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Show nn uJ vi9 Oli Gy really a Hoaks The Daily Herald Thursday, December 28, 1995 -- Search begins for disabled worker SALT LAKE CITY ( AP) A Mi'dyale man disabled in an electrical accident is being sought on an explosives charge stemming from, what authorities say may have been a plan to blow up a Utah Power executive. Charges were filed against Tod L. Susaeta, 34, on Wednesday after a two-fostick of dynamite 4iound in his apartment. Susaeta, who is on probation for." obtaining prescription drugs through fraud, is a disabled iron worker injured in an electrical accident at a construction site two years ago. jiAfter Susaeta touched a piece of.rebar to a live wire, an electric current "blew out" his back and afrit's.', said Susaeta's brother, Darren ot lawsuit .His personal-injur- y against Utah Power & Light and other defendants is pending in Farmington's 2nd District Court, but he may have been preparing to take the law into his own hands, according to an affidavit filed Monday. "Susaeta's other brother. Michael, became alarmed Christmas Day after Susaeta discussed "Wowing up" the utility's president and showed him explosives, the affidavit says. the situation '"Michael reported i to "Salt Lake County sheriff's iuties. -- , Trial delayed for By KIMBERLEY MURPHY Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY The boy who told authorities was abandoned before his Christmas birthday is actually a woman who has attempted similar scams in at least other states. State officials discovered the woman's true identity Wednesday he 1 1 morning after authorities mont contacted J$ALT LAKE CITY (AP) Trial for David Shane Shelby, accused of attempting to mail a homemade bomb to President Clinton, has been delayed at least another two weeks. S,helby has been indicted on allegations of threatening to kill , dlinton. illegal possession of bombs and unlawful possession of seven firearms by a convicted felon. He was arrested in Ogden (Jfljjan. 25. He also faces an indictment in t Indiana that charges him with threatening to kill Clinton and Vice President A I Gore. 'The Kentucky native, who pleaded innocent last February, is being held in Ogden pending trial. "After a medical and mental-healt- h evaluation at a hospital in Springfield. Mo.. Shelby was found competent to assist in his defense and trial was set to l?ein Tuesday. (ji, temple to be second in Mexico "SALT LAKE CITY (AP) The Mormon Church announced plans Wednesday to build a new teftiple in Mexico. ,jMThe proposed temple will be Located in Monterrey, which is about the case. The woman in both instances was identified as Birdie Jo Hoaks, pronounced "hoax." She called Utah social services officials Dec. 20 and told them she had been left at a bus stop by her stepmother and father. She said her name was Michael Ross and that she would celebrate her 13th birthday on Christmas. It was a story that touched the hearts of residents from across the country. By Christmas evening, state officials had. received calls from more than 50 people, horrified that a boy so young could be abandoned by his parents less than two weeks before his holiday birthday. They offered donations, gifts and even their homes for the boy. The state and a local newspaper both set up trust funds. But now, state workers are trying to put the story behind them. The money, they say. will be area- - Officials of The Church of Saints Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y it will take two years to build the temple, after which will be open briefly for public tours. '.."The building will then be dedicated for use only by faithful Mor-minfor marriages, baptisms and other sacred ceremonies. The Mormon Church has 47 operating temples around the world and another 15 are in vari- ous stages of construction or planning. The Monterrey temple will be the Mormon Church's second in ftlexico. The first temple was built ip SlexicoCity in 1983. i Powerball lottery numbers drawn j DES MOINES, towa (AP) -None of the tickets sold for the Powerball game Wednesday night matched all six numbers drawn. STiich were: S Z Powerball 23 (eight, seventeen, Jjventy-seve- Birdie Jo Hoaks returned to the donors. "We are very concerned about what this story does to the hearts of those who have offered help," Randy Ripplinger, spokesman for the Utah Department of Human Services, said at a news conference Wednesday. Hoaks was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of making false or inconsistent material statements to a judge and theft of services, said Salt Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Jim Vaughn. Theft of services is a class B misdemeanor while the other crime is a second-degre- e felony. No bail was set. Authorities believe Hoaks is the woman's real name, although Vaughn acknowledged there is a "grand pun there." The woman is from San Jose. Calif., and apparently was passing through Salt Lake City. State workers believe Hoaks fabricated a letter she gave to case workers that was supposedly writ Explosion death The judge awarded the Department of Family Sen ices temporary custody, and Hoaks was placed in a group home. Following the hearing. Hoaks disappeared from the home for about six hours. She telephoned the home about 1:30 p.m. from a downtown area, where employees picked her up. Ripplinger said Judge Oddone was among those to question 1 Hoaks' true identity. After the InvesFARMINGTON (AP) tigators believe the death of a Fruit Heights man who was killed when one of his homemade pyrotechnic devices exploded w as a suicide. Investigators from the Davis County Sheriff's Office and the state medical examiner's office came to the same conclusion, according to a new s release issued Wednesday. "The deputies were knocking on his door, had knocked a couple of times when the explosion went off, so we think he may have felt that things were just closing in on him." Rob Davis, county sheriff forty-fou- r, twenty-fou- r. Powerball 'jjveri'ty-three- ) d Phiyers matching all five have would the Powerball ;Eon or shared the $13.9 million 'JSckpot. The prize goes to an esti- JIia(td $20 million for Saturday. 