A "right wing" nut job was going to pull a Timothy McVeigh and kill people and blow up a government building. Good job by the FBI!...or was it?
So, the short story is Jerry Drake Varnell (three names, so he is a bad guy) was on Facebook saying some anti-government things, he's going to blow up the Federal Reserve OKC style, yada yada yada other crazy shit. So, Jerry got chatting with someone on facebook who narked him out to the Feds. For 8 months, they used this source to listen in on Jerry, then introduced an undercover FBI Agent. The FBI Agent gives him transportation and a fake bomb to detonate near a bank in OKC instead of the Federal Reserve. Jerry goes through with it and they arrest him for 18 USC 844 intent to blow up a federal building with explosives. Penalty: 5 - 20 years.
The facts are Jerry is full blown schizophrenic. Has no money, no car, no bomb making materials. The FBI kept hammering that he intended to commit this act. Ok, then why did the Federal Reserve turn into a closer target, an OKC bank? Of course it had to be a Federally owned building. Did the Feds not want to cut a check for the travel expenses to D.C.? This whole thing wreaks of entrapment and manipulation to me.
Why not charge him with making threats (a lesser charge) arrest him for a charge that is most likely going to carry a max charge of 5 years? Or better yet, get his parents more involved, restrict his internet access and get him the medical help he needs? His family knows he is schizophrenic, said he got obsessed with conspiracy theories and anonymous and other things that fueled his paranoia. His family said he chased around imaginary trolls and tried to make gold for fukk's sake. He was arrested for beating his wife and raping her when he believed he was going to die at midnight and needed to impregnate her in a schizophrenic episode. He received a deferred sentence for that. And the FBI is painting this kid to be Timothy McVeigh???
Here is the press conference. Some reporters try to bring up the possible entrapment here.
BTW this "bunker" that Jerry was going to use to wait out the end of the world in was an old shipping container. Guy had no guns, no weapons to cause mass casualties, and now the Feds are trying to paint this as a win against domestic terrorism when in actuality, they took advantage of a mentally ill, poor, 23 year old. Now, his family will be branded as parents to a terrorist. I'm sure they will live out the rest of their days happily. Hopefully, Jerry gets his time in a hospital as he clearly needs medical treatment and not a super max prison. This is a very slippery slope to me. The Feds are claiming intent when they knew or should have known everything about Jerry, including the fact that his parents had guardianship of him and a court found him incompetent. Can a schizophrenic have intent when he's chasing trolls and has a questionable grip on reality?
So, the short story is Jerry Drake Varnell (three names, so he is a bad guy) was on Facebook saying some anti-government things, he's going to blow up the Federal Reserve OKC style, yada yada yada other crazy shit. So, Jerry got chatting with someone on facebook who narked him out to the Feds. For 8 months, they used this source to listen in on Jerry, then introduced an undercover FBI Agent. The FBI Agent gives him transportation and a fake bomb to detonate near a bank in OKC instead of the Federal Reserve. Jerry goes through with it and they arrest him for 18 USC 844 intent to blow up a federal building with explosives. Penalty: 5 - 20 years.
The facts are Jerry is full blown schizophrenic. Has no money, no car, no bomb making materials. The FBI kept hammering that he intended to commit this act. Ok, then why did the Federal Reserve turn into a closer target, an OKC bank? Of course it had to be a Federally owned building. Did the Feds not want to cut a check for the travel expenses to D.C.? This whole thing wreaks of entrapment and manipulation to me.
Why not charge him with making threats (a lesser charge) arrest him for a charge that is most likely going to carry a max charge of 5 years? Or better yet, get his parents more involved, restrict his internet access and get him the medical help he needs? His family knows he is schizophrenic, said he got obsessed with conspiracy theories and anonymous and other things that fueled his paranoia. His family said he chased around imaginary trolls and tried to make gold for fukk's sake. He was arrested for beating his wife and raping her when he believed he was going to die at midnight and needed to impregnate her in a schizophrenic episode. He received a deferred sentence for that. And the FBI is painting this kid to be Timothy McVeigh???
Here is the press conference. Some reporters try to bring up the possible entrapment here.
BTW this "bunker" that Jerry was going to use to wait out the end of the world in was an old shipping container. Guy had no guns, no weapons to cause mass casualties, and now the Feds are trying to paint this as a win against domestic terrorism when in actuality, they took advantage of a mentally ill, poor, 23 year old. Now, his family will be branded as parents to a terrorist. I'm sure they will live out the rest of their days happily. Hopefully, Jerry gets his time in a hospital as he clearly needs medical treatment and not a super max prison. This is a very slippery slope to me. The Feds are claiming intent when they knew or should have known everything about Jerry, including the fact that his parents had guardianship of him and a court found him incompetent. Can a schizophrenic have intent when he's chasing trolls and has a questionable grip on reality?
