2 Charged In Kerrigan Attack -- Harding Not Involved, Police Say

PORTLAND - National figure-skating champion Tonya Harding's bodyguard and an unemployed Phoenix, Ariz., man were arrested last night on conspiracy charges in last week's clubbing of Harding rival Nancy Kerrigan.

The arrests of the bodyguard, Shawn Eric Eckardt, 26, of Portland, and Derrick Brian Smith, 29, are the first of several expected in a plot - apparently hatched months ago - to force Kerrigan's withdrawal from last week's national skating competition that Harding went on to win.

The two were charged with conspiracy to commit assault in the attack in Detroit. The felony charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Arraignment was scheduled today in Portland.

Officials said Harding did not appear to be involved in the attack.

The arrests came a day after Eckardt, who has a police record, met with FBI agents and reportedly confessed.

Harding, set to skate in next month's Winter Olympics, and her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, have remained out of sight amid questions about their roles, if any, in the alleged scheme.

The Oregonian newspaper has reported that Eckardt said Gillooly had asked him to find someone who would injure Kerrigan and take her out of the skating competition. Gillooly has acknowledged being investigated but has maintained his innocence.

A third suspect was identified today by Multnomah County, Ore., Assistant District Attorney Norm Frink as Shane Stant, 22. His last

known whereabouts was in Arizona, Frink said. Stant, Smith's nephew, is suspected of carrying out the attack, and the FBI said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Officials said Stant checked into a suburban Detroit motel on Jan. 4 and remained there until last Friday, the day after the attack. Smith stayed in the same motel, investigators said.

Detroit police said yesterday that they have the weapon, a collapsible metal baton, they believe was used to attack Kerrigan. The FBI has the clothing Kerrigan was wearing the day of the attack, and both items will be tested for fibers and hair that could link the weapon to the attack.

Harding's attorney, Dennis Rawlinson, declined comment about the case. Rawlinson's wife is Harding's skating coach.

The U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Figure Skating Association said that as long as Harding is not implicated in the attack, she will remain on the Olympic team.

Kerrigan was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships after she was struck above the knee by a man wielding a club. Harding won the championships, and both were named to the Olympic team.

Kerrigan's knee showed improvement yesterday after physical therapy, according to her doctor.

Shedding some light

After days of speculation, yesterday's developments began to shed some light on a series of events.

One of the first breaks in the case came Saturday when a woman called the Detroit Police Department, insisting on talking to Deputy Police Chief Benny Napoleon. Napoleon said yesterday that the woman said she heard a taped conversation regarding the planned attack on Kerrigan several months ago. He said the woman identified four people, and he gave the names to the FBI.

Meanwhile, Portland private investigator Gary Crowe said the FBI learned of the alleged plot from a local minister, Eugene Saunders. Crowe said Saunders came to him after speaking with a friend who played him a recording of men alleged to be Gillooly, Eckardt and an unidentified man discussing Kerrigan.

Saunders, 24, was a classmate of Eckardt at Pioneer Pacific College in Wilsonville, Ore. Another student, Russell Reitz, told authorities Eckardt had asked him if he would be willing to kill someone for $65,000.

"I told him I wouldn't and then he asked me if I would break somebody's legs for $65,000," Reitz said yesterday.

Reitz refused, he said, and went to the FBI.

It is not altogether clear what role Smith may have have played, but some reports indicated that he was alleged to be the driver of the getaway car. The assailant escaped.

Gillooly and Eckardt, around whom the investigation has centered, are said to be friends from as far back as grade school.

They resemble a Mutt-and-Jeff team. Gillooly is lanky, while the bearlike Eckardt weighs more than 300 pounds. Gillooly is soft-spoken but has a history of violent outbursts. Eckardt is loud and assertive.

The Detroit Free Press reported that Eckardt tried to gather evidence against Gillooly. The paper said that Eckardt wore a wiretap and planned to speak with Gillooly about the alleged conspiracy. The plan apparently fell through when Gillooly failed to show up.

Harding's hard life

Harding's life was in shambles when she met Gillooly. On the ice, the 15-year-old was going places. But home life for the teenager was miserable. Shortly after she met Gillooly, then 18, at her practice rink, her mother and father split up.

When Harding turned 18, she married Gillooly. Just 15 months later, she filed for divorce, alleging abuse.

The couple reconciled for a time, but their divorce was final last August. Since then, they have reconciled again and have lived together since October, according to friends.

"I know they were separated for a little while, but they made up," said Elaine Stamm, president of the Tonya Harding Fan Club. "He's always been very supportive."

Court records show that Harding and Gillooly were evicted in October for failing to pay their rent.

Eckardt a new associate

Although Gillooly and Eckardt have a long friendship, some Harding associates say they only began to notice Eckardt - who runs World Bodyguard Services Inc. out of his parents' home - after the skater received a death threat in November.

"We just met him after November when someone phoned a death threat into the rink saying Tonya would get a bullet in her back if she performed," Stamm said.

When Eckardt applied for a job as a bodyguard with longtime Portland security-firm owner John Beovich, Beovich was not impressed because of his arrest record.

Eckardt pleaded no contest to a charge of soliciting prostitution in 1988 and has been denied a permit to carry a weapon as a result.

A Detroit TV station reported that Eckardt enrolled in an Aspen, Colo., security school in 1989 but was thrown out for failing to keep up. An instructor later wrote that Eckardt "fostered a James Bondian fantasy about himself," WXYZ-TV said.

In an interview with the Oregonian last week, Eckardt said his security clients were mostly people who had been attacked. He said, "There's a lot of weird people out there doing a lot of weird things."

Compiled from Associated Press, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Los Angeles Times and Detroit News reports.