Cali wacko in Dearborn [Mosque bombing thwarted]

lilpup · January-30-11, 08:43 PM

just more proof that we have to look out for each other

major kudos to the barkeep who called him in

**EastsideQT** · January-30-11, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

just more proof that we have to look out for each other

major kudos to the barkeep who called him in

Can we get some details???

**p1acebo** · January-30-11, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideQT

Can we get some details???

go to freep.com

**mcsdetroitfriend** · January-30-11, 08:58 PM

http://www.freep.com/article/2011013...|img|FRONTPAGE

**Meddle** · January-30-11, 11:24 PM

Last Updated: January 30. 2011 5:12PM
California man arrested with explosives outside Dearborn Islamic center
Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

Dearborn - An ex-Army veteran from California who is accused of driving to Metro Detroit's largest mosque with a trunk full of explosives is behind bars after being charged with making a terrorist threat.

Roger Stockham, 63, is charged with one count of a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of explosives-possession of bombs with unlawful intent after Dearborn police arrested him Monday outside the Islamic Center of America, one the largest mosques in North America.

Stockham, a resident of Imperial Beach, Calif., is being held on a $500,000 cash bond. He will be in court on Friday for hearing on the charges before 19th District Court Judge Mark Somers.

FBI special agent Sandra Berchtold confirmed today the FBI is investigating an incident referred to the federal agency by Dearborn police.

Police said Stockham was in possession of class C fireworks, a 15-year felony, when he was arrested Monday outside the center. The terrorism charge is a 20-year felony.

On his MySpace page, Stockham said, "Proud of my kids. Happy with how much I've lived. Ready for it to be over, but have a policy I contend with often: So long as I am alive, I can't play dead."

At a website for a VFW post, Stockham posted a photograph and said he joined the U.S. Army in 1965 and served in Vietnam in 1968. Based in Pleiku, Stockham said he flew with an assault helicopter company. He says he has two children and a grandchild.

Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly Jr. said the suspect, who drove from California to Michigan last week, was in possession of high-end fireworks outside the 70,000-square-foot-mosque which has a 150-foot dome height and 10-stories tall minarets.

"The kind that are illegal here and if used in a building would cause tremendous harm," O'Reilly said today.

Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR's Michigan chapter, said he learned from police that the suspect had been drinking in a Detroit bar on Monday when he threatened to do harm to a mosque in Dearborn. A bar employee followed the man outside and wrote down his license plate and called Detroit police who in turned contacted authorities in Dearborn, Walid said.

Dearborn police began searching areas around mosques in the city and allegedly found Stockham inside his vehicle outside the Islamic Center of America, Walid said, with a load of M-80s in his trunk and other explosives. Inside more than 500 members had gathered for a funeral service, Walid said. It was not known whether the suspect knew a funeral was underway.

Members of the Islamic Center of America were alerted to the threat during Friday's prayer service, Walid said.

"We thank law enforcement authorities for their quick and professional actions in this troubling incident," Walid said. "The increased number of bias incidents targeting American Muslim institutions must be addressed by local, state and national officials and law enforcement authorities."

Investigators chose to keep the arrest quiet during the week while detectives determined whether Stockham was acting alone or with others, O'Reilly said. Police worked with the mosque's Imam during the investigation, he said.

O'Reilly said it appears Stockham was acting alone.

"People asked why they didn't know about this earlier: why is because it's based on who needs to know. There was no threat to anyone else and no one else was in danger," O'Reilly said.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110130/...Islamic-center

**Lombaowski** · January-30-11, 11:55 PM

Not a whole lot of outrage on this. I wonder why.....

lilpup · January-31-11, 01:11 AM

2fer1 on the national media shit list - Detroit AND Islam

DetroitDad · January-31-11, 01:18 AM

This is horrible. Glad they caught him.

**Django** · January-31-11, 01:40 AM

I wonder how he planned to get all those fireworks in the mosque?

Thank god for that bartender.

**ja!mz** · January-31-11, 06:15 AM

Maybe he was just give them a nice fireworks show

**jackie5275** · January-31-11, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Lombaowski

Not a whole lot of outrage on this. I wonder why.....

Most of the outrage seems to focused on Egypt right now.

**Detroitnerd** · January-31-11, 11:09 AM

Yeah, if he'd been a Muslim trying to blow up a cathedral, this would be all over the national media. But, he's just part of the "insurrection" so wink-wink. You know: Real terrorists aren't white guys who fly planes into government buildings ...

Yeah, kudos to the bartender. He must have gotten a real earful to make that call ...

**DetroitPlanner** · January-31-11, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Yeah, kudos to the bartender. He must have gotten a real earful to make that call ...

Yeah the guy sounds like he is off his rocker.

**Whitehouse** · January-31-11, 01:57 PM

Link.

