US man accused of plotting to blow up pipelines

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

US man accused of plotting to blow up pipelines
By Jon Hurdle

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, July 9 (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man who sympathized with al Qaeda plotted to blow up U.S. energy installations in a bid to drive up gas prices and prompt a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, prosecutors alleged on Monday.

Defendant Michael Curtis Reynolds believed gasoline prices could hit "astronomical" levels if he succeeded in attacking the Alaska pipeline or the Transcontinental Pipeline connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. Northeast, a jury heard in federal court.

Reynolds, 49, of Wilkes-Barre, faces six charges including attempting to support al Qaeda; plotting to damage an interstate gas pipeline; distributing instructions on making explosives over the Internet; and possession of hand grenades.

Reynolds' suspected plans were uncovered by Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana magistrate and Internet sleuth with a record for tracking down extremists online.

She posed as an al Qaeda operative, luring Reynolds to a rest stop on a remote Idaho highway with the promise of $40,000 to finance his plot. He was arrested there by the FBI.

Read more: http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N09297251.htm

[Javaman]

1. so another nut job with no plan is trapped by the fbi...

yes, protecting our nation against morons without a clue.

what I find really interesting is this; good police work would have followed this moron to see how far he gets. Meaning, rather than just get the dealer, you also want to get the supplier. So instead of waiting on this to see where this guy could get his money from, they lure him in with could be construed as entrapment.

sigh.

[MichaelHarris]

2. I smell

some dookie.

[SayWhatYo]

3. Iranian pipelines? :P

[Tempest]

4. He was lured to the rest stop

Because he wanted to get laid.

[TexasLawyer]

5. and get some fool to give him $40,000.

[Ian David]

6. Soon they'll arrest people for plotting to blow-up the sun. n/t

[Nihil]

7. $40,000 from a pretty lady is an incentive to most nutcases

Not surprised that someone gets sucked into her web really.

> ... plotted to blow up U.S. energy installations in a bid to drive
> up gas prices and prompt a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq ...

So he was an anti-war activist? Hmmm ...

> faces six charges including attempting to support al Qaeda;
> plotting to damage an interstate gas pipeline; distributing
> instructions on making explosives over the Internet; and
> possession of hand grenades.

Well if these were the four most credible charges out of the six
I can see why they didn't bother posting the last two ...

Honestly ... "attempting to support al Qaeda"? :rofl:

Anyone on DU who has posted to a thread (hence kicking it to people's
attention) that mentions IEDs, ANFO, napalm or fuel-air devices
could be accused of "distributing instructions on making explosives
over the Internet".

Possessing hand grenades is the only one that would make sense.
(I'm assuming here that hand grenades aren't actually legal in
the USA yet?)

And as for Shannen Rossmiller, the "Internet sleuth" who seems to
love role-playing the part of (specificially) Islamic wannabe-terrorists
to the point of entrapment ...

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/248

What an "American Hero" she is ... :puke: