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Update: Arsenal Found in California
More details from yesterday's story:A man in prison for vehicle theft is suspected of planning a significant attack, say authorities who uncovered an arsenal of semiautomatic assault weapons, ammunition, pipe bombs and barrels of jet fuel. No charges have been filed, but the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating. The ATF is investigating John Noster for firearms and explosives violations and plans to present a case to federal prosecutors in the near future, ATF spokeswoman Latese Baker said. Noster, 38, has refused to talk to investigators, sheriff's Sgt. John Demooy said. I wouldn't talk to the BATF either, just on general principles. "He was definitely planning on targeting a structure, location, individuals, and would have created significant damage," Demooy said. Authorities have not been able to identify the target. They said an investigation that began last fall led to the discovery of three pipe bombs, two incendiary devices, six 55-gallon drums of jet fuel, five assault weapons, smokeless powder, cannon fuse, electric matches, thousands of rounds of ammunition and $188,000 in cash. Why use jet fuel to burn something? I'd be looking for something with a turbine engine he was going to fuel up. The guns, ammunition and cash were in a garage "with a $3 padlock on it," Demooy said. Noster had traveled back and forth across the country in a pickup with a camper shell after leaving a Los Angeles sporting goods company where he was an accountant. Investigators say he went to Texas, Arkansas and Oregon. He worked for Easton Sports, which makes aluminum bats, hockey gear and bicycle frames, until voluntarily leaving in November 2000, said John Cramer, the company's vice president and general counsel. Noster pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft auto on Jan. 14 and was sentenced to 16 months in prison but was given credit for 120 days served, district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said. Authorities said he had no other criminal record. "He was white-collar professional, seemed like an intelligent man and I believe if charges are brought against him ... that he'll be vindicated in court," said Nicholas Khan, an attorney who represented Noster in the theft case. "Or not, I expect to get paid in any case." Noster was arrested in November at his father's home in the West Hills area of Los Angeles. Incendiary devices were found there in the pickup truck, leading to further discoveries at sites in the northern Los Angeles County city of Lancaster and the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City. Authorities also found a handwritten note about options for destroying a building by either dropping an "instrument" from a gyrocopter or placing it nearby. A gyrocopter is a tiny aircraft that looks like a helicopter but is pushed by a rear-mounted propeller while the unpowered overhead blades create lift. Couldn't be a very big "instrument". Authorities also seized a note addressed to Noster by a person only identified as Lance. Let's break this note down, line by line. "Hi John, well here it is ... the first of many issues of homesland," the note said. Sounds like he sent him a newsletter or magazine named homesland. Homesland = Homeland, sounds right-wingish. Of course it could be a Home's & Land real estate guide. "As I find other areas I will mail them to you. Areas of interest, areas to target, areas to train/hideout? Or is he looking for real estate? Hope you get a chance to come up and visit, we need some excitement around here, you know, like bomb threats or something .... Hope to hear from you soon, Lance." It's the last line that makes me think we need to pay Lance a visit. Try Oregon, that's "up" from California. Posted by: Steve 2003-06-05 |
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