| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Arizona | 285.00 |
8 |
35.62 |
346 |
0.82 |
95.00 |
9 |
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I wish someone would foil the terror plot of the Texan that grants amnesty 8 million+ lawbreakers!
SO9
God really does have a sense of humor, doesn't He?
Mail mix-up leads to guns, possible domestic terror plot
Old Bridge man at center of massive probe
Thursday, January 08, 203
BY ROBERT RUDOLPH
Star-Ledger Staff
When the package arrived at the home of a Staten Island homeowner, he was understandably surprised.
Inside was an array of official looking documents: ID cards for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and the United Nations Multinational Force, a North Dakota birth certificate, a Social Security card, a Vermont birth certificate and a federal concealed-weapons permit. All bore the photo of the same middle-aged man.
According to John S. Pistole, assistant director of the FBI in charge of counterterrorism, the intended recipient was actually a retired 56-year-old New Jersey public employee who was described by the FBI official as an "admitted member" of an obscure right-wing organization known as the New Jersey Militia.
That mail mix-up, authorities now say, developed into one of the nation's most extensive investigations into right-wing domestic organizations and led to the discovery of a cache of illegal machine guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition and a deadly stockpile of both explosives and chemicals, including sodium cyanide bombs capable of killing thousands.
Now, the New Jersey man, Edward Feltus of Old Bridge, faces sentencing as early as next month for his role in a case that led to the exposure of what authorities believe had all the makings of a major domestic terrorist plot.
Feltus' attorney yesterday defended him, saying his client was "a bit of an individualist" but never intended any harm.
Authorities identified the key figure in the case as 62-year-old William Krar of Tyler, Texas, who has since confessed to a federal charge of possessing the cyanide and other chemicals for the purpose of creating a "dangerous chemical weapon." He faces a possible term of life imprisonment.
Investigators said they found the materials and weaponry inside Krar's home, in an outbuilding on the property and in a rented storage locker some distance away.
According to officials at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tyler, Texas, the cyanide not only is considered a chemical weapon in its own right, but when combined with the other chemicals recovered from Krar's home, including hydrochloric and nitric acid, it also produces deadly cyanide gas.
In a prepared statement, Matthew Orwig, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said as the result of the combined efforts of the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Army Criminal Investigation Command, "these defendants were identified and their activities pinpointed and neutralized."
"We live in a safer world because of the efforts of these agencies," Orwig said.
Judith Bruey, 54, who shares Krar's home, has also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess illegal weapons and faces up to five years imprisonment.
Feltus, arrested in New Jersey last June 4, pleaded to a lesser charge of aiding and abetting in the transportation of false identification documents. He faces up to 15 years in jail, although his sentence is likely to be much less as a result of his cooperation.
His attorney, Jerome Ballarotto, said Feltus' cooperation led to guilty pleas by the other suspects. He says Feltus' involvement was almost incidental after the mail mix- up brought the bogus identification to the attention of federal authorities.
"He didn't intend to use them for any terrorist activity," he said. "He's a bit of an individualist who was genuinely concerned over world conditions and was fearful of an impending nuclear attack" by an enemy nation.
The attorney said Feltus, a 29-year-veteran of the Monmouth County Department of Human Services, wanted some official-looking credentials to ensure "that he could get his family to a safe haven out of harm's way in the mountains of New Hampshire."
"He's never been arrested for anything in his life," Ballarotto said,
Ballarotto characterized the New Jersey Militia as a nonviolent organization consisting of about a dozen people "who meet once in awhile and talk."
"It's hardly a countercultural, revolutionary group," he said.
The New Jersey Militia does maintain a Web site (www.njmilitia.org), which describes the group as attempting to warn the American public that the rights of the people have been "usurped by a renegade government," and to "restore lawful government to the United States and to the State of New Jersey."
Federal officials say they remain baffled as to the purpose of the weapons stockpile, which included a half-million rounds of ammunition, dozens of pipe bombs, silencers and camouflaged suitcase bombs that could be detonated by remote control.
An FBI agent said in court papers that the material, along with the canisters of cyanide, could be part of a "covert operation" that was hinted at in papers recovered from Krar's car, including what appeared to be travel plans and rendezvous points in cities across the country.
N.J. militia linked to Texas weapons
Three held; US probes to see if more involved
HOUSTON -- One evening two winters ago, a man in Staten Island, N.Y., absent-mindedly flipped through his mail. Inside one envelope was a stack of fake documents, including UN and Defense Department identification cards and a note: "We would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands."
It had. The package, intended for a member of a self-styled militia in New Jersey, had been delivered to the wrong address........{snip}
With Bruey's permission, they searched a nearby storage facility the couple had rented. The firepower inside shocked law enforcement officers.
Investigators found nearly 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 65 pipe bombs, and briefcases that could be detonated by remote control. Most distressing, they said, was the discovery of 800 grams of almost pure sodium cyanide, material that can be acquired legally only for specific agricultural or military projects. {end snips}