Anthrax hoax suspect arrested

The wife of self-proclaimed "anti-abortion warrior" Clayton Lee Waagner of Venango County said she is glad he was arrested without incident Wednesday before he or anyone else got hurt.

Clayton Waagner, whose wife and eight of their nine children live in the Kennerdell area, is suspected of sending hundreds of phony anthrax letters to abortion clinics across the county.

He was arrested by two police officers at 1 p.m. at a Kinko's copy store in Springdale, Ohio, near Cincinnati, U.S. Marshal Frank Policaro said at a news conference in Pittsburgh.

"I'm glad he's in custody and nobody is hurt," Mary Waagner said last night outside the family's unfinished, rural home off Route 308 near Clintonville.

"I do not have any type of reaction feeling-wise. I've been a single mother with eight children for about two years. I don't have time for feelings anymore. Eventually, it will be real and it will be time to get onto the next step."

Clayton Waagner, 45, had been on the run since his Feb. 22 escape from Dewitt County Jail in Clinton, Ill. Waagner, who has admitted stalking abortion clinics around the country, was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List as well as the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted, Policaro said.

Waagner is charged with interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon and at least two bank robberies, Policaro said.

Mary Waagner said she and her husband are both born-again Christians and believe that the abortion of unborn children is "murder."

But she said she disagrees with her husband's threats to begin killing those who work in abortion clinics.

"Two wrongs don't make a right. I don't know what tripped him over the edge. Some believe it was when our oldest daughter lost her baby girl."

The couple's daughter, Emily, who is married, suffered a miscarriage when she was five months' pregnant.

"A few months after that, everything started," Mary Waagner said.

Officers were called to the copy store by a clerk who recognized Clayton Waagner from FBI wanted posters, Policaro said. Waagner surrendered peacefully, he said.

Policaro said he did not know what Waagner was doing in the store. He was seen sitting either at a computer or a desk, he said.

Authorities have not determined if the clerk will receive the $100,000 reward offered for information leading to Waagner's arrest, Policaro said.

Waagner was alone and had a .40-caliber pistol in his waistband, Policaro said. He was driving a stolen car.

Policaro said Waagner was surprised that he'd been caught and described him as one of the most wily fugitives he'd ever pursued. U.S. Marshals in Cincinnati are holding Waagner, Policaro said.

"In my 40 years, he's one of the cleverest criminals I've ever encountered. We've always been one minute, two minutes, three minutes behind him."

Policaro said a local task force of 20 state and federal law enforcement officers working with U.S. Marshals in Illinois determined several months ago that Waagner often frequented Kinko's stores in various states.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said last week that Waagner was the primary suspect in hundreds of anthrax hoaxes.

More than 280 letters containing white powder were mailed to women's reproductive-health clinics throughout the East during the second week of October. Six of the threats were received in western Pennsylvania.

A second series of 270 hoax anthrax letters - signed by "the Army of God" - were sent early last month via Federal Express to clinics, including at least three in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Officials said none of the powder has tested positive for anthrax. Waagner has not been charged in the anthrax hoaxes, Policaro said.

Waagner is suspected in a number of bank robberies since his escape and has been charged with the holdup last summer of First Union Bank in Harrisburg and the Nov. 9 robbery of a bank in Morgantown, W.Va.

Abortion clinics around the nation were put on alert in June after Waagner, or someone identifying himself as Waagner, posted an Internet message threatening to kill the 42 abortion-clinic employees.

Last week Waagner renewed a threat to begin shooting support personnel who work at abortion clinics.

Abortion rights advocates - both locally and nationally - were relieved upon hearing of Waagner's arrest.

"We are jubilant. We are really pretty excited. It's been a very frightening time for us," said Claire Keys, director of Allegheny Reproductive Health Center in East Liberty. The center received one fake anthrax letter in recent months.

"I think everybody is pretty much dancing around. I heard a lot of staff say that they hope this time the authorities don't let him go," Keys said.

Kim Evert, president of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, warns there are plenty more "domestic terrorists" who need to be stopped.

"We are encouraging Attorney General Ashcroft to direct federal resources to hunting down the whole network of terrorists who have aided and abetted (Waagner) and helped him duck a national manhunt for more than two months," said Evert, whose offices have received two anthrax threats.

Vicki Saporta, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Abortion Federation, said groups like the anti-abortion Army of God should be targeted.

"These anthrax letters were signed by the Army of God. They have praised these anthrax letters. ... It's important that we put a stop to the activities of domestic terrorist organizations like the Army of God so we can put a stop to the violence aimed at women's healthcare providers."

Many Army of God members have treated Waagner as a hero. The Rev. Donald Spitz, an Army of God member and Pentecostal minister who heads Pro-Life Virginia in Chesapeake, Va., declared Waagner's arrest "a very sad thing."

"Clayton saved a lot of babies from getting murdered by abortion mills," said Spitz, who posted messages from Waagner on his Army of God Web site. "Now that he's apprehended, the future babies that would get saved by him will now die. Clayton had planned on saving more babies from being murdered by the abortion mills."

Asked how Waagner saved babies, Spitz replied: "By closing down abortion mills with phony anthrax letters."

Mary Waagner said she has not seen her husband since he was initially arrested in September 1999 in Illinois.

"I never had enough money to take the kids to visit him. We barely have enough to make ends meet."

She said he hasn't called her for a few months but that she hopes the authorities would let him call her last night.

Mary Waagner, whose family lives in Kinsman, Ohio, met her husband 24 years ago at a "700 Club" event where he was working. The "700 Club" is a daily televised prayer program hosted by Pat Robertson and produced by the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"It was love at first sight," she said.

The couple - whose children range in age from 23 to 9 - moved to Venango County about 3½ years ago into the two-story house that is still under construction.

There is no electrical service to the house, which has several wood-burning stoves and a generator for electricity. Mary Waagner home-schools her children.

"We all have really strong faith in the Lord," she said.

She said the children have experienced "some hurt, some anger," by everything that's happened.

"I teach my children to focus on the good and what we have, not on what we don't have. If you focus on the negatives, it will drive you crazy."

Kennerdell residents described their community as having about 50 full-time families and a boat store, a post office and a volunteer fire department.

Because it's nestled on the banks of the Allegheny River, it's a popular spot for fishermen, hunters and campers between April and December and pretty much deserted the rest of the year, residents say.

Several residents said last night they didn't know of the Waagners until Clayton's name began appearing on the news.

Mary Waagner, whose home is located several miles from Kennerdell, said she is friends with some Amish families but that most other people keep their distance.

"They ostracize us because of the sins of the father," she said. "They don't like us."