Man indicted on charges of mailing anthrax hoax letters

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - A man who once claimed to be on a mission from God to kill abortion providers was indicted yesterday on charges he mailed anthrax hoax letters to women's clinics around the country last fall.

The federal indictment also charged Clayton Lee Waagner with posting a message on an anti-abortion Web site that said he had been following clinic employees home and was "going to kill as many of them as I can."

"Regardless of one's position on the life-choice issue, sending chilling death threats is a perversion," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said. "It is terrorism, it is emotional violence, it is wrong."

Waagner, 45, was on the FBI's Most Wanted list when he was captured in December, 10 months after escaping from jail in Illinois. He was caught at a copy shop outside Cincinnati after an employee recognized him from his wanted poster.

Authorities said that while he was on the run, Waagner posted the Web site message and mailed at least 550 letters to women's clinics in 24 states. The envelopes, from the "Army of God," contained a harmless white powder.

Scores of clinic workers who received the letters underwent decontamination procedures and sought medical care, though none suffered any harm from the powder. Several of the clinics closed for a short time.

Waagner said in a telephone interview in April that he mailed the letters to disrupt abortions without hurting anyone.

He had not been charged in connection with the letters until yesterday, but had already been found guilty of other crimes committed while on the run. He was convicted on gun charges in Ohio and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Illinois for the jailbreak and weapons offenses.