Just like this.But then, you knew that! ;^)
Posted on 06/16/2002 7:59:05 AM PDT by Libloather
Questions, ammo land felon in jail
Sunday, June 16, 2002 5:58AM EDT
From Staff And Wire Reports
FAYETTEVILLE - A convicted felon was in custody Saturday awaiting a detention hearing after federal authorities arrested him for allegedly carrying bomb-making materials and asking about security at Fort Bragg.
Antonio Olmeda, 43, of Shirley, N.Y., was arrested at a bus station in Fayetteville on Thursday after a man, whom authorities have not named, called a State Bureau of Investigation agent Wednesday to report that a suspicious man had asked him directions, then asked about security at Fort Bragg. Olmeda asked the man whether the military base had gates and whether it was guarded by military police, authorities said.
Authorities found ammunition, fireworks and bomb components in a black vinyl bag Olmeda had been carrying, said Tim Flynn, the FBI supervisory agent in Wilmington.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms charged Olmeda with being a convicted felon possessing ammunition. On Friday, a federal judge ordered him held until a detention hearing set for Wednesday.
The Fayetteville Observer reported Olmeda was charged in 1994 with having "18 pipe bombs, 10 loaded magazines for a machine gun, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a backpack with a flame-thrower, coffee cans filled with either gunpowder or fireworks powder, a steel-plated vest and neck protector and bullet-resistant helmets" in his van.
New York state criminal records indicate Olmeda was convicted in 1995 of a felony and could have been sentenced to 20 to 60 months' imprisonment. It was unclear whether the conviction was for the arsenal found in his van.
SBI investigators found Olmeda with the help of rental car records from Affordable Rentals on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville.
Warren Cornell, the manager of the business, said Olmeda rented a Plymouth Neon on Monday and returned it on Thursday.
SBI agents contacted Affordable Rentals on Wednesday and asked them to notify them when Olmeda returned the car.
Cornell said Olmeda "acted like just a normal customer. It was pretty uneventful. He pretty much rented a car like anyone else does."
The Fayetteville Observer and staff researcher Toby Lyles contributed to this report
And this is criminal? Oh yeah, it was in NY. You must be defenseless. Next: Stone and brick buildings to be banned, because they too stop bullets, just like vests and helmets do.
You must've missed that part...
What do "machine gun magazines" look like?
Just like this.He must have stopped by South of the Border.
Man’s tip led to ATF arrest at bus station
Olmeda, who lives in Shirley, N.Y., had told him that he had just gotten off a train, yet he carried only a small briefcase, said Randy Myers, a State Bureau of Investigation agent.
Olmeda wanted to know whether Fort Bragg had gates and whether military police guarded them: ‘‘Things that would raise a concern in somebody’s mind,’’ Myers said.
The man called someone he knew at the SBI, and agents started tracking Olmeda down, Myers said. They learned that a man matching his description had rented a car from Affordable Rentals on Bragg Boulevard. From that, they got Olmeda’s name and contacted the FBI.
Myers said the FBI knew Olmeda.
On Thursday, Myers said, lawmen saw Olmeda walking near the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. They followed him to the bus station. Lawmen believe Olmeda was getting ready to leave town.
Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies evacuated about 100 people from the station about 4:45 p.m. The bomb squad was called in, and dogs zeroed in on a large black vinyl bag that Olmeda had been carrying.
‘‘In the bag was ammunition, fireworks, paraphernalia. Probably some components -- but not everything that was in there -- would make a bomb. You would need to add other things,’’ said Tim Flynn, the FBI’s supervisory special agent in Wilmington.
Receipts in the bag showed that the ammunition was purchased at Jim’s Gun Jobbery and Carolina Firearms Sports in Fayetteville, according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Raleigh. Flynn said the stores did nothing improper.
Source: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/obj_stories/2002/jun/n15bus.shtmlMan’s tip led to ATF arrest at bus station
By Greg Barnes
Staff writer
Antonio Olmeda walked up Haymount Hill on Wednesday, stopped to ask a man directions and then started inquiring about security at Fort Bragg, state and federal lawmen say.
The man had no way of knowing that Olmeda was charged in New York in 1994 with having an arsenal in his van -- 18 pipe bombs, 10 loaded magazines for a machine gun, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, a backpack with a flame-thrower, coffee cans filled with either gunpowder or fireworks powder, a steel-plated vest and neck protector and bullet-resistant helmets.
The man, whom authorities declined to identify, knew only that Olmeda appeared to be suspicious to him.
Olmeda, who lives in Shirley, N.Y., had told him that he had just gotten off a train, yet he carried only a small briefcase, said Randy Myers, a State Bureau of Investigation agent.
Olmeda wanted to know whether Fort Bragg had gates and whether military police guarded them: ‘‘Things that would raise a concern in somebody’s mind,’’ Myers said.
The man called someone he knew at the SBI, and agents started tracking Olmeda down, Myers said. They learned that a man matching his description had rented a car from Affordable Rentals on Bragg Boulevard. From that, they got Olmeda’s name and contacted the FBI.
Myers said the FBI knew Olmeda.
On Thursday, Myers said, lawmen saw Olmeda walking near the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. They followed him to the bus station. Lawmen believe Olmeda was getting ready to leave town.
Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies evacuated about 100 people from the station about 4:45 p.m. The bomb squad was called in, and dogs zeroed in on a large black vinyl bag that Olmeda had been carrying.
‘‘In the bag was ammunition, fireworks, paraphernalia. Probably some components -- but not everything that was in there -- would make a bomb. You would need to add other things,’’ said Tim Flynn, the FBI’s supervisory special agent in Wilmington.
Receipts in the bag showed that the ammunition was purchased at Jim’s Gun Jobbery and Carolina Firearms Sports in Fayetteville, according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Raleigh. Flynn said the stores did nothing improper.
Flynn said lawmen haven’t determined Olmeda’s intent. ‘‘We don’t know enough about him at this point,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t think that there was any imminent danger to the surrounding area.’’
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested Olmeda on a charge of being a convicted felon possessing ammunition, an ATF spokesman said.
Detained until hearing
On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge ordered Olmeda held pending a detention hearing set for Wednesday, said Gloria Dupree, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Raleigh.
Myers and Flynn credit the tip from the unidentified man with leading to Olmeda’s arrest.
‘‘This was sort of a textbook case of the public assisting law enforcement,’’ Flynn said.
He said the FBI has been trying to get the public to report suspicious activities to lawmen.
Myers thinks the arrest was important.
‘‘He stays about 24 hours, leaves. Why?’’ Myers asked.
Staff writer Greg Barnes can be reached at 486-3525 or barnesg@fayettevillenc.com
Under some of the recently passed legislation, that almost sounds like probable cause for a search.
< /Half kidding >
And I assume one large can of Van de Camps (with onions) would be considered the flame thrower that can fit into a backpack - eh?
Apparently the convicted felon was charged in North Carolina, not New York. Indubitably, the ideologues will whine and do their best mau-mau imitation over his infringed right to peacefully assemble bombs and address grievous packages to whomever he wants to.
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