This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A 42-year-old man accused of taking a hostage at the FBI's downtown Salt Lake City office building last year was ordered Thursday to stand trial.
Robert Joseph Hibbard, who allegedly initiated the incident with the FBI because he wanted to speak to a forensic psychiatrist about the death of his ex-wife and the criminal charges against her new husband, is charged with aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On Thursday in 3rd District Court, Hibbard waived his right to a preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors would have had to put on evidence demonstrating probable cause in the case.
In conversations with both The Salt Lake Tribune and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, Hibbard accused his ex-wife's new husband of her murder.
His ex-wife, Rashell Langford, died in September 2011 when she shot herself while taking a concoction of artificial drugs known as "bath salts" and drinking alcohol with her new husband, Shawn Robert Langford.
Langford was charged with misdemeanor negligent homicide, pleaded guilty to an alternate misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment for backing out of a suicide pact the couple made and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Hibbard felt this was unjust and that Shawn Langford should have been charged with murder.
According to court documents Hibbard took matters into his own hands on Sept. 17, 2012, when he entered the 6th floor of the FBI building, grabbed a 61-year-old man and said he needed a forensic psychiatrist and that the FBI had one.
He said he had a gun, put an object to the victim's back and stated, "This is a hostage situation," the documents state.
Hibbard forced the man into an elevator and pushed the button for the 12th floor, where the FBI offices are. When they arrived, Hibbard loosened his grip and handed the man a knife, which he had been holding to his back, according to charges.
An FBI agent took Hibbard into custody.
Hibbard has a criminal record beginning in 1991 that includes misdemeanor convictions for possession of a controlled substance, retail theft, simple assault and forcible sexual abuse, according to Utah court records.
As recently as 2010, Hibbard was on supervised probation with the Utah Department of Corrections for out-of-state convictions of sexual battery and attempted theft by receiving stolen property.
He will be arraigned next month on the kidnapping charge before Judge Robin Reese.
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