A Utah man accused of planning to beat a government informant who helped build a case against alleged Indian artifacts thieves pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday. Prosecutors said he had ties to white supremacists.

A grand jury returned an indictment against Charles Denton Armstrong, 44, on Wednesday. He was charged with one count of retaliation. Prosecutors said Armstrong told a witness he planned to tie a government informant to a tree and beat him with a baseball bat. Armstrong blamed the informant for the suicide of his doctor, James Redd, the government said. Read the Salt Lake Tribune story here.

Redd killed himself June 11, a day after 150 federal agents raided the homes of Utahans suspected of trafficking in artifacts stolen from tribal lands. The raids, which netted 24 indictments, sparked a chorus of protests in Utah, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for them at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in June.  Utah U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman later held a news conference to say the raids were conducted under standard operating procedure and to deny that excessive force was used.

Another accused artifacts trafficker also later committed suicide. Read our previous report about the suicides here. Redd’s wife and daughter, meanwhile, pleaded guilty earlier this month to theft charges in connection with the case.

According to the Deseret News:

Armstrong, who was being treated by James Redd for a degenerative spinal disorder, told a witness that he knew who the confidential source was who helped in the investigation and that he was going to “take care of him” because he blamed the source for Redd’s suicide.

Prosecutors say Armstrong has a violent history, has served time in prison and identified himself as a member of a white supremacist gang.

Federal authorities charged a former patient of the late Dr. James Redd with planning to retaliate against an informant in the Utah Indian artifacts case, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Charles Denton Armstrong said he intended “to take care of” a source that helped officials collect evidence in the theft and trafficking case by tying the person to a tree and beating him with a baseball bat, according to court documents obtained by The Tribune. He said in an affidavit that he didn’t want to kill the source, just “hurt him real bad,” The Tribune reported.

Redd was one of two defendants to commit suicide after 150 federal agents conducted a massive raid on Utahans alleged to have violated the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The raid caused an uproar in Utah, with officials accusing the government of having used too much force, and U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman denying it. Redd’s widow, Jeanne Redd, and her daughter, Jerrica Redd, pleaded guilty last week to multiple theft and illegal trafficking charges.

Jeanne and James Redd had had a previous run-in with the law over Indian artifacts. The Redds paid the state of Utah $10,000 in 2003 after they were prosecuted for raiding an Indian burial ground. The charges against James Redd for the 1996 incident were eventually dropped, while his wife pleaded no contest to a reduced charge.