Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bomb Plot Suspected in Los Angeles
AP | 6/05/03 | ROBERT JABLON

Posted on 06/05/2003 3:59:35 AM PDT by kattracks

By ROBERT JABLON
The Associated Press
6/5/2003, 6:42 a.m. ET

, Calif. (AP) — 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, authorities said at a news conference Wednesday. 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.

"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.

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.

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, investigators said, 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.

Authorities also seized a note addressed to Noster by a person only identified as Lance.

"Hi John, well here it is ... the first of many issues of homesland," the note said. "As I find other areas I will mail them to you. 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."



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California; War on Terror
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

1 posted on 06/05/2003 3:59:35 AM PDT by kattracks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Oklahoma city bomb used this kind of fuel!
2 posted on 06/05/2003 4:04:59 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MEG33
OKC used ammonium nitrate, NOT jet fuel.
3 posted on 06/05/2003 4:09:25 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: camle
I thought they poured fuel into the barrels full of the fertilizer....I stand corrected if mistaken.It was racing fuel I believe.
4 posted on 06/05/2003 4:12:18 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: kattracks

John Noster

Handwritten notes Noster left in the Lancaster storage unit mentioned the "New World Order," the Council on Foreign Relations and other hot-button terms among anti-government conspiracy buffs.

"The $188,000 in cash was found in a cardboard box inside a garage with a $3 padlock on it," DeMooy said. "So there are a couple of different areas where this money came from. We have identified a couple of the sources, but probably not all of it."

When he wasn't traveling, Noster had resided in West Hills with his parents, Doris Noster, who died about a year ago, and John Noster Sr., neighbors said. They described the elder Nosters as caring, involved citizens and said John Jr. had played football for Chatsworth High School.

"I have lived here for 43 years and they are one of the nicest families in the whole area," said a neighbor, who declined to give her name. "My kids grew up with them. He was probably the best-behaved kid on the block."

Authorities are searching for a 29-foot trailer, with a license number 1WY2901, that Noster had reported stolen nearly two years ago.

"We have some indication there might be some items in there that are significant," DeMooy said. "Also, by releasing the name of (Noster) it might lead to someone to come forward to present some additional information as to maybe a specific target he had planned."

5 posted on 06/05/2003 4:15:27 AM PDT by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MEG33
methinks it was deisel fuel. I may be wrong myself too, or it could have been regular gasoline. mayhaps someone else can clarify?

Jet fuel is highly refined and IIRC the OKC crew used a more readily obtainable fuel. For some reason deisel fuel sticks in my mind, but that has such a high ignition point, that I have a hard time beleiving it. I've seen folks drop lit cigarettes in puddles of deisel fuel and it don't ignite, so...
6 posted on 06/05/2003 4:22:53 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: camle
My memory brings back a racing track source in Texas.I have only my some what faulty memory to rely on!
7 posted on 06/05/2003 4:25:24 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MEG33
well racing fuel IS rather high octane...
8 posted on 06/05/2003 4:26:03 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: camle
I don't feel good about this guy's intentions!
9 posted on 06/05/2003 4:31:53 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: MEG33
on that we agree. do you think that they should have killed McVeigh so quickly?
10 posted on 06/05/2003 4:37:55 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: camle
do you think that they should have killed McVeigh so quickly?

Yes. He was clearly guilty and there was no way he was going to give up the names of his co-conspirators without using extralegal interrogation methods. In short, keeping him alive would serve no useful purpose.

11 posted on 06/05/2003 4:41:04 AM PDT by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: camle
He asked to stop the appeals.He would never have talked.
12 posted on 06/05/2003 4:41:11 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Poohbah; MEG33
I still find it odd that it takes ten years for other murderers to get off'd, but this one gets injected within months. odd is all, not that I have a problem with his being off'd, I wonder if they could have changed his mind in the future. especially if, like so many death row types, he finds God. he won't now.
13 posted on 06/05/2003 4:46:22 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: camle
It's the appeals that take forever.One way they drag it out in California is lack of death sentence qualified appeals lawyers to appoint.
14 posted on 06/05/2003 4:50:05 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: camle
ANFO (ammonium nitrate + fuel oil) is a commonly used explosive for strip mining and similar purposes. I believe just enough fuel is used to moisten all of the fertilizer in a bag or other container, then a blasting cap is inserted in the mix. Diesel works fine, as it's the nitrate itself that provides the bang. Years ago, after Texas City, the ammonium nitrate manufacturing industry went to great lengths to prove that it would not explode in its pure form so that clearance for shipping could be obtained. Texas City explosions happened because the fertilizer had been coated with a wax substance to protect it from moisture. As soon as that was cleared up, they went to work to make it a successful industrial explosive and came up with ANFO. It's been used in that way for at least 40 years.
15 posted on 06/05/2003 4:54:45 AM PDT by 19th LA Inf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: camle
I still find it odd that it takes ten years for other murderers to get off'd, but this one gets injected within months.

Most murderers do not voluntarily waive their appeals; McVeigh did.

16 posted on 06/05/2003 4:56:31 AM PDT by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Poohbah
this is true, but some do. we had one in CT do that ten years ago and he's still waiting.
17 posted on 06/05/2003 4:58:26 AM PDT by camle (no camle jokes, please...OK, maybe one little one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: camle
The State of Connecticut has different rules than the Federal government.
18 posted on 06/05/2003 4:59:38 AM PDT by Poohbah (Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: MEG33
The primary explosive was supposed to be ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil) which is created by mixing the proper amount of diesiel fuel with the fertilizer prills. McVeigh is also reported to have bought a barrel of nitro-methane, a very expensive, exotic racing fuel that can act as a significant sensitizer/enhancer for explosives. Mixed with ANFO, it should make the explosive much more effective.

All of this information is easily available to anyone who studies the industrial uses of explosives.

19 posted on 06/05/2003 5:06:18 AM PDT by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: camle
We changed some of the appeals procedures to speed things up in Texas!
20 posted on 06/05/2003 5:06:19 AM PDT by MEG33
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson