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Sources: Substance seized near Las Vegas non-lethal anthrax
February 21, 1998
Harris
Web posted at: 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The substance confiscated in Nevada from two men who were believed to be in possession of a biological agent is a non-lethal form of anthrax, CNN learned Saturday.
U.S. Army experts at Fort Detrick, Maryland, concluded the substance was not a biological weapon after completing a series of tests that began Friday morning, sources told CNN.
But this does not mean Larry Wayne Harris, 46, and William Leavitt Jr., 47, will be released from federal custody.
The FBI arrested Harris and Leavitt near Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday and charged them with conspiracy to possess and possession of a biological agent.
Sources told CNN the FBI has discovered additional materials at Harris' Ohio home.
If the additional samples prove harmless, the U.S. Justice Department will have to decide whether they have grounds to continue holding the men in custody. The two are to appear at a court hearing on Monday.
Meanwhile, earlier Saturday, a Columbus, Ohio police investigator said he believes Harris regularly gave some people injections that Harris claimed would protect them against biological agents.
"It's something we've suspected and can't divulge our sources, but we think he was giving inoculations, " Detective Rick Adrian said.
It was unclear how long Harris offered the injections, what the shots contained or whether anyone became sick because of them.
"But the problem is, no one is going to come forward and say that to us, we're sure of that," Adrian added.
Adrian, who works in the police intelligence division, told CNN he has kept an eye on Harris for the last two years.
"Larry has always said he is seeking an antidote (to biological weapons)," Adrian said.
"He has this right-wing background, we would see him at meetings, but we had no active criminal investigation on him," he said.
The FBI affidavit detailing the case against Harris says he claims to be an officer in the Idaho-based white supremacist group Aryan Nations.
Mark Potok, a spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national watchdog group that monitors extremist groups, told The New York Times that Harris traveled around the country, "meeting with extremist anti-government groups and inoculating them against anthrax."
Harris was previously given probation after pleading guilty to illegally obtaining bubonic plague bacteria through the mail in 1995.
CNN Correspondent Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
CNN/Time Impact special assignment:
Related stories:
- Tomorrow/Today: U.S. cities gird for possible chemical attacks - February 20, 1998
- Man suspected of having anthrax predicted attack - February 20, 1998
- Testing of suspected anthrax begins - February 20, 1998
- 2 charged with making biological weapons - February 19, 1998
- FBI picks up 2 men suspected of having deadly anthrax - February 19, 1998
- Inhaled anthrax can be 'devastating' - February 19, 1998
- Anthrax: An agent of doom - December 15, 1997
Related sites:
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- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- Cleveland Live with The Plain Dealer
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Outbreak - an on-line information service addressing emerging diseases
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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