Excerpts from:
Witnesses Say McVeigh Not Alone - Testimony Places John Doe 2, Another Man With Bomber
Judy Kuhlman, Diana Baldwin 09/11/1997
NOTE: Staff writer Ed Godfrey contributed to this report.
.............................................
Another witness also told grand jurors Wednesday he saw McVeigh and the mysterious John Doe 2.
Dennis Rodney Johnson, 32, was the third witness of the day and testified for two hours and 20 minutes.
Johnson said he told jurors he nearly struck the two men with his catering truck as they crossed the intersection of NW 5 and Robinson less than a minute before the explosion.
Johnson said he talked to federal authorities immediately after the bombing and several times before McVeigh's trial.
He said federal authorities told him he was going to be called as a witness in the McVeigh trial. Then in January he was told he would not testify.
"I know I wasn't called because I would have to testify that I did see John Doe 2. I know I saw John Doe 2," Johnson said.
He wants the federal government to quit doubting the existence of John Doe 2.
Johnson described the man he saw as dark-skinned, about 5 feet 8 inches tall with black hair. He said the man was wearing blue jogging pants, a sweat shirt and jacket.
......................................
The jury also has received a deposition from another man, Danny Wilkerson, who is seriously ill.
Wilkerson owns a convenience store on the first floor of the Regency Tower Apartments, just west of the Murrah Building on NW 5.
Wilkerson claims he sold McVeigh a pack of cigarettes and two soft drinks about 10 minutes before the bomb exploded. He claims another man was sitting in the Ryder truck cab that was waiting outside the store.
Staff writer Ed Godfrey contributed to this report.
Houston Chronicle,p.A-1, May 12,1995
Published: May 12,1995 Author: Dan Thomasson and Peter Copeland/Scripps Howard News Service
A third man wanted in the Oklahoma City bombing has been identified as Steven Colbern, a fugitive from a previous firearms charge.
Colbern, aged 35 or 36, is described as 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds with green eyes, which roughly matches the description of John Doe II.
Law enforcement sources said Thursday night that Colbern was identified through his brown pickup. It was captured, by chance on video taken from the state trooper's car that stopped Timothy McVeigh for speeding only 80 minutes after the blast.
"That trooper had a hell of a day," a federal investigator said.
An automatic camera in the car of Trooper Charles Hanger was taping the arrest of McVeigh. In the background was the image of the pickup, which also pulled over while McVeigh was being questioned.
Sophisticated enhancement techniques were used to improve the video until investigators could read the license plate number.
The truck, registered to Colbern, contained traces of ammonium nitrate, believed to be the main explosive ingredient used in the bombing.
Colbern's age is uncertain. His address is unknown, but he shared a mail drop with McVeigh in Kingman, Ariz., sources said. The truck was found parked outside an abandoned mobile home in Kingman.
Colbern already was wanted on a federal firearms charge, officials said. He was arrested last summer in San Bernadino, Calif., for carrying a gun with a silencer. He was allowed to post bail but skipped."
Link November 10, 2001
No Bail for Friend of Man Suspected of Preparing for Sept. 11 Hijackings By JO THOMAS
An Oklahoma friend of Zacarias Moussaoui, the man the authorities suspect was meant to be the 20th suicide hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, has been ordered held without bail on weapons charges by a federal magistrate in Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma man, Mujahid Abdulqaadir Menepta, 51, who was arrested on Oct. 11 and taken to New York as a material witness in the World Trade Center investigation, is dangerous and poses a flight risk, Jeffrey Whitney, an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, testified at a hearing on Wednesday. He made no specific reference to Mr. Moussaoui.
Without offering many details, Mr. Whitney told the court that some telephone numbers connected with cellphones seized in a search of Mr. Menepta's home in Norman were associated with continuing criminal investigations in Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Detroit, El Paso and Kansas City, Mo. These involve organized crime, drugs and money laundering, he said.
Mr. Whitney told the court that Mr. Menepta, who was born Melvin Lattimore in St. Louis, and changed his name in 1989 after converting to Islam, came to the attention of the authorities the day after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. He testified that an informer told federal agents that Mr. Menepta had belonged to an Islamic group in Norman and St. Louis, whose leaders advocated terrorist acts and killing law enforcement agents.
Mr. Whitney also told the court that Mr. Menepta had said the Secret Service told him that one of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 had used his visa number. Mr. Whitney said he could not confirm Mr. Menepta's account.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Menepta, who lives in Norman, gave several interviews in which he defended Mr. Moussaoui, 33, whom he knew through a mosque. Mr. Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent was arrested in Minneapolis on Aug. 17 on immigration charges after he sought lessons on how to fly jets, but expressed no interest in learning how to take off or land.
Mr. Moussaoui lived in Norman last year while a student at the Airman Flight School there. Mr. Menepta told The Daily Oklahoman in an interview on Oct. 2 that he had seen Mr. Moussaoui every day at a local mosque and would be shocked if he were involved in the attacks.
