'COVER' BLOWN; MOORE June 22, 1995 | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR) RODNEY BOWERS AND MICHAEL WHITELEY, Democrat-Gazette State Reporters | Page: 1A | Section: 1A ROYAL -- Roger E. Moore said Wednesday that federal agents have identified some of the guns recovered from Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols' house as those stolen from him in 1994. Moore also said Timothy McVeigh, another suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing, once sold copies of the "Turner Diaries" at gun shows around the country. The "Turner Diaries" is a novel in which the characters blow up the FBI's national headquarters with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate was used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19. When the media reported his name as the victim of a robbery, it blew his "cover" work for the FBI, Moore said. He said FBI agents have confirmed that a key to a safety deposit box, two Chinese assault rifles and other weapons later found at Nichols' home in Kansas were taken in the robbery of Moore's home. Moore, 60, said his loss of nearly $60,000 in minimally insured property angered him, but he is also angry at the Garland County sheriff's office and the media, particularly the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "The FBI f+w+w+w+w+w up by not subpoenaing it," he said of the sheriff's report on the robbery, which enabled the Democrat-Gazette to identify Moore. Moore said his ordeal began about 9:15 a.m. Nov. 5, 1994. He walked out the back door of his home to feed his ducks that Saturday morning and found himself at the barrel end of a pistol-grip 12-gauge shotgun. A gunman, wearing a black ski mask, camouflage clothing and Israeli combat boots, met him near the dirt driveway leading to his home along U.S. 270, about 10 miles west of Hot Springs, he said. "The guy had been standing there since dawn," Moore said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "They could determine that" by evidence found at the scene, he said. Moore, alone in the house at the time, said the gunman cut the telephone line and ordered him to crawl back inside the house. There, the gunman bound Moore's hands with plastic straps and duct tape, and threw a jacket over Moore's head. He then ordered Moore to lie still on the floor or he would be killed. Moore said the masked man, and perhaps an accomplice, searched his home for about 90 minutes. He said the man took several gold and silver coins and bars, gemstones, cash, cameras, Indian artifacts and more than 70 guns. The robber, whom he believed to be white, then loaded the items in Moore's 1985 Ford van and drove away. Moore said none of the items was individually insured and his homeowner's insurance paid only a tenth of their value. But, I was "lucky to get by without getting killed. These guys shoot you," he said. Moore said he freed himself about 11:30 a.m., using a nearby penknife he had left open the previous night. He then called the sheriff's office from a neighbor's home. A short time later, deputies found the van on a road "not used in 10 years" in a clear-cut area of the Ouachita National Forest about two to three miles from Moore's home, he said. "They found the thing in 20 to 30 minutes," he said. Moore said personnel at the sheriff's office did not seem interested in the robbery. "They didn't give a s+w+w+w," he said of the officers' attitudes. "They did not work the case." Unexplained, he said, is the disappearance of a list of serial numbers for his missing guns. Moore said he hid the list in the van. "The FBI is fully informed of this," he said. "We worked it like any other case," Sheriff Larry Selig said Wednesday. He said his office dispatched four patrol cars to Moore's home when the robbery was reported. "I think there was plenty of interest in it." Moore said he initially asked Selig to keep the incident report from the media, fearing that news reports might attract paramilitary-type "crazies" to his home in search of additional weapons. "The northern half of Arkansas is full of them," he said. "He requested it and we tried to honor it," Selig said of initial efforts to keep the report from the media. Selig said the media could have received a copy of the report if they had asked. Details of the robbery did not surface until last week when the FBI released documents relating to searches of the homes of Nichols and McVeigh. Reports stated that agents believed some of the items recovered from the men's homes and from a Michigan ranch belonging to Nichols' brother, James D. Nichols, came from an armed robbery in Hot Springs. After receiving media requests, Selig released a heavily edited copy of the robbery report last week. Inquiries led reporters to Moore, whom the Democrat-Gazette identified in a June 15 article. Subsequently, Moore said, "Whatever I was doing for the FBI is f+w+w+w+w+w up because they blew my cover." Moore, who has sold ammunition at gun shows across the nation, declined to discuss his involvement with the FBI. William Temple, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Arkansas, declined to comment Wednesday. Moore said FBI agents "showed up" at his home about three days after the Oklahoma City bombing. He said they spoke to him about some items found in Terry Nichols' home in Herington, Kan. "They found a lot of s+w+w+w in his house," Moore said, including a safe deposit key belonging to Moore. Moore said he also retained a few of the serial numbers from his guns and that agents matched those numbers to some of the weapons found in Nichols' home. Temple refused Wednesday to confirm the alleged matches, saying, "I really can't comment on any of that." FBI records released in Michigan showed that agents found 31 guns in Nichols' home, $5,228 in cash, several silver and gold coins, and two silver bars. Investigators said last week that matches would prove important because they believe the robbery may have supported Terry Nichols, 40, and McVeigh, 27, for several months before the bombing. The FBI records also showed that agents found guns at James Nichols' farm in Decker, Mich., that apparently matched some of those stolen from Moore. Moore said he told sheriff's deputies "from the beginning" that McVeigh "was at the head of the list" of robbery suspects. He said he met McVeigh at a gun show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in January 1993 and again at Tulsa about two weeks before the robbery. He said McVeigh had visited his home and knew of Moore's gun collection. Moore said FBI agents have indicated more arrests may be made and, to learn more about McVeigh, they are interviewing people who have attended various gun shows. "They're interviewing everybody, I mean everybody, from coast to coast," he said. "McVeigh got around the country and went to a lot of gun shows." Moore also said he wishes the media would focus its attention more on the bombing suspects and less on him, calling himself an innocent victim. "I'm getting tired of this," he said. "Everybody's been driving my neighbors nuts." Moore said some recent media accounts have been inaccurate, such as those that indicated he is a gun dealer and portrayed him as fanatically inclined and possessing an "arsenal." He discounted a report that he has been interviewed 30 times by the FBI in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. Moore said agents interviewed him only at his home and at their Hot Springs office. He declined to say how many times he has talked to agents, but said it's "not 30 times."