HOUMA — The former owner of a restaurant at the Ellendale Country Club is accused of passing sensitive information on U.S. military sales to the People’s Republic of China.

FBI agents search a house in Summerfield early today, part of an investigation into a former Houma restauranteur who is accused of spying for the People's Republic of China.

Tai Shen Kuo, 58, a naturalized U.S. citizen who neighbors and a former employee said moved to Houma from Taiwan more than two decades ago, was arrested by federal agents today in New Orleans. His apprehension was part of an investigation that also resulted in the arrest of an Arlington, Va.-based defense analyst, and a 33-year-old Chinese national living in New Orleans.

FBI agents raided Kuo’s house in Summerfield this morning, loading boxes and bags of evidence from inside the two-story gray home into more than a dozen unmarked cars and SUVs. In New Orleans, FBI agents simultaneously raided an Uptown home in connection with the case, the Associated Press reported.

Gregg William Bergersen, 51, a weapon-systems analyst at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency Alexandria, is accused of giving Kuo classified national defense information on U.S. military sales to Taiwan, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Yu Xin Kang, of New Orleans, allegedly operated as an intermediary between Kuo and a Chinese official, identified only in the complaint as “PRC Official A,” who allegedly directed the espionage effort.

According to court documents, the spying spanned a two-year period, from January 2006 to February 2008. Kuo, identified in the news release as a “New Orleans businessman,” allegedly met with Bergersen in various locations in northern Virginia, South Carolina, and Las Vegas to exchange information and documents for cash.

Nikki Thibodaux, 37, said she worked for Kuo between 1994 and 1997 when he owned the KST restaurant at Ellendale.

Thibodaux, who became manager of the restaurant when it changed hands in 1997 and became Flanagan’s on the Green, said she visited Kuo’s home in Houma “plenty of times” during the three-year period she worked for him and never noticed anything unusual.

“He’s a very nice person, very generous, fair,” Thibodaux said. “I have nothing bad to say about him. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who would.”

Neighbors recounted seeing their quiet street swarming with FBI agents between 7 and 7:30 a.m. today.

“At one point I counted, like 15 vehicles,” said Donna Legg, who has lived on the quiet street in the upscale subdivision for 18 years.

Legg said a “for-sale” sign went in front of Kuo’s house in October or November of 2007, though the sign came down quickly, replaced by Dumpsters filled with old carpet and other evidence that he and his wife might be remodeling the house rather than selling.

“It looked they were tearing the walls out,” Legg said. “The house looked like it was being gutted.”

Another neighbor, who declined to give her name, said Kuo and his wife, who neighbors and friends knew as “Jane,” had lived in the neighborhood for at least 20 years.

“They moved to New Orleans,” she said. “But I was told they were coming back.”
She said the family was private but friendly.

“When my kids were growing up they kept saying, Mama, something’s not right,’” she said. “I know I’ve never been in her house… Never. But we’d talk outside.”