Erie PA Collar-Bomb Case

Bomb expert enters Wells probe
(By Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News, May 27, 2007)

The FBI's top explosives specialist and a friend of the late William A. Rothstein are among the most recent people to become part of the investigation into Brian Wells' bombing death.

The friend testified Tuesday before the federal grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the Wells case. The explosives specialist was also at the U.S. District Courthouse in Erie on Tuesday, where he was seen with the other investigators in the case.

Grand juries meet in secret, so the nature of the testimony of Rothstein's friend could not be determined. But the man previously said he told the FBI that two subjects in the Wells investigation -- Rothstein, who died in July 2004, and Floyd A. Stockton Jr. -- worked together in a large garage on the witness' Summit Township property sometime before Wells, a 46-year-old pizza deliveryman, was killed in August 2003.

Rothstein's friend is known to have testified before the grand jury. Whether the bomb specialist testified or only met with investigators could not be determined, though his visit to the federal courthouse on the day the grand jury was in session strongly suggests he traveled to Erie to testify.

A reporter with the Erie Times-News saw both the friend and the explosives specialist at the federal courthouse in Erie at a time when the grand jury is known to have been in session. The specialist, Kirk Yeager, was escorted through the courthouse by the two lead federal agents on the Wells case. One investigator is from the FBI and the other is from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Erie Times-News previously interviewed Rothstein's friend.

He said he told the FBI that he let Rothstein and Stockton use his garage in Summit Township.

He told the newspaper he was not with Rothstein and Stockton while they were inside his garage, and he said he had no idea what the two did while they were there.

The man did not return telephone calls for comment following his visit to the federal courthouse on Tuesday.

The Erie Times-News is not identifying the man because he has not been charged in the Wells case.
The FBI searched the man's garage in August 2005, and took hundreds of items, including drill bits, grinding tools, screwdrivers and cans of paint, according to previous interviews.

The FBI, the lead agency in the Wells investigation, declined comment on the case, citing policy regarding pending cases. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Erie also declined comment on the status of the Wells case. The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office are prohibited from publicly disclosing the activities of grand juries.

No one has been indicted in the case, though the investigation "is nearing a close," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, of Pittsburgh, said in February. Buchanan oversees the Erie office.

Yeager, the FBI explosives specialist, is a forensic scientist in charge of the FBI's explosives laboratory in Quantico, Va. He helps other agents by investigating crime-scene debris, the Associated Press reported in a profile of Yeager published in February. He travels worldwide to assist the FBI in bombing cases.

In the Wells case, investigators are believed to have pinpointed the materials that were used to make the homemade bomb that was attached to a metal collar locked around Wells' neck.
The metal collar remained intact following the explosion on Aug. 28, 2003, and the collar has become a key piece of evidence. The bomb was obliterated in the blast, though investigators gathered remnants of it at the crime scene. The FBI in September 2003 said investigators sent the remnants of the bomb to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, where the FBI said agents were working to reconstruct it.

The FBI shortly after Wells' death described the bomb as "a very common explosive device" compared to the more complex construction of the metal collar, which featured four key-operated locks and a dial-combination lock. The bomb is believed to have included shotgun pellets, according to the limited autopsy records that have become publicly available since Wells' death.

The information from the man who owns the garage in Summit Township further links William Rothstein and Floyd Stockton, who were longtime friends.

Stockton, 60, who goes by the first name Jay, was living with Rothstein around the time Wells was killed. Stockton at the time was a fugitive wanted on rape charges in Washington State.

Stockton entered a plea to those charges in December 2003 and received a prison sentence in Washington that has since ended.

Rothstein, 60, an electrician and handyman, in August 2003 lived at 8631 Peach St. His house sat at the start of a dirt road the FBI said was near the spot where Wells made his final pizza delivery before he had the bomb locked to his neck. Wells went on to rob a bank in the Summit Towne Center, about 1.9 miles away, before the bomb went off.

The FBI recovered a series of notes with instructions Wells was supposed to have followed to rob the bank and embark on a scavenger hunt to gather more instructions to disarm the bomb.

The FBI questioned Rothstein in the Wells case up until the time of Rothstein's death, from cancer, in July 2004.

The FBI discovered Stockton at Rothstein's house in September 2003, when police were investigating the death of James Roden, 45, whose body was found in a freezer in Rothstein's garage. Roden was the boyfriend of another figure in the Wells' investigation, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 58. She pleaded guilty but mentally ill to fatally shooting Roden and since January 2005 has been serving a state prison sentence of seven to 20 years.

Diehl-Armstrong was twice engaged to Rothstein and remained friendly with him. She also was a friend of Kenneth E. Barnes, 53, another figure in the Wells probe. Barnes said he knew Wells through a prostitute. Barnes is serving a drug sentence in the Erie County Prison in an unrelated case.

