An Episode of Twilight Zone?

[NJFFSA16]

Twilight Zone? Or maybe stuff of CIA agents and spys? You decide. In any event, it is eerie!
------------------------------------------------------
WEBBERS FALLS, Okla. (AP) - The FBI is investigating a man who
called himself an Army captain and looked through a briefcase and
laptop computer belonging to a victim of last month's deadly
interstate bridge collapse.
The man, wearing fatigues and a beret, showed up within two
hours of the Interstate 40 collapse and told the mayor he was in
charge. He identified himself as Capt. William Clark.
Mayor Jewell Horne said Wednesday that the man told her Army
Capt. Andrew Clements had died in the river and that his briefcase
and laptop were in the water. A fisherman found the items the day
of the collapse and gave them to a Webbers Falls police officer.
The officer gave the items to Clark, who took them and went
through them, the mayor said. He brought the briefcase and computer
to city hall later that day and asked the mayor to lock them in a
safe.
He wanted the key, but Horne said she refused to give it to him.
"He kept trying to say that he was in charge," Horne said. "I
finally looked at him and said, 'No, you're not. Until the governor
declares martial law, you are not in charge in this town."'
The mysterious man left Webbers Falls on Monday night, she said.
The mayor said it was eerie that the man knew Clements was among
the victims even before his body was recovered.
"But he was correct," she said. "There was a Captain
Clements. There was a briefcase and there was a computer."
Clements, 35, of Woodbridge, Va., was among 14 people killed May
26 when a barge hit the Interstate 40 bridge, causing it to topple
into the Arkansas River.
Horne said she was so busy answering phones and directing
rescuers that she "didn't have time to think a lot" or check the
man's credentials. Two volunteers from the Tulsa medical examiner's
office eventually called authorities to check on him, she said.
The FBI, the Army and police in Van Buren and Fort Smith, Ark.,
are looking for the man, said FBI spokesman Gary Johnson. He said
the man obtained goods and services by impersonated a rescue
worker.
"It's certainly a very intense investigation," Johnson said.
Authorities are looking into whether the man stayed at a hotel
in Van Buren, Ark., free under the auspices of taking part in the
rescue operation.
The man also told an Associated Press reporter his name was
Capt. William Clark and that he was from Fort Carson, Colo. The
fort has no record of the man, said spokeswoman Kim Tisor.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press

[CJMinick390]

Or perhaps the X-files.

[killerb]

No offense to Army Captains, but I would think a Captain would be a little low in the food chain to claim he's "in charge" of something like that.

Weird, no doubt.

[Steamer]

Wasn't William Clark the name of the CIA spook in Tom Clancy's books?

[killerb]

That was John Clark (I just re-read Without Remorse recently).

Full Tulsa World local story on this is here:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory....606_Ne_a6myste

This may require registration...I apologize if so.

[NJFFSA16]

An update on the mystery man in Oklahoma

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The man wearing a green beret and camouflage
fatigues called himself Capt. William Clark from the Army's Special
Forces. He arrived two hours after an interstate bridge collapsed
and said he was in charge.
Some emergency workers listened to him for a few days until he
disappeared from the site. Authorities said Friday that the man is
an ex-convict from Missouri who impersonated an officer to get free
food, lodging and a pickup truck.
"It's just a big ego trip," said Lt. Brent Grill, lead police
investigator in Van Buren, Ark., where the man is accused of
renting rooms and not paying. "It's a fantasy of his, which
becomes a reality when he gets to play the part."
Authorities identified the man as Billy Clark, 36, of
Tallapoosa, Mo.
Clark allegedly arrived in Webbers Falls just two hours after
the May 26 bridge collapse and told Mayor Jewell Horne that he was
in charge. He took charge at the launch site that sent rescue boats
to where the section of the bridge collapsed into the Arkansas
River, killing 14 people.
He already knew about one victim - Army Capt. Andrew Clements -
before any bodies had been pulled from the river and asked to look
through the victim's briefcase and laptop computer, the mayor said.
"He kept trying to say that he was in charge," Horne said. "I
finally looked at him and said, 'No, you're not. Until the governor
declares martial law, you are not in charge in this town."'
Crawford County, Ark., authorities issued an arrest warrant for
Clark Thursday on one charge of felony theft of services, alleging
he didn't pay the $900 bill for eight rooms he rented at a motel
May 28.
Clark told the motel clerk the rooms were for other rescuers and
Clements' father and put "Do Not Disturb" signs on seven of the
rooms, which were never occupied, Grill said. Clark allegedly told Van Buren
police he was a Special Forces
captain from Fort Carson, Colo., on leave from Pakistan.
Police in Searcy, Ark., about 230 miles from Webbers Falls, said
a man who identified himself as a Special Forces captain went to a
dealership and said he needed a truck to transport supplies to the
bridge site. Clark left with a red pickup worth $10,600, employee
Mike Milligan said. The man's manner was very convincing, Milligan
said.
"He knew what he was doing," he said.
Clark was released from the Central Missouri Correctional Center
on Dec. 11 after serving three years for stealing, said Tim Kniest,
spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections. Clark also
served two years of probation in 1999 for passing bad checks,
Kniest said.
It's just the latest in a string of alleged impostors who have
bluffed their way into restricted areas after national disasters.
A man who posed as a volunteer firefighter to gain access to the
collapsed World Trade Center was sentenced in March to one to three
years in prison. Another man was sentenced to six months in jail in
1996 for impersonating a doctor at the TWA Flight 800 crash site.

