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This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.
Fascinations with death and even anti-government viewpoints are not unusual in teenagers, according to former FBI profiler Clint Van Zant. He still was experiencing basically what you and I and everybody else experience and all of our kids experience in college. What makes this guy build bombs and go across America? What changed that?
Dolores Whirling spotted something unusual in the back of her mailbox on Friday, May 3rd, 2002. From her vantage point, still seated in the passenger seat of her husband's pickup truck, the item looked like an old flashlight or something. It was a long tube, about two inches in diameter, with wires or strings protruding out. Perhaps it was a gift from a friend, Dolores thought. After all, she had just had a birthday.
Dolores reached into the box with her right hand to remove the object. She grabbed the attached strings and pulled them to the front. But before she was able to hoist whatever it was through the window of the truck, a wire detached, and the bomb exploded in her face. "I thought I blew a tire," Dolores' husband, Bryce Worling, told the Chicago Tribune. "But then I turned and looked at her, and she was covered in blood. So I tore off and went to the hospital."
Dolores was conscious, but she could not hear her husband's voice. Doctors at the hospital in Tipton, Iowa, said the 70-year-old retired farmer's wife had ruptured eardrums, a missing tooth, and shrapnel wounds on her arms, hands, and face. She was lucky to be alive. Dolores Werling has shrapnel wounds on her arms, hands, and face after reaching in her mailbox to get a birthday card. I think that whoever did this should be caught.
At the crime scene, investigators discovered a piece of pipe several inches long, remnants of metal end caps and a 9-volt battery. There was a black powdery residue where the Wurlings' mailbox used to be, parts of which were found more than 80 feet away.
Authorities also found a plastic ziplock bag on location that contained the remaining pieces of a typewritten letter. The text began, "Explosions. A bit of evidence for you. Mailboxes are exploding. Why?" you ask. "To get people's attention," the author explained. "To make people realize that death does not exist. That death is simply a mechanism instilled by world leaders to capitalize on humanity's survival instinct."
"Income inequality, limitations on personal freedom, conformity, only possible because of the fear of death," the letter claimed. "You people have been missing how things are for very long," the author continued. "I'm obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on its way. More attention-getters are on the way. Sincerely, Someone Who Cares."
Investigators were alerted to those additional "attention getters" just hours later. They were found in rural mailboxes near the Iowa towns of Eldridge, Asbury, Anamosa, and Farley. That same day, the Illinois towns of Mount Carroll, Elizabeth, and Morrison were hit too. A total of eight nearly identical pipe bombs accompanied by eight identical letters had been placed in eight different locations in the span of four hours. The sites formed a circle on the map nearly 70 miles across.
Six of the bombs had exploded, injuring four mail carriers and two residents. Everyone survived, but the terror would continue the following day, this time in Nebraska. Six more bombs with letters were planted in a circle of small towns. Thankfully, none of them detonated. The entire Midwest was on alert.
Mail carriers began opening letter boxes from a safe distance using fishing line and armor-clad inspectors conducted a sweep of more than 10,000 mail drops in 12 counties across Illinois and Iowa. "He does have our attention," announced FBI Special Agent James Bogner. "We're trying to understand. We're asking him to reach out. Now is the time for the dialogue." The authorities were asking the suspect to reach out because they did not have a suspect.
The only information known about the unknown bomber came from a witness that had seen a young white male driving a black Honda Accord near one of the bombing locations. They said the suspect was wearing a t-shirt with Kurt Cobain's face on it. Sparse details, but sufficient enough. On May 6, 2002, the Menominee Police Department in Wisconsin received a phone call from a man in Minnesota named Cameron Helder.
Mr. Helder told the police about a disturbing letter he had received from his adopted son Luke, postmarked in Omaha, Nebraska. The letter contained references to death and dying, as well as anti-government commentary, and it spelled out an elaborate plan to wake people up. Luke wrote that he was prepared to die or go to prison to spread the truth. Mr. Helder also told the police that he had spoken with Luke's roommate at the University of Wisconsin Stout in Menominee earlier that night.
The roommate said that Luke had been missing since Thursday, May 2nd. Luke had left a note in their apartment that said he had gone to Madison for the weekend party. "Fuck work," he wrote. "Just kidding. I'll call in sick." But Luke Kelder was never the type to call in sick. The 21-year-old had always been so reliable and responsible, according to everyone that knew him.
