Artifacts case figure wants to change plea

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A Utah man accused of threatening to beat a witness in an artifacts-trafficking case wants to change his innocent plea, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday.

The newspaper, without naming sources, said Charles Denton Armstrong, 44, has indicated he now wants to plead guilty to charges that he threatened to tie an unnamed government witness to a tree and beat him with a baseball bat.

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for Brett Tolman, U.S. attorney for Utah, told the Tribune whether Armstrong will plead guilty is "something we won't know until we actually get to the hearing and see what happens."

Prosecutors say Armstrong has an extensive criminal history and ties to a California white-supremacist prison gang known as the Bakersfield Crew. He has reportedly been in a Salt Lake County jail since July.

Court records indicate Armstrong learned the name of the witness from artifacts dealer Jeanne Redd, 59, who has pleaded guilty to seven felonies in the illegal trafficking case, the newspaper said.