http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/05/5_men_accused_of_bridge_explos.html

5 men accused of bridge bomb plot talked of attacks on other Cleveland targets, including Justice Center


Published: Tuesday, May 01, 2012, 11:57 AM Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012, 1:28 PM













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Michael Scott, The Plain Dealer







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Marvin Fong, The Plain DealerSteven
Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for Northern District of Ohio, at podium, and
Stephen Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of Cleveland Division of FBI,
discuss the Monday, April 30, 2012, arrest of five men for plotting to
blow up the Ohio 82 bridge that links Brecksville and Sagamore Hills.CLEVELAND,
Ohio -- Blowing up the Ohio 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley was
apparently not the only terrorist action in mind for members of a
loosely organized anarchist group arrested by FBI agents Monday, officials said.

Members
of the group actually "placed the devices at the base of concrete
pillars ... and attempted to detonate them at a remote location" on
Monday, but what they thought were bombs were actually "inert devices,"
the FBI said in a news conference this morning.According to an
affidavit, various members of the group -- three of which had been
charged early today and two others were were being charged -- had also
talked about attacking or detonating explosives at the following:

• The Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland
• The Justice Center in Cleveland
• A Cuyahoga County Homeland Security operation called the Northeast Ohio Regional Fusion Center.
• An unidentified Ku Klux Klan location in Ohio
• An Interstate 480 bridge known as the Valley View bridge.
  

Members
of the group also talked about putting smoke grenades on the Veterans
Memorial Bridge (Detroit-Superior Bridge) in Cleveland as a diversion
while they "knocked the bank signs off the tops of the larger buildings
in downtown Cleveland," the affidavit states.



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They also proposed "to detonate explosives on ... the Cuyahoga River in order to sink a cargo ship," the document says.


Read the full affidavit in the DocumentCloud viewer below.

The
document also says that the FBI used an undercover informant to
infiltrate the group, a man on probation in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties
on various criminal charges, including passing bad checks and
possession of cocaine.

It was the undercover informant who funneled information about the group's plans to the FBI.


The FBI arrested five men Monday evening, saying they had planted
what they believed were explosive devices under the Ohio 82 bridge over
Cuyahoga Valley National Park.




Related stories

[*] FBI arrests 5 accused of plotting to blow up Ohio 82 bridge in Cuyahoga valley (cleveland.com)[/*][*] FBI nabs 5 in alleged plot to blow up Ohio bridge (cbsnews.com)[/*][*] FBI supplies Cleveland 'anarchists' with fake bombs, arrests them (theatlantic.com)[/*][*] FBI press release (fbi.gov)[/*][*] Incident not connected to the anniversary of former al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden's death, officials say: video (msnbc.com)[/*][*] Website: anarchistnews.org provides news about and of concern to anarchists(anarchistnews.org)[/*]

The five men were "self-proclaimed anarchists," who intended to
detonate two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the bridge in
Sagamore Hills, but had purchased the inert devices from undercover FBI
agents, officials said.
In the news conference this morning, FBI officials said members
"placed the devices at the base of concrete pillars ... and attempted to
detonate them at a remote location."Arrested by the FBI's Joint
Terrorism Task Force and charged with conspiracy and attempted use of
explosive materials were: Douglas Wright, 26; Brandon L. Baxter, 20; and
Anthony Hayne, 35.

Also
arrested, but not charged, were Connor Stevens, 20 and Joshua Stafford,
23. Anthony said Stevens and Stafford were currently being charged,
officials said.



FBI officials said the men had intended to disrupt commuters today.