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Lucylastic -> RE: Truck Bomb Found Near Kansas Captial Building (2/16/2012 12:57:06 PM)
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Just found this
TOPEKA | A man detained after homemade bombs were found inside his pickup near the Kansas statehouse will not face federal charges, a federal law enforcement spokeswoman said Thursday.
Spokeswoman Trista Frederick of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that the agency helped with the investigation but that the case is being handled by Topeka authorities. She did not elaborate on why the matter wouldn't become a federal case.
Police in Topeka arrested two men Wednesday in what authorities described as unrelated incidents involving potential threats against the statehouse.
The first involved the pickup, found in a parking lot for the Kansas Judicial Center, across the street from the statehouse. Officers arrested the owner in an underground tunnel linking the statehouse and a state office building.
Separately, police arrested and jailed a 37-year-old man accused of making a threatening phone call to Gov. Sam Brownback's office. The man was scheduled to appear before a trial court judge by video teleconference on Thursday.
Capitol police said he has no permanent address but listed Columbia, Mo., as his last home. He told police he'd planned to move to Salina, Kan., about 100 miles west of Topeka, but they said they couldn't verify an address there.
Authorities have released no information about the owner of the pickup truck found with the homemade bombs. A spokeswoman for local law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation didn't immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
Officers investigated the pickup Wednesday morning after a state employee called to say it was parked in a restricted lot without a state worker tag. An officer saw suspicious objects inside, including an empty gun holster, and authorities called in the Topeka Police Department's bomb squad.
Authorities temporarily blocked traffic and access to the parking lot. The black Ford with no hood and a beat-up front grill had been removed from the Judicial Center parking lot by Thursday morning.
The truck carried a specialty Florida license plate issued only to qualified U.S. military paratroopers. It also had a special forces sticker on its bumper and stickers on its back window saying, "Welcome to America. Now speak English" and "Does my American flag offend you? Call 1 800 LEAVE THE USA." The gate of the pickup bed bore a decal from a dealership in Ocala, Fla.
The Associated Press attempted to check the license plate number with the Florida Highway Patrol, but officials declined to provide information about the vehicle's owner.
The pickup incident and the phoned-in threat to Brownback's office came the same day a Kansas House committee opened three days of hearings on several bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration, backed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a former law professor who helped draft tough laws in Alabama and Arizona.
Authorities said neither arrest was connected to a coinciding rally at the statehouse that was protesting policies pursued by Brownback, Kobach and other Republican officials.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/16/3433023/no-federal-charges-seen-in-kansas.html#storylink=cpy
SO its not looking to be so cut n dry..
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