where he made a bomb threat. His message demanded so-called "white warriors" to take action against the U.S. Government and that failure to do so before December 15 (of that year) would result in bombs going off in 15 U.S. cities. Despite this, no bombs detonated. Viefhaus was arrested soon after he recorded this message in an answering machine at the Tulsa house he shared with Howe. On December 13, 1996, a search warrant was executed at the house the two shared. During a raid by federal agents, various items were found, which, according to FBI bomb expert Robert Heckman, could have been assembled into a pipe bomb with lethal potential. In addition to bomb ingredients, federal agents found several guns, books on how to construct weapons, and lists of alleged targets. Also found in the house was a picture of the couple, holding weapons and wearing swastikas on their clothing. Trial Howe had not been charged previously in connection with the December raid on the home, but at a hearing for Viefhaus, prosecutors had said they considered her "almost an equal threat". Howe says that she had set up the white supremacist hot line in 1996 to enhance her cover after federal agents disclosed her identity. During her trial, she explained to the jury that her life as a white separatist was only done as a pose to gather information as an undercover Government informer. She also testified that the capped pipe, black powder and length of fuse recovered from the home she shared with Viefhaus had been gathered during her work as an informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Viefhaus was convicted of transmitting a bomb threat by a telephone answering machine and conspiracy to transmit the threat and was sentenced to 38 months in prison for conspiracy, making a bomb threat and possessing the components of a destructive device. Howe was found not guilty in a separate trial. Later Howe has since changed her name and is the subject of a Columbia Pictures movie project. References Police informants American whistleblowers People from Tulsa, Oklahoma American adoptees Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program Oklahoma City bombing American debutantes American white supremacists 21st-century American women