cuchulainn
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from the The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002006320_wales16m.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002006320_wales16m.html
Gun News ad seeks clues in 2001 case of slain prosecutor
By Gene Johnson
The Associated Press
The FBI has taken out an ad in Gun News magazine, hoping to generate tips that could help solve the slaying of Thomas Wales, a federal prosecutor shot to death in his Seattle basement nearly three years ago.
The two-page advertisement asks readers who know anyone with an "after-market" barrel for a Makarov semi-automatic pistol to call the agency.
It describes the barrels, manufactured by Federal Arms, as being made of stainless steel and having six lands and grooves. Original barrels for the pistols are made of blued steel with four lands and grooves.
The ad's other page offers a $1 million reward for information that helps solve the case. Wales, 49 and a father of two, was an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle for 18 years and specialized in prosecuting white-collar crime.
Wales was killed as he worked at his computer the night of Oct. 11, 2001. The killer fired several shots through a basement window.
At one point in the investigation, a federal grand jury in Seattle subpoenaed Federal Arms, of Fridley, Minn., to provide the names of customers and gun dealers who purchased replacement Makarov barrels before Wales' death.
The company complied, and FBI field offices around the country began contacting people who bought the 3,500 barrels. They hope to turn up one that matches ballistics markings on shell casings found outside Wales' basement window.
The FBI has investigated Wales' involvement with the gun-control group Washington CeaseFire and his personal and professional lives.
The only publicly identified suspect so far is a former airline pilot who lives in Bellevue. He has not been charged with a crime in Wales' death.
The pilot, a man in his 40s, was indicted by Wales in 2000 in a fraud case involving the renovation of a Vietnam-era military helicopter for civilian use.
The next year, charges against the pilot and his business partners were dropped, and the company pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
The pilot, an avid gun owner, sued the government for malicious prosecution, seeking recovery of more than $125,000 in payments to lawyers, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge.
The FBI first searched the pilot's home in December 2001. In April, agents searched it again, seizing 27 boxes of goods.
They also removed a bullet from the wall of an apartment in Bellingham where the pilot used to live.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company