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Homebuilder in federal prison plots to kill
Sunday, 10 April 2005
Man charged in plot to kill federal judge, prosecutor
The indictment of Anthony "Tony" Erpenbeck Sr., 71, is just the latest twist in the legal troubles of the Erpenbeck clan and its failed building firm, Erpenbeck Co. The large Northern Kentucky home building company folded in 2002 in a $34 million fraud that victimized home buyers, subcontractors and almost three dozen banks.

Man charged in plot to kill federal judge, prosecutor


Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT) - A Cincinnati man was indicted Friday for plotting to kill a federal judge and prosecutor and kidnap the family of an FBI agent while he was an inmate at a Lexington federal prison.

The indictment of Anthony "Tony" Erpenbeck Sr., 71, is just the latest twist in the legal troubles of the Erpenbeck clan and its failed building firm, Erpenbeck Co. The large Northern Kentucky home building company folded in 2002 in a $34 million fraud that victimized home buyers, subcontractors and almost three dozen banks.

Federal authorities said Friday that they moved quickly after hearing of Erpenbeck's alleged threats in light of two high-profile, court-related shootings over the past six months - one in Chicago, the other in Atlanta.

According to the indictment released Friday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington, Tony Erpenbeck threatened to kidnap members of FBI agent Timothy Tracy's family and to kill U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spiegel and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Brinkman, all of whom were involved either in the investigation or conviction of Bill Erpenbeck, the president of Erpenbeck Co. and son of Tony Erpenbeck.

Bill Erpenbeck was convicted in April 2004 of bank fraud and witness tampering and is currently serving a 30-year sentence. In July 2004, the elder Erpenbeck was sentenced to 70 months in prison for trying to persuade his daughter, Lori Erpenbeck, to change her testimony against her brother Bill at a sentencing hearing. Lori Erpenbeck wore a wire and recorded her father trying to persuade her to shift the blame in the bank fraud case to other managers at Erpenbeck Co.

Lori Erpenbeck, a bookkeeper at the company, was sentenced to 366 days for her part in the bank-fraud scheme.

Spiegel served as judge and Brinkman the prosecutor in the elder Erpenbeck's case.

According to the indictment, the Erpenbeck patriarch made the threats on Nov. 8, 2004, and Dec. 8, 2004 at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, where he had been housed since his February 2004 arrest.

U.S. Attorney Gregory Van Tatenhove said Friday that "large sums of money" were being offered to people outside the prison to carry out Erpenbeck's plan. Van Tatenhove said no money changed hands and federal investigators got wind of the scheme in its early stages.

Van Tatenhove said he could not say how federal officials heard of the plan or if the threats were recorded.

"The evidence is very, very strong," Van Tatenhove said. "We have statements made by this defendant."

Van Tatenhove did say federal officials had "specific, credible evidence" from an informant about Erpenbeck's alleged plans.

This is not the first time that Erpenbeck has been accused of making threats against federal officials involved in the Erpenbeck's legal troubles.

At the beginning of his July 1, 2004 sentencing hearing, Spiegel said in court that U.S. Marshals told him about a rumor that the elder Erpenbeck had put a contract hit on him. After some investigation, Spiegel said he did not believe that the threats were credible and decided to remain on the case, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

A spokesperson for Van Tatenhove's office said the alleged June 2004 threat was separate from the incidents in the indictment.

Erpenbeck has been moved several times over the past month.

According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the elder Erpenbeck was moved from the Lexington facility March 9 to an Atlanta maximum security prison. Erpenbeck was eventually taken to a federal facility in Oklahoma at the end of March. Prison officials said Erpenbeck "is currently in transit." He left the Oklahoma facility Thursday.

Erpenbeck will be arraigned in Lexington on April 18. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

He was the second person charged with conspiring to threaten or hurt a federal judge this week.

Ryan Michael O'Brien, 30, of Lexington also was charged with threatening federal officials after he sent letters to U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer B. Coffman and U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman. According to the indictment, O'Brien also allegedly threatened to destroy the U.S. District Courthouse in Lexington and a Lexington bank.

Van Tatenhove said he didn't believe that there has been an increase in the number of threats against law enforcement officials. Federal officials have just become more aware of the possible dangers of not taking threats seriously.

A Chicago federal judge's husband and mother were killed in February by a man unhappy with one of the judge's rulings. Last month, another man opened fire in an Atlanta courtroom, killing a judge, a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/breaking_news/11349293.htm
© 2005, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).

 
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