'E Tickets that match the first five 'Humbers, but miss the Powerball. "in $100,000 each, and there were Eve of those. They were sold in: Connecticut, Georgia, Delaware, Slew Hampshire and Rhode Island. num-;Scrsn- Sheriff Rob Davis said Scott G. Anderson. 38. was an explosives and pyrotechnics expert and that a large plastic tube the device steel balls filled with half-inc- h w as set off electronically. Those factors point to suicide. Dav is said. Officers also found an unsigned note in Anderson's kitchen saying. short-sighte- d SALT LAKL CITY (AP) Gov. Mike Leavitt's proposed budget includes no money for the Utah Seismic Safety Commisj sion's S 0.5 million-a-yea- r plan to d fix buildings vulnerable to an earthquake. "I'm upset." said commission Chairman Les Youd. who also state-owne- civil heads at engineering Brigham Young University. "We feel the time is now to work to protect the population of Utah, particularly those in state build- and itt's inaction "ridiculous. Why have a commission of experts to give advice when you totally ignore their advice? "With the large number of unsafe buildings all experts agree we have here in Utah, it's foolish and shows a lack of foresight not to do something about these buildings so they don't collapse." said of Allen & BaiBailey, Devine Nathan received about S728 in cash and benefits before the staff of a youth home became suspicious and called police. Hoaks was released from Pennington County Jail in South Dakota Oct. . after serving seven months of a sentence for welfare fraud. She has paid $526 of a SI. 747 fine, and completed 70 hours of her 200 hours d of community service. In Vermont, she convinced police in May 1993 that she was a Arkansas boy abandoned in Maine. The story was discovered when the "boy" was taken to a hospital for routine exam. Later, an Illinois picture with her name was found hidden in her clothing. nine-mon- th 1 court-ordere- V) ings, which include university campuses with many old buildings." Commission member James Bailey on Wednesday called Leav- er ley Engineers. He said Leavitt and other politicians are "gambling with people's lives by taking the chance this (big quake) won't happen during their tenure in office." member Walter Commission Arabas. director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, said: "Utah escaped its first century of statehood without a catastrophic earthquake. But we cannot enter a second century planning for phenomenal building and grow th while ignoring basic needs for earthquake safety." Leavitt was unavailable for comment while vacationing at an undisclosed location, said. Vicki Varela spokeswoman "What the governor has to do is balance all of the needs in every division and every departniehj throughout the state, and there are extreme needs everywhere." Varela said. She said seismic safety "is a long-terproblem that will have to be addressed in a long-termanner .... For decades our buildings were built without earths quake-safet- y requirements, and it will take many years for us to bring all of the buildings to a safe te will not go to jail." Davis said. Authorities believe Anderson used a similar explosive device around 3 a.m. Tuesday when he blew a hole in the awning of the mobile home of his estranged w ife. Suzanne, who lived next door. Deputies were knocking on Anderson's door at 8 a.m. to ask him about the earlier incident w hen the device went off in Anderson's unit of Al's Apple Acres Mobile Home Park, just north of the Cherry Hills campground "Scott and his wife. Suzanne, had been embroiled in an ongoing domestic dispute for several years." Dais said. Anderson filed for divorce in February 1993. but later had it dismissed, according to court records. A second divorce complaint, filed Sept. II. was pending in 2nd District Court. The couple also had filed for protective orders against each oth"1 I s 'fr m m condition." "I'm disappointed." said Bill Juszcak. a commission member from the state Division of Facilities Construction and Management. "Probably half the square V footage the state owns is the worst kind of construction, mostly masonry. In the event Of a major earthquake, most of those buildings are going to be severely damaged or fall dow n." Bailey said that by failing to start fixing its own buildings, the state sets a poor example for private building owners and local unre-inforc- i . - t - H f er. Davis described Anderson, the former president of the Utah Pyrotechnics Association, as brilliant. "He w as just very good with the technical end of things. That's one reason we don't think this was accidental." he said. "The deputies were knocking on his door, had knocked a couple of times when the explosion went off. so we think he may have felt that things were just closing in on him." Commission' calls Leavitt hearing. Ripplinger said that the judge told him. "If this ... is a boy then you're a girl." Last April. Hoaks pulled the same hoax in Rapid City. S.D. She offered a letter from "his" mother saying she could no longer care for the boy. She told officials she was wasn't accidental about 125 miles southwest of Laredo. Texas, and will serve some 200.000 Mormons in the n. in Ver- Utah officials ten by a stepmother and signed by her and the "boy's" natural father. The note said they could no longer care for the boy, who