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Intelligence Report, Summer 1998, Issue Number: 91
Attempt to Assassinate Clinton Fails
Three men face possible terms of life in prison after being arrested for allegedly planning to assassinate President Clinton and other government officials using a cactus thorn coated with a deadly toxin. Johnnie Wise, 72, Jack Abbott Grebe Jr., 43, and Oliver Dean Emigh, 63, were charged with conspiracy to use "weapons of mass destruction" after their July 1 arrests in Olmito, Texas, near the Mexican border.
The men allegedly told informants that they were members of the Republic of Texas, an antigovernment group that believes Texas is an independent nation. (Republic leader Richard McLaren was sentenced to 111 years in prison after ordering the kidnapping of a neighbor couple and then engaging in a seven-day standoff with law enforcement officials in the spring of 1997.)
According to an affidavit, Wise and Grebe told an FBI informant that they planned to modify a cigarette lighter so it would expel air instead of propane in order to fire a cactus needle tipped with anthrax, botulism or the AIDS virus. All three men had allegedly sent threatening E-mail to Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Louis Freeh and others.
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Tuesday, October 27, 1998
FBI agents testify in BIC weapon trial
By MADELINE BARO, Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Two men accused of threatening government officials in email admitted knowing about the threats as well as a device to shoot germ-coated cactus thorns, an FBI agent testified Monday.
But Oliver Dean Emigh, 63, and Jack Abbott Grebe, 43, denied any involvement with the scheme, said FBI Agent Franklin Sharkey, citing statements the men made to FBI agents after their July 1 arrests. Emigh, Grebe, and Johnie Wise, 72, are charged with conspiring and threatening to use weapons of mass destruction.
The men are accused of sending threatening e-mails in June to President Clinton and his family, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, and other federal, state and local officials and their families.
They are also accused of plotting to infect their alleged targets with modified cigarette lighters designed to shoot cactus needles coated with biological toxins like botulism, anthrax or rabies.
Wise denied any knowledge of the Bic lighter plan or threats in his statement to the FBI, Sharkey said.
Defense attorneys have accused the government of entrapment and challenged the credibility of government informant John Cain.
According to Sharkey, both Emigh and Grebe said they knew of the lighter device. Emigh, who's accused of writing an e-mail titled the "Declaration of War," denied being the author, the agent said.
"He said he wrote it down, but did not compose it," Sharkey testified.
Grebe told agents he was in the room making copies when the e-mails were sent, but did not participate, Sharkey said. Sharkey was allowed to testify about only certain parts of the defendants' statements.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed outside the presence of the jury to leave out parts of the statements in which the three apparently implicated one another.
Much of the prosecution's case hinges on Cain, who testified last week that he started doing freelance computer work for Republic of Texas members and ended up reporting to the FBI about members' activities.
Attorneys for both sides spent most of Monday morning going over details. Dan Herink, Grebe's attorney, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Martinez went over transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between Grebe and Cain, pointing out specific sections and asking FBI Agent David Church for his interpretations.
Church also testified that the FBI ran background and criminal checks on Cain, which did not turn up any criminal history nor history of involvement as an informant or otherwise in any previous Department of Justice case.
Sharkey also testified Monday that Cain was paid $350 for attending a Republic of Texas meeting in the Bryan area in mid-June. Church previously testified that Cain was also paid to attend a previous meeting in Conroe.
The case against Grebe, Wise and Emigh focuses on two specific e-mails. One message, sent June 12, was the "Declaration of War." The second, sent June 26, said government employees and their families had been "targeted for destruction by revenge." Audiotapes were made of conversations between Cain and the three men and a videotape was made of Grebe, Wise and Cain discussing and sending the e-mails on June 26. Prosecutors say the messages were sent by Cain under the direction of Grebe and Wise. Emigh allegedly drafted the "Declaration of War."
The defendants are members of a faction of the Republic of Texas, a group that believes Texas was illegally annexed and is not part of the United States.
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Friday, Oct. 30, 1998
2 of 3 Republic of Texas members guilty of e-mail threats
Pair convicted of conspiring against government,
while third cleared of all charges
By MADELINE BARO, Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE - Two men accused in an alleged plot to use biological weapons on federal officials were convicted Thursday night on two counts of sending threatening e-mail to government agencies but acquitted on six other charges.
A third defendant, Oliver Dean Emigh, 63, was acquitted on all eight charges.
Emigh was charged along with Jack Abbott Grebe, 43, and Johnie Wise, 72, with one count of conspiracy and seven counts of sending threatening e-mails.
Grebe and Wise were convicted only on charges that they sent threatening notes to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Internal Revenue Service.
Sentencing was set for next Jan. 29. The men face up to life in prison on each of the two counts.
Federal prosecutor Mervyn Mosbacker called the verdict "a victory" and said agents likely saved lives by arresting the men before they could carry out their alleged plot.
"I don't think the U.S. should have to wait for someone to cause death and destruction to respond to a threat of that kind," Mosbacker said.
The judge denied a motion by defense attorneys to throw out the guilty verdicts.
"This verdict is contradictory on its face," said Keith Uhles, who represents Wise.
Prosecutors said Wise schemed to modify a cigarette lighter so it would shoot cactus needles coated with toxins such as rabies, botulism, anthrax or HIV. Defense attorneys called the idea "silly" and "cockamamie."
There was never any evidence that the accused ever possessed any biological weapons or tried to develop the alleged deadly lighter. The e-mailed threats were vaguely worded and did not discuss the lighter or cactus thorns.
Among the men's alleged targets: President Clinton, the U.S. and Texas attorneys general and FBI Director Louis Freeh. One e-mail, sent June 12, was titled "Declaration of War." A second e-mail sent June 26 told government officials they'd been "targeted for destruction by revenge."
The men were charged in connection with the second e-mail.
The prosecution case centered largely on government informant John Cain and whether his actions constituted entrapment.
Cain started doing freelance computer and other work for "citizens" of the Republic of Texas and kept FBI agents apprised of the separatists activities. He eventually agreed to record conversations after telling the FBI about the cactus needle plot.
Republic of Texas members believe Texas is not part of the United States because it was illegally annexed. Wise, Grebe and Emigh were associated with a faction of the group that met in Harlingen.
Prosecutors said the men wanted to target government officials and their families to speed the transition from the existing government to a Republic of Texas leadership.
Defense attorneys identified Cain as the mastermind of the e-mail scheme and said their clients were victims of entrapment, while prosecutors argued that Cain only sent the e-mails from his computer at the direction of Grebe and Wise.
Audio tapes of conversations between Cain and the three defendants and a videotape of Grebe, Wise and Cain sending e-mails on June 26 were played for jurors. Emigh, accused of writing the "Declaration of War," seemed to acknowledge being the author in one of the tapes.
FBI Agent Franklin Sharkey also testified that after their July 1 arrests, Grebe and Emigh admitted knowing about the cigarette lighter plan and the e-mail attacks, but denied involvement.
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482nd FIS Webmaster: George C. Willick
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