[CJMinick390]

So much for all the conspiracy theories, I guess.

[SilverCity4]

They just caught this guy trying to go over the border into Canada.

There goes all the mystery...

Here's a link:

KTUL Channel 8

[killerb]

Still doesn't explain how he knew about Captain Clements prior to when his body was recovered.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

[NJFFSA16]

Originally posted by Silver City 4
They just caught this guy trying to go over the border into Canada.

Headed for Canada? Whoa...now things really don't make sense. Did somebody invite him to the Stampede?...impersonating the RCMP? Looking for Molsons?

[Bones42]

and we were all wondering what happened to StayBack!

[NJFFSA16]

How do people like this manage to stay on the streets? The latest info
------------------------------------------------
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - When a southeast Missouri man posed
as a military captain and took control of rescue efforts at a
bridge collapse in Oklahoma last month, it wasn't the first time he
donned a soldier's uniform in an effort to deceive, authorities
said.
Cape Girardeau police said William Clark, 29, conned a woman out
of her car almost 10 years ago, offering her a bogus check as
payment while dressed in Army fatigues and regaling her with
made-up stories of his behind-enemy-lines exploits.
"He's a pretty good con artist," detective David Sanders, who
worked the 1993 case, said. "When people see some clean-cut
military type, they're going to trust him. He came across as
legitimate and trustworthy, but he was anything but."
It was that offense, authorities say, that eventually sent the
Tallapoosa, Mo., native to jail until last December. Months after
his release, police say Clark showed up at the scene in Webbers
Falls, Okla., soon after the Interstate 40 bridge collapse May 26
over the Arkansas River.
There, Clark claimed he was a captain with U.S. Special Forces.
He was wearing a beret, camouflage fatigues and boots. He gave
orders and media interviews about the accident, in which a barge
struck the bridge, sending 10 vehicles into the river. Fourteen
people died.
Clark has since been arrested after fleeing to Canada and awaits
a hearing next week.
The victim of Clark's crime in Cape Girardeau, Margie
Loiseau-Bauerle, 71, hadn't thought about it for a long time.
"I didn't know he had gone to jail, I had even forgotten his
name," said Loiseau-Bauerle. "It was such a long time ago, I've
tried to sort of just bury it."
Loiseau-Bauerle and police reports gave this account:
Loiseau-Bauerle was having coffee with a friend at My Daddy's
Cheesecake when a young man walked in wearing Army fatigues and
carrying a duffle bag. He approached her, at first talking about
his tour of duty in Somalia.
"He seemed very informed about what was going on in Somalia,"
Loiseau-Bauerle said.
Clark then brought up Loiseau-Bauerle's 1991 Mercury Capri
convertible, which had a "for sale" sign on the window. He
assured her that he had money in savings and agreed to pay $9,000
for the car.
Clark gave Louiseau-Bauerle a check. She said she would keep the
title until the check cleared.
She never saw Clark - or her car - again.
"He convinced me," she said. "Desert Storm was so big, and I
was so concerned about the young men over there. I have always been
very patriotic, and my husband had just died. I was vulnerable,
very vulnerable."
Clark avoided charges while living in Georgia from 1993 to 1998.
Police traced the Missouri theft to him after he was arrested on a
rape charge in Georgia, the Southeast Missourian newspaper said.
Clark served three years at the Central Missouri Correctional
Center in Jefferson City after pleading guilty in 1998.
The U.S. Army said that Clark has never been a soldier.
"We find his actions reprehensible as we find any impostor of
the military reprehensible," an Army spokesman said.
Relatives and acquaintances weren't surprised by the Oklahoma
incident.
"He is an odd duck," said Tallapoosa police chief Donald
William DeProw Jr., who grew up with Clark.
DeProw said Clark "always wanted to be someone he never was. He
wanted to be a police officer, a city morgue worker. He wanted to
be fire chief, an alderman."
Clark's cousin, Alan Clark Jr., said, "He tells so many lies he
believes it. I've argued with him lots of times about him being in
the military. He says he is."
In Canada, Clark is charged with a weapons count and with
possessing a car reported stolen in Arkansas. In the U.S., he is
accused of renting eight hotel rooms in Van Buren, Ark., after the
bridge accident, then skipping town without paying the $900 bill.

