ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A British Columbia man was sentenced Thursday to 13 years in prison for plotting to blow up the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and get rich off the resulting disruptions to the oil supply.
The sentence counts the time Alfred Heinz Reumayr of New Westminster has been in custody as time served. He was arrested in August 1999, so he will have to serve only four more years.
Prosecutors say he planned a series of explosions along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in early January 2000. He expected oil prices would spike so he could profit from the sale of oil and gas futures he intended to purchase.
The plot was broken up after a co-conspirator went to authorities.
"His motivation in doing it was to play the futures market so that after the pipeline blew up and the price of oil increased he could make whatever profit on it," assistant U.S. attorney Steve Yarbrough said.
"That shows, at least in his mind, that it was going to be a significant enough impact to affect the financial markets in a way that he would enrich himself."
Reumayr's lawyer, Mark Donatelli, said Thursday his client never had the ability to put together the explosives needed for the scheme.
"On its face, it sounds like an extremely serious charge. On the other hand, the only person who had the capability of carrying out this scheme was a convicted felon, government informant working with ATF," Donatelli said.
Reumayr, 58, pleaded guilty in March to one count of terrorism transcending national boundaries. The informant is dead. No charges have been filed against anyone else.
Authorities said Reumayr sought help with the scheme from a former Green Beret and explosives expert. Jim Paxton of Albuquerque went to the ATF and became an informant.
He and Reumayr corresponded by e-mail, using an informal code in which they discussed a fishing trip.
Paxton testified at a 2001 extradition hearing in British Columbia that Reumayr wanted the explosions to coincide with Jan. 1, 2000, to capitalize on fears of computer failures.
Donatelli said his client never wanted anyone to get hurt and Reumayr never intended to set foot in the United States.
"All of the activity in the United States was to be carried out by the government informant and all of this happened with the government's knowledge," Donatelli said.
It will be up to Canada to decide whether Reumayr can serve the rest of his sentence in Canada, Donatelli said. If Reumayr remains in the United States, he will be deported once he completes his sentence and will not be allowed to re-enter the country, Yarbrough said.
