FBI captures hoax anthrax letters suspect

A fugitive suspected of sending hundreds of fake anthrax letters to abortion clinics was captured today.

FBI officials said Clayton Lee Waagner was caught in Cincinnati. He was among the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft called Waagner the primary suspect behind anthrax hoaxes committed against 280 abortion clinics last month.

Waagner, 45, claimed responsibility for the letters when he showed up with a gun at the Georgia home of an anti-abortion activist last week, police said.

Waagner has been running from authorities since February, when he escaped from a jail in Clinton, Illinois, where he was awaiting sentencing on federal firearms and car theft convictions.

Waagner also was sought for bank robberies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, firearms violations in Tennessee and carjacking in Mississippi.

Law enforcement officers said they are vigorously pursuing people who send anthrax threats as hoaxes, promising they will prosecute such individuals.