Editor’s note: This is an updated version of a report that was published last week at www.citypaper.net.

Six months after Philadelphia City Paper began receiving e-mails from an individual calling himself “Mr. Fantastic,” offering to sell access to one of the nation’s most secure facilities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has indicted an Army MP on espionage and bribery charges.

The charges were filed on Sept. 11 in U.S. District Court against 21-year-old Maurice Threats, accusing him of trying to sell information that "he had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation." If convicted of all three charges against him, Threats faces a total of 27 years in jail and fines of up to $750,000.

"This case came from calls that City Paper placed to us," said Martin Carlson, assistant U.S. Attorney, Middle District of Pennsylvania. The indictment states that the investigation took place between March 7 -- the day City Paper visited Site R in Waynesboro, Pa., a headquarters of the so-called "shadow government" -- and March 13, the day before the story about that visit ("Chasing Shadows") was published. The indictment makes no mention of Mr. Fantastic or City Paper and Carlson would not say whether Threats was the one who sent the e-mails. "I'm not going to get into any of the factual details in the indictment," Carlson said.

Thomas Thornton, Threats' federal public defender, said that not only have investigators told him they consider Threats to be the one who sent the e-mails, but that, as part of the discovery process, they are going to turn over a videotape of a sting operation in which FBI agents posed as newspaper employees in an effort to snare Threats. Thornton did not know whether they claimed to be from City Paper.

"I was originally told that there was another newspaper involved, but that isn't true," Thornton said Tuesday afternoon. "The agents said that there was only one newspaper that Threats dealt with, and that was City Paper. The government believes Mr. Threats is Mr. Fantastic." Thornton said that Threats acknowledged that he tried to sell those agents, posing as newspaper employees, "a picture of the outside of the facility during those taped meetings."

Thornton said his client is going to plead not guilty at his pending arraignment, but that Threats would like to work out a plea bargain. "These are serious charges and he could get a significant amount of time for them," Thornton said. "Our goal is to plea bargain and minimize the damage." Thornton added that as a result of the nationwide publicity surrounding his client's indictment, Threats and his family have received more than 10 death threats since Friday. Threats offered to sell the picture, said Thornton, because his family is facing financial difficulties.

Threats is still in the military, according to Dennis Pfannenschmidt, the Assistant U.S. Attorney who will be prosecuting the case. He added that Threats will likely be arraigned "sometime in the next 60 days." Chuck Dacey, a public affairs officer at Fort Detrick, which oversees Site R, said Threats will not face a court martial because the investigation into his actions was conducted by the FBI. Dacey added that Site R personnel "were surprised to hear" about the charges against Threats. "We have had a lot of emphasis on security at Fort Detrick in the past year, including computer security."

Jennifer Lafley, a spokesperson for the Military District of Washington, which includes Fort Detrick and Site R, said that Threats has been reassigned to Fort Detrick. "I am sure there is some concern about security," she said. "He has been reassigned away from any situation that would give him access that would be classified or sensitive." Both Lafley and U.S. Army spokesman Chris Conway said that the FBI is continuing to investigate this case. Philadelphia FBI spokesman Joseph Majarowitz said the FBI could not comment on details of the case.

The investigation into Threats began after Christina M. Felice and I visited the U.S. Army's Alternate Joint Communications Center in Waynesboro, Pa., last March. The center, also known as "Site R," was built during the Truman administration to house government facilities in the event of a nuclear attack on Washington, D.C. Site R is now used to house the so-called shadow government and is one of the locations that Vice President Dick Cheney visits when the White House is threatened.

On March 7, Felice and I toured Waynesboro for a story about what it is like to live in the shadow of the shadow government ("Chasing Shadows," March 14, 2002). The story took a bizarre shift when we stumbled on the base and were stopped by MPs, including Threats. Officials at the base confiscated the film in Felice's camera (a few days later, the Army sent us the developed roll, sans pictures of Site R) and demanded our IDs, which we provided. After being detained for about 45 minutes -- during which time we were tongue-lashed by a local police officer and a local sheriff -- we returned to City Paper. The next day Felice found an e-mail waiting for her from an individual calling himself Mike Thomas, using the e-mail address: mrfantastic_76@yahoo.com. "If you need or want info about directions to site r or inside site r. e-mail back, if not disregard," Mr. Fantastic wrote. "Also if you need those pics of site r they can be obtained, just let me know."

Intrigued, I responded to Mr. Fantastic in vague terms. At the time I did not know whether this was real, a joke or someone was trying to set me up. As we corresponded back and forth, it became clear to me that Mr. Fantastic was suggesting espionage. I called our lawyer, the late Sam Klein, who urged me to contact the FBI. Meanwhile, Mr. Fantastic had given me a deadline of 5 p.m., Sat., March 9. Minutes before the deadline was about to expire, I received a call from a high-ranking FBI official who asked me to string the guy along. Reluctantly, I agreed, sending my last e-mail to him and the only one at the FBI's behest.

On Sun., March 10, Mr. Fantastic sent me another e-mail: "Howard, I am letting you know ahead of time that what I am giving you will be the largest story since Sep 11, the governments secret base. It is nicknamed the underground pentagon, it has 5 buildings, each 3 stories, a helipad, a national satellite comm center, direct lines to the president, moscow, norad, and other top notch organizations. Not only can I get you the pics, and/or film but I can give you the layout of any activities. So chump change will not be accepted for me risking my career. I know the shadow gov is the hottest thing going so be generous. Hope to do business soon. Mike."

The next morning, FBI agents were dispatched to my office, where they interviewed Felice and me. During the interview the agents asked if I would continue to e-mail Mr. Fantastic and string him along to help the investigation. I told them that I could no longer cooperate because I did not want to cross the line between reporter and government operative. They then asked if they could use my e-mail address. I refused. Before the story was published, the White House asked us not to reveal the location of Site R, a request we declined because that information had already been made available via the Internet and Village Voice, which published a story about Site R the day I spoke with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin. The next day, the U.S. Attorney's office called to ask us to hold off on publishing the story, a request I had to decline because the paper was already being printed.

Repeated efforts since then to find out what happened to the investigation were rebuffed by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office until Fri., Sept. 13, when I received a call from the latter informing me of the indictment. The White House deferred calls to the Department of Justice, which referred calls to Carlson.

"This is a guy who loves his country and has dedicated his life to serving his country," said Thornton. "This is a very, very unfortunate situation. He is a decorated soldier. He was once selected to be a special assistant to a general in Korea. The degree of seriousness here can be judged by the fact that he continued to work there and is still in the military."

The attorney said Threats offered to sell pictures of the outside of the facility -- pictures that are readily available elsewhere -- because he is facing financial problems.

"He is having the normal financial problems everyone in the military has," Thornton said. "This came about as a result of the fact that they do not pay these guys enough money. He has had to move from place to place. He is married with children, I don't know how many. But if he tries to live off base, so his family has a life, on his small salary it is impossible."

Thornton said that he "is very worried about my client. One of the callers threatened to blow up his house. I've contacted the U.S. Attorney's office."

The entire incident, Thornton said, "is a non-story. The indictment was terribly timed right on Sept. 11. I don't know why the government chose to indict him then, other than the publicity value of that date."