ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - An Antiguan task force said yesterday that sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad entered the Caribbean nation in March 2000 using a Wyoming driver's license bearing a false name, Thomas Alan Lee, apparently one of numerous false identities he used during 16 months on the island.
Attorney General Gertel U. Thom, who released the three-page preliminary report of the task force looking into Muhammad's activities, said he may have helped produce forged documents for other people.
In addition, a witness apparently told investigators that Muhammad once suggested kidnapping Antigua's prime minister for a ransom.
Investigators are reviewing the roughly 5,000 passports issued by the nation formally known as Antigua and Barbuda between July 4, 2000, when Muhammad was issued passport No. 0118115, and July of last year, when he is last known to have been on the island.
They want to know whether Muhammad, whose original name was John Allen Williams, helped others obtain Antiguan passports or forged U.S. driver's licenses to allow them to enter the United States.
The four-member task force, led by attorney John Fuller, omitted from the preliminary report findings it felt would compromise the investigation, Thom said.
"I believe there are a number of other persons involved with John Allen Williams-Muhammad with getting documents that are not authentic," Thom said. "But we will continue to review the evidence further."
The report explains the circumstances under which Muhammad altered his Louisiana birth certificate to replace the name of his mother, Myrtie Williams, with the name of an Antiguan woman, Eva Ferris, whose name he misspelled as "Feris."
When he met Muriel Allen, a teacher at his children's school, Greensville Primary School, he suggested they might be related because they shared the name Allen. "During the conversation he asked her for her mother's name, and she told [him] it was Eva Ferris," the report said. Using the birth certificate altered to show an Antiguan parent, Muhammad applied for a passport, which was issued in the name of John Allen Williams. He picked up the passport July 18, 2000, the report said.
The report makes reference to inattentive examination of his paperwork by passport officials and a misrepresentation by the principal of his children's primary school, who wrote a reference letter claiming she had known Muhammad for 18 months when she actually had known him about three months.
Thom said no charges are expected to be filed against any Antiguan citizen in connection with those matters. "There's no evidence of any criminal collusion in the passport office," she said. But she hastened to add that one or more people could face forgery charges at the conclusion of the wider inquiry.
The task force urged more care by island officials in checking documents to reduce the chance that passports will be issued on the basis of false information or forgeries.
As to the kidnapping accusation, Fuller said the witness recalled a proposal made by Muhammad nearly two years ago.
There was no indication that Muhammad acted on the alleged threat.
In a final note, the report says there is "no evidence" linking Muhammad to would-be shoe bomber Richard C. Reid.
Reid, 29, was on a flight from Paris to Antigua by way of Miami on Dec. 22 when he tried to ignite a small quantity of explosives hidden in the hollowed-out heel of his shoe. Overpowered by passengers and arrested when the plane landed, Reid told police that he was on his way to Antigua to visit relatives.
Reid pleaded guilty last month to eight charges, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, declaring himself a disciple of Osama bin Laden and an enemy of the United States. Authorities have found no evidence confirming that Reid had ties to Antigua or had ever been there.
Sun staff writer Scott Shane and the Associated Press contributed to this article.