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| Inmate indicted for plot to kill judge, two others |
| By WTVQ |
| Published: 04/11/2005 |
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In what federal prosecutors described as a continuation of a "sad and tragic" saga, the father figure of a once juggernaut - now defunct - Northern Kentucky building enterprise was indicted last Thursday for threatening to murder a federal judge and prosecutor whom oversaw his family's bank fraud case. Gregory Van Tatenhove, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said Anthony W. Erpenbeck Sr., 70, was amid serving a 70-month prison sentence on an obstruction of justice charge at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington when he tried to persuade others to murder Judge S. Arthur Spiegel and Asst. U.S. Attorney Kathleen Brinkman. Erpenbeck also threatened to kidnap the children of FBI Special Agent Timothy Tracy, Van Tatenhove said. All three: Spiegel, Brinkman and Tracy were directly involved in investigating and prosecuting his family's company, Erpenbeck Co., during a three-year scheme that prosecutors say cost homebuyers and lenders in Northern Kentucky more than $26 million. "We are in an environment, and we live in age... that when it comes to threats against the judicial system, we have a zero tolerance policy," Van Tatenhove said during a press conference last Friday. Van Tatenhove declined to release how federal officials learned of the alleged plot, only saying their evidence was "indisputable" and that they obtained "a statement from the defendant." Van Tatenhove also said "large sums of money" was promised to those that would carry out the acts. "We have direct, specific, creditable evidence [that] if you were to look at the specifics, I think you would find them chilling. No arraignment date has been set for the Erpenbeck Sr. If convicted, he could face an additional 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. |
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