A net search reveals the following:

Monday, November 30, 1998

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES -- TV fans first got to know Darlene Gillespie as a freckle-face Mouseketeer, described by Disney publicity as having ``more bounce to the ounce than a bottle of a soda pop.''     She was one of the nine original Mouseketeers who appeared in the first season of the ``Mickey Mouse Club'' and stayed for the duration of the show's 1955-1959 run.     Now the 56-year old Gillespie is back in the public eye, with jury selection beginning today for her trial on stock fraud charges. Her fiance has pleaded guilty in the case and been sentenced to prison.     During her first season as a Mouseketeer, Gillespie was featured in her own serial, ``Corky and White Shadow,'' about the Wild West adventures of a girl and her heroic dog.     In George Woolery's book, Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, Gillespie characterized the serial as ``horrendous.''     Mouseketeer Bobby Burgess said Gillespie was delight as a person and a performer.     ``Darlene was so talented, so nice,'' said Burgess, 56, who made a smooth transition from Mouseketeer to dance star on ``The Lawrence Welk Show.''     Burgess, who still makes appearances for Disney and performs with the Welk troupe in Branson, Mo., recalle that in addition to her post-Mouseketeer career as a registered nurse, Gillespie made several attempts to continue in entertainment.       ``In Nashville, she tried to get into country-western as Darlene Valentine,'' Burgess recalled. ``She had the talent. Maybe she didn't have the right agent.''       Gillespie and her fiance, Jerry Fraschilla, were charged in a complex stock fraud scheme that involved ``free riding,'' or the purchase of stock without paying for it, and obstruction of justice.     Fraschilla, 61 pleaded guilty to 2 federal charges and last month was sentenced to 18 months in prison, plus probation. Gillespie faces 14 counts, including conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice.

    ``The defense issimple. She was one of the victimsrather than one of the perpetrators. We're playing it straight,'' her lawyer, Charles Rondeau, said last week.

During preliminary court appearances, Gillespie has refused to discuss the case or her childhood career.  ``I'd rather not talk about that right now,'' said Gillespie, her polite smile still recalling the girl who once shone in Mickey Mouse ears."

Yours, Peter T.