Anthrax hoax suspect held without bond

12/07/2001

By JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press Writer

Clayton Lee Waagner AP

CINCINNATI — A man accused of mailing of anthrax hoax letters to abortion clinics across the country was charged with a firearms violation Thursday and ordered held without bond.

Clayton Lee Waagner, 45, chatted amiably with reporters at the hearing, saying he was surprised when Attorney General John Ashcroft added him to the FBI's most-wanted list.

``Ashcroft's just doing his job,'' he said. ``I understand he's anti-abortion also. He's a good man.''

Waagner was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, which is punishable by up to life in prison. He faces charges in at least three other states and was ordered held until a grand jury meets next week.

Waagner, who escaped from an Illinois jail earlier this year, was captured Wednesday at a suburban Cincinnati copy shop where he was using a rented computer. Authorities said he had $10,000 cash in his pocket and a loaded handgun in his waistband.

The FBI said Waagner had claimed responsibility for sending more than 550 anthrax threat letters to women's reproductive health clinics in the past two months. The clinics received envelopes containing white powder and letters signed, ``Army of God.'' The powder was not anthrax.

Police Capt. Bill Hafer, one of the officers who arrested Waagner, said the suspect produced a fake bail bondsman's badge, then later admitted who he was.

``He said, 'Hey, I guess this is it,''' Hafer said. ``He said, 'Don't worry about it. I don't have a problem with you. I have a problem with the abortion people.'''

Waagner escaped from a Clinton, Ill., jail in February while awaiting sentencing for auto theft and weapons offenses. His criminal record includes attempted robbery and burglary convictions in Ohio and a federal firearms conviction in Michigan.

Federal authorities said he has been charged with bank robberies in Harrisburg, Pa., in May, and Morgantown, W.Va., and he faces a federal carjacking charge Tunica, Miss.