Bomber pleads guilty to targeting Clinton, local ATF agent

Kim Smith

Monday, Sept. 20, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

A Louisiana man pleaded guilty Friday morning to mailing three pipe bombs earlier this year, one of which was addressed to President Clinton. The others were intended for a Las Vegas ATF agent and a Texas minister.

Although Frank Alexander, 53, was offered a plea agreement in which he could have received 40 years in prison, he turned it down, preferring a life sentence.

Alexander told U.S. District Judge Lloyd George during his change of plea hearing Friday that he would prefer to live the rest of his life in prison rather than end up living on the streets as an old man once released.

Alexander pleaded guilty to two counts of mailing injurious articles, two counts of using firearms during a violent crime and one count of attempted murder of a federal government employee.

Before accepting his plea, George questioned Alexander's attorney, Assistant U.S. Public Defender Leslie Fatowe, as to her client's competency.

"He's been very clear as to his ability to communicate with me and his understanding of the proceedings," Fatowe said.

She went on to say that a psychologist who spent hours talking to and testing Alexander said that whatever mental problems Alexander has "don't rise to the level" needed for an insanity defense.

George then related the facts of the case for the record.

George said Alexander was arrested March 28 at a Las Vegas motel after he called a local mental health facility and told them he had mailed a bomb to the president and a Texas evangelist. He also called the ATF to tell them he had mailed a bomb to one of their employees.

A search of Alexander's room revealed 10 pounds of gunpowder and other bomb-making components. Alexander told law enforcement officials he had given a package containing a pipe bomb to a Greyhound bus station employee to mail to the ATF. When officers rushed to the station, it had not yet been mailed and they were able to disable it.

A further investigation revealed that Alexander was also responsible for a pipe bomb that had ignited in the rear of a U.S. Postal Service tractor trailer in Washington, D.C. He was also responsible for one that had exploded on a conveyor belt inside a Dallas bulk mail center, court records say.

Both bombs were contained within packages that had been mailed from Louisiana March 22 and were designed to explode upon opening. The first package was addressed to WJC at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C., and the second was addressed to a San Antonio minister.

Although Alexander faced trial in Louisiana, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, he agreed to allow all of the cases to be transferred to Las Vegas so they could be resolved at once.

Prior to the hearing, Fatowe declined to comment on the case at Alexander's request.

"He asked me not to comment on the case because he didn't do it for media attention and he is not interested in media coverage at this time," Fatowe said.

Joseph Saitta, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Las Vegas, said that although Alexander may not have done it for media attention, his actions were designed to bring attention to himself.

"It's hard to get inside someone's head to answer (the question of why) definitively, but we think he thought that the life he had was not that good and by doing this he could bring attention to himself," Saitta said.

Saitta said he believes Alexander had recently lost a girlfriend and his job.

It is unclear why Alexander chose Las Vegas or his intended victims, Saitta said.

"He's accepting responsibility, but whether that's remorse remains to be seen," Saitta said.

B.J. Zapor, resident agent in charge of the Las Vegas ATF, said it is rare for ATF agents to be targeted.

The Las Vegas ATF employee apparently raised Alexander's ire during a phone conversation.

"Alexander called the ATF office here and he was ranting on about several issues," Zapor said. "He obtained the employee's name and he addressed the bomb package to the agent."

Zapor declined to comment on the nature of Alexander's conversation with the ATF employee, saying it was of a "sensitive nature."