This behavior was out of character. Luke's roommate realized that but was not too concerned until he discovered a large box of nails and gunpowder underneath Luke's bed four days later. There was also a plastic funnel and a receipt for the purchase of 20 pipe casings. That same day, six more bombs had been placed in Colorado and Texas. Again, luckily, none of them exploded.
The individual that we are seeking is Luke Helder. He has been described as an intelligent young man with strong family ties. On Tuesday, May 7, 2002, the FBI issued an all-points bulletin for Lucas John Helder. He had placed 18 bombs and 18 mailboxes in five states over four days. The allegations shocked Luke's friends and neighbors.
They wondered how the quote "sweet and intelligent industrial design student" could have become so radicalized. "Acquaintances say music was Helder's obsession, particularly the band Nirvana and its lead singer." "This past September, Helder was issued a citation for possessing a marijuana pipe." "I party, play guitar, and talk online to everyone," Luke Helder wrote in the personal biography section of the website for his grunge band.
That's my life. The top things I care about are my girlfriend Sarah and my music/band. It was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, of course. That potent cocktail traditionally blamed for youth gone mad.
For Luke Helder, the breaking point definitely did not come from the sudden realization that life in America was an illusion, a pointless endeavor, a place to work your fingers to the bone just to afford new hands. No, that couldn't be it. Even though that's what Luke Helder wrote about explicitly in every letter he had sent. To live, parentheses, avoid death, in this society, you are forced to conform slash slave away, Helder wrote.
Okay, so maybe Luke had lost his mind a little. Whatever the cause, there's no justifying attempted mass homicide. Any answers would have to be revealed by Luke himself.
However, the ramblings he had recently distributed were sent by a person his acquaintance has no longer recognized. I really want you to know that Luke is not a dangerous person, Cameron Helder said in an appeal to his son to turn himself in. I think he's just trying to make a statement about the way our government is run. I think Luke wants people to listen to his ideas, and not enough people are hearing him, and he thinks this may help. Luke, you need to talk to someone. Please don't hurt anyone else.
It's time to talk. Luke did not turn himself in. However, later that day, a motorist spotted his 1992 Honda Accord traveling west on Interstate 80, 50 miles outside of Reno, Nevada. The police pinpointed his location by tracking his cell phone. A high-speed chase ensued. Luke Helder eventually stopped his car, threw a gun out the window, and gave himself up after authorities promised on a phone call that he would not be harmed.
He requested not to be tackled. Trooper Alan Davidson told the media, "Let's all file that one away for future use." In this country tonight, the FBI now has a suspect in the rash of pipe bombs planted in mailboxes from the Midwest to the Southwest. Police found six pipe bombs and a loaded shotgun in the trunk of Luke Helder's car. Luke told the troopers he had planned to put the barrel in his mouth, just like the idol on his t-shirt. A missed opportunity to live forever.
Luke Helder also waved his Miranda rights. He pointed to every town on the map where he had left a bomb and noted the pattern, two circles with an arc underneath. If you study the placement of the pipe bombs on a map, you can see what could be two eyes and the beginning of a grin. Was Helder trying to form a smiley face? That's correct. He told that to one of the undercover agents that was actually there.
It was also revealed that Luke Helder had been pulled over three times for traffic violations during the bombing spree, each time he had been released with nothing more than a warning or citation. Even that time when Luke was stopped after midnight in Nebraska, the first words out of his mouth to the approaching officer were, quote,
We are here to see our son in his hour of need. We told him we love him. I feel better, a lot better after speaking to him. Luke Helder was transferred to Iowa to face two federal charges for maliciously destroying property affecting interstate commerce and for using a destructive device to commit a crime of violence. Similar charges awaited him in Illinois, Nebraska, and Nevada. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
but the trial was delayed indefinitely. After waiting months for the results of a psychiatric evaluation, on April 1st, 2004, a judge declared Lucas Helder incompetent to stand trial. Helder was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, where he remains. But before the Midwest could even take a breath, perhaps inspired by Luke Helder's actions, another bomber was on the loose.
This one more calculated, more focused, more selfishly motivated, but fortunately just as ineffective and short-sighted as the last. You'll see an unknown entity targets financial firms with explosives to satisfy a list of demands on this episode of Swindled.
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The poet Jonathan Swift once wrote, "The only permanence in life is change." And as any IS professional located anywhere in the world will tell you, the only permanence in a network is change. Managing the complexities of change is the single largest challenge in networking, even for a networking company like 3Com.
In the 1980s, the 3Com Corporation was one of the hottest technology companies in the world. Co-founded by Bob Metcalf, the co-inventor of Ethernet, 3Com essentially pioneered local area networks and the modern internet. The company manufactured computer modems, network cards, and eventually even personal digital assistants, such as the Palm Pilot, a device far ahead of its time.
As the market matured, so did 3Com's balance sheet. It grew to be the world's second largest provider of computer networking products. In 1995, in one of the first moves of its kind, the company bought the naming rights to San Francisco's Candlestick Park Stadium for $900,000 a year, a declaration that 3Com was here to stay.
But just a few years later, thanks to a slew of unfruitful mergers, acquisitions, and expansions, 3Com was bleeding cash and so were its shareholders. What followed were budget cuts, product culling, and massive layoffs as the company attempted to reorganize and restore profitability. I've been in the IS business for 30 years, and these are some of the most exciting times I've seen to date.
There's no doubt in my mind that the deployment of these new technologies available to us today are the catalyst in this new era of global information delivery. The road to recovery was long and hard, and many at 3Com were losing faith. New products were introduced, but the missteps and missed opportunities were adding up. However, one particular public investor remained bullish, and he had his own ideas on how to boost the company's value.
On May 23, 2005, Stephen Yachman, the chief investment officer at Yachman Asset Management Company in Barrington Hills, Illinois, received a letter in the mail at his office. The address was handwritten, but the contents were typed, postmarked in Chicago. It began, quote, You will help. After all, it is so easy to kill somebody. It is almost scary. Just think it could be as simple as mailing a package, just like the Unabomber used to do.
The grammar was sloppy. Unproper punctuation was almost non-existent. Not to mention the incorrect attribution of the DC sniper to someone named Salvo instead of the actual killer, Lee Boyd Malvo. Regardless, the message was loud and clear. This was a threat.
If that much wasn't apparent from the first paragraph, the rest of the letter spelled it out. "Possibly the worst thing that can happen to somebody is to have a child or grandchild go missing. Kids are snatched all the time." "Now back to the subject at hand," the letter continued. "I need for you to start buying stock in 3Com Corporation. You have until October 31st to get the price to $6.66. If you can accomplish it sooner, all the better.
That way, you will not have to worry about hearing from us again. But it must be done by then. No excuses. And don't even think about going to the authorities. Because as I said, there are so many choices for me to be able to reach out and touch your life that it is not worth the risk. Signed, The Bishop Stephen Yachman was alarmed. He had no intention of pumping three comms stock price to $6.66.
Even if he wanted to, his investment firm did not possess the capital required to almost double the company's current share price. Instead, he alerted the authorities who, with nothing more than a letter to read, did not uncover any leads as to who this bishop could be. On October 25th, 2005, six days before the given deadline, a follow-up note arrived at Yachman Asset Management. This time there was a photograph of Steven Yachman's house included. "Do you know who lives here?" the letter read.
Within days, Steven Yachman purchased and installed security cameras at his children's school, and he hired a private investigator to look out for his family.
But he wasn't the only one concerned. Executives at two other investment firms had received similar letters from the Bishop, Freese Associates in Delaware, and Broadview Advisors in Wisconsin. The same demands and threats were given: 3Com stock to 666 by Halloween. But Halloween came and went, and the value of 3Com stock continued to stagnate between $3 and $4 per share.
The investment firms had failed their assignment, but there was no immediate response from their ill-intentioned guide. But the bishop would reappear in the new year with new demands, new targets, and a new axe to grind. This time, a company called Navarre Corporation was the apple of his eye.
Welcome to the future. It's called Navarre Corporation, national distributor of sounds for the soul and food for the mind. As the only national distributor of pre-recorded music, personal computer software, and CD-ROM, we are uniquely positioned for what's happening as well as what's about to happen.
The Navarre Corporation, based in New Hope, Minnesota, specialized in interactive content like educational DVDs and CD-ROMs. The market for such products never exploded as the company's founders had projected. The business was fizzling out, the stock price declining, and apparently the bishop was underwhelmed. On March 13th, 2006, the chief executive officer of Navarre Corporation received a letter,
In addition to complaints about the executive's salary, this letter rehashed the same threatening diatribe about the Unabomber and Salvo and how easy it was to kill somebody before finally getting to the point. "By now you are wondering what I'm expecting from you. Well, it's rather simple actually. Within the next 60 days, you're going to find a way to reverse the downward spiral of the stock price and get it over $6.66.
Or the devil will be paying you a visit. I do not care if you have to buy all the shares yourself. The letter read, it would do wonders for the stock price if there were a rumor that you were thinking of taking the company private. It sure would fuck with all those asshole short sellers. Or, if you have to, you could suck off a couple of mutual fund managers in order to get them to buy this stock. I really don't care, but whatever you do, the price had better reverse in a hurry.
On the same day, three more letters demanding a rally in the stock price of Navarre were sent to investment company executives in Omaha, Nebraska, Madison, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Again, all of the information on the envelopes was handwritten, and in some cases the return addresses belonged to family members of the recipients to ensure the message had been received.
And again, the 60-day deadline passed with no meaningful attempt to satisfy the deranged author's delusional demands. The bishop was losing his patience. "Time's up. Let's make this interesting, shall we? I have acquired three targets. One is a relative, one is a co-worker's relative, and one is a friend or neighbor."
On June 9th, 2006, the investment firms received another letter from the bishop sent from Palatine, Illinois that included more specific threats than usual. If from June 13th through June 17th, Navarre's closing stock price is green, meaning it has increased, on one of the four days, I will ship all three packages, he wrote. If it ends green on two of the days, I will ship two packages. If it ends green on three of the days, I will ship just one.
The bishop. This guy was bluffing.
The bishop had also sent correspondence to a portfolio manager in Los Angeles and another in Cincinnati that same month regarding Navarre. He'd already moved the goalpost again. "You have until July 4th to get the price to $6.66," the letters read. The bishop must have spent that independence day so disappointed. The price never moved. Two weeks later, he sent more letters to investment firms in Naperville, Illinois, Columbus, Ohio, and Houston, Texas.
Oddly enough, the envelopes were postmarked in Orlando, Florida. The sunny weather must have inspired the bishop to put a new spin on an old classic. "You will help," he wrote. After all, it is so easy to hurt somebody, it is almost scary. Just think, it could be as simple as mailing a package, just like the Unabomber used to do. Simply mail out a package and when the unsuspecting recipient opens it, they don't even know what hit them.
and all the information is available with a simple web search for bomb making. Or one of my favorites is the Anarchist Handbook, complete with step-by-step instructions. In addition to mistitled book recommendations, the bishop again wrote about the DC sniper and even used the correct name this time. He also included ominous scenarios in his description of how easy it was to hurt somebody. But the main focus of the letters was the Navarre Corporation,
Now it is our turn to stick it to them assholes.
NAVR to the moon, essentially. The bishop was fed up with the short sellers ruining his investments. Parasites of the stock market, he called them. The bishop was trying to orchestrate a squeeze. 12 million of Navarre's 30 million shares had been shorted. If the stock price were to rise, the little guy would win, and the hedge funds would lose a lot of money.
Another missed deadline. Another empty threat. The year 2006 ended without another word from the serial letter writer. But in early 2007, the Bishop's campaign of terror would resume, dramatically.
On January 31st, a mail clerk at American Century Investments in Kansas City opened a white cardboard package addressed to an officer of the firm. Inside was a piece of PVC pipe filled with gunpowder and buckshot. Unconnected wires were poking out, but there was no power source, switch, or other ignition systems. The bomb was not designed to kill. There was also a menacing note enclosed. "Bang! You're dead. Stop and think about that for a second."
Think about the effect it would have on your family. The only reason you are still alive is because I don't attach one wire. If you do not believe me, then go ahead and touch that red wire to the top of the battery pack. There is enough gunpowder and steel shot in that tube to kill anyone in a 10-foot radius when it goes off.
Now imagine how you will feel when I mail that same package to one of your family members or neighbors or coworker and yes, I will be sure to connect all the little wires. Now if you decide you want to keep the people around you safe, you will do as I say." On February 7th, 8th, and 9th, the bishop wrote, "There is going to be a rally in the stock price in a company called Navarre.
On the 7th, the closing price will be above $490. On the 8th, the closing price will be above $575. And on the 9th, the closing price will be above $650. This is not a hoax. There's nothing the police or anybody else can do, so do not contact them. Everything that it takes to make these little care packages can be purchased at any Home Depot and Walmart, so there's nothing to be traced.