"I think he's a scapegoat," Mr. Menepta told the newspaper in an article published on Oct. 9.
He was arrested as a material witness two days later. Shortly afterward, federal agents said they found a shotgun, a rifle, a semiautomatic pistol and more than 600 rounds of ammunition at Mr. Menepta's home. He told the agents he used the shotgun for hunting.
Mr. Menepta served time in prison for a 1970 robbery in Colorado and was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms.
Susan Otto, Mr. Menepta's lawyer in Oklahoma City, on Wednesday questioned the truthfulness of the government's informer and observed that no one had been charged with a crime back in 1995.
Mr. Menepta's mother, Cynthia Lattimore, 87, said her son collected guns, nothing more. "He just likes guns," she said. "Not to kill nobody."
---------------------------------------------------
Note:Susan Otto was one of McVeigh's first defense attorneys
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui met with the suspected mastermind of the attacks in late 2000 or early 2001 in Afghanistan, a top al-Qaida operative has told his interrogators, U.S. officials said.
Ramzi Binalshibh, a former aide to top al-Qaida operative Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, said Mohammed provided Moussaoui with contacts in the United States, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Moussaoui's friend gets prison term
A Norman man who came under federal investigation because of his friendship with accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in federal prison.
Majahid Abdulquaadir Menepta, 51, admitted to being a convicted felon in possession of firearms and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Russell.
However, Menepta's association with the accused terrorist during the general time period when Moussaoui was undergoing flight training in Norman is the reason Menepta came under suspicion.
Moussaoui was indicted in December on a federal charge of conspiring with Osama bin Laden, the 19 hijackers and others to carry out the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon in which more than 3,000 people were killed.
After Moussaoui's arrest, Menepta told The Oklahoman that he had seen Moussaoui daily at a Norman mosque, had shared meals with him and believed his friend was being made a "scapegoat."
Federal agents investigating the attacks arrested Menepta on a material witness warrant Oct. 11. During a search of his home, agents found a loaded Chinese military-style semiautomatic rifle, a 12- gauge shotgun and a loaded .380- caliber pistol, as well as knives and a bag of ammunition.
Menepta is prohibited from owning guns because he was convicted in 1971 in Colorado of a felony -- aggravated robbery. He spent more than three years in prison.
Menepta also was arrested in 1997 during a demonstration in St. Louis and was put on probation for carrying a concealed weapon.
Menepta was born in Missouri as Melvin Lattimore. He converted to Islam and changed his name in 1989.
An informant told the FBI in 1995 that Menepta was a violent individual who belonged to a radical Islamic group that hated the United States and talked of destroying government targets.
However, Susan Otto, Menepta's defense attorney, told Russell on Wednesday her client credits his conversion to Islam with turning his life around and "saving him from a life of bad behavior
Reporter: Kara Kaswell, News 4
November 7, 2001 7:44 PM
(KMOV) -- The FBI wants to know more about Mujahid Menepta's alleged ties to terrorism. Menepta is friends with an associate of Osama bin Laden who is considered to be the "20th hijacker" involved in the terrorists attacks. Menepta, who grew up in North St. Louis, was arrested in a federal roundup following the attacks. He is now charged with illegal possession of firearms.
(supposed to be a photo of Menepta here, but a photo of Moussaoui is inserted above Menepta's mame)
Mujahid Menepta (KMOV)
Menepta defends his friend who is accused of having ties to the hijackers and September 11 terrorist attacks. Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested after seeking pilot training to steer but not land jets. Menepta says his friend is no terrorist.
Days after a TV interview, Menepta, a St. Louis native who has a felony arrest record, was arrested for possessing three guns, including a semi-automatic pistol.
"They had a lot of questions, no doubt about that," says Chester Buchanan.
One of the pistols seized from Menepta was registered to Buchanan of St. Louis. He says the gun was stolen in August. Menepta told the FBI he bought the gun on the street in St. Louis for $125. The FBI questioned Buchanan about the gun.
"What they told me is that the gun was found with a man that might be connected to September 11 and the terrorists. I was stunned, I sure was," Buchanan says.
Menepta grew up Melvin Lattimore in a duplex on Maple in North St. Louis. He attended Soldan High School where he played football. In 1989, he converted to Islam and changed his name.
"I think it's unfair that the government has him in jail. It's a conspiracy on the government's part," says Leon Lattimore, Menepta's brother.
Lattimore says Menepta often prayed at a storefront mosque on Geraldine in North St. Louis and he adds that his brother's religion does not advocate violence and that Menepta is definitely no terrorist.
"I think they are jumping to conclusions. My brother is terrorist nothing," Lattimore says.
Wednesday, a federal court denied bond to Menepta. Instead, they want to further investigate his possible ties to terrorists. He roomed with Moussaoui, who has been linked to the hijackers. An FBI agent also said Wednesday in court that North St. Louis mosque where he worshipped did at one time stockpile weapons.