SALT LAKE CITY -
A Utah man is expected to finish a year behind bars after admitting he threatened to beat a government informant at the center of an artifact looting case. Charles Denton Armstrong pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to a charge of retaliating against a government informant. The 44-year-old burly, tattooed Blanding resident was accused of plotting to hurt the undercover artifacts dealer "real bad" by beating him with a baseball bat.
Armstrong's defense lawyer, Lynn Donaldson, said his client was heavily medicated for back pain when he made emotional outbursts to other townsfolk and wasn't capable of carrying out an assault.
Prosecutors said they couldn't take any chances.
"We take seriously any threats against informants," assistant U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen said Friday.
Armstrong was upset that his Blanding doctor, James Redd, was caught up in the sting operation. Redd committed suicide a day after his arrest on charges of possessing a stolen effigy bird pendant. Armstrong blamed the informant for driving the physician to kill himself.
A post-it note with the informant's name on it was found in Armstrong's vehicle. He showed a federal agent where he kept the baseball bat that he planned to use. On Friday, he admitted to all of the facts of the case.
"Guilty," he told a judge.
Armstrong has been held since his July 13 arrest. His plea deal calls for him to serve a full year, although U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups made no promises about the sentence he will hand down Feb. 1. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The government operative, now in hiding, set up the June bust of 26 people in the Four Corners region on charges of collecting or trafficking in plundered American Indian artifacts from federal and tribal lands.
Another of the defendants, Santa Fe, N.M., salesman, Steve Shrader, also committed suicide after his arrest.
Shrader -- a "runner" or bit player in the trade, artifact dealers have told The Associated Press -- traveled to Illinois to pay his mother a visit and then shot himself in the chest behind an elementary school.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
FOX 13's Katy Carlyle has more.
Armstrong's defense lawyer, Lynn Donaldson, said his client was heavily medicated for back pain when he made emotional outbursts to other townsfolk and wasn't capable of carrying out an assault.
Prosecutors said they couldn't take any chances.
"We take seriously any threats against informants," assistant U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen said Friday.
Armstrong was upset that his Blanding doctor, James Redd, was caught up in the sting operation. Redd committed suicide a day after his arrest on charges of possessing a stolen effigy bird pendant. Armstrong blamed the informant for driving the physician to kill himself.
A post-it note with the informant's name on it was found in Armstrong's vehicle. He showed a federal agent where he kept the baseball bat that he planned to use. On Friday, he admitted to all of the facts of the case.
"Guilty," he told a judge.
Armstrong has been held since his July 13 arrest. His plea deal calls for him to serve a full year, although U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups made no promises about the sentence he will hand down Feb. 1. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The government operative, now in hiding, set up the June bust of 26 people in the Four Corners region on charges of collecting or trafficking in plundered American Indian artifacts from federal and tribal lands.
Another of the defendants, Santa Fe, N.M., salesman, Steve Shrader, also committed suicide after his arrest.
Shrader -- a "runner" or bit player in the trade, artifact dealers have told The Associated Press -- traveled to Illinois to pay his mother a visit and then shot himself in the chest behind an elementary school.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
FOX 13's Katy Carlyle has more.