There are no fingerprints or DNA and nothing to match it to. So be smart and do what I am asking. Although you are not alone, all of you will be punished if you fail. Support for Swindled comes from Rocket Money.
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Postal inspectors and the FBI are investigating whether there might be someone mimicking the Unabomber, sending threats and bombs through the mail. Two package bombs have been sent to financial services companies in the Midwest in recent weeks. The bombs were wired not to explode, but investigators worry that the next one could be. So they're putting investment firms across the country on alert, and they're offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
On February 1st, 2007, the day after the inactive bomb in Kansas City was delivered, another explosive was unboxed at an investment firm in Chicago. It had arrived in a similar box with the same letter. Both packages were sent from the same Chicago suburb. And again, the circuit was incomplete, so it did not explode.
The local bomb squads and ATF did confirm that the devices were technically functional, however, and under the right conditions, something as dull as static electricity or radio waves could have set them off. The improvised explosives were in no way harmless. There was a menace on the loose, a terrorist, frustrated by his target's failures to heed his demands. Although the letters included in the packages were not signed at this time, authorities traced them back to the bishop.
The tone was more impatient and the threats more serious, but the substance remained the same. Who else could be that passionate about the Navarre Corporation? But it was no laughing matter. The bishop had proved his ability. He was one connected wire away from changing someone's life forever. The next recipient might not be so lucky. And Bob, I understand investigators are very concerned about the pattern of these mailings and what that might mean for the bishop's next attempt.
Well, they are. They're worried he's escalating. They're worried the next pipe bomb might be connected and it might go off. He's a complex character. On the one hand, his demands seem nonsensical, but he's proven he can build a real explosive. That's very worrisome, Katie. All right, Bob Orr, thanks very much, Bob. One of the FBI's most powerful weapons against terrorists is the Patriot Act, and now its critics have some fresh ammunition. The Justice Department... The Postal Service and law enforcement did their best to reassure the public that the male was safe.
and an all-out investigation was launched. A $100,000 reward was offered for any information that led to an arrest, because initially, one of the only pieces of evidence authorities had at their disposal was a useless sketch drawn from the memory of a postal clerk. Experience suggested that that wouldn't be enough. It took 18 years to track down the Unabomber, which only happened after Ted Kaczynski's brother recognized his writings and turned them in.
Without a significant tip like that, it could take years to find the Bishop, unless he made some unforeseen mistakes. Time would tell. Although not incredibly significant, security analysts had discovered the origin of the bomber's name. The Bishop came from Arthur Bishop, a character portrayed by Charles Bronson in the 1972 movie called The Mechanic.
In the film, Arthur Bishop is an assassin who uses bombs to kill others and leaves notes at the scene. The final line of dialogue might ring a bell. "Steve, if you read this, it means I didn't make it back. It also means you've broken a filament controlling a 13 second delay trigger. End of game. Bang, you're dead."
Another piece of evidence was the photograph of Steven Yachman's house that was sent to Steven Yachman in one of the bishop's first acts of terrorism back in October 2005. The photo was not framed well. Detectives noticed that the upholstery of a vehicle was visible on the edges of the image. Someone had snapped it from the inside of their car. What kind of car? Someone at the General Motors company might know, a postal inspector suggested.
In an amazingly short time, GM came back with three vehicles. Philip Steele, a postal inspector in Chicago, told the Muscatine Journal, "The lines they saw were pleats in the fabric, and based on these pleats, they were able to determine a three-year window of when that fabric would have been used." The 1993 Chevrolet Lumina was a perfect match.
But the real break in the case came from analyzing trading records. More than 100 postal inspectors have been digging through them for months. They were thrilled with what they had found. When someone's life is in jeopardy, everything else is set aside. And our office alone in Chicago put 100 postal inspectors working on this full time. Large options position reports were obtained from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, listing individuals with positions of at least 200 options contracts.
Options grant its holder the right, but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price on or before a specific date. For example, if someone, for whatever reason, had a hunch that the cost of Navarre Corporation stock would increase in the near future, it would be financially beneficial for that person to buy call options. Simply put, options are gambling on the rise and fall of stocks. You don't even have to own the shares in question to play.
And according to those large options position reports, from late 2005 to early 2007, only four entities were betting on both 3Com and Navarre. Three of those entities were investment firms. The only individual, non-institutional investor account on the list belonged to John Patrick Tompkins of Dubuque, Iowa. The bishop had been revealed. Authorities obtained John Tompkins' trading records from the online brokerage firms TD Ameritrade and Scottrade.
