Posted on 01/29/2011 8:06:33 AM PST by Libloather
Homeless woman charged in pipe bomb episode
By Greta Mart
Staff Reporter
January 27, 2011
A homeless woman arrested at her rented Pacheco storage unit for alleged possession of pipe bombs was charged this week with 10 felonies for allegedly possessing explosive devices.
40-year-old Debra Cole faces up to 65 years in prison if convicted on five charges of wrongful possession of an explosive device with the intent to injure and five counts of possession of an explosive device near a public place. She also faces enhancements of the charges due to prior felony convictions, according to police.
On January 18, California Highway Patrol officers stopped southbound I-680 traffic six different times in order to detonate pipe bombs found at Affordable Storage at 95 First Avenue North in Pacheco, adjacent to the freeway. News helicopters hovered for hours in order to capture the explosions and planes were diverted from a nearby Buchanan Field Airport.
According to Central Contra Costa County Narcotic Enforcement Team (CCCNET) spokesperson Commander Norm Wielsch, a local law enforcement agency received an anonymous tip that Cole had an “explosive device,” in her possession. Wielsch said Thursday Cole had a “an extensive violent criminal history,” and that she had been convicted on “felonies in the past.”
When the CCCNET team tracked Cole at the storage facility, she was inside the storage unit with two others, who were later arrested and then released on drug-related charges, said Wielsch. Upon searching the unit, officers allegedly found four pipe bombs in a backpack. Another pipe bomb was found elsewhere in the unit.
“Agents evacuated the area and contacted the Walnut Creek Police Department’s Bomb Squad,” said Wielsch after Cole’s arrest. “Bomb Squad arrived and used robots to retrieve the backpack and began to render them safe.”
One of the devices was filled with shards of broken glass, leading police to believe it was intended to cause bodily injury.
Wielsch said agents continue to investigate why Cole had the bombs and what, if anything, she or other parties intended them for use. She is being held on a $5 million bail.
Cole was arraigned four days after her arrest but declined to enter a plea, which she is expected to do at another court date set for January 31.
Wielsch said two CCCNET officers are continuing the investigation by seeking out possible witnesses.
“Something like this is very time consuming,” said Wielsch. “We intend to file more charges against [Cole] very soon.”
Civility.
Does she know Bill Ayers?
Meth head.
video here: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17139543?nclick_check=1
Probably angry because her house was forclosed.
Jeez, they won’t let you do anything anymore.
Is this Bobolink?
65 years in prison...she won’t be homeless anymore.
This sort of syntax leads to deranged killer parakeets....
Doesn't anyone proofread?
Traffic was messed up for hours due to this..
Pacheco is one weird place.
Homeless no more.
Three hot meals per day now too, all paid for by the tax payers.
If she is a meth head, she is just getting started. No scabs, no skin discoloration, eyes clear, (can't see her teeth, but I wouldn't smile for the camera, either if I'd just been busted). She looks like she just woke up and hadn't put her make up on. Pretty clean for 'homeless', imho.
Maybe there is more here than meets the eye.
Uh, right.
Is she married to someone named Mohammed or Achmed or Ramsi?
[leading police to believe it was intended to cause bodily injury.]
No kidding, who’d have thought bombs would be used for that.
Brilliant police work.
She’s a liberal... you know that, right?
65 years in prison and yet, and yet a terrorist that MURDERED with bombs that DID blow up Tanzania and Kenyan US Embassies accused of 284 murders gets off with fifty years and a charge of blowing a building without a permit/s...or something like that. Justice in America cannot even read braille.
Pacheco not Pachuco i doubt Frank ever visited Pacheco but he would be right at home with all the nutters...
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