| FBI chief rallies local agents | |
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News | |
FBI Director Robert Mueller, meeting with agents in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, vowed to capture fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. "My expectation is we will catch him. He is a fugitive and an important fugitive. That's why he's on the Ten Most Wanted list," Mueller said. Mueller was in Salt Lake City as part of a nationwide tour of FBI field offices. After delivering a pep talk to FBI agents in Utah, Mueller met with reporters for about 13 minutes on a variety of topics: Warren Jeffs Mueller said his visit included a briefing on the nationwide manhunt for the fugitive Fundamentalist LDS Church leader. The FBI director said they were using a number of resources to find Jeffs. He defended placing the fugitive polygamist on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, among criminals like terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. "This is a person that preys on children," Mueller said. "I would expect that most of the American public would view a person such as this as a person that belongs behind bars." Jeffs, 50, is charged in Utah and Arizona with sex crimes accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Federal prosecutors have charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A $100,000 bounty is being offered for information leading to Jeffs' arrest. Jack Anderson papers The FBI wants 50 years of papers compiled by muckraker journalist Jack Anderson, who died in 2005 at age 83. Mueller said the FBI has information that classified documents dealing with national security are among Anderson's papers. Anderson's family has said it would not comply with FBI requests. "Our effort has been to identify what those documents might be before they're publicized and determine whether or not there would be an adverse impact on national security if they were made public," he said. "That has been the sole interest we have in those documents." Mueller deflected questions about the Bush administration pushing for prosecution of journalists who publish classified information and refuse to reveal their sources. "We're trying to determine whether or not national security would be adversely impacted by the disclosure of these documents. That's our sole intent," he said. "I hardly think that is an assault on the press." Oklahoma City bombing A Salt Lake City lawyer investigating the death of his brother in a federal prison has been pushing the FBI to release information about the Oklahoma City bombing. Jesse Trentadue claims his brother was mistaken for a bank robbery suspect with ties to the bombing and was killed by federal agents during an interrogation. Trentadue wants evidence that shows the FBI knew about Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's plans, but did nothing. Mueller dismissed the theories. "That has been thoroughly investigated and put to rest," he said. The 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City killed 168 people. Terrorism "Because it's an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to get into the details," Mueller said of the case involving Sharif Omar, 37, Cottonwood Heights, one of several people facing charges of money laundering and bank fraud. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating whether or not money in a fraud scheme was used to support terrorist activities. Omar is the brother of Shawqi Omar, who is being investigated for ties to al-Qaida in Iraq. Mueller did say that preventing terrorism is the FBI's top priority. "We have taken dramatic steps in the past four years to develop our intelligence capabilities, enhance our information technology and expand our partnerships," he said. The FBI director spoke at length about the recent arrests of 17 people in Canada in a terror plot. He said progress has been made in the war on terror with the arrests of top terror leaders around the world, action in Afghanistan and cooperation with police agencies worldwide. Mueller said he remains concerned that terror plots are "home grown." "You look at what happened in Madrid, you look at what happened in London, you see what happened up in Canada," he said. "You have to be concerned that the same thing is happening in the United States." E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com | |
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deseretnews.com Originally published Thursday, June 8, 2006 | |
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