California man jailed in alleged attempt to blow up Dearborn mosque

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit Free Press

California man jailed in alleged attempt to blow up Dearborn mosque
Police: Suspect targeted large Arab-American, Muslim population
1:21 PM, Jan. 30, 2011
By Niraj Warikoo and Elisha Anderson
Detroit Free Press Staff Writers


A California man is in jail on a terrorism charge after he was arrested in Dearborn for allegedly trying to blow up the biggest mosque in metro Detroit, Dearborn officials said today.

The suspect was arrested in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn on Monday, while hundreds were inside the mosque that sits along Ford Rd., police said. He came to the city because of its large Arab-American and Muslim population, police said.

Roger Stockhman, 63, was arraigned Wednesday on one count on a threat of terrorism or false report and one count of explosive-possession of bombs with unlawful intent for possession of Class C fireworks, Dearborn Police said.

"He's very dangerous," Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad told the Free Press. "We took his threat to be very serious."

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20110130/NEWS02/110130013/Calif-man-jailed-alleged-plot-blow-up-Dearborn-mosque?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

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Just another isolated incident, I'm sure.

[Ian David]

1. More TeaTerror. n/t

[Bozita]

2. video from the local Fox teevee station ...

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/terrorist-threat-at-local-mosque

[Bozita]

21. Fox2 Detroit streams their webcasts live. Next one is at 6pm ET

Also another at 10pm ET.

www.wjbk.com

[Judi Lynn]

3. Det.News: California man arrested with explosives outside Dearborn Islamic center

Last Updated: January 30. 2011 1:47PM .
California man arrested with explosives outside Dearborn Islamic center
Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

~snip~

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.

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."

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.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110130/METRO/101300320/1409/metro/California-man-arrested-with-explosives-outside-Dearborn-Islamic-center

[Bigmack]

6. M-80s could be an excellent terror weapon...

if somebody set a few off in a crowded place. People would be injured in the stampede.

Terror is what it's all about, not necessarily casualty numbers.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Seems it would also be completely possible it could trigger heart attacks, seizures, etc., too.

Those things scare people witless when they are exploded outdoors, too.

Inside a building it would be a nightmare if, when hundreds of people were gathered in one confined area.

No doubt fear moves people a lot more quickly than rationality.

[Enthusiast]

11. Not to mention bust your eardrums. nt

[Bigmack]

12. I was concerned the mods...

would delete - thinking I was giving the whackjobs ideas. I think the minds who invented child/mentally disabled suicide bombers have given lots of thought to bizarre and cruel ways of causing terror.

I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more of the cheap and sloppy terrorist acts.

[slackmaster]

42. Today's "cheap and sloppy terrorist acts" are yesterday's juvenile pranks and petty crimes

Not real terrorism.

[The abyss]

30. M80s are firecrackers - big ones - no longer manufactured

The original designation "80" stood for 80 grains of powder, flash powder. measured by volume NOT weight, primary oxidizer potassium chlorate at about 75% for most period mixtures.

Cherry bombs ran about 65 grains of volume only contained in a glue/sawdust casting rather than the cardboard tube.

Both were incredible loud... well think about it. 80 grains of black powder is about right for a .50 caliber muzzelloading rifle. Breaks the sound barrier enough for a sharp crack.

In and of themselves the original fireworks would have been very loud - but not particularly dangerous.

However... they do not manufacture these under class c and haven't for some time. There used to be an agricultural exemption for these self contained devices that allowed sales to private parties but I think most states abandoned that loop-hole long, long ago.

This nut is sounding more and more like the times square loonie. A trunk full of fireworks and no celebration in sight!

[slackmaster]

39. Real M-80s are still manufactured, but are not available to unlicensed consumers

They're available to licensed professional pyrotechnicians.

[SkyDaddy7]

16. M-80s can KILL! I have actually witnessed...

someone lose their entire hand and part of their arm due to a m-80 going off almost as soon as he lit it...I was a child but it was one of those things that sticks with you.

