Man Pleads Not Guilty To Threatening Gates Chicago-Area Man Accused Of Trying To Extort $5 Million From Microsoft Chairman

A Chicago-area man pleaded innocent Thursday to charges that he tried to extort $5 million from Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates by threatening the lives of Gates and his wife, Melinda.

Adam Quinn Pletcher, 21, of Long Grove, Ill., is accused of sending four letters to Microsoft headquarters in suburban Redmond, demanding that the money be placed in a foreign bank. The letters warned Gates, one of the world’s richest men, that if he notified authorities, the writer could kill him with “one bullet from my rifle at a quarter of a mile away.”

Trial was scheduled for July 21 before U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The 6-foot-3 Pletcher, wearing slacks, a shirt and vest, said little during the arraignment.

After the proceeding before Magistrate Philip Sweigert, his attorney, public defender Peter Offenbecher, said Pletcher is sorry for any stress he caused.

“He means no harm to anyone whatsoever,” Offenbecher told KSTW-TV as his bespectacled client stood by silently with his father.

“He has instructed me to resolve this case as soon as possible to get this matter behind everyone, so they can all get on with their lives.”

There is always a possibility that a case can “be resolved short of trial. This case is no different in that respect,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Redkey said. He noted that the government could charge Pletcher with four counts of extortion - one for each of the four letters. Pletcher currently is charged with just one count.

Some high-tech defendants see their actions “as ‘virtual’ crime, (but) it’s real crime,” Redkey said.

“This is really just a classic extortion case,” he said, with the threats sent through the mail.

“The twist was to ‘get back to me on the Internet’ to reply.”

In a telephone interview, Offenbecher said his client is “just a very nice young man. He’s just very, very sorry for any concern and trouble he’s caused Mr. Gates and his family, and law enforcement.”

Asked how his client perceived his actions, Offenbecher said he could not discuss such matters.

“I’m investigating the case and we’re discussing resolution,” he said. “Adam means no harm to anyone.”

Pletcher will be returned to Illinois pending his trial, but Redkey requested restrictions on his use of the Internet and asked that he be barred from traveling outside the Northern District of Illinois without permission.

Pletcher was arrested by the FBI on May 9 and released on a $100,000 property bond posted by his parents. A federal grand jury here indicted him May 14.

Pletcher’s father, chiropractor Dana Pletcher, has said his son is “really a good kid. … very intelligent. Everybody knows him and calls him a 6-foot-3 teddy bear.”

Pletcher admitted writing and mailing the threatening letters, according to an FBI affidavit.

“He holds honesty as a high value. So that’s why he told the FBI what he told them,” his father said in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer earlier this week.

The senior Pletcher said he had imposed no punishment because he feels his son has “suffered enough” over the pain he has caused his family.

Adam Pletcher, who works part time at his father’s office, did well in high school and had never been in trouble until the past several months, when he also was accused in criminal and civil actions in Illinois of defrauding people over the Internet, his father said.

None of those matters have gone to trial, Offenbecher said.<