Blanding man pleads guilty to threatening informant

By PAUL FOY
Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah man charged with threatening a government informant at the center of an artifact looting case has pleaded guilty.

Charles Denton Armstrong pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to a charge of retaliating against a government informant.

The 44-year-old Blanding resident was accused of plotting to hurt the undercover artifacts dealer "real bad" by beating him with a baseball bat.

The operative set up a bust of 26 people in the Four Corners region on charges of collecting or trafficking in plundered American Indian artifacts from federal and tribal lands.

Armstrong is expected to get one year in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 1. He's been held since his July 13 arrest.

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