Section: NWS; Page: 3A

DETROIT - A former Clinton Township man who was supposed tobe deported 10 years ago for lying about his Nazi past may notbe far from his Macomb County home.

Canadian police are searching for Johann Leprich, 71, who theysay may have illegally entered their country. Private investigatorsfrom Michigan and New York, tracking down former Nazi war criminalsliving in Canada for the Canadian Jewish Congress, say Leprichwas recently seen in the Windsor area.

And a current Michigan driver's license issued to a John Leprichlists Johann Leprich's date of birth and the same Capper Streetaddress where he lived when a federal judge revoked his citizenshipin 1987, Secretary of State records show.

John Leprich renewed the license by mail in 1989 and in personin 1993 at a Secretary of State office in Marine City. It is notillegal for an illegal immigrant to be issued a license in Michigan.

"There's no way that this guy should be able to crossthe border and renew a driver's license," said private investigatorSteven Rambam, who has joined in the hunt for Leprich.

Leprich has admitted he was a Nazi guard at the Mauthausenconcentration camp in Austria, where tens of thousands of prisonerswere killed in World War II. A U.S. immigration official saidborder guards have been alerted to look out for Leprich.

Leprich's case has riled Canadian Jews, who say their countryhas become a refuge for hundreds of Nazi war criminals. On Sunday-- the Holocaust remembrance day -- the Canadian Jewish Congresswill kick off in Windsor a monthlong series of nationwide ralliesto protest what it says is the Canadian government's lax pursuitof former Nazis.

Leprich's wife, who lives at the Capper Street address listedon the driver's license, said she doesn't know where her husbandis. "I don't have a husband since 10 years," Maria Leprichsaid Thursday, declining further comment. But a Dearitizenship by U.S. District Judge Barbara Hackett in 1987. Leprichfled to Canada in July 1987 while authorities were trying to deporthim, said Karen Kraushaar, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigrationand Naturalization Service.

"We were ready to deport him. He took off running forCanada," Kraushaar said.

John Russell, spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department, whichsought to revoke Leprich's citizenship, declined to say whetherJustice officials are looking for him.

A member of the SS Death's Head Battalion, Leprich was capturedby the U.S. Army in June 1945. He entered the United States in1952 after he claimed to be a soldier in the Hungarian army, federalcourt documents show. He became a U.S. citizen in 1958. Decadeslater, Leprich admitted in a deposition that the information wasfalse.

Bernie Farber, director of community relations for the CanadianJewish Congress, saidce.Think of all the Jews who had to spend all of World War II hidingin secret compartments."

On Wednesday, the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations,which pursues cases involving Nazi officials, asked a federalimmigration court in Detroit to remove Leprich "with alldeliberate speed," Eli Rosenbaum, the unit's director, saidin a prepared statement.

"This arrest makes clear that those who participated inthe atrocities of the Holocaust will not escape the determinedreach of U.S. law enforcement, regardless of how much time haspassed," Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said in a statement. "Nazicollaborators will not find a safe haven in the United States."

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called the case "anotherexample of the results that can be achieved when federal and locallaw enforcement authorities work together and combine their resources."

In addition to immigration authorities, agents from the FBIand the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and local police were involvedin the arrest, authorities said.

Leprich had been married, and his wife had at one time sharedthe Michigan address where he was arrested. A telephone messageleft at the residence Wednesday was not returned.

Since the Justice Department's special investigations unitbegan operations in 1979, 71 onetime Nazis have been strippedof their U.S. citizenship and 57 deported.

(Original article located at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guard3jul03,1,6260751.story?coll=la-headlines-nation.)