FORT SMITH : Harrison man, 58, jailed on threat to Dalai Lama
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
FORT SMITH — A Harrison man who wrote a letter threatening to kill the Dalai Lama and bomb Chinese embassies and consulates during the Olympics in Beijing this summer was ordered detained by a federal magistrate Thursday.
U. S. Magistrate James Marschewski ordered that Charles Michael Baker, 58, be detained following a hearing in Fort Smith.
Assistant U. S. attorney Debbie Groom said Thursday the government presented evidence in the hearing that Baker was a flight risk and should be jailed pending trial.
Baker was arrested Monday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with illegally possessing a firearm. An affidavit accompanying the complaint said Baker was forbidden to possess firearms after being judged not guilty by reason of insanity in a 1996 federal case in North Carolina.
Groom said the criminal complaint would be replaced by an indictment, adding that the penalty for illegally possessing a firearm is up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $ 250, 000 or both.
The affidavit by FBI Task Force Officer Robert Bacile said officials at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico notified the FBI on March 13 after receiving a letter from Baker in which he threatened to kill various people and groups, including the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist monk and leader of the Tibetan government in exile.
The affidavit stated Baker was interviewed on April 23 and admitted writing the letter. He denied wanting to kill the people he listed in the letter but would assist anyone who did, according to the affidavit.
Federal agents searched Baker’s Harrison apartment and found two guns.
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