June 11, 2008 06:18 am
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PITTSBURGH (AP) _ A Clearfield County man arrested in a sweep by a terrorism task force in Pennsylvania had weapons, ammunition and several homemade bombs, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Bradley T. Kahle, 60, of Troutville, was one of five people arrested in last weekend's sweep. He told undercover agents he hoped Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama would be killed if they were elected president, and that he would shoot judicial and law enforcement officials if he became terminally ill, according to an affidavit of probable cause made public Tuesday.
"Kahle said words to the effect of, that 'if Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, get elected, hopefully they will get assassinated, if not they will disarm the country and we will have a civil war,'" the affidavit stated.
Kahle made the statement in April, when he also showed two undercover officers several firearms, including a sniper rifle, two AK-47 assault rifles, and about 5,000 rounds of ammunition, according to the affidavit.
Agents on Sunday found 16 homemade bombs during a search of Kahle's home, about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, authorities said.
Kahle was charged Tuesday with unlawfully possessing firearms, namely improvised explosive devices. A detention hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Johnstown.
Other suspects arrested in the task force sweep face allegations they trafficked in blasting caps, illegally possessed weapons and transferred exploding golf balls.
The charges were detailed in federal grand jury indictments unsealed Tuesday in Pittsburgh, where a federal magistrate will be asked at a hearing Wednesday to keep three of the four suspects in jail until they can stand trial.
Marvin E. Hall, 49, of Rimersburg, and his live-in girlfriend, Melissa Huet, 34, are charged in a three count indictment. Authorities contend Hall transferred two exploding golf balls to an unnamed person in January, without a firearms license.
He is also accused of illegally possessing a 12-gauge shotgun and an SKS assault rifle; it is illegal for Hall to possess guns because he has a 1999 federal weapons conviction. Huet is accused of helping him possess the weapons in violation of the law.
Hall remains in custody, but Huet, who will appear before a federal magistrate on June 26, told The Associated Press that she owns the guns and has sales receipts in her name. After the Pittsburgh Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the couple's home Sunday, she said, federal agents told her she couldn't possess the guns because she was living with a felon.
"Nobody ever told me that before," Huet said.
Hall's former neighbor, Morgan A. Jones, 64, of Lucinda, is charged with illegally transferring a Romanian AK-47 assault rifle to someone who lives out of state in February; Jones was arrested as he left church over the weekend.
Perry E. Landis, 61, of DuBois, is charged with illegally transferring blasting caps in September and March.
Jones and Landis are represented by the Federal Public Defender's Office in Pittsburgh, which has a blanket policy of not commenting on cases.
Hall, Jones and Landis are scheduled for detention hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Amy Reynolds Hay.
Prosecutors plan to present evidence that the men are dangerous or likely to flee prosecution in hopes Reynolds will keep them jailed until trial.
Prosecutors have refused to say why they want the men detained or why the cases were investigated by the terrorism task force.
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