Three extortion threats aimed at gas pipeline

By PAUL FATTIG

An extortion threat to bomb a major gas pipeline in Southern Oregon is expected to end quietly a year later in U.S. District Court in Medford.

Klamath Falls resident Quinton Million, 57, charged with three counts of extortion, will be tried Feb. 17.

The trial date is nearly a year to the day after the first of three threatening letters was sent to the Pacific Gas Transmission Co. office in Portland.

Co-defendant Dale Fred Rick, 59, of Malin, pleaded guilty to three counts of extortion last year. He was sentenced in September to five years' probation and ordered to pay $71,393.20 in restitution.

The letters threatened to blow up the main pipeline near Malin in southern Klamath County if the firm failed to hand over $1 million, according to FBI officials.

"We're talking about the destruction of a huge gas pipeline that feeds gas to about 11 states," said Phil Donegan, senior FBI agent in Eugene who headed the investigation. "The threat was real and viable."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Thomson, prosecutor in the case, said he could not discuss the details until the Million trial is completed.

Other officials said the case began Feb. 20, 1997, when the gas company received a letter warning that the gas pipeline near Malin would be bombed unless the company paid the author of the letters $1 million. Threatening letters were also received March 17 and 24, FBI officials said.

The line serves as a gas conduit between Canada and Mexico as well as western states.

Company officials didn't go to the bank. Instead, they went to the FBI.

The FBI began working with the Klamath County Sheriff's Department, which assigned detectives John Dougherty, Bob Krieger and John Buckalew to the case.

The three were commended Dec. 29 for their efforts by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh.

The detectives played an important role in the investigation, Freeh wrote in a letter to Klamath County Sheriff Carl Burkhart.

Damage to the Malin pipeline could have disrupted the flow of natural gas between Canada and Mexico and throughout the West Coast, Freeh wrote.

"Detectives Dougherty, Krieger and Buckalew contributed significantly to deterring a major calamity since the Pacific Gas Transmission Co. operates one of the largest gas transmission pipelines in the world," Freeh concluded.

Dougherty and Krieger are full-time detectives. Buckalew is a reserve detective who works as a volunteer.

The three detectives helped the federal agents crack the case with nearly two solid months of police work, Burkhart said.

"They did it through old-fashioned leg work," said Burkhart. "I'm pretty proud of our guys."

Eugene-based FBI agent Donegan concurred.

"They were extremely helpful to us," he said. "We had six searches and 50 to 60 interviews to do. We don't have the manpower to do that large of an investigation on our own."

The case illustrates the cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies that often goes unreported, he said.