Apprehended.
December 5, 2001 12:30 PM   Subscribe

Apprehended. Religious nutjob, escaped convict and FBI Ten Most Wanted List member Clayton Lee Waagner was caught today at a Kinko's store in Cincinnati by US Marshals. Clayton had been on the run since February.
posted by thewittyname (22 comments total)
 
This guy has been nothing but trouble for police trying to catch him for the last 10 months. Not only was this guy responsible for sending hundreds of hoax anthrax letters to abortion clinics across the country, he had bragged two weeks ago that he was going to kill 42 specific abortion providers.
posted by thewittyname at 12:47 PM on December 5, 2001


YES!!!

This is FANTASTIC!!! I can't wait for them to try him like the terrorist that he is!

The fact that he wasn't apprehended until after 9/11 is almost enough to make me believe in a god. Hopefully, he will be convicted not only of murder and commiting acts of terrorism, but also of treason. Anyone up for a hanging?
posted by UrbanFigaro at 12:54 PM on December 5, 2001


So, apparently, if you want to spread your message, DON'T PHOTOCOPY FLYERS! Stay away from Kinko's if you're a terrorist. Just buy a ream or two of paper and a laser printer.
posted by dwivian at 12:56 PM on December 5, 2001


This is great! Glad to hear he's off of the streets.
posted by hadashi at 1:01 PM on December 5, 2001


Hanging's too good for 'em. Be more original. Surgically remove all his bones! Hmm. naa. That'd sorta make the taxpayers responsible for him. Frontal Lobotomy? Could still be a semi-productive member of society. Landscaping work and what-not.
posted by Nauip at 1:07 PM on December 5, 2001


I think frontal lobotomies ought to be considered for a whole range of violent offenses, myself.

Nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of a perceived injustice...that I can understand. And that, I think, Jesus would condone. (Even He may have cleared the temple, but He didn't kill any moneychangers.)

Threatening people with anthrax is impossible to take as "freedom fighting" or vigilantism or anything but pure-and-simple bioterrorism.
posted by alumshubby at 1:12 PM on December 5, 2001


Hopefully, he will be convicted not only of murder and commiting acts of terrorism, but also of treason.

The last time I checked, you have to actually murder someone before you can be convicted of it, and treason is quite difficult to prosecute, but a terrorism charge would probably stick.
posted by MrBaliHai at 1:15 PM on December 5, 2001


I'm relieved to hear this. Although, I have to say I'm surprised his maximum sentence is only 10 years per conviction (so far only 5). He sounds like a complete nut, with jail breaks, robberies, carjackings, bombings, and now anthrax hoaxes and threats on the lives of 42 doctors. This guy isn't going to stop or be stopped. I don't know if 15-20 in the slammer is going to reform him. He's a very genuine threat to society.
posted by mathowie at 1:20 PM on December 5, 2001


Life imprisonment on acts of terrorism and harrassment.
posted by tiaka at 1:21 PM on December 5, 2001


I think of Waagner as the John Brown of the violently anti-abortionist movement, except he won't get elevated to martyr status. And he ain't gonna like the way he's treated by the other inmates once they realize he's more of a religious fruitloop than a serious heavy. He'll be pretty low on the pecking order.
posted by alumshubby at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2001


I think of Waagner as the John Brown of the violently anti-abortionist movement, except he won't get elevated to martyr status. And he ain't gonna like the way he's treated by the other inmates once they realize he's more of a religious fruitloop than a serious heavy. He'll be pretty low in the pecking order.
posted by alumshubby at 1:26 PM on December 5, 2001


Oops. Damn...
posted by alumshubby at 1:27 PM on December 5, 2001


Not to rant but...

