-Caveat Lector-
Maybe some people have a different way of being a tax protester, a
little more than just a teaparty.
http://www.gazette.com/archive/99-04-11/top2.html
By Eric Gorski/The Gazette
Story editor Todd Hegert; headline by Jeanne Davant
A nondescript red-brick building where hundreds of Colorado Springs residents
turn for tax help was cordoned off as a crime scene Saturday.
Investigators ruled Saturday that a Friday night fire at the Colorado Springs
office of the Internal Revenue Service was arson. It was the second time in
less than two years that someone torched the local IRS office.
While picking through the gutted first-floor office of the building Saturday,
federal agents and city fire investigators thought they smelled an
accelerant, said Rich Marianos, resident agent in charge of the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Colorado Springs. A Labrador
retriever trained to sniff out fire scenes confirmed their suspicions.
Samples of wood, carpet, book material and other debris were hauled out in
empty paint cans and will be sent to a federal lab in Rockville, Md., to
determine what exactly was used to start the fire, Marianos said.
"This is a serious thing in the community we have to address, and we have to
address aggressively," he said. "This is the second time this has happened to
these people. Once is enough. Twice is much, much more than we want to deal
with, and we want to end this."
On Saturday, May 3, 1997, someone set fire to the IRS office on North Academy
Boulevard, causing $1 million in damage to the building and forcing the
relocation of the agency and other businesses. The case has never been solved.
At 11:14 p.m. Friday, Springs firefighters were called to a two-alarm
structure fire at 1259 Lake Plaza Drive, near Venetucci Boulevard and Lake
Avenue. Only later did they learn the IRS office had burned again.
The fire was confined to one large room where the reception desk, revenue
agents and office library are located, according to firefighters and Kathy
Strom, IRS district director representative.
When firefighters arrived, flames were pouring from a shattered ground-floor
window, said Damon Davis, supervisor of the Colorado Springs Fire Department
investigations team. The fire was contained at about midnight and completely
under control within three hours.
Marianos said investigators were trying to pinpoint where glass shards fell
in an effort to determine whether someone broke the window to enter the
building or whether the fire blew out the window. Either is possible, he said.
No one claimed responsibility for starting the fire, Marianos said. He said
that to his knowledge, no threats were made against the office beforehand.
IRS officials declined to describe security measures at the office, citing
safety concerns.
The 44,000-square-foot building, built in 1982 as headquarters for Mitre
Corp., a defense contractor, is owned by homebuilder Henry Norman, and his
wife, Julie, records show. The building is for sale for $3.5 million.
The IRS occupies about 10,000 square feet on the south end of the first
floor, said Ted Link, a leasing agent with Fidelity Real Estate Inc., which
is handling the property. Colorado Springs Health Partners leases about
13,000 square feet on the first and second floors of the north side. The
space above the IRS is vacant.
Even before arson was confirmed, Marianos said Friday's fire bore
similarities to the 1997 blaze, which caused more damage. Both targeted the
same agency, and the acts are separated by 25 months, to the day.
In the 1997 fire, the letters "A.A.R." were spray-painted on the IRS walls.
No such graffiti were found after Friday's fire, Marianos said. Investigators
never learned what the letters meant, he said.
Speculation about who started the 1997 fire centered on anti-government
activists, though the ATF never said it believed such people were to blame.
That year, the Associated Press reported that anti-government activists Linda
June Tebedo Cleaver, daughter of state Sen. MaryAnne Tebedo, R-Colorado
Springs, and Cleaver's husband, Jim Cleaver, were subpoenaed to appear before
a grand jury investigating the fire. Neither was charged with anything.
Friday's fire came at the worst possible time for the IRS, which is preparing
for Thursday's deadline for filing federal income taxes. The office, in fact,
was to be open Saturday for people seeking last-minute help.
Kate Gregg, an IRS spokeswoman in Denver, said agency officials had not been
inside the building Saturday, so it was impossible to say whether it would
reopen there. She said the agency hopes to announce a temporary move Monday.
Gregg said that compared with other IRS field offices, the Colorado Springs
branch is a busy one, handling as many as 300 customers each day. The 45- to
50-employee office investigates tax fraud, conducts audits, pursues tax
collections and answers tax questions.
There is no visible IRS sign on the building, but Gregg said the IRS
advertises the address, especially during tax time, "so it's not about making
the place private," she said.
Mike Slamkowski, 39, drove with his son, Brian, 11, to the office Saturday to
pick up a special tax form and information manual he couldn't find anywhere
else.
Instead, he was politely turned away by an ATF agent in a windbreaker.
"If some idiot wants to take the office out, all he's going to achieve is all
of us having a difficult time," said Slamkowski, who works for a packaging
company.
Anyone having any information about either Friday's fire or the unsolved fire
two years ago is asked to call the ATF at 473-0166 or the FBI at 633-3852.
Eric Gorski may be reached at 636-0304 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Scott Thomsen
contributed information to this report.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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