August 27, 2003

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Missouri man to nearly six years in prison for impersonating an Army officer and possessing a weapon during rescue operations at the Interstate 40 bridge collapse.William James Clark, 37, was sentenced to three years for falsely impersonating a U.S. ...

Clark
Clark

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Missouri man to nearly six years in prison for impersonating an Army officer and possessing a weapon during rescue operations at the Interstate 40 bridge collapse.William James Clark, 37, was sentenced to three years for falsely impersonating a U.S. Army officer and 70 months for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling said in a news release. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently."The court rendered a more severe sentence due to (the) defendant's continuing possession of a firearm during the criminal episode (and) to include the defendant's flight to Canada," Sperling said of Clark, who pleaded guilty in May.Clark's attorney couldn't immediately be reached for comment.Clark, of Tallapoosa, Mo., appeared at the scene of the May 26, 2002, bridge collapse near Webbers Falls minutes after a towboat pushing two barges rammed the bridge.Fourteen people died after the impact sent their vehicles into the Arkansas River.Clark identified himself as a captain assigned to the 10th U.S. Special Forces Group in Fort Carson, Colo., who was on leave from Afghanistan and headed to see his grandmother in Missouri, Sperling said.Dressed in combat fatigues, Clark conducted media interviews and examined victims' personal effects and documents that were retrieved from the murky waters."Clark had identified himself as an Army officer working on the bridge disaster in order to obtain a pickup from a Searcy (Ark.) car dealer, clothing, supplies and food from a Fort Smith (Ark.) surplus store, and motel rooms from a Van Buren (Ark.) motel," Sperling said."Clark repeatedly called a victim's widow and falsely represented that he knew her husband, a deceased Army captain who perished in the tragedy."Clark, a convicted felon, left the site after Webbers Falls Mayor Jewell Horne confronted him.He purchased a rifle in Sulphur days before the collapse and had it with him at the scene, Sperling said.Clark still had the truck and the rifle when he was arrested two weeks later while trying to board a ferry in Ontario, Canada.He must pay nearly $10,500 in restitution to the automobile dealership, $464 to the Army surplus store and a $200 special assessment, Sperling said.

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