In separate letters to the Erie Times-News, both Barnes and Diehl-Armstrong said they had nothing to do with Wells' death. But they both also said they have tried to help the FBI solve the case.

One of Stockton's ex-wives has told the Erie Times-News that the FBI questioned her about Stockton in connection with the Wells case. Stockton's lawyer, Charbel Latouf, of Erie, said last week that Stockton had no comment on the case.

BETH-You had to stop over in ERIE from a trip to Columbus? wow, be still myn heart, two of US's most exciting cities.

There ya go.

(I keep forgetting where we're having this conversation -- the New York thread? The Chicago thread? Oh, right, the collar bomb thread!)

Wells plea rejected
(By Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News, June 17, 2007)

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, a pivotal figure in the investigation into the bombing death of Brian Wells, said she recently rejected a plea offer in the case.

She also said the federal government intends to seek the death penalty against her if she were indicted in the slaying of the 46-year-old pizza deliveryman in August 2003.

Diehl-Armstrong, who made the comments in a letter to the Erie Times-News, also proclaimed her innocence.

She continued to insist the FBI and others are trying to set her up in Wells' death.

"I will not be framed for this death penalty case," Diehl-Armstrong said in the letter, dated June 4. "They already offered me a framing plea. Of course, I told them to shove it. I only pray that the truth can come out."

Diehl-Armstrong, who is serving a state prison sentence for murdering her boyfriend in 2003, did not elaborate on the offer in the Wells case. Her acknowledgement of the proposed deal, however, indicates how closely the FBI is focusing on her -- and how close the case might be to a resolution.

And Diehl-Armstrong's description of the investigation as a "death penalty case" represents the first time anyone involved in the probe has said the government is considering pursuing capital punishment in the Wells case.

Diehl-Armstrong in the letter said she had no interest in accepting any plea offer in the case. She spends much of the two-page handwritten correspondence declaring her innocence and criticizing the FBI.

She said agents have told her that Wells was part of the plot in which he died when the bomb locked to his neck exploded after he robbed a bank in the Summit Towne Centre on Peach Street in Summit Township on Aug. 28, 2003. Diehl-Armstrong said in the letter that she did not know Wells.

The FBI has never publicly commented on whether agents believe Wells was part of the plot.

"If they had removed the bomb from Wells, he could have told the cops who tried to kill him etc.," Diehl-Armstrong said in the letter. "Of course, they have always told me that Wells was involved."

Diehl-Armstrong's lawyer, Thomas Patton, an assistant federal public defender, said policy prevents him from commenting on pending cases. The chief federal prosecutor in Erie, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini, also declined comment, as did Special Agent Andrew Wilson, the head of the FBI office in Erie. They cited policy on active investigations.

No one has been indicted in the Wells case, though a federal grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case for years at the U.S. District Courthouse in Erie.

Federal rules allow suspects to agree to plea deals before a grand jury issues an indictment. Defendants who agree to such expedited plea deals typically cite them at sentencing to gain credit for cooperating with the government and avoiding a trial.

Wells Indictments Due "Any Day"
(WSEE-TV News, July 06. 2007)

Numerous sources have told Newswatch that indictments in the Brian Wells pizza bomber case could come "any day."

We've heard that before, but these assertions carry more weight because the federal grand jury looking into the case is set to expire the last week in July.

It's believed that the jury is looking at a ring of conspirators who were responsible for the collar bomb that ended the life of pizza delivery man Brian Wells after he robbed a PNC bank branch in August of 2003.

Lawyer: Diehl-Armstrong to be indicted in Wells bombing case
(By Ed Palattella, Erie Times News, July 10, 2007)

A break in the probe of Brian Wells' bombing death is no longer a question of if.

According to the lawyer for one of the targets in the case, it is a question of when.

An indictment in the 2003 killing is imminent against Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, her lawyer said in a newly filed court document.

The lawyer, Thomas Patton, an assistant federal public defender, does not state when he believes a federal grand jury will indict Diehl-Armstrong or what the charges might be.

But the court document, an emergency motion for a gag order, provides the most public link to date between Diehl-Armstrong, 58, and a case that has gone unsolved since Wells, a 46-year-old pizza deliveryman, died when a bomb locked to his neck exploded on Aug. 28, 2003.

"Ms. Diehl-Armstrong has not yet been charged," Patton said in the motion.

"However, it is anticipated that an indictment will be forthcoming shortly."

A federal grand jury -- meeting in secret, as the law requires -- has been hearing evidence in the Wells case at the U.S. District Courthouse in Erie for years. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed law-enforcement official, reported Monday that federal officials had tentatively scheduled a news conference to announce charges on Wednesday.

