Henry Skip Clements

Henry T. "Skip" Clements was a private consultant based in Stuart, Florida, who obtained copies of U.S. Customs Special Agent Ramon J. Martinez's 1987 reports on The Finders and, in October 1993, provided them to U.S. Representatives Tom Lewis (R-FL) and Charlie Rose (D-NC). The congressional pressure that followed contributed to the Department of Justice reopening its inquiry into the case in late 1993.¹²

Background

Clements operated Technology Strategic Planning, Inc., a Florida corporation (Document Number L63993, incorporated April 4, 1990, dissolved August 23, 1996). The company taught private sector clients how to prevent industrial espionage and was described in one contemporaneous account as being staffed by former intelligence employees.¹

His involvement in child abuse investigations arose from personal circumstances: his child was among the victims at the Glendale Montessori School in Stuart, Florida, where owner James Toward pleaded guilty in 1989 (under an Alford plea) to child sexual abuse charges involving boys and received a twenty-seven year sentence. While investigating the Toward case and potential broader trafficking connections, Clements obtained a copy of Martinez's customs report documenting what investigators found during the February 1987 raids on The Finders' Washington D.C. properties, including the CIA interference claim. The specific means by which he obtained the documents has not been explained in any public source.¹

Congressional Contact

In October 1993, Clements met with Rep. Tom Lewis, who represented a Florida district that included Stuart, and with Rep. Charlie Rose. Both men subsequently applied pressure to the Department of Justice. Lewis made public statements: "Could our own government have something to do with this Finders organization and turned their backs on these children?" An October 26, 1993 memo from Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney to FBI Assistant Director Larry A. Potts, tasking the FBI with a preliminary inquiry, was issued in the context of this congressional pressure. The prospect of a CBS 48 Hours segment on the case contributed additional impetus.¹²

Subsequent History

After the DOJ inquiry concluded without charges in 1993-1994, Clements does not appear to have continued public activity on the Finders case. Florida business records show him associated with a subsequent Chinese citrus export venture that collapsed amid fraud, unrelated to his intelligence consulting work. He is described in a Florida Trend profile approximately dated to 2013 as still pursuing closure on that separate matter, at which point he was approximately 62 years old. No record of his testimony in any formal proceeding related to The Finders has been located.¹