They compared Tompkins' trading activity with the Bishop's letters. In 2005, the few months before the Bishop was demanding the increase of 3Com's stock price to $666, John Tompkins had purchased 1,000 options contracts for the same stock. Tompkins held no such investment in 3Com before or after, and he liquidated his position when the Bishop's Halloween deadline expired. A similar coincidence existed between Tompkins and the Navarre Corporation in 2006.
shortly before the bishop mailed letters demanding an increase of the price. John Tompkins bought stock and options of Navarre. The market value was worth more than $50,000. Tompkins would have struck it rich had the bishop's demands been met. Furthermore, the handwriting on John Tompkins' mortgage documentation matched the handwriting on the bishop's envelopes. There was a 1993 Chevrolet Lumina registered in his name.
There were also receipts and credit card records for shotgun shells and bomb-making materials, questionable ATM withdrawals, and suspicious whereabouts on specific dates. John Tompkins had a lot to explain. To eliminate any lingering doubt, in mid-April, detectives set up surveillance at Tompkins' house in Dubuque, which, conveniently, was centrally located between every place the bishop had postmarked a bomb or a letter, except for those sent in the summer of 2006 from Orlando, Florida.
Oddly enough, that was the same summer John Tompkins had taken his family to Disney World. Federal agents watched Tompkins for days. They learned his routines and habits. They let him come and go while following not too far behind. The time and place of the impending arrest were important. They couldn't risk spooking the man with the explosives on hand and watching their entire operation go up in flames. Or worse, the agents wanted to catch the bishop by surprise.
On Wednesday, April 25th, 2007, John Patrick Tompkins drove to the manufacturing company where he worked. Just another day at the office, but when he stepped out of his car into the parking lot at 8.03 a.m., he was swarmed by cops and arrested without incident. That same day, coincidentally, the stock market soared to a record high.
It's a chemical that's also used in household products like Drano. Now everyone is being told, don't drink the water, and as they flush the system, and that probably won't, there'll probably be no more tap water here until sometime tomorrow. All right, Ron Allen on the situation at Spencer Mass tonight. Thank you for that. In Iowa tonight, a man who federal authorities say calls himself the
The bishop is under arrest charged with sending dud pipe bombs and threatening letters to investment companies in the Midwest in an attempt to drive up stock prices. John Patrick Tompkins did not fit the FBI's criminal profile of a serial bomber. He wasn't a loner or a social outcast. John was a seemingly ordinary middle-aged married father of three with no criminal record.
He was passionate about the Iowa Hawkeyes and stock car racing. He enjoyed bowling and playing basketball with his kids. For work, John Tompkins was a machinist at a machine shop that manufactured custom components for agricultural and construction machinery. He was a union worker, blue collar, a proud Midwestern, married to his high school sweetheart for 25 years. John was also a former part-time postal worker.
In fact, one of Tompkins' co-workers at the postal service was injured by a bomb constructed by Luke Helder during his early 2000s smiley face spree. Perhaps John Tompkins had been taking notes. "He is a good husband," his wife told the media. "He is very loving, very caring toward the kids." She said that John worked multiple jobs, sometimes six days a week, so that she could stay home with their three daughters.
Perhaps John Tompkins had grown frustrated that even that wasn't enough. Investigators say the Bishop's threats amounted to a failed extortion scheme. He demanded that brokerage houses deliberately drive up prices of two technology stocks, 3Com Corporation and Navarre. Or as one letter warned, all of you will be punished if you fail.
Perhaps not. The search of the Bishop's home turned up nothing. No bomb-making materials or typewriters. Not even a single copy of Charles Bronson's The Mechanic on DVD. But Tompkins' storage units a mile down the road were a different story.
There, investigators found an arsenal of PVC pipes and end caps, jars of explosive powders, multiple batteries and igniters. There were even two explosives already completely assembled, one of which was sealed in a familiar white cardboard box, ready to ship. The search also uncovered copies of the threatening letters the bishop had authored. He had designed multiple drafts and revisions, continuous tolling and retolling to elicit the most grief.
Instead, through his threats, John had exposed himself, his handwriting, his car. The simple bomb maker was hoisted with his own petard.
