7 Arrested in 'Juche' Raid Face Trial

Judge M. Edward Viola of the Middle-sex District Court yesterday set December 18 as the trial date for seven members of the "Juche" commune arrested in a police raid Tuesday afternoon. Viola ruled that bail would remain at $2000 per person.

Police had booked seven of the residents at the 452 Franklin St. commune on charges of being knowingly in the presence of narcotics and illegal possession of firearms without having a registration or firearm identification card.

John H. Brown and Ronald Brazao, two plumbers from Somerville, were the only accused not to appear at the arraignment.

Friends and other communes raised a bond of $750 in two hours Tuesday night to free the seven persons arrested.

In an interview yesterday afternoon, members of the commune charged that the police failed to show a search warrant, did not knock before entering, and later took personal effects from the house without giving the owners a receipt.

Captain Thomas Burke of the Cambridge police yesterday declined to comment on the charges, saying only that "the case will continue in December and we do not issue statements on cases in litigation."

After taking the seven suspects to the police station, police ordered three reporters of the New Old Mole to leave the commune's apartment and threatened them with arrest if they refused, one of the reporters said.

Then, according to Mark O'Connor, who lives in the other "Juche" commune-whose location he would not disclose-the police spent the next two hours "smashing up the place." O'Connor said that the police ripped posters off the walls and broke two guitars and one camera.

"The police took away a truck, a motorcycle and $300 in cash and checks," O'Connor said. "They stuffed boxes and suitcases with what they took, stuff like books, identification papers, even hockey equipment."

The commune was in a shambles yesterday. Drawers had been rifled and closets emptied; clothes were scattered on the floors. Books and newspapers, brushed off shelves, lay in heaps. A couple of windows and lampshades were broken.

"The police took two six-week-old puppies," said a member of the group who would not identify himself. "They told the guys in jail that the dogs were dead, but we think they gave them to some cop's kids. I would rather see them dead."