And

Link2

Police: Mosque attack thwarted in Dearborn

About 700 people were attending a funeral inside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, the largest mosque in metro Detroit, when Dearborn police arrived to arrest a man in a car in the parking lot.
He had driven to Michigan from California and reportedly was overheard in a bar making threatening comments about Muslims or Arabs. His car was loaded with large, illegal fireworks, police said. Now, Roger Stockham, 63, is jailed on charges that include making a false report or threat of terrorism.
"He's very dangerous," said Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad.
Tip led to mosque bomb suspect

The comments a worker at a bar heard were enough to make the employee think a 63-year-old patron might target Muslims or Arabs in metro Detroit, Islamic Center of America executive administrator Kassem Allie said.

**Mikeg** · January-31-11, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Yeah the guy sounds like he is off his rocker.

That's because he is. In 2004 Stockham plead "Not guilty by reason of insanity" when charged with making threats in 2002 against the President and a Veterans facility in Vermont. He was committed for a psychiatric examination that found he suffered from bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder. He was released from Federal custody in 2005. [source]

**jerrytimes** · January-31-11, 08:54 PM

I love how someone here wonders why there isn't much outrage. It's simple, first off, nothing happened, the American terrorist was stopped [[bravo!), for every 20 times a terrorist act is committed like this, 18 of those times the person is Muslim. Not that hard to figure out. Now I'm sure if the roles were reversed and throughout the world is was a crazy American vet or whatever that was trying to bomb and kill large groups of people on a regular basis people would stereotype them too. Don't play dumb.

NorthEndere · January-31-11, 09:32 PM

I'm very interested to hear exactly what kind of high-end fireworks he had. I saw mention of M-80's as part of what he had, which while dangerous, would have been more effective in causing a panic than anything else. I wonder if we're talking mortar rounds, and such, because those can be very destructive.

**jt1** · January-31-11, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by jerrytimes

I love how someone here wonders why there isn't much outrage. It's simple, first off, nothing happened, the American terrorist was stopped [[bravo!), for every 20 times a terrorist act is committed like this, 18 of those times the person is Muslim. Not that hard to figure out. Now I'm sure if the roles were reversed and throughout the world is was a crazy American vet or whatever that was trying to bomb and kill large groups of people on a regular basis people would stereotype them too. Don't play dumb.

Care to back up your '18 out of 20' statement with facts?

**Frumoasa** · January-31-11, 10:10 PM

I work at a facility affiliated with the ICA and we were not told anything until Sayed Qazwini mentioned the incident during his sermon at Friday prayer. Although we didn't get told about this until quite a while later, I can tell you that ICA security has been beefed up. The place already has an extensive camera system and there are always caretakers inside the mosque patrolling the hallways. What most people do not realize is that this is a Shia mosque...AlQaeda and other Muslim extremist groups hate Shias very deeply...so attacking a Shia mosque to get back at Osama is very counterproductive since he would probably like to join in the destruction of the place where scores of honest, hardworking Muslim Americans come to work and pray every day.

citylover · January-31-11, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

That's because he is. In 2004 Stockham plead "Not guilty by reason of insanity" when charged with making threats in 2002 against the President and a Veterans facility in Vermont. He was committed for a psychiatric examination that found he suffered from bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder. He was released from Federal custody in 2005. [source]

Now both sides of the political spectrum can spread misinformation......The Ariz tragedy was committed by someone that was most likely very mentally ill; as was this incident.....but that won't stop the politically obsessed from claiming it was done for sinister and bigoted reasons.

**JBMcB** · January-31-11, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by NorthEnder

I'm very interested to hear exactly what kind of high-end fireworks he had. I saw mention of M-80's as part of what he had, which while dangerous, would have been more effective in causing a panic than anything else.

An average person can't buy real M-80's anymore. Even out of state, the most you can get is a loud firecracker. They sell firecrackers called M-80s but they have a fraction of the powder contained in a real M-80. You can still get M-80s, but you need a federal explosives license, just as if you were going to buy "real" fireworks. If you could somehow wire a whole box to go off simultaneously, it might cause extended ringing in your ears, but it would have about enough force to take off a finger. It might even crack some windows, but it won't do much damage to a building.

lilpup · January-31-11, 11:30 PM

While an individual firecracker might cause severe burns or take off a finger, a knowledgeable demolitions man can combine and shape them to take down a building.

The Times Square bomber in NYC based his bomb on fireworks. The instigator of the Columbine killings used powder from firecrackers to build his homemade grenades and pipe bombs.

Explosive powders in quantity are not benign.

**fryar** · February-01-11, 12:05 AM

Thank goodness he was foiled.

**Thruster315** · February-01-11, 04:16 AM

And hell, even with just a few firecrackers in the right places and time- a full blown panic could've ensued causing all sorts of mayhem. This sort of whack job was thankfully stopped. Now let's throw the book at this dope and lock his sorry self away.

**Detroitej72** · February-02-11, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by Frumoasa

What most people do not realize is that this is a Shia mosque...AlQaeda and other Muslim extremist groups hate Shias very deeply...so attacking a Shia mosque to get back at Osama is very counterproductive since he would probably like to join in the destruction of the place where scores of honest, hardworking Muslim Americans come to work and pray every day.

Most of the Islam bashers here on this forum don't realize that, and frankly, they couldn't care less. All they see is a Muslim, and automatically assume that person must be bad.