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Bomb Plot Suspects Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

The men each face three counts stemming from a what federal officials say was a plan to blow up a Brecksville bridge.

 

The five men arrested in the plot to blow up a bridge in Brecksville have now been indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.

The self-proclaimed anarchists will each face three counts stemming from a plan hatched over several months to blow up the State Route 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Brandon Baxter, 20, of Lakewood, Douglas L. Wright, 26, Anthony Hayne, 35, Connor C. Stevens, 20, and Joshua S. Stafford, 23, face charges including one count of attempted use of an explosive.

The men had hoped to use C-4 explosives to blow up the bridge, after deciding against other targets such as the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland and the Detroit-Superior Bridge, according to an affidavit. 

However, the men — working with an FBI informant — bought fake bomb-making materials from an undercover FBI agent.

They were arrested Monday night.

The men — all fringe members of the Occupy Cleveland movement — are also charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to destroy a highway carrying interstate commerce and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The men face up to life in prison for the charges, said Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He wouldn't comment on whether the men will face additional charges.

Represented by different attorneys, the men are scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. May 7 at the federal courthouse in Cleveland for a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing.

They will remain in custody until then.

Related Topics: Anthony Hayne, Brandon Baxter, Brecksville bomb plot, Douglas Wright, and bomb plot

Elliot Ness

1:41 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

Lock them up. Throw away the keys, let them rot in prison.

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Rick Uldricks

2:16 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

they might get better haircuts in prison.

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Sally Ride

2:50 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

I don't quite understand what they were trying to say with their actions in the first place. If your message isn't clear to the people for which it's intended, then, whether you think so or not, you aren't enlightening anyone, you're not changing anything, and your passion is transparently rooted in anger, ignorance and the desire to be noticed rather than a commitment to actual positive change. Possible life in prison. So pointless. Good luck fellas.

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Ray Y

3:11 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

I don't think they are capable of that kind of logic. There are a lot of people walking around consumed by wrong thinking and delusion.

joe simonton

4:17 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

the face of occupy cleveland

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John McMillan

8:02 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

So tired of this lame, uninformed comment...

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joe simonton

8:37 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

whats wrong john they wont let you put your tent up or are you upset that 33% of your occupy group is in jail

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Peter Grossetti

9:01 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

ergo ... priests who sexually exploit children are the face of the Roman Catholic Church.

Myron Holley

4:27 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Only thing I wonder about and kind of sort of feel sorry for is the parents, brothers and sisters, Family for these jerks. I mean how would you feel if bam. Your son was arrested for this nut job crapper going on's. WOW.

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Douglas

10:10 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Claiming that these losers are the face of Occupy and that they represent them. Interesting. Following that type of logic (that a few idiots that want to blow up a bridge means the whole group wants to be destructive) means that I can say that the tea party is full of racists and bigots, that they all believe Obama is a muslim and that he was not born in the US. Sad commentary on the thought processes working around just because people would rather hate than think.

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Jim

12:54 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012

Come on now, you don't remember the boasts of Occupy that they want May day protests to really cause a stink, be destructive, get lots of attention???? Then you have this failed attention grabbing stunt and you back peddle so fast you almost reversed the spin of the earth. You boasted, your fringe delivered, now live with the shame.

James Thomas

10:22 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Since most Tea Party opposers already do that I don't have problem with following their lead here.

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Stu Mahaffey

11:02 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012

To Tom,, want to see a birth certificate? Right on Douglas!

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Douglas

11:27 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012

@tom m. Wow, really? Are you saying that some people in a group are childish and act with malice? What a surprise!
Yes, more wankers that want to believe that they are involved. Every group has the nut jobs on the extremist side. Republicans, Democrats, Tea Party, Ocupy, Christian, Muslim, Athiest, Communist...etc. Just because there are extremists does not mean that the entire group should be labeled.

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Troy McClure

2:13 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Asking for a "link" is missing the point. Douglas's point was that every group has their extreme members. And they do. Which include the teabaggots. It's not being inferred that all "extreme" kooks go on property damage sprees.

Steve

12:29 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

@Douglas. They did the same thing with bullie dogs, one problem and they BAN the whole breed, but totally disregard all the other attacks on other breeds. Thats not fair either. End BSL in Lakewood.

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tom m

12:34 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

and yet while those people in the group were being 'childish" the other peaceful innocent occupy protesters did nothing to stop them and please give me one example of damage done to public property at a christian athiest or tea party event come on douglas this is your time to shine I know you are upset that 25% of your fellow occupy crowd is in jail for trying to blow up what should have been such a nice home for your crowd

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BlackFlame

3:08 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

The videos you link are black bloc groups which are not associated with OWS. While the media has gone out of their way to say they are a part of Black Bloc, they are not. You should also take a look at the Boston Tea Party. They used violent property destruction as a form of protest. These people risked going to jail to make a point.

