Soldier Faces Charges Over Photos of Secret Facility Near Pennsylvania-Maryland Border

Sept. 13, 2002

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A soldier was indicted on federal charges for allegedly offering to sell photographs of a top-secret military facility where he worked to a Philadelphia publication.

Army Spc. Maurice D. Threats, 22, of Cascade, Md., who worked as a security guard in the Alternate Joint Communications Center, was charged Wednesday with transmitting defense information, bribery and seeking a gratuity as a public official.

The heavily guarded center, better known as Site R, sits inside a hollowed-out granite mountain near the Pennsylvania-Maryland border and is one of several relocation sites for government leaders during national emergencies.

Threats' court-appointed attorney, Thomas Thornton, said his client was trying to sell photos of the outside of the facility because he was having financial problems.

The publication notified authorities after Threats offered to sell the photographs, prosecutor Dennis Pfannenschmidt said.

Howard Altman, editor of the weekly City Paper, said Threats - identifying himself as "mrfantastic-76" - had e-mailed the paper months ago offering to sell photos of Site R for publication.

"It got to be an issue of espionage and national security and I wasn't sure if it was real, or if he was joking or if someone was trying to set me up," Altman said.

Altman said he contacted authorities and sent a few follow-up e-mails to Threats at the request of the FBI, but stopped because "there is a line between being a reporter and being a government operative. I didn't want to cross that line."

Threats remained free and in the military, although his assignment was changed. A preliminary hearing was expected sometime in October, Pfannenschmidt said.

He faces up to 27 years in prison if convicted on all counts, although federal sentencing guidelines would probably result in a shorter term.

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