Posted on 11/28/2002 9:15:00 AM PST by jdontom
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:41:27 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
An Arizona man who received a "strange and mysterious" e-mail apologizing for the slaying of a Red Bluff cop launched investigators on the trail of an ex-Army private who was arrested four days later in New Hampshire.
Neil Wright, 50, said he had received an e-mail from "Mitch Stephens" at americanresistance@yahoo.com at about 6 p.m. Friday on his home computer in Lake Havasu City and called police an hour later.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
but let's not profile, and say we did .... :)
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Toward FREEDOM
When you posted about your involvement in this case a few days ago, I wondered if it was this email.
The strange part is that I apparently received a forwarded copy of that email. However, the distribution of that message was not "left-wing". It was sites like keepandbeararms.com, bloomfieldpress.com, and generally RKBA sites.
I never saw the message. It was sent to an email address that I used on web pages that have since been removed from my server. Since the only people still sending mail to it were spammers, I had set it to auto-report the mail as spam and then dump it in the bit-bucket.
I never would have noticed, until an FBI agent in Sacramento called me. He was checking out each email in the distribution, looking for a connection. Had I actually seen the email, I would have done exactly as you did.
I did see the originating email address: (emperorsclothes@hotmail.com) and the subject (motives behind violent political action in Red Bluff, CA.). So, the originator was apparently different, even though the subject was the same. So, I'm wondering if someone remailed the original message in an attempt to get the FBI to investigate/hassle pro-gun web sites.
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Toward FREEDOM
So, I actually got it before you did, although it was dumped into the bit bucket and I didn't actually know about it until the following Monday when the FBI called.
I wish I did. But I never actually had it for more than a fraction of a second. All I have is a log entry in my spam reporting system with the originating email address and the subject line. The message went into the bit-bucket as soon as the spam was reported.
But, the Sacramento office of the FBI has a copy. They called me. Freepmail me and I'll send you the agent's name. Had I actually seen the email, I would have done exactly what you did: try to trace it back to the source.
The FBI was looking for clues about the identity of the sender based on the recipients. One thing that confused the issue was that my particular email address had not been posted on the web for about 3-4 months. But, I explained that I had received email in the past in which someone had apparently compiled a list of pro-RKBA websites and put them all on the To: line. All someone would have to do is do a group-reply to that message.
Neil are you a member of a pro-gun web site? If so justlurking could be onto something. Many kodo's from Red Bluff folks for your effort in this capture, it was a Bluffer that put me onto this article this morning, not a member here yet, but was following your time-line thread. Great Job!
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Toward FREEDOM
Would Tiny Tommy Daschle denounce the enviroment of hate @ ESU?
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