If we want to play dishonest games as you do, we could point to a Tea Party member in Arizona who just went on a shooting spree and killed 4 people. If you were even remotely intellectually honest, you would apply the same standard to yourself and say that the Tea Party is a violent group of people. Also, you should learn basic grammar because it makes you look like you're in grade school.

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Douglas

6:23 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

tom m, you make a few mistakes here.
#1. I am not an Occupy anything person. Never said I was.
#2. You clearly have no concept of punctuation, but I guess that is not really important, just doesn't help your argument.
#3. one example? Christian - let me think real hard here...Crusades? I know, long time ago but still a valid point since we are talking extremists.
I agree that the tea party has not caused property damage directly. I agree that some in the occupy movement have. I just do not believe that an entire group, that believe that they are working towards making a country better, should be classified with the extremists of their group.

Troy McClure

2:10 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

The way some of you write, you should Occupy Elementary School English Class.

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BlackFlame

3:08 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Haha. I was about to say the same thing.

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Myron Holley

4:15 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Hugh if the only thing you can do is proof read means you really have not done any thing except may be went to school. Have not really been around the world and seen what the O.W.S. stands for. Nothing, I speak five languages and write not too well in any of them. However there seems to be a lot more people who can understand miss spelled words in any language than some dolt who can only speak one. But then this is one of the Leftists standard attacks. Go with facts not brain dead ideas.

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Troy McClure

5:27 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Myron:
When it comes to 'brain dead', you seem to own that aspect. You write like a moron. Shut it.

Troy McClure

2:14 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

On the flip side, these guys will get real haircuts for the first time in awhile.

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BlackFlame

2:58 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

@James Murphy: Try looking up the Boston Tea Party. They stopped commerce, used property destruction (which is labeled violence here), and direct action. Also, a Tea Party member just went on a shooting spree in Arizona and killed four people. He also happened to be a neo-nazi and gave speeches at Tea Party gatherings. Does that mean that the Tea Party is full of violent people? Of course not.

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tom m

3:31 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

he was a national socialist that does not fit tea-partiers

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tom m

5:51 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

not really hugh ......Gilbert Ready, a prospective Democratic candidate for Pinal County Sheriff

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BlackFlame

7:37 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Tom: You fail to understand even a simple point because you've blinded yourself ideologically. The point is, there are a number of groups both within Occupy and the Tea Party. Most people are peaceful within both groups. However, there are a couple of nuts within both organizations. Instead of pointing out a few cases, you need to show us where decisions within the general assembly (where all decisions about Occupy are made) show violent activities. These decisions are made public for all to see. So far, there has been no decisions made within these groups either to commit property destruction or violence. Also, there are 30,000 Occupy members on Reddit. I've been visiting that forum for some time and everyone there is against violence and property destruction.

You also claim that Occupy did nothing to stop these people from attempting to blow up the bridge. This is false. It was members within the Occupy movement that called the police when they tried to incite violence. This probably tipped off the FBI and their eventual arrest. Can you tell me what the Tea Party did to prevent Jason Todd Ready from going on a shooting spree?

BlackFlame

7:44 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Tom: You are getting your facts wrong. The name is Jason Todd Ready and not Gilbert Ready. Gilbert is the city he went on a shooting spree. He also tried to run as a Republican when he was blocked. Therefore, he ran as a Democrat.

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joe simonton

8:03 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

I think you are both wrong a NEO-Nazi does not fall into the occupy crowd or the teaparty crowd no more than the black panthers would

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tom m

9:21 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

my facts are not wrong here is jason todd ready (JT Ready) at the occupy Pheonix Rally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vplwUROCAFY&feature=fvwrel

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BlackFlame

10:18 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

Joe: You are missing the point. Radical people such as Ready and others join the Occupy and Tea Party movement to try and convert members. They could care less about the over theme.

Tom: So Ready went to both the Tea Party and Occupy. This goes perfectly with my point. Just because you have a radical person, that does not mean that they constitue the whole. I'm still waiting for you to show me the general assemblies voting to use violence.

Again, you need to start using basic grammar. It's almost impossible to tell what you are saying. You could start by capitalizing the first letter of the sentence.

Murphy: Wrong. He was much closer to the Tea Party movement who supported his anti-immigration policy. In fact, one of the themes in Occupy Phoenix is the treatment of illegal aliens and they are highly agaisnt both neo-nazis and the minutemen.

