APFN
Ex-anthrax suspect out of jail
Sun Oct 21 14:44:33 2001


Saturday, March 07, 1998

Ex-anthrax suspect out of jail

An Ohio judge sets Larry Wayne Harris free
after examining his role involving a biological
scare last month.

By John McCarthy
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A federal magistrate on
Friday determined that there is enough evidence to hold
a full hearing on whether Larry Wayne Harris violated
one term of his probation, but that there was not
probable cause to believe Harris had committed more
crimes.
At a preliminary hearing, U.S. Magistrate Mark
Abel also ordered that Harris, of Lancaster, Ohio, be
released from custody.
Harris had been jailed since his arrest in Southern
Nevada on Feb. 18 with William Job Leavitt Jr., 47, of
Logandale, on charges of possession of a biological
agent for use as a weapon.
Those charges were dismissed Feb. 23 when it was
determined that the men had harmless anthrax vaccine,
rather than deadly military-grade anthrax as first thought.

Leavitt was released from custody that day but
Harris was returned to Ohio, where he faces charges of
parole violation of a 1995 charge of wire fraud.
Authorities brought that charge because Harris, a
microbiologist, illegally obtained a quantity of bubonic
plague bacteria through the mail.
On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Peters
argued that Harris and Leavitt tried to cause a public
nuisance by telling another Nevada man, Ronald
Rockwell, that they had military-grade anthrax.
Rockwell, 55, relayed the information to the FBI in
Las Vegas, where agents agreed to have Rockwell
secretly record the men setting up a test. Harris and
Leavitt say little on the tape during a meeting in a
restaurant parking lot.
But Rockwell said during a drive to a medical clinic
that when he asked Harris what the substance he was
carrying could do, Harris motioned as if playing a violin.
And when Rockwell asked Harris what he should do if
the substance were released, Harris gestured that he
should "run like hell," Rockwell said.
Harris and Leavitt were arrested at the clinic later
that night.
Michael Kennedy, Harris' public defender from
Nevada, argued that besides Rockwell, it could not be
determined who said what on the tape. He said Harris
had never said he had military-grade anthrax.
Abel ruled there was not enough evidence that
Harris was trying to cause a public nuisance, since the
public did not know what the men were doing.
"The threat, if there was one, was directed at Mr.
Rockwell. He is not a number of persons," Abel said.
The government also failed to prove probable cause
that Harris violated his probation by producing infectious
diseases, bacteria or germs in a makeshift laboratory in
his home, Abel ruled.
Special Agent Dave Stout of the FBI's Columbus
office testified that during a search of Harris' home the
day after the arrests, he seized a number of containers,
plus a device that Harris had claimed could spread
infectious diseases.
But Kennedy argued that Harris used the device at
survivalist trade shows to demonstrate it. He had no
intention of using it himself, Kennedy said.
Able said there was enough evidence to hold a full
hearing on whether Harris was continuing to tell people
that he used to work for the CIA, another violation of
his probation.
He also said the hearing should determine whether
Harris changed hotels without telling his probation officer
while in Las Vegas.
The hearing was not immediately scheduled.
During Friday's preliminary hearing, Harris, dressed
in a blue T-shirt and pants issued by the Franklin County
jail, sat calmly. He occasionally whispered to his lawyers
and tugged on his beard.
He was released from the jail around 8:30 p.m.,
television station WBNS reported. His wife, Carol,
declined to comment after the hearing.
Harris, 46, pleaded guilty in 1995 to wire fraud after
his arrest for obtaining three vials of freeze-dried
bubonic plague bacteria through the mail. He was put on
18 months' probation.
He said he bought the bacteria for his research and
had never intended to use it to harm anyone.
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1998/Mar-07-Sat-1998/news/7088787.html
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Please take the time to hear these tapes:

Larry W. Harris ,,,,,,,, Audio files
http://www.newswatchmagazine.org/realaudio/10~11~01.ram
http://www.newswatchmagazine.org/realaudio/10~12~01.ram
http://www.newswatchmagazine.org/realaudio/10~15~01.ram
http://www.newswatchmagazine.org/realaudio/10~16~01.ram

See:
Harris pleads guilty, is free
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/biowar.htm
==========================================================================

A recently uncovered Army report from 1972 about the March 14, 1968 chemical weapons
test at Dugway Proving Ground that went awry and 6,400 sheep keeled over in their fields,
suggests the sheep died from a lethal combination of nerve-gas traces and pesticides.

Gulf War veterans, who were exposed to insecticides, oil-fire smoke and possibly chemical
agents as the Iraqi stockpile was blown up, are suffering from chronic ailments similar to
those found near Dugway Proving Ground.

"Does low-level exposure to nerve agent amount to overexposure to pesticides? Basically,
all we know is that a certain percentage of people subjected to these substances have
health problems."

Jim Tuite, a researcher with the Chronic Illness Research Foundation.
http://connect.to/dpgsurvivors 

• A Military Secret No Longer — APFN, Sun Oct 21 15:34