FBI Official Pleads Guilty in Ruby Ridge Case

A suspended FBI official pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstructing justice by destroying a critical report on the ill-fated shootout at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

The plea in federal court made E. Michael Kahoe, former head of the violent-crime unit, the highest-ranking FBI official to be convicted of a serious crime since L. Patrick Gray III resigned as acting director in 1973 after acknowledging that he had burned Watergate-related evidence in his fireplace.

Kahoe, 55, pledged to cooperate in the continuing investigation into an alleged cover-up of FBI actions at Ruby Ridge in August 1992.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina advised Kahoe, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, that he is subject to a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. But the severity of his sentence will depend on his cooperation with prosecutors, officials said.

Kahoe’s conviction adds to the tarnish of Ruby Ridge on the record of FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, who took over the top job several months after the siege. Last year, Freeh suspended Deputy Director Larry Potts--whom he had earlier promoted--as well as Kahoe and others after learning that they were suspected of making false statements and perjury in connection with the events that resulted in the deaths of anti-government fugitive Randy Weaver’s wife and son. A federal marshal also lost his life in the confrontation.

Kahoe’s plea is expected to lead to testimony against two of his superiors--Potts and his deputy, Danny O. Coulson--who remain under investigation. U.S. prosecutor Michael R. Stiles warned reporters after the court session not to assume who else might be indicted.

Aside from Kahoe, Potts and Coulson, others who have been placed on leave with full pay are Gale Richard Evans, a crime unit chief at FBI headquarters, and George Michael Baird, a member of the inspection team that examined the Ruby Ridge incident.

Potts and Coulson have been accused of concealing that they approved of more liberal “rules of engagement” for ending the siege outside Weaver’s mountaintop cabin. Under those rules, FBI snipers were allowed to shoot on sight if they saw members of Weaver’s family carrying weapons. Standard rules had allowed snipers to fire only if they observed an immediate threat to themselves or others.

Freeh has since revised FBI procedures for handling sieges to avoid the mistakes of Ruby Ridge.

Freeh’s predecessor, William S. Sessions, was fired by President Clinton in 1993 for alleged ethical infractions, but he was not accused of any crime. An internal inquiry concluded that he had expended official funds on business trips to places where he could meet with family members, had billed the government for a decorative fence at his home and had failed to cooperate with investigators probing the financing of his residence.

Kahoe and his attorney, James G. Richmond, declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing.

Kahoe’s guilty plea was in response to criminal information filed last week that claimed he “and certain of his superiors at FBI headquarters” resisted a request for documents by prosecutors in Idaho who were preparing to put Weaver and an associate on trial in the death of U.S. Marshal William Degan during the siege.

Kahoe admitted shredding all copies of an “after-action” report whose preparation he supervised.