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In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the anthrax-related deaths in Florida, New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., Americans were on the alert. That October and November, a number of abortion clinics around the country received letters containing an unidentified powder and a note threatening death by exposure to the contents.
The first letters carried return addresses of the U.S. Secret Service and Marshals Service. The letters, signed “Army of God,” contained an herbicide that, although not dangerous, tested positive for Anthrax in some preliminary tests. Clues led investigators to focus on Clayton Lee Waagner, a wanted fugitive with ties to the Army of God.
Postal inspectors were not the only officers looking for Waagner. The U.S. Marshals service had been on his trail since he had escaped from an Illinois jail on February 22, 2001. On September 21, 2001, the FBI added him to their list of most wanted fugitives. On December 5, 2001, an alert clerk at an Ohio copy store recognized Waagner from a wanted poster and alerted local police.
Waagner was sentenced in January 2002 to 30 years in prison for a 1999 theft of a Winnebago, illegally possessing firearms, and escaping from the DeWitt County Jail. Three months later he was convicted of charges stemming from his mail threats and received an additional 19 year sentence. He faced additional charges in Memphis, Tennessee, for a pipe bomb; in Mississippi for a carjacking; and in Pennsylvania and West Virginia for bank robbery. |
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