Collar Key In Deliveryman Death (Erie pizza delivery bank robbery bomber)

CBS/AP ^ | 9-2-2003 | no byline

[weegee]

(CBS/AP) The FBI on Tuesday released photos of a metal collar found around the neck of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and then was killed when a bomb strapped to his body exploded.

FBI Agent Bob Rudge said the bureau hopes that by releasing the photos of the collar and locking device, someone may come forward to help law enforcement solve the strange case.

A preliminary exam performed on the collar showed that it was likely not commercially manufactured, Rudge said Tuesday.

"We do not believe it has any legitimate industrial use," said Rudge. "Its most likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck of the individual that went into the PNC Bank.

Arrested Thursday after a bank robbery, Brian Douglas Wells told authorities someone had forced him to rob the bank. He told officers a bomb was attached to him, but he died when it exploded before the bomb squad could get there.

At a news conference Tuesday, Rudge showed photographs of the triple-banded metal collar he said was around Wells' neck and a lock that kept it in place. The bomb was attached to the collar, authorities said.

Police had surrounded Wells, 46, a short time after he robbed a PNC Bank branch outside Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania. Wells had gone to deliver a pizza to a mysterious address in a remote area about an hour before he turned up at the bank with the bomb strapped to his body.

When police stopped Wells, he told them about the bomb and asked why authorities weren't helping to get it off him. Police backed off and were waiting for the bomb squad when the bomb exploded. No one else was injured.

According to police and the FBI, Wells produced an "extensive" robbery note at the bank, which has been sent to handwriting experts. Rudge did not release any additional information about the note Tuesday.

I think there is a possibility of up to 80 percent that this individual is innocent," Professor Robert Heibel, a retired FBI agent, told CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski.

Heibel said Wells likely was set up, a tactic more common to drug runners or terrorists than bank robbers.

"He was being threatened that if he didn't rob the bank, once they hung that device around his neck let's say, then he becomes their patsy," Heibel said. "There are a number of ways they could have convinced him that it is a live device and from there on he is really at their mercy."

Meanwhile, officials released information from an autopsy on one of Wells' co-workers, Robert Pinetti, 43, who was found dead Sunday at his home in nearby Lawrence Park Township. Authorities do not know if his death is connected with Wells' case.

Pinetti had a history of substance abuse and preliminary testing appeared to show methadone and "valium-type" drugs in his system, authorities said. There was no trauma, officials said.

[Travis McGee]

Don't rule out that the entire "bank robbing" aspect was just part of a dry run or test by a terrorist group.

/1/ Will Abdul's device work?

/2/ What can/will the cops do about it?

/3/ Will the victim cooperate, or run to the police?

Just random thoughts.

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As far as removing it, I would use a small portable plasma cutter (small air compressor plus microwave sized plasma machine, found at almost any welding store in any town, ready to go in five minutes max.)

The plasma cutter operates like a short range super laser beam, cutting through (depending on model) up to an inch of solid steel, alloy etc. Anything conductive will be cut. It cuts so hot and fast, the metal on each side of the cut remains cool to the touch. You can cut a piece of steel holding the work with your bare fingers one half inch from the cut line. It's an amazing piece of gear, found in every welding store in every town in America.

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I think if I had to choose, I'd ask a welder to save my life in this situation, not a cop or bomb squad dude. A welder would say, "that could be my brother," and just cut the metal off. To hell with the risk.

Assuming he's innocent, God bless this poor guy.

And I don't think it's the last. If it's Islamocrazies, it would be a great "reality TV" show for the jihad minded. Pure terror. "Will the bomb squad get the collar off of our TV anchor woman before her head explodes!"

Talk about TB ratings. Forget OJ's car chase,this would be way more gripping.

Remember, they do this in Spain and Colombia all the time,and it rarely has a happy ending.

[LibWhacker]

It makes it easy to understand how blood feuds get started, doesn't it? I don't think after these last two years I would think any less of a person who swore revenge on the family and friends of terrorists who did that to the person's mother.

[Gritty]

Don't rule out that the entire "bank robbing" aspect was just part of a dry run or test by a terrorist group.

