'Shock' Over Retirees' Alleged Spying for Cuba
Neighbors shocked by accused Cuban spies, but area has a history of espionage.
June 9, 2009— -- They're accused of spying for Cuba for three decades. And if prosecutors are able to prove the charges against Washington, D.C., couple Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers in court, neighbors will be left scratching their heads, wondering just how the retirees pulled it off.
In the Myers' neighborhood, a leafy section of Northwest Washington that lies in the shadow of the colossalNational Cathedral, neighbors expressed shock about the accusations.
"I'm appalled that we have people like that in our midst, who've obviously -- apparently, been spying for a considerable length of time," one government retiree living in the neighborhood who declined to give his name told ABC News.
"I actually live in the building across from them and I'm a little shocked, a little scared, you know," said a female neighbor.
FBI agents arrested retired State Department analyst Walter Kendall Myers, 72, and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, in Washington, D.C. last Thursday. The pair, known as "Agent 202" and "Agent 123" or "Agent E-634," respectively, face charges including fraud, conspiracy and acting as agents of a foreign government.
Attorneys for the Myerses declined comment to ABC News; the couple pleaded not guilty at their arraignment.
Kendall Myers' pedigree allowed him to mesh seamlessly in the nation's capital. A native Washingtonian, his ancestry is intertwined with American history.
A great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell and a grandson of Gilbert Grosvenor -- widely considered the father of modern photojournalism and the longtime chairman and editor-in-chief of National Geographic -- Kendall Myers matriculated at Brown University and pursued his master's degree and PhD from Johns Hopkins University.
He later became an adjunct professor of European studies at his graduate alma mater and worked for the government, obtaining a top secret security clearance along the way.
Kendall Myers married Gwendolyn Steingraber in 1982, and according to court documents, the pair have an affinity for the sea.
The FBI affidavit notes that in an April 15 meeting with an undercover agent, "Kendall Myers indicated they could sail to Cuba on their sailboat and that 'they already ha[ve] the charts… the maps… a cruising guide' to do so."
Later, Kendall Myers allegedly stated "our idea is to sail home" to Cuba.
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