California man pleads guilty to threatening Bush

ST. LOUIS -- A California man faces up to five years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines after admitting Friday he threatened to kill President Bush last summer.

Eugene Lewis, 54, of the Los Angeles area, remains jailed pending sentencing May 13 on the felony count of threatening a president's life.

Prosecutors said Lewis traveled by bus from California to St. Louis last July 4, three days before he called 911 and reported his plans to continue on to Washington, D.C., and kill the president.

But Lewis' telephone call was routed to police at St. Louis' Lambert Airport, where Lewis was arrested at a bus port, prosecutors said.

Lewis later repeated his threats against Bush to Secret Service agents.

"There is no evidence that Mr. Lewis was ever in close proximity to the president," U.S. Attorney Ray Gruender said.