SACRAMENTO, Jan. 17 – A former County Jail inmate is scheduled to testify today that a parolee with ties to suspected associates of the Symbionese Liberation Army confided his involvement in at least four large bank robberies.

A burglary charge against the informant was dismissed and he was released from the Sacramento County Jail on Monday after he contacted federal agents who asked that his name not be published until after he testifies.

The informant has said William Filmore Crouch told him that he had participated in bank holdups in Manteca, Vallejo, Concord and Stockton and had offered the informant $500 to deliver a list of bill serial numbers after his release from jail.

Crouch, 48, is currently being tried in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on charges relating to the Manteca holdup of the Mid-Cal National Bank on Jan. 26. 1979, in which two robbers took $21,690.

He was indicted in the April 5, 1979, robbery of a Crocker National Bank branch in Sunnyvale that netted $90,000 but that charge was dropped by the U.S. attorney in August because of the Sacramento case. The Sunnyvale charges can be refiled.

Crouch was arrested in Pleasant Hills on Aug. 14 after a search of the Concord home of Vincent Carrafa, on parole after serving 12 years for murder, turned up evidence allegedly linking Crouch to the Manteca robbery.

Carrafa, in whose home Crouch was staying, was a former cellmate of Joseph Remiro, one of the founders of the SLA. Law enforcement officials say Carrafa’s wife, Joan, is a close associate of Catherine “Gypsy” Share, a member of the Charles Manson family. Share is accused of running a credit card racket with Joan Carrafa in Reno.

Share married Kenneth Como in prison where he is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for armed robbery. Como was also a cellmate of Remiro and Carrafa.

There have been news reports claiming a major alliance has been formed between the SLA and Manson family to stage numerous bank and armored car robberies in Central and Northern California. These, in turn, would reportedly lead to more crimes, culminating in helicopter attempts to free Manson and Remiro.

(At least three members of this alleged SLA-Manson team are believed to be rated helicopter pilots, including Joan Carrafa and Share. A pilot’s training map was found in the Carrafas’ home during the search.)

Law enforcement sources say they are skeptical of any major SLA-Manson alliance because of the groups’ opposing philosophies.

Crouch is listed as a “close associate” of the Carrafas. Both Crouch and Vincent Carrafa were employed by a Concord lead-burning company at the time of Crouch’s arrest.

Crouch is on parole after serving eight years in the Leavenworth, Kan., federal prison for a 1969 Santa Rosa bank robbery. He reportedly escaped after he was first arrested in connection with that crime by picking his leg irons with a comb and was recaptured after a shootout in Seattle.

Security has been heavy in U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton’s courtroom during Crouch’s trial which is in its second week. U.S. Marshal Robert La Roche said earlier this week that his office received word that an attempt might be made to help Crouch escape.

The informant’s claim that Crouch had told him of his involvement in not only the Manteca robbery, but also the Vallejo, Concord and Stockton holdups, was contained in a motion filed by the U.S. attorney’s office. That order was lifted when the informant’s statement was given to Crouch and his lawyer Tuesday.

In the statement, the informant said Crouch had offered him $500 to take a list of “bait bills” (currency whose serial numbers are marked in bank tellers’ money drawers so they can be traced in the event of a robbery) taken in the Manteca robbery to a place called “The Harbor House” in the Bay area. Crouch also allegedly told the informer that $200,000 was hidden but did not say where.

By TED BELL