Personally I can't believe someone at Kinko's did something correct without having to tell them four times and writing the instructions down on paper in 4th grade english. I go to school in Cincinnati, and I have yet to have been at a Kinko's where someone knows what she/he is doing.

end rant
posted by plemeljr at 1:28 PM on December 5, 2001


Hmm... you know, if, and I may be taking this kind of far, he is a terrorist. No, he is a terrorist, and he had his training over at terrorist bases, so called "churches" then shouldn't the govn't try to stop them from aiding terrorism? I say close down all the churches, it's a preventive measure, kids and adults (converts) alike get brainwashed daily into believing the second coming of Christ (another terrorist?) and that abortion is wrong and they should stop all those that aid it by any means possible as if they won't they will not get into heaven. Last week I met a 15 year old that was drawing manga-style stuff and he had a girl cutting her insides out and revealing a baby amidst the blood. I asked what the deal was and he said that Abortion is wrong and people are stupid for doing it. Makes me wonder what is to happen should the kid go deeper into his anti-social behaviors (He did note that he doesn't have many friends and enjoys drawing and watching anime). An abortion clinic Columbine? Realistically possible.
posted by tiaka at 1:28 PM on December 5, 2001


Waagner freely admitted to being a terrorist in a message board post he made on June 18:

The government of the most powerful country in the world considers me a terrorist. That label set me aback at first. Then it struck me: They’re right. I am a terrorist. To be sure, I’m a terrorist to a very narrow group of people, but a terrorist just the same. As a terrorist to the abortionist, what I need to do is envoke terror. Thus the reason I’m posting this letter. I wish to warn them that I’m coming.....So the abortionist doesn’t get the wrong idea, I don’t plan on talking them to death. I’m going to kill as many of them as I can.

I can only hope that this little tidbit can be admissible in court, despite the inherently anonymous nature of the Internet. Of course, I happen to think that Waagner would be proud to acknowledge that he had written it.
posted by thewittyname at 1:33 PM on December 5, 2001


I say close down all the churches

That's awfully close to being a troll, and most certainly a gross overreaction. Not to mention that your implicit assertion that all churches believe in the second coming betrays a pretty incomplete knowledge of contemporary christian beliefs and practices.
posted by MrBaliHai at 1:52 PM on December 5, 2001


Waagner also was sought for bank robberies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, weapons offenses in Tennessee and carjacking in Mississippi...
...The Rev. Donald Spitz, a Pentecostal minister who heads Pro-Life Virginia in Chesapeake, Va., said it was shame Waagner was caught.


My vote for most mislead minister this month! Or maybe he's the forgiving sort...
posted by Neale at 1:59 PM on December 5, 2001


No. He's not misled. He's deranged. Donald Spitz runs the Army of God website. If we are really going after terrorists and the people who harbor them, then Donald Spitz should be tried in a war tribunal and his website shut down.

Neal Horsley, the publisher of the The Christian Gallery and the Nuremberg Files should be on this list, too. I can't wait to see what they have to say about this. Why wasn't their god protecting Clayton Waagner?
posted by UrbanFigaro at 2:14 PM on December 5, 2001


"I was just making flyers for our church bake sale," Clayton Lee exclaimed as the cuffs went on.
posted by wfrgms at 2:33 PM on December 5, 2001


I don't know if 15-20 in the slammer is going to reform him.

Of course it isn't, because Waagner is convinced that his beliefs are holy and that his mission is mandated by the Bible -- he is a true believer who has said that only death will stop him and that he did not fear such death. That kind of conviction cannot be reformed out of a man.

Every pro-lifer I know, including some extraordinarily militant types (one was under home arrest for five years for taking part in blockade/sit-in protests) are glad to see Waagner caught. The dangerous, violent, psycho fringe who will kill in the name of being vehemently opposed to abortion -- especially from a religious perspective -- only damage the credability of people who are willing to keep this battle on an intellectual plain.
posted by Dreama at 4:43 PM on December 5, 2001


I don't know if 15-20 in the slammer is going to reform him.

I don't know--reform, maybe not. But can you imagine how different society will be in 15 to 20 years, for better or worse? He'll be an anachronism in one way or another.
posted by rodii at 5:01 PM on December 5, 2001


The last time I checked, you have to actually murder someone before you can be convicted of it

I believe if you check again, you will find that there are a few ways of being convicted of murder without actually murdering someone:

1) Conspire to murder
2) Someone dies while you are committing a felony
3) Murder for hire

None of those apply to Waagner, but I haven't been anal retentive all day and I couldn't let this opportunity slip by.
posted by joaquim at 5:31 PM on December 5, 2001


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