Police block the area where a suspicious vehicle is parked on the west side of the Kansas Judicial Center, across the street from the statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Police say a man is being questioned in Topeka after allegedly phoning in a threat against the Kansas governor's office. Capitol police spokesman Patrick Saleh says another man is being questioned Wednesday afternoon about a suspicious vehicle parked near the Statehouse. The Topeka Capital-Journal report the two events don't appear to be related.
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 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, who is not being identified by The Associated Press because no criminal charges have been filed, appeared in court Thursday by video conference from the local jail.
"I'm sorry about all this," he said, before presiding District Judge Steven Ebberts interrupted him to remind him that any statements he made could be used as evidence against him in court.
A Shawnee County prosecutor told a judge her office is considering a criminal threat charge against the man, who was arrested at a Topeka motel. Ebberts set his bond at $25,000.
Making a criminal threat is a felony that can result in a prison sentence of up to seven months for a first-time offender, though state law assumes a conviction will result in probation. The man was arrested on suspicion of harassment by telephone, a misdemeanor.
Authorities said the man has no permanent address but his last known home was in Columbia, Mo. He told Ebberts he was planning to return to Salina, 100 miles west of Topeka, after spending the winter in Tennessee and Missouri, and in court he gave the address of a Salina motel as his home.
The man told Ebberts he didn't understand the severity of the potential charges against him and. Upon learning that unless he was released on bond, he'd spend up to two weeks more in jail awaiting another court appearance, he said: "What do they do with capital murderers? Oh, my God."
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 telephone messages 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.
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Gandalf (anonymous) says…
Probably no federal charges because the man had no intent to harm. Plus illegal search, personally I don't think an empty holster is reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
ksjayhawk74 (anonymous) replies…
And the homemade explosives were not actually explosives.
Plus, obviously the guy is a Conservative. With a stickers that say "Welcome to America. Now speak English" and "Does my American flag offend you? Call 1 800 leave the usa.", it's a safe bet that the driver didn't vote for Obama.
Crazy_Larry (anonymous) replies…
Don't forget the special issue paratrooper license plate. I've been led to believe that all military folks are all Conservatives. More specifically, Ron Paul loving Conservatives...Know why they love Ron Paul? Because R.P. will stop all the stupid wars asap. Something Oblama (whom i voted for) promised to do. Instead, he won the Nobel Peace Prize then went ahead with expanding the war effort in Afghanistan and Libya! Why did I ever buy into the crap that guy was pushing....Change! HA! He promised us nothing! Change is natural, constant, and never ending! What a sucker I was (was).
beatrice (anonymous) replies…
And your choice was Obama or McCain, who would likely still have us in Iraq and already in Iran. Sorry if you believed ending the wars would happen instantly. Obama also didn't send American troops into Libya, which McCain criticized him for. Yes, "hope and change" is a slogan as empty as any other. I'm surprised anyone actually believed it to be true.
By the way, let me be the first to warn you -- Romney won't really Restore our Future.
mdfraz (anonymous) replies…
"An officer saw suspicious objects inside, including an empty gun holster, and authorities called in the Topeka Police Department's bomb squad."
Do you really think that an empty holster was what prompted the officer to call the bomb squad???
I'm guessing (note I'm qualifying this because I wasn't there.....I'm also guessing you weren't either to qualify you to say there was no intent to harm) that the justification for searching/clearing the suspect vehicle had less to do with a search for evidence than it did making sure that people in that lot, the Docking building, the Judicial building and/or the Capitol weren't blown up. That it may now be used as evidence after the scene was made safe does not change the fact that police have the right, nay, the responsibility, to try to protect life. If there was reason to believe there was a chance at an explosion, you're damn right they had the authority to get into that vehicle and secure it. And an intent to harm or lack thereof has nothing to do with federal (or state) jurisdiction. It may determine whether, or what type of, a crime was committed, but not who has jurisdiction.
Had the police suspected bombs and did nothing and the vehicle exploded, would you have been complaining that the cops didn't do their job in that respect?
Gandalf (anonymous) replies…
Nope I wasn't there. But from what was stated in the paper, the reason for the search was an empty holster. From what I've read the car was not parked ilegally but was in the visitors parking lot.
Put that with the fact the feds aren't considering charges, seems to me the guy did nothing wrong.
Not to mention that the first artcles said Evilsam was threatend. Now they just say phone harassment.
Just more over-reaction by Evilsam and staff. Cowards flee when no one pursues. Guilty conscience?
Crazy_Larry (anonymous) replies…
"the justification for searching/clearing the suspect vehicle had less to do with a search for evidence than it did making sure that people in that lot, the Docking building, the Judicial building and/or the Capitol weren't blown up."
If that were the case, wouldn't they evacuate the buildings? FYI: not one building in the area was evacuated. They just taped up the area with police tape and kept people from going to their cars or driving in or out of the area. They didn't even close off 10th street which is a high traffic road. I don't think they cared too much about people getting blowed up at all.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
Hard to imagine that "Let 'em go" Holder's DOJ would pass up a chance to pop a domestic terrorist poster child.
beatrice (anonymous) replies…
Do you not find it at all ironic that you keep going on and on about Holder "letting them go," since if you had your way the sale of guns in unlimited quantities would never be questioned? He was enacting on a small scale what you want in all cases, and you are upset by this. Too funny.
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Renaissance (anonymous) says…
I would think the combination of a death threat to the Governor, mixed with a car illegally parked out front of the statehouse where the governor works, containing an EMPTY gun holster would be sufficient reason to search a car.
AlfVenison (Alf Venison) says…
A lot has been left unsaid. For example, how did the police know whom to apprehend in that tunnel, and why were they in the tunnel to begin with? And why do we have at least some information (age, previous and possibly future cities of residence) on the caller, but no personal information being released on the bomb guy? There's more (or less) here than meets the eye.
JackMcKee (anonymous) says…
Someone needs to start providing some answers on this fiasco.
JackMcKee (anonymous) says…
And on the threatening phone call. I'd like to know what the caller said.
dabbindan (anonymous) says…
fiasco? huh? we don't understand what's going on, but does that make it a fiasco?
likely this guy is a known character, known to be innocuous. don't know how else to explain that what appeared shrapnel containing explosive device was not an immediate problem that merited pressing of charges. l suspect some sort of charge (on the charge) (lol) is pending though.
catfishturkeyhunter (anonymous) says…
probably had a couple firecrackers taped together