SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say a Utah man planned to tie an undercover informant to a tree and beat him with a baseball bat over his involvement in a large-scale investigation into the theft and illegal trafficking of American Indian artifacts.
In a complaint filed Monday, federal officials say 44-year-old Charles Denton Armstrong, of Blanding, told a witness that he was once a patient of James Redd, a Blanding doctor indicted last month after a two-year sting operation.
Redd committed suicide a day after the indictments were announced.
According to the federal complaint, Armstrong told the witness that he blamed the informant for Redd's death.
Armstrong is charged with retaliating against an informant. He was scheduled to appear in federal court Monday afternoon.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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