Man held in Bangor on federal probe list Suspect arrested at Calais crossing

BANGOR – The name of a man from France who attempted to cross the border illegally from Canada to Calais on Sept. 14 has cropped up on Attorney General John Ashcroft’s list released Wednesday of people charged with federal crimes possibly related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Francois Guagni (pronounced GWA-nee), 41, appeared Oct. 3 before Magistrate Judge Margaret J. Kravchuk at U.S. District Court in Bangor and pleaded guilty to attempted illegal re-entry into this country after being deported. It is not clear why his name is on the Ashcroft list, which includes more than 100 people. An additional 548 people suspected of having ties to the events of Sept. 11 are in custody nationwide, according to Ashcroft. Those names have not been released.

A search of Guagni’s luggage revealed a “survival knife with an 8.5-inch blade and several box cutters-razor knives,” according to a court document.

Guagni is in the Penobscot County Jail awaiting sentencing in January 2002. He faces the possibility of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both for the felony.

His appearing on Ashcroft’s list and his current locale add fuel to speculation that an unknown number of the suspected terrorists had connections to Maine.

But Guagni’s attorney called the matter a “garden-variety immigration case,” and said Guagni had no terrorist connections.

“He’s just one of many people who, due to increased border security and heightened scrutiny, have been brought into the federal court system,” said lawyer Christopher Smith of Bangor. Smith said his client came to the United States as a child and had been residing most recently in Connecticut, working construction jobs and installing drywall. He was deported two years ago based on his criminal record, Smith said.

Officials from Ashcroft’s office and acting Maine U.S. attorney Paula Silsby did not return calls Wednesday, so it could not be determined why Guagni’s name was on the list. Questions also remain as to whether Guagni is a native of France or from the Middle East, the home of most of the 548 people who remain in custody as a result of the investigation.

According to court papers, Guagni was on a chartered bus carrying passengers from airline flights that had been diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sept. 11. The bus arrived at the Calais border at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 14. Guagni presented a valid French passport stating he was a citizen of France. He told border officials he was bound for Connecticut to visit his girlfriend. An inspector became suspicious because Guagni said he had not been in the United States for five years yet he responded to questions “in fluent English with no French accent,” states a court document.

Guagni underwent a secondary inspection in which he changed his story, telling an inspector from the Immigration and Naturalization Service he was going to visit his dying mother in Connecticut. Guagni also stated he was a construction worker in France and claimed his criminal record consisted of “only misdemeanor drinking offenses,” a court paper states.

A background check revealed Guagni had a criminal record in Connecticut that included 1995 convictions for reckless endangerment and interference with a police officer and 1997 convictions for violating a protective order, threatening, and interference with a police officer, according to court records. He was convicted of possession of marijuana in Florida and has a drunken driving conviction in New York. After a conviction for assaulting his girlfriend, Guagni was deported from Houston to France on Nov. 3, 1999.

His deportation documents included a warning that he was required to obtain permission from the attorney general to re-enter the United States. A review of his INS records did not reveal any evidence he had done so, according to court documents.

After knives were discovered in his luggage, Guagni was handcuffed. Then he “began muttering and talking to himself out loud. His statements became profane and consisted of his desire to kill his ex-girlfriend, about how she had ruined his life and open-ended threats that included breaking anyone’s head off that stops him and that he is not going back to jail,” according to a court document.

Guagni’s Bangor court appearance came on the heels of speculation earlier this fall that some of the 19 men believed to have hijacked and crashed four planes on Sept. 11 had passed through Bangor.

Two of the suspected hijackers were seen on security cameras at Portland stores and at the Portland International Jetport.

Reports of sightings in Bangor never have been confirmed.

The speculation was “mostly in the press but there wasn’t anything other than that,” said Rebecca Hupp, acting director of Bangor International Airport. Hupp said the airport’s 20 surveillance tapes handed over to the FBI in connection with the investigation have not been returned. “We don’t expect them back. We provided the tapes to them as a courtesy, it was not a request,” Hupp said. She added that the tapes were given in the event “they might be of some value.”

“We haven’t had any additional contact with the FBI” on the matter, Hupp said.

An FBI spokesman in Massachusetts referred calls to the INS.

An INS spokesman in Portland said the agency could not comment on the matter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.