Fourth Suspect Hid Out In Stevens County
An accused domestic terrorist fled North Idaho and lived under a false name in northeastern Washington before his arrest in Spokane, a judge was told Monday.
Brian E. Ratigan also helped three other North Idaho men case a Portland bank, where they saw as much as $4 million being transferred, an FBI agent testified.
When FBI agents apprehended the fugitive last Thursday, he had an assault rifle and eight loaded extra-large ammunition clips, the agent told U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno.
The weapon is a MAC-90, similar to a firearm used by one of three robbers photographed inside a U.S. Bank branch in the Spokane Valley last July 12.
Ratigan also was carrying a one-way train ticket to Albany, N.Y., when he was arrested at the Amtrak station.
The federal magistrate ruled there is reason to believe the 38-year-old former Army sniper is the fourth suspect in last year’s Spokane Valley bombing and bank robbery conspiracy.
She ordered Ratigan held in jail without bond, as a prosecutor requested, until he stands trial in U.S. District Court.
Ratigan is charged with conspiracy to commit an armed bank robbery and participation in the bombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic on July 12 in the Valley.
He also is charged with bombing the clinic, armed bank robbery and two counts of carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.
At a detention hearing Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl A. Hicks asked FBI agent John M. Cooney to detail the investigation that led to Ratigan’s arrest.
When he was arrested, Ratigan told Cooney and another FBI agent to “keep watching over your shoulders,” which they interpreted as a threat, Cooney testified.
Cooney was assigned to a special FBI terrorism task force secretly formed last summer after it became apparent that a religious group known as “Phineas priests” may be responsible for the Spokane Valley crimes.
An informant led the FBI to Charles H. Barbee, Verne Jay Merrell and Robert S. Berry, who were arrested Oct. 8 and are now on trial in U.S. District Court in Spokane.
Those three are charged with 12 federal crimes associated with bombings and bank robberies on April 1 and July 12, interstate car thefts and possession of hand grenades.
Cooney said the FBI task force developed leads in November that Ratigan likely was the fourth suspect involved in the Spokane Valley terrorism.
Just before his arrest, Ratigan was hiding near Colville, in Stevens County, the FBI agent testified.
Ratigan implicated himself in the July 12 bombing and robbery in a private meeting he had with people who later cooperated with the FBI, Cooney testified.
Ratigan, his wife Tina, and their two sons fled their log cabin home on Flume Creek Road, northeast of Sandpoint, shortly after the three other Sandpoint men were arrested near Yakima on Oct. 8.
“He left their cabin and went to another location, possibly a friend’s house,” Cooney said.
One informant told the FBI that Ratigan was “very nervous, freaked out by the arrests” of Barbee, Berry and Merrell.
The FBI agent did not disclose where Ratigan lived in the Colville area, or the identities of his associates in that northeastern Washington community.
The fugitive used the name “Lee Phallen” while living near Colville, authorities say.
Ratigan was using the name “Jack O’Brien” when he purchased the Amtrak tickets to Albany, authorities say.
Twice during Monday’s hearing, Ratigan shouted interruptions, and once was warned to remain silent by the judge.
Ratigan called the prosecutor a “pharisee,” an apparent reference to the rabbis who were cursed by Jesus. The dictionary says the term is a modern-day reference to someone who pretends to be highly moral or virtuous without being so.
“You’ve said enough, pharisee,” Ratigan shouted at Hicks after earlier yelling “Sit down!” to the federal prosecutor.
Hicks only smiled at the defendant during his outbursts. “I don’t even know what it means,” he said afterward, “but I know I’ve been called a lot worse.”
, DataTimes