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RALEIGH, N.C. (Sept. 13, 2005) — Federal law enforcement agents recently recognized enforcement officers from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission for their role in the search for fugitive bomber Eric Rudolph. Wildlife enforcement officers Edwin Grant, Tim Lominac, Sgt. Wade Burge and Lt. Mike Stephens were thanked by the FBI and the U.S. Forest Service’s Law Enforcement unit for their persistence and cooperative spirit during the five-year manhunt. “The FBI learned a whole host of lessons,” said FBI Special Agent Rick Schwein. “No. 1, don’t go into the forest without the Forest Service and wildlife officers because you’ll get lost.” Rudolph, convicted of four bombings in Georgia and Alabama between 1996 and 1998, evaded capture by hiding in the rugged western North Carolina mountains. The pursuit ended in 2003, when a Murphy police officer caught Rudolph scavenging a garbage bin. This summer he was sentenced to multiple life terms for the bombing spree that killed two people and wounded more than 100 others. After the arrest, wildlife enforcement officers backtracked to several of his hideouts. Based on those searches, as well as information Rudolph divulged as part of a plea bargain, law enforcement agencies uncovered five caches of stolen dynamite weighing more than 250 pounds. “Your assistance in the capture and prosecution of Eric Robert Rudolph removed a major threat to the visitors and managers of our national forests,” Special Agent Russ Arthur of the U.S. Forest Service said in a ceremony honoring the wildlife officers at the Wildlife Commission’s Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education outside Brevard. Richard Hamilton, executive director of the Commission, said the officers “represent this agency and North Carolina sportsmen well.” |
