Detroit woman convicted for threats to BP refinery

4/10/2007

DETROIT A Rochester Hills, Mich., woman will be sentenced Aug. 27 after pleading guilty to making a false statement to a federal agent in connection with a threatening message she telephoned two years ago to the BP Oil refinery in Oregon.

Natalia Odish, 33, left a message on a refinery supervisor s voice mail on March 8, 2005, stating that certain employees were plotting some very bad terrorist activities towards the refinery, according to the charges filed in October in U.S. District Court in Detroit. But when she was interviewed the following April 19 by an FBI agent, Odish denied leaving the message.

Odish was charged with three counts of making false statements, but accepted a plea agreement under which she pleaded guilty to a single count. The guilty plea was entered on Wednesday.

While the maximum penalty for the felony offense is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, federal sentencing guidelines indicate a prison term of no longer than six months for Odish, along with an unspecified fine and probation.