police charge it was actually token by his friends, who modified the vessel and obtained phony documents of ownership. The warrants name John Paul Russell and Robert Dozier as Rcinertson's coconspirators in the scheme The two men, who claimed a year ago to be survivors of the Freedom shipwreck off Stinson Beach, disappeared soon after they reported that accident Nov. 13, 198L They had told authorities that two female companions were lost at sea.

Los Angeles police Detective Rex Shields said he had traced the two men to a Hawaiian condominium but lost their trail after they checked out Nov. 1 of this year. All three men involved in the alleged fraud face a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted. Shields, a harbor detective who inherited the Freedom case from Marin County sheriffs investigators last year, said the complaint against the trio alleges that Reinertson allowed Dozier and Russell to take his boat, the Inspiration, from its harbor in May so he could collect the $110,000 insurance policy on the vessel. While Reinertson worked in Las Vegas, his friends took the boat from the harbor in Wilmington, Los Angeles County, transformed it into the Freedom II and docked briefly in Richmond before setting out for a cruise to Tahiti, Shields said.

Russell and Dozier first came to the attention of Marin County authorities when they surfaced in Stinson Beach two days after setting out from Richmond. I 1 Associated Press nn ifranrioro Examiner Pvbllthad by Sn Franclaco taamlnar Dhrlalon Tit Hirt Cot potation 1 10 Fifth Slraat San Ff anctaco, CMor nit 94103 Sacond Claaa poataga Paid at San Franclaco U.S. S. 4m0 Carcia dallvot Aftamoon Sunday Atlarnoon only Sunday Only Monthly tT.li Monthly SS OO Monthly SJ.7S Somewhat highar in certain outlying araia. Telephones: Editorial 777-2424 Want Ads 777-7777 Fo horn, dail.aiy Advertising 777-5700 ior Circulation 777-7800 8 111 AT-LARGE SUSPECT ROBERT DOZIER IN 1975 He Is shown on board Chinese junk in Honolulu sale of the Inspiration.

Last February, Dozier filed a bill of sale and registration for a boat that matches the description of the Inspiration, reported stolen by Reinertson four months later. Dozier then went to Wilmington to live and work on the Inspiration, often in the company of a man known in the harbor as "John Bear" an alias used by Russell. The pair were last seen by witnesses sailing from the harbor in late May, one month before the boat was reported stolen. 'I TTD 0 msnrlt mm is Itbe. best strategy SILK BLOUSES If you could find a silk blouse for the price of a silk scarf, what 4-16.

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