|
THREE INMATES
CONVICTED OF CONSPIRACY AND EXTORTION
IN SCHEME TO SEIZE THE PROPERTY OF FEDERAL PRISON OFFICIALS
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- John C. Richter, United States Attorney for the Western District of
Oklahoma, announced today that a jury has convicted RUSSELL DEAN LANDERS,
56, CLAYTON HEATH ALBERS, 61, and BARRY DEAN BISCHOF, 60, of conspiring
to impede the duties of federal prison officials and extortion for their
efforts to gain release from prison by making financial demands on prison
staff and seizing their property.
Landers, Albers,
and Bischof were inmates at the federal prison in El Reno in late 2003
and early 2004. Landers is serving a sentence related to his participation
in an armed stand-off with the FBI at the Montana Freemen ranch in 1996.
The jury heard evidence earlier this week that in August of 2003, all
three defendants claimed to have copyrighted their own names and then
demanded millions of dollars from numerous prison officials for the purported
unauthorized use of their names. The evidence also included a credit report
that individuals outside of the prison obtained on behalf of the defendants
from a car dealership without the warden's permission. This credit report
gave the defendants details about the warden's bank accounts and personal
and real property. Recorded telephone calls and documents showed that
in early 2004, after sending demand notices to the warden and attempting
to file liens against the warden's property, the defendants hired an individual
to seize the warden's vehicles, freeze his bank accounts, and change the
locks on his house based on the fraudulent liens. This individual turned
out to be an undercover FBI agent. Believing that the warden's property
had been seized, the defendants demanded to be released from prison before
negotiating the return of the warden's property.
In addition to convicting
all three defendants for conspiring to impede the duties of federal officials,
the jury convicted them for mailing threatening communications with the
intent to extort. On the conspiracy convictions, each defendant faces
a maximum penalty of six years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
The maximum penalty for mailing threatening communications with intent
to extort is ten years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing
will take place in approximately ninety days.
CARL ERVIN BATTS,
52, who is serving a federal prison sentence, and WILLIAM MICHAEL ROBERSON,
51, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were also charged in the case. They pled
guilty to conspiracy before trial. At sentencing, these defendants each
face a maximum penalty of six years of imprisonment and a fine of up to
$250,000.
This case is the
result of an investigation conducted by the FBI with the assistance of
the Federal Bureau of Prisons and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Scott E. Williams and Susanna M. Voegeli.
|