was identified in the letter as "Mark." because his father had AIDS. "I'm just glad frankly that it unraveled as quickly as it did." said Mary Noonan, director of the Division of Family Services. She said several states called the division after the story, which was distributed by The Associated Press, was published in newspapers across the country. Vaughn said Hoaks confessed to making up the story when he questioned her Wednesday after receiving information and a photograph from Vermont officials. The woman told him she simply was trying to find a warm place to stay, he said. In 1992. Hoaks stayed at a boys home in Wichita, Kan., for six weeks and received free foot surgery and Christmas presents. State officials caught on to her during a physical when doctors found her breasts bound and a Caesarean section scar. Similar cases involving Hoaks have been reported in Texas. Idaho. Montana, New York. New Jersey. Maine. Alaska and West Virginia. Vaughn, who had not reviewed all of the cases, held up a "rap sheet" that stretched at least 20 pages. At a hearing Tuesday. Hoaks told 3rd District Juvenile Judge Frederic Oddone that "his" family had lived in Utah, Colorado, California. New York and Montana. bomber would-b- e LDS Female scam artist uncovered : I ? ! - AP Photo Bob Hunt of the Davis County Sheriff's office holds one of the homemade devices found in Scott Anderson's trailer after the pyrotechnics expert was killed Tuesday morning. governments. The money requested to fix state buildings excluded another S75 million that Juszcak's agency estimates is needed to prevent the state Capitol from crushing Leav-- i ill and legislators during a major earthquake. 1 he commission sought SI 55.000 for one year and S95.000 annually thereafter for earthquake education. They got none. They also requested $200,000 annually to buy and operate 108 "stronc-motioinstruments." n Penalty for cougar kill too stiff, lawmaker says SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Rep. Tom Hatch. would like to reduce the penalty for killing cougars, and maybe even take them off the list of pro- tected species. "It shouldn't be a felony to kill a cougar." he said. "In my lifetime, the state paid people $50 to kill them." He proposes reducing the penalty from a felony to a misde-meano- i. Hatch said it was "tragic" that four men were convicted of a felony for killing a cougar "on the w rong side of the road." The men. professional hunting guides, had captured a cougar in an area closed to hunting. They dragged it to where their client could kill it. Hatch also wants to clarify that it is legal to shoot a bear or lion within city limits if the animal is deemed a threat to people. He also would like to drop the cougar from the list of protected species, but. "I don't know if the time is right." Animals not on the protected list may be killed w ithout a license at any time by any one with any weapon. Hatch contends the cougar population "is at historic highs since we started protecting them." Bob Valentine, director of the of Wildlife Division state Resources, said that based on fewer reports of livestock losses and few er official sightings of cougars, the population may be declining. Hatch said he has seen more cougars in the last five years than he had in the previous 40. There is no scientific data on the number of cougars in Utah. Troubles worn defer film Recent ST. GEORGE (AP) problems with wilderness therapy programs for troubled teens haven't deterred a Utah film-mak- er from making an upbeat family-oriente- d adv enture film about such a program. Production crews have been southern Utah's crisscrossing scenic desert for the past two weeks shooting the final few scenes for next year's release titled "Last Resort." A film that praises the programs will likely be controversial to movie-goer- s in Utah, where three such programs have been shut down in the last five years after youth died from exposure to harsh conditions. A trial is scheduled next spring for the operators of North Star Expeditions, who are charged with abuse and neglect in the 1994 Phoenix boy death of a whose pleas for medical help were allegedly ignored by counselors. eyes of the main character Joey, whose father sends him away for rehabilitation after finding out about his exploits. "He plays a wealthy, spoiled e kid." said assistant producer Shelley Monson. "The film tries to depict what happens to him. and the other children, as they go through the pitfalls of the program." "Dream Machine." spent three Actors Dean Stoekwell. from weeks with the St. George-base- d the popular TV show "Quantum RedCliff Ascent program lor his and Justin Walker, from research. He based some of the Leap." last summer's comedy "Clue-- ! film's characters including a less." star in the S3 million prosuicidal teen and a a drug addict, duction. on the people he pyromaniac Production designer and former saw. counselor Shauna Weeks RedCliff "When I spent time with the said the film is a "sugar coated" I saw the good it did for the group. children. The antagonist is the version of the real thing. But she said it's not inaccurate streets where these children came from." Dav ton said. "I didn't w ant to portray that many children who to show the program as the antagare placed in actual programs, onist." leave the experience with a The story is told through the renewed sense of But producer-directo- r Lyman Dayton, w hose Dav ton Studios in St. George is producing the film, isn't discouraged by the highly publicized problems surrounding the therapy programs. "One of the reasons I chose this topic is because it is controversial." said Das ton. Dayton, whose credits include "Where the Red Fern Grows" and car-steali- brat-typ- self-estee- |