FBI source made time travel, UFO research plans

Monday, Feb. 23, 1998 | 11:15 a.m.

Ronald G. Rockwell, the FBI source who started last week's anthrax scare in Las Vegas, may have tried to involve one of the suspects in time travel and UFO research.

Rockwell, 55, a two-time convicted felon and self-styled scientific researcher, broached the idea with William Job Leavitt Jr., of Overton, one of two microbiologists arrested in the threat that attracted worldwide headlines.

Rockwell could not be reached for comment today.

A woman identifying herself as a Rockwell employee said Rockwell was told by the FBI to stop talking to the media.

The woman described the time travel and UFO aspect of a deal with Leavitt as "totally wrong" and said Rockwell was preparing to sue Leavitt's lawyers over previous statements about her boss.

Leavitt, a 47-year-old former Mormon bishop with no criminal record, was released on his own recognizance over the weekend after the FBI disclosed the substance seized last week from Leavitt and another man, Larry Wayne Harris of Ohio, was a harmless veterinary vaccine.

Both men today remain charged with conspiracy and possession of a biological agent for use as a weapon, but the FBI is considering whether to amend or dismiss the charges.

Kirby Wells, one of Leavitt's lawyers, said today he has received word the government plans to drop the case against his client.

"We think that the charges are going to be dismissed today," Wells said, adding he was told the decision will be made by Attorney General Janet Reno in Washington.

In Columbus, Ohio today, federal authorities charged Harris with violating the probation terms of a 1995 conviction for fraudulently obtaining bubonic plague toxins.

Harris, 46, an ex-member of the Aryan Nations white supremacist group, was to appear before U.S. Magistrate Roger Hunt this afternoon on the Las Vegas charges.

The latest revelation about Rockwell's activities raises more questions about his credibility as the chief witness in the well-publicized FBI case that has taken a dramatic turnaround since the test results were made public.

Leavitt's lawyer, Kirby Wells, told the SUN late Sunday that he began to question Rockwell's credibility a couple of weeks ago, when Rockwell talked about time travel during negotiations to sell Leavitt equipment that could neutralize biological agents, such as the deadly anthrax.

"I became increasingly skeptical about his credibility," Wells said. "I questioned Bill about whether we were dealing with a crackpot."

Wells said Rockwell told him he believed government agents or military personnel had successfully participated in time travel and were covering it up.

Rockwell wanted Leavitt to pay him to work on time travel and UFO projects as part of the $2 million equipment sale, Wells said.

Wells said Rockwell and his lawyer, Ernest "Ed" Roark III, faxed him a draft of a four-page contract Feb. 11 that included clauses for the time travel and UFO projects as an additional inducement for Rockwell to sell the equipment. Rockwell also was supposed to receive potentially millions more in shared proceeds from the marketing of the equipment.

Roark could not be reached for comment today.

Brett Marshall, a spokesman for Rockwell, said he had no knowledge of the deal between Rockwell and Leavitt.

"I know that there is a multitude of projects," Marshall said. "That's all I know."

The contract was never signed and the deal went sour last week after Leavitt refused to pay Rockwell a $100,000 non-refundable deposit on the equipment, Wells said.

Rockwell then reportedly told FBI agents Feb. 18 that he suspected Leavitt and Harris were carrying around the lethal anthrax.

The two men were arrested later that evening trying to test the equipment at a Green Valley clinic, touching off the scare and attracting the world's media to Las Vegas.

But on Saturday, the threat ended abruptly, when the government test results were disclosed, and questions began to surface about Rockwell's background.

In a complaint against Leavitt and Harris on Thursday, the FBI acknowledged that Rockwell has two extortion convictions, but it insisted their source was a bona fide "research scientist."

At a news conference Saturday, Bobby Siller, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, defended the bureau's decision to rely on Rockwell, indicating it had other sources to corroborate his concerns.

"We truly felt, and we do now, that we had enough probable cause to believe that there was a danger to the community," Siller said.

"Both Mr. Harris and Mr. Leavitt made statements to more than one individual that they had in their possession military grade anthrax and that they intended to test this anthrax at a medical center located in a business residential area of a heavily populated suburban community."

"Because of the potential serious threat to the community, our action had to be quick and decisive."

Leavitt, meanwhile, held his own news conference on the steps of the Clark County Detention Center after his release six hours later on Saturday.

His voice shaking, and with Wells and his other lawyer, Lamond Mills, at his side, Leavitt thanked his family and friends for their support during his more than 48 hours in jail.

"These past few days have been the most difficult days of my life other than when I lost my father," Leavitt said.

"I understand what happened, and I understand the position the FBI took based upon the information they received. I absolutely have no hard feelings."

But Mills criticized FBI agents for executing search warrants at Leavitt's Overton property, even though the community never was exposed to anthrax.

"This indicates that they're trying to save face, and this makes this case as serious as a heart attack," Mills told reporters.

Mills said three carloads of FBI agents descended on Leavitt's Overton property, 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas, about 45 minutes before his client's release.

Agents spent all day Sunday removing evidence from a microbiology lab and other buildings on his property. They remained on the scene today.

Leavitt attributed his ordeal behind bars to "some misunderstandings and probably miscommunications."

Today, in Maryland, a government lab continued testing materials seized last week from Harris' Lancaster, Ohio, home to determine if they were illegal biological substances.

Over the weekend, Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael Kennedy, who represents Harris here, hailed the test results on the Las Vegas materials as a "good fact."

"It bodes well for Mr. Harris in his defense," Kennedy said. "We're going to put on a vigorous defense."

Mills, meanwhile, called Rockwell a "far from a credible witness," suggesting he made up "outlandish" allegations against Leavitt when he didn't get his $100,000 up front.

"That's their witness, and on that, we have worldwide news," Mills said.

Wells added: "Mr. Rockwell needs to be scrutinized very carefully. If he gave false information, and the government relied on that false information, and my client was put through 48 hours of hell, I think somebody should look at that."