[jiffy911]

All I have to say to ol' Billy Clark is this: Duh! You didn't even use an alias when you were impersonating an officer of the Army? LMAO; can't believe how dumb people are sometimes.

[jiffy911]

Originally posted by killerb
Still doesn't explain how he knew about Captain Clements prior to when his body was recovered.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Or how he knew about the briefcase and the laptop. Weird.

[CJMinick390]

Possibly he had a chance encounter with the guy at a local diner or watering hole just before the accident. He seems like the sort who would free lance off of that kind of "dumb luck" circumstance.

[Drewbo]

OK, So I don't quite buy the idea the guy met CPT Clements, his briefcase and laptop at lunch ealier that day... And the arrested a man near Canada... right... I'd be sorta skeptical about the whole thing. I don't beleive the man was Army Special Forces, they don't give a crap about some documents, they hunt down drug lords and terrorits... CIA, NSA (oh yeah, they don't exist)...

(MAN IN BLACK BUISNESS SUIT ENTERS DOOR)

Drew- "Who you?"
Man- "This office is in clear violation of Code 121, chapter 2, paragraph b."
Drew- "huh?"
Man- "Look into this red light for me" -FLASH-

uh... what man?

[NJFFSA16]

Stay Tuned...part three of a continuing saga!
-------------------------------------------------
Impostor at bridge collapse turned over to U.S. authorities

(Toronto-AP) -- A man accused of impersonating a military
officer was turned over yesterday to U-S authorities at Niagara
Falls, New York.
Police say 36-year-old William Clark tried to take control of
rescue efforts after a deadly bridge collapse in Oklahoma.
The Missouri resident was arrested in Canada last week as he
waited in Tobermory, Ontario, about 180 miles northwest of Toronto.
He pleaded guilty to a weapons charge Monday and was deported on
Wednesday.
Clark showed up at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, on May 26, within
two hours of the bridge collapse over the Arkansas River. A barge
struck the bridge, and 14 people died in the accident.
Police say Clark claimed he was a captain with U-S Army Special
Forces. He is accused of getting free food, lodging and
transportation by impersonating a military officer.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press

[NJFFSA16]

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) - A Missouri man who said he was a U.S.
Army captain and took command of rescue efforts after a deadly
bridge collapse could be ruled incompetent to stand trial, his
attorney said Wednesday.
A federal judge ordered William J. Clark to undergo psychiatric
testing at a Fort Worth, Texas, medical center after a grand jury
indicted him in August on charges of impersonating a federal
officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Clark, 36, of Tallapoosa, Mo., was arrested June 9 as he waited
to board a ferry in Tobermory, Canada. He was turned over to U.S.
authorities June 19.
"A doctor's recent preliminary statement would lead us to
believe his opinion is (Clark) is not competent to stand trial,"
Clark's attorney, Paul Brunton, told the Muskogee Daily Phoenix.
A formal opinion from the medical center could arrive as early
as next week, said Brunton, who heads the federal public defenders
office in Tulsa.
U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling was out of town and could not be
reached for comment.
Clark, who has served time in prison in Missouri and North
Dakota, arrived in Webbers Falls shortly after the Interstate 40
bridge collapsed May 26. Fourteen people were killed after their
vehicles plunged into the Arkansas River below.
Clark told rescue workers he was a Special Forces captain from
Fort Carson, Colo., on leave from Afghanistan. He assumed control
for almost two days of the tiny town's riverfront, where rescue
boats were launched, according to an affidavit accompanying his
criminal complaint.
Clark still says he is in the Special Forces, Brunton said.
"It's the damnedest thing I ever saw - he has the tattoos
...," said Brunton, who said he is ex-Special Forces.
Lt. Col. Ryan Yantis, a U.S. Army spokesman, said Clark's name
can't be found in military records.
If convicted of the federal charges against him, Clark could
spend up to 13 years in prison.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-10-24-02 0049EDT

[MikeF25]

Why don't any of the news articles say anything about
the briefcase. What was stored on the laptop.

Hpw the heck did he know this guy was there.

[MalahatTwo7]

I remember the original story and after he had been caught by RCMP in Tobormory, I gave it little thought past that.

One point that continues to catch my thoughts though: he "held command" for almost two days while on site... Things that make you say "Hmmmm". There is no report of his lack of ability, so it would seem that he did fairly well at the task. I am not saying that what he did was the right thing, just that he seemed competent enough at it. And that point brings up the question of his mental capacity to sit for trial. The report says:

"A doctor's recent preliminary statement would lead us to believe his opinion is (Clark) is not competent to stand trial," Clark's attorney, Paul Brunton, told the Muskogee Daily Phoenix.

I wonder what happened in between his being picked up and when he went for medical evaluation.

My last question agrees with Mike W; how did he know about the briefcase and computer, and where are they?