Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130574
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ARSON SUSPECT INDICTED/ MAN FACES RIGHTS, MURDER CHARGES

A grand jury in U.S. District Court in Roanoke returned an indictment against the Giles County resident and against John Clifford Simms, a Franklin County man who is alleged to have hired Montgomery to burn a house because he didn't want blacks moving next door to him.

The indictment alleges that Simms hired Montgomery and paid him $500 to burn a house near his home in the Penhook section of Franklin County because it was under contract for sale to a black family.

On Oct. 27, Simms told Montgomery that the house did not burn properly. Montgomery agreed to burn it again, the indictment alleges. On Oct. 31, Montgomery bought a gasRep. Jim Olin, D-Roanokee can, and he and another person returned to the house and set it on fire again.

Sometime around Nov. 1, Montgomery paid Simms $500 for his services, the indictment alleges.

The second fire was extinguished by firefighters before it caused heavy damage, according to police reports.

Montgomery, 49, is accused in the indictment of setting the house on fire last Oct. 26 and 31. It alleges that Montgomery and another person, who has not been charged, picked up two gas cans from Paul Daniel Bostic's home in Roanoke to be used to burn the house.

Montgomery and the other person then drove to the Franklin County home, where Montgomery poured flammable liquids throughout the house and set it on fire, the indictment charges.

The indictment also charges Montgomery and Simms with conspiring to oppress, threaten and intimidate the black family that intended to buy the house. Simms was named earlier in a federal affidavit but was not charged until Tuesday.

The indictment further charges Montgomery with the slaying of Bostic on Feb. 10. It is alleged that Montgomery killed Bostic by a gunshot wound to the face because Bostic had reported Montgomery's commission of various crimes to federal law-enforcement officials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said a murder charge in the federal judicial system is rare. The charges were brought under an obstruction-of-justice statute.

"We alleged that Montgomery killed Bostic because he passed on information," Bondurant said. "Under the obstruction-of-justice statute, if that obstruction results in death, [the offender] faces life without parole."

Bostic is named in the indictment as having participated in the alleged conspiracy to intimidate the black family.

Both Montgomery and Simms are further charged with illegal possession of firearms by convicted felons. Both men have been convicted of first-degree murder.

Simms, 53, also is charged with moonshining offenses. Authorities who searched Simms' home last month found - in addition to 24 guns, including rifles, shotguns and revolvers - two full jars and two partially filled jars containing suspected distilled spirits on which no taxes had been paid.

Montgomery, a weightlifter who police say sometimes wears body armor and is extremely dangerous, remains in custody. His arraignment has been scheduled for March 29.

He faces life imprisonment without possibility of parole, a $1.75 million fine, or both.

Simms faces 45 years in prison without possibility of parole, a $1.25 million fine, or both. Simms has been summoned to appear at the March 29 arraignment, Bondurant said.

The charges were a result of an investigation headed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Bondurant will be assisted in prosecuting the case by Deborah Sines, a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

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