FBI informant’s credibility probed in anthrax arrests

Denise Cardinal and Art Nadler

Monday, Feb. 23, 1998 | 10:02 a.m.

Although the FBI has said that Ronald G. Rockwell is a scientist specializing in cancer research, his name isn't registered with the National Library of Medicine.

This organization indexes and references all legitimate cancer research papers from around the world.

"I do a lot of cancer research nationally and locally, and I am not familiar with his name," Dr. John Ellerton, head of the Southern Nevada Cancer Research Foundation, said. "I don't know him. I never even heard his name before."

Rockwell's credibility is an issue because he is the FBI's key witness in the arrest last week of William Job Leavitt and Larry Wayne Harris on suspicion of possessing anthrax, a deadly bacteria. A substance confiscated from the pair, however, turned out to be a harmless vaccine.

Lamond Mills, Leavitt's attorney, characterized Rockwell as "far from being a credible witness."

The FBI, in a complaint, said Rockwell has two felony convictions against him for conspiracy to commit extortion in 1981 and 1982.

Questions about Rockwell's credibility arose in part because of the FBI's claim that Rockwell is a cancer researcher.

When asked about the FBI reference to Rockwell as "a research scientist, specializing in cancer research," a spokesman for the FBI said they stand by their statement.

But Rockwell doesn't even refer to himself as a medical researcher.

"I'm not a microbiologist, and I'm not a chemist," Rockwell said last week in an interview with the SUN.

Rockwell, 55, said he graduated from Sweetwater High School in San Diego. He added that he had flight and military training.

Rockwell also said he's been working as an "engineer, corporation owner and boat racer."

Rockwell operates a business, Rockwell Scientific Research, out of a private residence at 2821 Merritt Ave.

Brett Marshall, Rockwell's friend and spokesman, said Rockwell held the Pacific Offshore B-Class boat speed record from 1988-90.

Marshall also said Rockwell had a degree in engineering, though he didn't know from where.

In last week's interview, Rockwell also briefly explained his involvement with Leavitt and Harris.

Rockwell said Leavitt approached him in August, wanting to test and buy Rockwell's scientific equipment.

The equipment -- called the AZ58 Ray Tube -- was capable of killing bacteria by altering the frequency of the organism, Rockwell said.

"It's affective on a head cold and can get rid of a bad case of the flu," Rockwell said.

The treatment occurs when a patient stands within a 68-foot radius of the device, Rockwell said.

He said that up to 200 people with the same ailment could be cured by the AZ58 at once, if they all fit within that radius.

Rockwell said his goal was to develop the AZ58 and sell it to the Army Biological Proving Ground in Dunway, Utah.

But he said Leavitt wanted to have the AZ58 manufactured in Germany.

Rockwell said he told Leavitt he wanted $20 million for the equipment, which Leavitt said he couldn't afford.

In the process of negotiating their arrangement, Rockwell said Leavitt introduced him to Harris.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montogomery, Ala., Harris is a former member of the Aryan Nations in Hayden Lake, Idaho. He was arrested in May 1995 in Ohio for possession of three vials of freezed-dried bubonic plague.

Rockwell said he pulled out of the business deal one night at dinner when Harris said he and Leavitt possessed anthrax.

"That's when I lost my appetite at dinner," Rockwell said. "I had just gotten started in my salad, and I said I had to go home. They just said they had it (anthrax), and I couldn't finish eating. I went home and called the Army biological center."