CINCINNATI, Ohio (dpa) – Police have captured a fugitive suspected of mailing hundreds of fake (or hoax) anthrax letters to abortion clinics in the eastern United States.
Officials with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, say Clayton Lee Waagner was caught in Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday. He was among the FBI’s ten most-wanted fugitives and has been on the run since escaping from a prison in Illinois this past February.
Police say Mr. Waagner claimed responsibility for sending more than 280 letters to east coast abortion clinics during the second week of October. The letters claimed to contain the potentially deadly bacterium.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and others in federal law enforcement have said they will aggressively prosecute individuals who carry out such hoaxes, saying they take valuable time and resources away from actual anthrax threats.
Attorney General Ashcroft said in a televised speech that Mr. Waagner is, as he put it, “in good hands with the U.S. marshall’s service.”
