Anthrax hoax letter suspect targeted

WASHINGTON -- A prison escapee who is one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives is the primary suspect in a wave of anthrax hoax letters sent to abortion clinics on the East Coast, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday.

Clayton Lee Waagner, who has been on the lam since February, is believed to be behind more than 280 letters delivered to clinics last month, Ashcroft said. Waagner claimed responsibility for the letters when he showed up with a gun at the Georgia home of an anti-abortion activist last week, according to a police report.

The FBI considers Waagner "extremely dangerous. He has survival skills and may be heavily armed," Assistant FBI Director Rueben Garcia said.

A Carrollton, Ga., police department report says that on Nov. 23, Waagner visited Neal Horsley, who has published the names, addresses and photos of abortion providers on the Internet.

Waagner told Horsley "that he had been the one that sent the anthrax letters to the abortion clinics" and threatened to kill 42 abortion providers, the report said.

About 200 Planned Parent facilities received anthrax hoax letters last month in FedEx packages. The sender had used the organization's FedEx account number for the mailings, said Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation.

Terrorism by hoax

"Anthrax hoaxes are domestic terrorism," Feldt said. "We're glad the Justice Department is talking about this but we want results."

The Feminist Majority Foundation said more than 450 clinics and advocacy organizations received letters in envelopes carrying white powder and letters signed by "the Army of God."

None of the powder sent to the clinics has tested positive for anthrax.

Waagner, 44, an escaped inmate from Illinois, was placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list in September.

He escaped in February from a Clinton, Ill., jail where he was awaiting sentencing on federal firearms and auto theft convictions. He also is being sought for a Pennsylvania bank robbery, firearms violations in Tennessee and a carjacking in Mississippi.

Police said that on Sept. 7 Waagner abandoned a car on a highway in Memphis, Tenn., after colliding with a tractor-trailer. A pipe bomb was found in the car, along with anti-abortion literature and weapons.

Hours later, a man believed to be Waagner committed a carjacking in Tunica, Miss., some 40 miles southwest of Memphis, authorities said.

He had been arrested in September 1999 after entering Illinois with his wife and eight children in a stolen Winnebago, which had four stolen handguns under the driver's seat, authorities said.

During his trial, Waagner testified that he had watched abortion clinics for months, stocking up weapons after God asked him to "be my warrior" and kill doctors who provide abortions.

In June, abortion clinics were warned after someone purporting to be Waagner posted an Internet message threatening to kill employees of abortion providers.

That same month, a federal grand jury charged Waagner with robbing a bank just outside Harrisburg, Pa., in May.

The FBI is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to Waagner's arrest.