Patton in his motion, filed Monday, asks a federal magistrate judge to prohibit the U.S. Attorney's Office from holding a news conference to announce what he said will be Diehl-Armstrong's indictment.

Patton said the news conference would hurt Diehl-Armstrong's chances of receiving a fair trial, and that the case has already led to "an extraordinary amount of media coverage" in the Erie Times-News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and national publications such as USA Today, "just to name a few."

"Upon information and belief, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania is planning a press conference to announce the indictment of Ms. Diehl-Armstrong," Patton said in the three-page motion, filed at the U.S. District Courthouse in Erie.

"Ms. Diehl-Armstrong submits that any public discussion of any forthcoming indictment would prejudice the potential jury pool in the case."

The motion includes no details on why Patton believes an indictment is forthcoming or why he believes the U.S. Attorney's Office will hold a news conference.

Patton, according to the filing, wants a magistrate judge to order the prosecution and defense, as well as jury-selection officials at the federal courthouse in Erie, to "make no comment to the press directly or indirectly pending completion of the trial in this case."

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter, based in Erie, has yet to rule on the request. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Erie can file a motion in response to Patton's request, but has not yet done so.

Patton declined comment on the motion.

The FBI office in Erie, which is leading the investigation in the Wells case, declined comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini, the chief federal prosecutor in Erie, also declined comment.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, based in Pittsburgh, oversees the federal prosecutors in Erie. Her spokeswoman did not respond to a telephone call or an e-mail about the Wells case on Monday.

Buchanan has previously spoken in public about the status of the Wells case. In February, after meeting with the investigators, she made a brief statement in which she said the probe was "nearing a close."

Pizza bomb victim reportedly part of the plot
(ABCNews.com, July 11, 2007)

Federal prosecutors will announce today that pizza-delivery man Brian Wells was involved in the bomb-strapped bank robbery plot that took his life, a well-placed law enforcement source has told ABC News' Law and Justice Unit.

After the robbery occurred in Pennsylvania in August 2003, Wells was killed when the collar bomb he was wearing exploded while he was in police custody.

ABC News first reported Tuesday that charges were being brought against two Pennsylvania criminals in the bizarre case.

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong was served with what is known as a federal retainer in prison in Pennsylvania Tuesday afternoon and charged with three felonies related to the case -- bank robbery, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and felony use of a firearm in connection with a crime, her attorney told ABC News.

Diehl-Armstrong, who is imprisoned on an unrelated murder charge, says she is innocent, according to her lawyer, Lawrence D'Ambrosia.

Kenneth Barnes, a second longtime suspect, was served with the same federal retainer outlining the same charges Tuesday at a county jail in Erie, Pa., a source close to the case said. Barnes is serving an 11- to 23-month sentence on unrelated drug charges. A source close to the case said that murder charges could be forthcoming.

Hours after ABC News first reported the charges, U.S. attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced that a news conference would be held today in Erie, Pa. She promised a "significant announcement" in the case. It is expected she will announce the indictments of Armstrong and Barnes.

A law enforcement source involved in the case confirmed late Tuesday that Wells was, in fact, involved in the plot, but could not elaborate on his specific role.

Indictment: Pizza deliveryman in on collar-bomb robbery
(DAN NEPHIN, Associated Press, July/11/2007)

ERIE, Pa. - A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was then blown up by a bomb locked around his neck helped plan the robbery and then got caught up in something "much more sinister," a federal prosecutor said Wednesday in announcing the first indictments in the 2003 case.

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes were charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count in an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Authorities said the plot was concocted so that Diehl-Armstrong could pay someone to kill her father.

The two contrived a series of notes to make it appear pizza deliveryman Brian Wells was "merely a hostage," authorities said in court papers.

Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes also planned to get the robbery money from Wells so that, if he were caught, he could claim he was a hostage and an unwilling participant, authorities said.

Diehl-Armstrong is currently serving a state prison sentence for killing her boyfriend, James Roden. In the indictment, authorities say she killed him to keep him from disclosing details of the robbery plot.

Barnes is jailed in Erie County on unrelated drug charges.

Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes used a live bomb to assure that Wells completed all their instructions and turned over the money, according to the indictment.

"If he died, he could not be a witness," authorities said in the indictment.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan described Wells as having a limited role in the plot and said it was unclear if his co-conspirators planned on him being killed.

"Sadly, the plans of these other individuals were much more sinister ... and he died as a result," Buchanan said. "It may be that his role transitioned from that of the planing stages to being an unwilling participant in the scheme."

Wells was identified in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator. Authorities used only his initials, as well as the initials of William Rothstein, a former boyfriend of Diehl-Armstrong who helped her dispose of Roden's body.

Rothstein had been questioned in Wells' death before he died of cancer in 2004. The indictment said Rothstein helped Diehl-Armstrong concoct the time bomb placed on Wells.