/1/ Will Abdul's device work?

/2/ What can/will the cops do about it?

/3/ Will the victim cooperate, or run to the police?

I tend to agree with you on this one, Travis.

This is a pretty complicated way to rob a bank. It obviously took a lot of planning plus making a workable collar and setting up the situation.

It appears to be a "dry run" for something bigger. If whoever did this made one successful collar, he can make a hundred. It could be either terrorist or criminal related - or both. This could be in the "Washington Sniper" class spreading terror.

I suspect we'll find out soon enough, and it will probably be a lot more than presently meets the eye.

[LibWhacker]

I think if I had to choose, I'd ask a welder to save my life in this situation, not a cop or bomb squad dude. A welder would say, "that could be my brother," and just cut the metal off.

Good idea . . . I definitely wouldn't bother with the cops after this episode.

I wonder if an electromagnetic pulse device could favorably disrupt the electronics in one of these collars?

[LibWhacker]

Found tons of them with Google. For instance, here are some plasma cutters. Don't know about the prices, though, and don't know what capacity you'd need for a job like this . . . 1/8" or 1-1/4"?

[Eaker]

I agree with the use of the plasma cutter, but first it will indeed leave a serious burn to the neck, but that beats full head removal. Second, the plasma device could prematurely detonate the bomb depending on the type of cutting equipment its frequency range could include the remote control frequency. Finally, I would recommend a small cylinder of argon or nitrogen rather than an air compressor. No need for electricity and no possibility to have a gasoline air compressor fail. The choice of gas would be based on speed and efficiency.

Great idea though. However if speed is of the essence I would go with an ultra thermic cutting system and damn the scars because that beats losing one's head.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

We have lots of medical helicopters in Erie and a medical lift hospital about 5 miles straight down peach street from where this happened.

[mommadooo3]

Found this strange statement in an ABC News article....."When police stopped Wells a short time later, he told them about the bomb and asked why authorities weren't helping to get it off him. Wells said someone he apparently did give a name had started a timer on the bomb and forced him to rob the bank."

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I am kind of freaked out. It is so weird.

[Semper911]

will indeed leave a serious burn to the neck, but that beats full head removal

Yes, agreed. If it happens to me, I'll pull in to a muffler shop -- they always have a blow torch up and running.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"I tend to agree with you on this one, Travis."

Me too.

Along with the planning involved...

For someone to rig such a device, which killed this guy quite precisely, using just the perfect amount of explosive to kill the guy without overdoing it reeks of a pro.

It's either a guy who blasts rock for a living or someone trained very well in the art of explosives for dubious intent.

[P.O.E.]

If Wells' friend and erstwhile co-worker was found dead of a drug-overdose, could this have been drug-related?

If the Basque terrorists have this methodology, it wouldn't be a stretch for the heavy-duty drug dealers to acquire it.

[Held_to_Ransom]

OR anybody with the right sort of military training, either in doing these things or trying to prevent them.

In any case, small town police types seldom if ever get regular training on dealing with such a thing. Most often they spend their days tending speed traps for teenagers.

I would think the best way to get it off would be with a jewerler's saw, but I bet they don't pass those out to every squad car in the every little town.

[Travis McGee]

Any town in the USA with 50,000 or 100,000 folks or more has at least one welding store. And smaller than that, I'd look in the yellow pages for a welding company. They all have plasma cutters.

[Travis McGee]

You would just have to eyeball it and hope it doesn't have an electronic anti-removal device integrated into the entire collar.

[Travis McGee]

I agree about using inert gas, I forgot. Most of my experience was with a cheap air comp. model.

[Peach]

If this sort of police emergency happens again I imagine someone will decide to find a way to coordinate helicopter useage. That being said, it's unlikely this sort of police emergency will happen again. And, too, the bomb squad typically needs their own van filled with all their equipment and I don't know if it could be helicoptered in.

[Consort]

The Gamesters of Triskelion wore those collars.

[Travis McGee]

Not a blow torch, which only cuts iron/steel, and heats it red-hot first. A plasma cutter cuts a thin micro line, so hat, that the metal on each side stays cool. The only part that heats up is that 1mm line that is removed.