If you lit one & threw it into a crowd & it went off next to someone's head I know it could kill them those things are 1/4 stick of dynamite!

EDIT: Want to clarify the M-80 I am talking about is the real m-8o that are illegal not the little dinky firecrackers that say M-80 on them with the fuse coming out of the side.

The M-80 I am talking about are also called Cherry Bombs.

[slackmaster]

35. "Real" M-80s and cherry bombs are not available to the general public and are not Class C fireworks.

Any ground-based consumer (Class C) firecracker cannot contain more than .05 grams of powder (typically flash powder).

http://www.fireworksland.com/html/statelaws.html

[louis-t]

4. He also thinks he's battling Sharia law, I'm sure.

He DOES know the mayor is Irish, doesn't he?

[Judi Lynn]

5. His photo, profile from his VFW post:

(Click for photo)
http://thumbs.webs.com.nyud.net:8090/s/viewProfilePic/?siteId=42668468&memberId=45851773&size=normal&170357

roger stockham is now a member Sep 03, 2009
About Me

Born in Pasadena,CA; raised in Palos Verdes at a little community called Portuguese Bend Club; PV class of 65; typical surfer, did a lot of snow and water skiing, sailing, go cart racing; dad an architect, mom a decorator; joined the army in Dec 65, Engineer OCS, helicopter flight school, got married at 19, went to Nam March of 68, based in Pleiku, flew Huey slicks with an assault helicopter company, saw a lot of action, got a lot of air medals, but not much else; gave the arny 7 years then spent a couple of years flying as a commercial bush pilot in Indonesia; two beautiful kids, one granddaughter.

http://www.vfwpost5477.com/apps/profile/45851773/

[Brother Buzz]

13. You don't need to be a Rocket Surgeon to know on what end of the VFW bar he parked his butt

You know what I mean, Vern?

[DBoon]

15. "Portuguese Bend Club"?

$$$$$$$$

[alp227]

7. This could've been pre-empted had an undercover agent contacted him right?

But NOOOO...you gotta target those evel dirty Ahrub MUZLIMS right? :sarcasm:

Really though, I'm glad the authorities got this guy. I wonder if the suspect favors keeping Guantanamo open for "enemy combatants"...he definitely won't count himself in.

[Judi Lynn]

9. He is a terrorist to the U.S. Americans he was targeting, for sure.

Who's to say he isn't part of a larger group? Maybe he should be waterboarded, too, along with the children they dragged off to Guantanamo.

[Enthusiast]

14. He is every bit as

deserving of waterboarding as any Muslim terrorist. Just saying.

[Psephos]

18. No human being "deserves" waterboarding. n/t

[Enthusiast]

20. Of course I agree, see my sig. nt

[Enthusiast]

10. Why that would make him

a right wing terrorist -something Glenn Beck insists does not exist. You know, kind of like the sasquatch.

[SkyDaddy7]

17. Just like all the other "Right Wing" acts of...

terrorism or attemtped terrorism that has taken place since Obama was elected THIS TOO WILL NOT GET MAJOR MEDIA COVERAGE...If by chance it does it will be on the internet or a quick 30sec blurb on Nightline or something.

I simply do not understand it...I don't like to go all "Conspiracy Theory" because most are pure BS but this is an obvious pattern.

[Enthusiast]

19. So obvious. nt

[slackmaster]

41. A nut job with a few pedestrian firecrackers making criminal threats does not constitute terrorism

:eyes:

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Michigan Cops: Army Vet Threatened Mosques At Bar, Found With Explosives Outside Islamic Center

Source: TPM Muckracker

Roger Stockham, a 63-year-old Army veteran from California who was reportedly angry at the U.S. government, was arrested by police in Michigan and charged for allegedly threatening to blow up a Mosque in Dearborn.

