Prosecutors Clear Fbi Agent In Ruby Ridge Investigation Five Agents Remain Part Of Probe Into Conduct During Deadly Siege

One of six suspended FBI agents was cleared by federal prosecutors conducting a criminal investigation of the agents’ role in the deadly 1992 siege of Randy Weaver’s North Idaho cabin.

U.S. Attorney Michael R. Stiles of Philadelphia, who heads the investigation, advised the FBI that Anthony A. Betz is no longer considered a target or a subject of the Ruby Ridge investigation, the FBI said Thursday.

The Betz decision did not imply any conclusions about the other five agents, including former Deputy Director Larry Potts, one senior official said, requesting anonymity. Resolution of their cases is not imminent, the official said.

At the time of standoff with the white separatist and his family, Betz was a unit chief in the criminal investigative division at FBI headquarters. Betz had been suspended along with three other high-ranking FBI officials last Aug. 11 when the criminal investigation was opened.

The probe focused initially on whether headquarters officials lied and destroyed documents to cover up the bureau’s actions during the siege. The investigators also have reviewed the conduct of agents at the scene, where an FBI sniper killed Weaver’s unarmed wife, Vicki. The sniper, Lon Horiuchi, said he hit her accidentally while aiming at Kevin Harris. Weaver’s son, Sam, and a federal marshal, William Degan, were killed in a gunbattle one day earlier.

With approval from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal watchdog unit, the FBI lifted Betz’ suspension and returned him to his current post, assistant chief of the FBI’s Baltimore office.