FBI arrest two in Henderson on charge involving weapons of mass destruction

Robert Macy

Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998 | 11:16 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Two men have been arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting an attack, possibly on a U.S. city's subway system, the FBI said today.

The suspects include a central Ohio man who was given probation after pleading guilty to illegally obtaining bubonic plague bacteria through the mail.

The two were taken into custody late Wednesday in a luxury car outside a doctor's office in the Green Valley Professional Center in Henderson, Nev., a Las Vegas suburb.

The Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas said 46-year-old Larry Wayne Harris and 47-year-old William Leavitt were in custody on charges of possessing "weapons for mass destruction." Jail officials didn't have hometowns for the men.

Last year, Harris, of Lancaster, Ohio, pleaded guilty to a count of fraud after he was accused of illegally obtaining bubonic plague bacteria through the mail from a laboratory in 1995. He said he never intended to hurt anyone and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.

FBI spokesman Aurelio Flores would not confirm the suspects names.

"These individuals were involved in the construction of a weapon," he said. "We have no idea where they were going to use it."

Flores said the FBI has secured the area where the car was found and had "made everything safe." He said the agency was not looking for explosives.

In New York, another FBI source had said earlier that the suspects were members of the Aryan Nation, a white supremacist group, and allegedly planned to release a "dangerous bacterial substance" in that city's subways. But Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said that his city was not the target, and Flores said a number of cities may have been discussed.

In Tokyo in 1995, 12 people were killed when a doomsday cult loosed nerve gas in the subway system.

"These individuals were trying to be maybe copycats of what happened in Japan," Flores said. "They might have talked about different cities. We have no conclusive evidence to indicate that they were talking about a specific city. It was loose talk.

"The important thing is that everything is safe," Flores said.

In Washington, a federal law enforcement source said agents were investigating allegations that the two men arrested in Las Vegas possessed anthrax. The source stressed that the tests were not complete and that there have been unfounded instances in the past involving allegations of anthrax.

Anthrax is an infectious disease that usually afflicts only animals, especially cattle and sheep. But Anthrax spores can be produced in a dry form suitable for weapons and can be fatal to humans even in microscopic amounts.

Bubonic plague can be fatal but is treatable with antibiotics.

The luxury car was taken to Nellis Air Force Base. In statement, base officials said explosive ordnance disposal personnel "were asked to assist FBI agents last night in the Green Valley-Henderson area. Nellis personnel impounded a vehicle on their behalf."