Right-winger arrested with explosives outside Dearborn mosque

Rage for Order

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Sun Jan-30-11 03:54 PM
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Right-winger arrested with explosives outside Dearborn mosque

Edited on Sun Jan-30-11 04:21 PM by Rage for Order

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110130/ap_on_re_us/us_mosque_terrorist_threat

A 63-year-old Southern California man who had explosives in his vehicle was arrested outside one of the nation's largest mosques in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, authorities in Michigan said.

Dearborn police said Roger Stockham was arraigned Wednesday on one count of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent. Stockham had a large but undisclosed quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, Chief Ronald Haddad said.

Haddad said Stockham was arrested Monday evening without incident in the parking lot of Islamic Center of America, while a large group was gathered inside. He said police received a 911 call from a resident.

Haddad said authorities believe Stockham was acting alone but still take him "very seriously." He said Stockham has "a long history of anti-government activities," though he declined to elaborate.

*Edit to change post title to the less-specific "Right-winger"

**2nd edit to include information from other sources:

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

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 Road, police said. He came to the city because of its large Arab-American and Muslim population, police said.

Roger Stockham, 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." Haddad said the man was previously known to law enforcement officials in other parts of the country. "He's had a long history of being angry with the United States government," Haddad said.

Stockham, in jail on a $500,000 bond, drove from California to Dearborn and was caught with a car packed with high-end fireworks. The FBI has been notified about the incident, Haddad said. "He picked Dearborn as a stop because of the huge Arab and Muslim population," Haddad said.

An employee at a local bar called police after overhearing violent threats allegedly made by the man, Islamic Center of America Executive Administrator Kassem Allie said. The employee was afraid that Stockham was going to target Muslims or Arabs in the area, he said.

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

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.

On a MySpace profile that likely belongs to Stockham, he writes that he's happy with how much he's 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," Stockham apparently writes.

He writes that he has "four ex-wives" is "on meds and doing better than my history would predict." He lists his heroes as Thomas Jefferson and Tom Payne.