Posted on 06/21/2002 9:32:17 PM PDT by chance33_98
FBI Agent Admits To Mishandling Alleged Killer's Call Anderson Says He Took Sampson Call, Disconnected It
POSTED: 8:48 a.m. EDT June 21, 2002
BOSTON -- A former FBI employee has admitted he lied about receiving a phone call from a man accused of going on a killing spree in Massachusetts and New Hampshire last summer.
William Anderson pleaded guilty Thursday to denying that he took a call from Gary Sampson the day before he's accused of killing his first victim.
Sampson claims he called the FBI on July 23 to turn himself in for a North Carolina bank robbery. Police say over the next few days, he killed two Massachusetts men and Robert Whitney, a former Concord, N.H., city councilor.
Anderson says he accidentally disconnected the phone when Sampson called and then denied ever taking the call.
But his lawyer says Anderson is an agency scapegoat and there is no connection with the disconnected call and the three deaths.
Former FBI worker charged in Sampson call
BOSTON (AP) — A former FBI worker was charged with lying under oath after he allegedly failed to disclose a phone call he received from accused triple-murderer Gary Sampson.
Sampson, who is charged with murdering three men in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, says he called the FBI in order to turn himself in for a North Carolina bank robbery before the slayings.
Former FBI employee William Anderson, 44, of Revere is charged with "making a false material statement" in a U.S. District Court. If convicted, he could face five years in prison and pay a $250,000 fine.
Anderson recently resigned from the FBI after 17 years service, FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.
On July 23, Anderson was filling in for a switchboard operator when Sampson called from a convenience store in Abington, the FBI said. Sampson identified himself as a bank robbery suspect from North Carolina, and, according to his lawyer, said, "Please come and get me. I don’t want to stay in Abington because I’m going to get in trouble."
When Anderson tried to transfer the call to a duty agent, he accidentally disconnected the phone, the FBI said.
FBI workers on duty all insisted they’d never received a call from Sampson. But in September, the FBI announced it had found records of a 55 second phone call from the pay phone to an agency office.
In December, Anderson admitted he’d answered the phone, and was suspended, the FBI said.
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