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joe simonton

10:38 pm on Saturday, May 5, 2012

blackflame do you have anything to prove he was tea party also ( A Bill Mahar Clip does not count) on a side note the whole black bloc thing is pretty wild !!! what does the white masks mean is it a french revolution thing ( not trying to be insulting just wondering)

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Myron Holley

4:03 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Black flame. You said it best he was blocked from running as a Republican and then ran as a democrat. I DO NOT KNOW IF STATEMENT IS TRUE OR NOT. But if it is the word blocked should mean something to you. Unless brain dead.

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Garry Kanter

2:20 am on Sunday, May 20, 2012

I think "members" is incorrect.

There's no dues, or applications. There's no "there" there.

They are "supporters", but not "leaders".

What's your point?

Myron Holley

3:59 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Tom there is nothing gained trying to reason with a dig bat. Just the Recorded [ rapes, robbery's, destruction of property, Private and public. assaults, leaving trash all over. Block traffic, cost millions from hard working people to clean up after. ] Mean nothing to them. Or the recorded Support by the AMERICAN COMUNIEST PARTYS, NAZI PARTY, DEMOCRATE PARTY, AFL-CIO, etc . Means nothing to them. Or that most smell so bad you can tell them a mile down the road. They are a blister on the heal of man kind. Do nothing to contribute to our society. O and have the support of our leftist President who has stated so publicly. Wow and we are trying to reason with these minority ding bats. A Small group making some noise that's all. O and the smartest thing they seem to like to do is smash coffee house windows. God love em. Because no one else does.

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Troy McClure

7:59 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Here you are again name-calling. typical rightwinger. You can't go a post without calling someone names like you're a 10 year-old. Grow the eff up & try to get through a post w/out name calling. Then you wouldn't come across as such a loser.

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tom m

9:58 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Myron I have to agree With Hugh all that was missing from your post was you sticking your tounge out at him

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Myron Holley

10:24 am on Monday, May 21, 2012

Tom your the loser and trying to drag the rest down with you. eSaD

Myron Holley

4:07 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

The O.W.S. either way is B.S. But I do feel sorry for the family's of these dum dums who tried to blow up the bridge.

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Nathaniel Brooks

5:58 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012

The word coward comes to mind, when I think of these five, young , upstanding citizens lol. I will call them, The Wonder Bread Gang lol. There was a time in this country when, if you tried to do something of this nature, you were destined for the gallows. Half the people in this country aren't worth the extra soft Charmin they wipe their butts with. Today, you don't have to serve your country, but you expect your country to serve you lol. I wish Zimmerman had run into these fellows. I guess five grown men is a lot more intimidating than a seventeen year old boy with ice tea? There are extremists in every group, whether it's the tea party, the occupy movement, ALEC, or whatever brand of the week the media chooses to cover. If you are a terrorist, or a bigot, one who spreads lies and propaganda, I laugh at you. As for the Tea Party, give me a break. How could they even compare themselves to those blokes, who told England, up yours. Those gentlemen were carved out of wood, those gentlemen stood for something, those gentlemen were the great military minds of their day and those gentlemen were patriots . When I think tea party, I don't think patriot. I think uneducated, then old, then bigot, then Hitler, and then Mussolini. Just cause you wear polo shirts to your gathering doesn't make you any less of an idiot. A sheep in wolves clothing, is still a sheep. I have a Native American friend and he told me, he hopes everyone goes home.

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tom m

9:46 pm on Monday, May 7, 2012

how can that be true some on here said that they were not even members of occupy (it must be a forgery)

marandalaw

2:23 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I Have a War Conflict Name Change..These People are a Danger to Innocent Civilians Everywhere.Terrorism is Very Serious,Very Serious.

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marandalaw

2:40 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Stay Safe..Fort Lee Virginia Mp's.From Cleveland Heights,Ohio.

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Jim

10:40 am on Saturday, May 12, 2012

Mumbo jumbo!!! Just lock them all up and be done with it.

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Myron Holley

12:47 pm on Saturday, May 12, 2012

YEP AND SEND THEM TO GITMO OR PAKASTAN BLACK HOTEL.

Garry Kanter

7:20 am on Monday, May 21, 2012

Bunch of fake and incomplete names being used. That's against Patch policy.

Scofflaws!

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joe simonton

8:57 am on Monday, May 21, 2012

and this is your defense as you stick up for your fellow occupy members sitting in jails across the country

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Garry Kanter

11:54 am on Monday, May 21, 2012

Those are not my words, nor anything I implied.

Myron Holley

10:22 am on Monday, May 21, 2012

whos defending them. Send em to Git mo

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