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Mon 6 May, 2013 04:57 pm
Associated Press(0) Comments
The FBI believes authorities disrupted a terrorism attack that was being planned in a small western Minnesota city after converging on a mobile home that contained Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms, the agency said Monday.
Buford Rogers, 24, of Montevideo, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He made his first court appearance Monday and was appointed a federal defender, but an attorney was not immediately assigned to his case.
"The FBI believed there was a terror attack in its planning stages, and we believe there would have been a localized terror attack, and that's why law enforcement moved quickly to execute the search warrant on Friday to arrest Mr. Rogers," FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said Monday.
Rogers appeared in court wearing a construction company T-shirt, jeans and work boots. He answered "yes sir" and "no sir" to questions from U.S. Magistrate Tony Leung.
Leung ordered Rogers held pending a detention hearing Wednesday, citing "serious concerns" raised in the criminal complaint.
Loven declined to elaborate about the location of the alleged target, other than to say it was believed to be in Montevideo, a city of about 5,000 people about 130 miles west of Minneapolis. He also declined to say whether Rogers was believed to be acting alone or as part of a group, or if other arrests were expected.
"This is a very active investigation," he said. He added that at this point, authorities are "looking at this from a domestic terrorism standpoint."
Loven said the pending investigation prohibits him from getting into details about Rogers' possible political or religious views, but he said the FBI is confident in calling this a "terror" situation.
"We had information which indicated that Mr. Rogers was involved in a plot to conduct terror activities in and around the Montevideo area," he said.
In a news release Monday, the FBI said it believed "the lives of several local residents were potentially saved" by the search and arrest, and said "several guns and explosive devices were discovered." The agency said the alleged terror plot was discovered through analysis of intelligence gathered by local, state and federal authorities.
"Cooperation between the FBI and its federal, state, and local partners enabled law enforcement to prevent a potential tragedy in Montevideo," Christopher Warrener, the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Minneapolis, said in the release.
According to a federal affidavit obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, FBI agents from the domestic terrorism squad searched the property at the mobile home park in Montevideo and discovered the Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms. The affidavit said Buford was there at the time of the search, and one firearm recovered from Buford's residence was a Romanian AKM assault rifle.
In an interview with authorities, Rogers admitted firing the weapon on two separate occasions at a gun range in Granite Falls, the affidavit said. Rogers has a past conviction for felony burglary and is not allowed to have a firearm.
Rogers is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Monday.
Rogers' 2011 felony burglary conviction stems from an incident in Lac qui Parle County. He also has a 2009 misdemeanor conviction for dangerous handling of a weapon in Hennepin County, as well as other criminal violations, according to online court records.
Dustin Rathbun, who lives next door to Rogers' home, said he saw Friday's raid and arrest. He said he didn't know the family well because he didn't see them outside much.
Rathbun said the only thing that stood out was he and other neighbors noticed a few months ago the family was flying an upside-down flag from the side of their mobile home. He said the owners of the park asked them to take it down.
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@edgarblythe,
Naming your child Buford is probably not the best start for the kid or the parents.
A known felon with guns, explosives, etc... the cops did good here.
Buford's 2011 felony burglary conviction stems from an incident in Lac qui Parle County.
He also has a 2009 misdemeanor conviction for dangerous handling of a weapon in
Hennepin County, as well as other criminal violations, according to online court records.
Federal authorities said Monday they are confident that they foiled a planned attack on the Montevideo Police Department and possibly saved lives when they arrested a man with suspected white supremacist leanings.
Buford “Bucky” Rogers, 24, of Montevideo, was arrested and charged Friday with being a felon in possession of a firearm after federal authorities found suspected pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails and guns during a search of his family’s mobile home, according to a federal criminal complaint and affidavit.
Rogers, wearing a lime green construction company T-shirt and baggy pants stuffed in boots, made his first appearance in federal court in St. Paul on Monday. He was assigned a public defender and remains in custody until another hearing Wednesday.
Federal authorities learned Rogers allegedly talked about wanting to bomb the Montevideo Police Department.
Local authorities would only say that the general public was not at risk and that no schools, churches or public areas such as parks apparently were targeted.
Neighbors’ and Rogers’ own postings on Facebook suggest a man with troubling interests involving racial superiority and irritation with authorities.
“My son knew him for a short period of time, hung out with him,” said Bryan Best, a neighbor from the mobile home park where Rogers lived. “He talked about white supremacist stuff. I didn’t want [my son] hanging around with him, and fortunately he listened to me.”
Several postings on Rogers’ Facebook page from June 15, 2011, express his apparent irritation: “The NWO [New World Order] has taken all your freedoms the right to bear arms freedom of speach freedom of the press …” read one profanity-punctuated message.
According to the affidavit, FBI agents searched Rogers’ home while he was there and found the Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and a Romanian AKM assault rifle among the firearms.
Armored vehicles and FBI personnel, wearing camouflage uniforms and helmets, had their high-powered weapons at the ready as Rogers was arrested.
After Rogers was arrested, authorities searched his father’s trailer home on the north edge of Montevideo and found more than a dozen bombs inside a shed. Some of the explosives were described by authorities as being sophisticated pipe bombs and others that are the type packed with nails and other kinds of shrapnel.
Other bombs found in the shed were considered unstable, and a federal SWAT team that included bomb-demolition specialists removed the explosives and later detonated them, sources said.
“The FBI believes that a terror attack was disrupted by law enforcement personnel and that the lives of several local residents were potentially saved,” the agency said in a statement issued Monday.
Rogers’ strong anti-government views were well-known around town, drawing the ire of many because the family flew the U.S. flag upside down, according to persons with knowledge of the case. A sign in front of Rogers’ father’s mobile home was spray-painted with the letters B.S.M., standing for Black Snake Militia.
Federal authorities described the so-called group as having about six to eight members, including Rogers and his father, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey Rogers is believed to have similar political views as his son. He also had a U.S. flag hanging upside down on the roof of his home and on his car’s antenna.
Traditionally, flying the flag upside down is an expression of distress, specifically to life and property.
Rogers had multiple Facebook sites that expressed his anti-government views, one of which was under another name, sources said.
Quote:Traditionally, flying the flag upside down is an expression of distress, specifically to life and property.
We will probably see more of this across the nation.
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