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American detained in Moscow has local roots The Associated Press GRANTS PASS -- An American man detained by Russian authorities on allegations of spying is a former Grants Pass resident. Edmond Pope was arrested Wednesday in an operation by Russia's Federal Security Service. Russian officials alleged he had developed contacts with Russian scientists in efforts to steal state secrets. Russian officials did not release his name. But several western television networks reported that the American was Pope, a retired naval officer and a 1965 graduate of Grants Pass High School. A former Navy captain by that name worked for three years with Pennsylvania State University's Applied Research Laboratory, which does research projects for the U.S. Navy. He left in 1997 to found a company called CERF Technologies International, which "has commercial contacts with organizations in Russia," a university spokesman said. When asked if Pope was the American arrested, a U.S. Embassy official in Moscow said he could not confirm the name. The Daily Courier newspaper in Grants Pass reported that Pope is the son of Roy and Elizabeth Pope of Grants Pass. When contacted Thursday by the newspaper, a distraught Elizabeth Pope declined to talk about the matter, the Daily Courier said. According to information that Pope provided for his 30-year class reunion in 1995, he was living in State College, Penn., and had worked as a research engineer for Pennsylvania State University starting in 1994, when he retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy. At the time of the reunion, he had been married for 25 years and had two sons. An official at the American Embassy in Moscow, who refused to comment on the spying charges, said the detained man had been visited by a U.S. consular officer at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow. "He appeared to be in good health and made no complaints about his treatment of any kind," said the official, who asked not to be named. A second official at the embassy said Russian authorities hadn't filed any formal charges, but were investigating the American under an article of the Russian criminal code concerning espionage and had appointed him a Russian lawyer. A Russian citizen whose name was also kept confidential by the police was arrested after leaving the American's office, the Federal Security Service said. It said the American was believed to be interested in missile designs. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA