Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
February 12, 2008 By Stephanie Gaskell and Corky Siemaszko, Daily News Staff Writers
IF GREGG BERGERSEN was spying for China, he had the perfect cover.
A Defense Department analyst who lives in the quiet Virginia suburbs outside Washington, he barbecued in the summer, hung Christmas lights for the holidays and cheered his wife on as she competed in marathons.
His townhouse in Alexandria, Va., is relatively new, well-tended — and just like the others in the development.
His friends said he was easygoing and friendly and a good dad to his son Alex. He steered clear of politics and vacationed in the mountains of West Virginia or on the Maryland shore.
“It’s so weird,” said neighbor Marcia Shell, whose first inkling that Bergersen might not be what he seemed was the sight of FBI agents and SWAT teams raiding his home.
“I see them coming and going, just a typical, normal family. Then I look outside and it’s like an episode of ‘24.’ ”
Bergersen was wearing a black T-shirt and shorts when he was arrested. His wife, Ofelia Perotti, who works for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, insisted her husband was innocent and said the charges “came out of the blue.”
Shell, whose son graduated from a local high school in 2006 with Bergersen’s son, said she knew Perotti had a government job, but knew very little about her husband.
“Nothing stands out about him,” she said. “She stood out more because I believe she’s from Caracas and I think her dad comes out and stays with them from time to time. To me, they seemed like a normal family.”
Christa and Melvin Grantham, former neighbors who spent New Year’s Eve with Bergersen and Perotti, described the accused spy as “a pleasant man.”
“Oh my God, I’m shocked,” Christa Grantham said. “He’s friendly. A good buddy.”
She added Bergersen never spoke in detail about what he did at the Defense Department, but “from the way he talked, he loved his job.”
“I know he traveled a lot,” Christa Grantham said.
Another neighbor said the Bergersen family mostly kept to themselves.
“I talked to him a couple years ago when we were all shoveling out after a snowstorm,” she said. “He wasn’t doing a lot of shoveling because he has a heart condition. But his wife did.”
“She’s a health nut,” the neighbor added. “She runs all the time.”
February 12, 2008 By Stephanie Gaskell and Corky Siemaszko, Daily News Staff Writers
IF GREGG BERGERSEN was spying for China, he had the perfect cover.
A Defense Department analyst who lives in the quiet Virginia suburbs outside Washington, he barbecued in the summer, hung Christmas lights for the holidays and cheered his wife on as she competed in marathons.
His townhouse in Alexandria, Va., is relatively new, well-tended — and just like the others in the development.
His friends said he was easygoing and friendly and a good dad to his son Alex. He steered clear of politics and vacationed in the mountains of West Virginia or on the Maryland shore.
“It’s so weird,” said neighbor Marcia Shell, whose first inkling that Bergersen might not be what he seemed was the sight of FBI agents and SWAT teams raiding his home.
“I see them coming and going, just a typical, normal family. Then I look outside and it’s like an episode of ‘24.’ ”
Bergersen was wearing a black T-shirt and shorts when he was arrested. His wife, Ofelia Perotti, who works for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, insisted her husband was innocent and said the charges “came out of the blue.”
Shell, whose son graduated from a local high school in 2006 with Bergersen’s son, said she knew Perotti had a government job, but knew very little about her husband.
“Nothing stands out about him,” she said. “She stood out more because I believe she’s from Caracas and I think her dad comes out and stays with them from time to time. To me, they seemed like a normal family.”
Christa and Melvin Grantham, former neighbors who spent New Year’s Eve with Bergersen and Perotti, described the accused spy as “a pleasant man.”
“Oh my God, I’m shocked,” Christa Grantham said. “He’s friendly. A good buddy.”
She added Bergersen never spoke in detail about what he did at the Defense Department, but “from the way he talked, he loved his job.”
“I know he traveled a lot,” Christa Grantham said.
Another neighbor said the Bergersen family mostly kept to themselves.
“I talked to him a couple years ago when we were all shoveling out after a snowstorm,” she said. “He wasn’t doing a lot of shoveling because he has a heart condition. But his wife did.”
“She’s a health nut,” the neighbor added. “She runs all the time.”