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Thursday, December 06, 2001
By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Clayton Lee Waagner, whose escape and crime spree earned him spots on both the FBI and U.S. Marshals most wanted lists, was captured yesterday at a copy shop outside Cincinnati.
Waagner, 45, of Kennerdell, Venango County, spent nine months in a cross-country run during which he threatened to stalk and kill abortion providers, was indicted in two bank holdups, claimed responsibility for hundreds of hoax anthrax letters to women's health clinics and was accused of kidnapping a Tennessee man outside a Mississippi casino using a stolen gun.
Waagner, described by authorities as a career criminal, escaped through the roof of the De Witt County Jail in Clinton, Ill., Feb. 22, where he was awaiting sentencing on federal theft and firearms charges that could have resulted in life in prison.
On the run, he declared himself an anti-abortion "warrior" who had been called by God to kill abortion providers. He posted an Internet message vowing to kill anyone who worked at abortion clinics, whether they were medical personnel or the cleaning crew.
Waagner's capture yesterday at a Kinko's copy center in Springdale, Ohio, followed a nationwide plea by Attorney General John Ashcroft for help in apprehending him. It brought a collective sigh of relief from abortion providers around the country.
Federal agents, who had picked Waagner up on wiretaps and attempted to reconstruct his movements using information from a laptop computer he had abandoned in a hotel, had traced Waagner to the Cincinnati area, where he had been spotted several times in the past year.
"We knew he frequented Kinko's and we'd been watching the Kinko's and we had a flier in every one in America," said Bruce Harmening, the deputy U.S. marshal who headed the nine-month search.
An employee at the Kinko's store in Springdale identified Waagner from the flier and summoned marshals, who called local police.
"He was peaceful and accepted his apprehension," Harmening said.
Waagner had a stolen .40-caliber pistol and $10,000 in cash.
Waagner was being held without bond by U.S. marshals, who now must decide where first to take him. He faces charges of escape in Illinois, bank robbery in Harrisburg and Morgantown, W.Va., a gun charge in Knoxville, Tenn., a charge of carrying a bomb in Nashville, kidnapping in Mississippi and likely mail fraud charges in multiple states in connection with the fake anthrax letters.
During the course of his run, Waagner was picked up on wiretaps by federal agents, who believed he was using cell phones and, at points, computer programs that allow telephone calls using the Internet. On two occasions, they arrived at motels in Pennsylvania just hours after Waagner had checked out.
Last month, a team of FBI agents, marshals and U.S. postal inspectors searched the Waagner family's house in Venango County, a search they said turned up little useful information.
"It's called harassment and hoping that dad would come home and save the day and they'd all catch him," Waagner's wife, Mary, said yesterday. She declined to comment about the capture other than to say she had been informed about it.
Justice Department sources said Waagner abandoned a laptop computer in a hotel room in Tunica, Miss., Sept. 7, when he kidnapped a Tennessee man and stole his automobile. Technicians reconstructed Waagner's records from the machine's hard drive and were able to deduce his travel patterns up to that date.
Waagner, in interviews with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette prior to his escape from jail, said he frequently used Kinko's shops to manufacture false identifications and to log into the Internet, where he claimed to have stored hundreds of names and addresses of abortion providers he hoped to attack.
At the time of his capture yesterday, Waagner had paid for Internet access at the Kinko's in Springdale.
Neal Horsley, a leader among anti-abortion militants, said Waagner, during a visit to his home in Carrollton, Ga., the day after Thanksgiving, showed him dozens of false IDs.
Horsley taped Waagner's remarks, during which Waagner offered documents to prove he sent the anthrax hoax letters that shut down dozens of abortion clinics around the country in October and November. In the taped conversation, Waagner read off the Federal Express billing numbers he said he stole from the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood to send anthrax threats and powder to hundreds of clinics, including facilities in suburban Pittsburgh and Johnstown.
Horsley said that at one point Waagner told him, "You know, I really am an accomplished criminal."
Waagner's saga began in May 1999 when he and Jason Miller, a young man he had met through his Grove City church, stole a car from a Venango County dealership and guns from the home of a neighbor. The pair traveled through the mid-South, Miller later said, planning to rob coin dealers.
Waagner, who was on parole after a previous theft conviction, had become obsessed with the arrival of the year 2000, and believed widespread computer failures would create havoc. Miller said they were seeking gold to trade for weapons and food stockpiles in the event of a national emergency.
After running out of money, Miller said, the two held up a convenience store near Lexington, Ky. Miller was caught after they abandoned their truck, but Waagner escaped. He was sighted several weeks later, fleeing into the Allegheny National Forest.
Some weeks after that, Waagner was caught in Illinois with a stolen motor home and several weapons. At the time, his wife and eight children were with him.
In a series of interviews with the Post-Gazette, Waagner said he had been called on by God to attack abortion clinics and said he spent his time after the Lexington holdup staking out abortion clinics, following employees home, and that on three occasions he was preparing to shoot but lost his nerve.
While in prison in Illinois, awaiting trial and then sentencing, Waagner corresponded with several people who advocate violence against abortion providers.
Yesterday, some of them expressed regret that Waagner had been captured.
"Clayton closed down a lot of abortion mills, and I supposed he had plans to close down a lot more," said the Rev. Donald Spitz, a Chesapeake, Va., minister whose Army of God Web site posted Waagner's threats to kill anyone working at a clinic.
Abortion rights advocates cheered Waagner's capture.
"We're feeling a lot better," said Ann Glazier, director of security for Planned Parenthood. Glazier's name was used on the return addresses of many of the anthrax threats sent by Federal Express last month.
"We hope that federal law enforcement agencies will now crack the terrorist network that is aiding, sheltering and recruiting the Clayton Waagners of our country," said Eleanor Smeal of the Feminist Majority Foundation.