Dearborn police allegedly found Stockham inside his vehicle outside the Islamic Center of America with a load of M-80s in his trunk and other explosives, the Detroit News reported.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Counsel on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), told the newspaper that police told him the suspect was drinking in a Detroit bar on Monday and threatened to do harm to a mosque in Dearborn. An employee at the bar followed the man outside and wrote down his license plate which he reported to police, Walid told the newspaper.

The 63-year-old grandfather is charged with one count of a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possession of bombs with unlawful intent, according to the newspaper.

Read more: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/michigan_cops_army_vet_threatened_mosques_at_bar_found_with_guns_outside_islamic_center.php

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Ah our internal terrorists strike again.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Not a terrorist.

Too much albedo. :sarcasm:

[Ozymanithrax]

24. An M-80 is a large firecracker...

You can certainly lose a hand, and they will blow things apart. When I was a kid, we used to use M-80's and cherry bombs to blow up trashcans.

I don't doubt that they can cause harm, but his attack doesn't seem to hve been well thought out.

[ck4829]

25. 1 or 2 won't cause much damage

But putting a large quantity of them together can cause some damage.

These things used to be used by the military for a reason.

[Ozymanithrax]

26. They would work very effectivly as a tool of terror.

Walking into the place and start tossing them into the crowd, or just set them off. People will be hurt.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

27. Used by the military for a reason? Training.

They're just big firecrackers. Military used them during training in place of "real" exploding things, like artillery shells and landmines.The military also used loud firecrackers to scare birds away from runways. They weren't weapons.

I think this is just another 63-year-old who could use some medical/psychological assistance. Before he does something REALLY stupid.

:hi:

[slackmaster]

36. The article describes the devices in his possession as Class C fireworks

http://www.fireworksland.com/html/statelaws.html

[rfranklin]

28. Isolated incident...nothing to see here...move on....

He was provoked by those who brought up Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin's pronouncements.

[Joanne98]

29. He's from the same town I grew up in. I don't know him though.

He's older than me! But I bet Brian Bilbray knows him.

[Rozlee]

32. One of his heroes is Tom "Payne"? OMFSM!

Definitely a Glenn Beckkk fan. Beck goes on ad nauseum about how much Thomas Paine is his role model; never stopping to think that Paine not only wrote "Common Sense" but "The Age of Reason" a book that totally debunked the Bible. No, this character sounds like someone that never picked up a book to read on his own, but just spouts off talking points from demogogues.

[No Elephants]

31. I wonder if most Dearborn Muslims vote Republicon.

[RamboLiberal]

33. Suspect in Dearborn mosque plot had threatened Bush, records show

Documents filed with 19th District Court in Dearborn call Stockham a habitual offender. In December 1979, he was convicted of what the documents refer to as child stealing and attempting to damage a building.

Court records out of U.S. District Court in Vermont say Stockham entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to eight threat charges in the early 2000s, when George W. Bush was president, including mailing threatening communications, threatening the president and threatening by use of telephone.

A report filed in the Vermont court documents and prepared by the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Stockholm, who has written that he is a Vietnam veteran, has bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and a personality disorder.

Police were tipped off that Stockholm was in Dearborn last Monday when a bar owner heard a customer, matching Stockham’s description, talking about an explosion at a mosque in the area, according to police and interviews with mosque officials. The bar owner called Dearborn Police to report what he heard.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110131/NEWS02/110131019/1004/Suspect-Dearborn-mosque-plot-had-threatened-Bush-records-show?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Faux, Limpballs, Beck & the loonies will be calling him a lefty terrorist.

[mcollins]

34. He also claimed be was a Muslim!?

I see a false flag here, folks.

[slackmaster]

37. There's a very simple explanation

The guy is nuts.

[mcollins]

40. looks like it. nt

[slackmaster]

38. You can't "blow up" a building with a handful of Class C firecrackers

You can scare the crap out of people and cause moderate injuries at worst.