Postal inspectors also got lucky. The bishop sent a picture of a financial executive's house and one of his mailings taken from inside a car. Car dealers and parts companies said it was a four-door Chevrolet Lumina. It all led to this man, John Tompkins of Dubuque, a one-time rural letter carrier. After analysts found his handwriting matched the packages, he was arrested this morning. And what kind of car did he drive? This 1993 Chevrolet Lumina towed away today for evidence.
And when nightly news continues here after a break this Wednesday night, a new study tonight about the relationship between doctors and drug companies. Are your prescriptions always about the best medicine? And later, dancing with the president. What got the first couple going at the White House today? On September 18th, 2007, a special federal grand jury returned a 15 count indictment against John Patrick Tompkins.
He was charged with 10 counts of mailing a threatening communication with the intent to commit extortion, 2 counts of possession of an unregistered destructive device, and 1 count of using such a device while committing a violent crime. Tompkins was held without bail at a Chicago federal prison. He used the time to plot his legal strategy.
On July 21, 2010, John Tompkins told the court that he would plead guilty to the 12 lesser charges if the prosecutors would agree to drop the most serious charge, which carried a minimum sentence of 30 years. He was denied. In response, Tompkins told the court, "...if they insist on a trial, a trial they'll have. It's going to be lengthy. I'm going to defend myself to the best of my ability."
He wasn't lying. John Tompkins forced numerous delays with pre-trial litigation. He challenged the government's witnesses, unsuccessfully sought a change of venue, and hired and fired at least four different attorneys. In a defense filing, Tompkins' newest lawyer tried to explain his client's manic behavior. It all stemmed from alcohol abuse in John's teenage years and a severe head injury suffered in a deliberate car crash in 1992.
Eight years later, Tompkins' nephew committed suicide, his lawyer wrote, and John had been traumatized ever since. The psychiatrist had diagnosed Tompkins with bipolar disorder and PTSD. That lawyer was eventually fired too, and on April 23, 2012, five years after his arrest, John Tompkins' trial finally began in a Chicago courtroom. John Tompkins defended himself.
"I've got to take this tie off," he told the jurors. "That's not me. I'm a machinist. I build things, and I know what I built." Tompkins took the stand and pleaded guilty to all of the charges but one. He admitted that he sent the letters and built the bombs in a money-making scheme. John said he had been reading the Wall Street Journal and making investments, trying to secure a future for his children, and he had made those threats to make that nest egg grow faster.
But John claimed he was not guilty of committing a violent crime, because the bombs were rigged not to explode. "The whole criminal episode has been horrific," Tompkins told the jury in his closing argument, which he delivered in third person. "You do not have to like Mr. Tompkins. He screwed up. Did he threaten and terrorize people? Yes. Was it wrong? Yes. But he has taken responsibility for what he did, or at least he is trying to."
I put it down on paper and mailed it, and I'm terribly sorry about that," he said. "It's a terrifying world out there if you let it get to you. I let it get to me." The witnesses that testified against John Tompkins agreed that it was a terrifying world, especially when you receive bombs in the mail, even if they don't explode. Prosecutors described that near-avoidance of catastrophe as dumb luck. Experts insisted that what Tompkins shipped could have easily detonated
Government attorneys showed pieces of the bombs to the jury to prove that they were real. On May 4th, 2012, after two hours of deliberation, a jury found John Patrick Tompkins guilty of nine counts of extortion and three counts related to the pipe bombs, including one count of building, possessing, and delivering a destructive device while committing a violent crime. We are satisfied with the jury's swift verdict in this case, U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Pope told the media.
It is a reflection of the overwhelming evidence that was presented in this case, and more importantly, it is a testament to the hard work done by the U.S. Postal Inspectors in this case, the ATF agents, the FBI agents, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. On April 20, 2013, the day after the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was found hiding in a boat,
John Tompkins appeared in court for his sentencing hearing. He apologized for his actions and broke down in tears while speaking to his children. He told them he was sorry for, quote, failing as a father. John Tompkins was sentenced to 37 years in federal prison. Tompkins took these terrifying and secretive actions because he was greedy, U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro told the court, because he did not like the financial and life situation in which he had found himself.
To remedy those perceived problems, he decided to terrorize people to get what he wanted. He was indifferent to whether he killed people in the process. For those horrific choices that he repeatedly made over the course of two years, Tompkins received the lengthy sentence imposed today. John Patrick Tompkins remains in custody at a medium security facility in Illinois. He is scheduled for release in 2038. He will be 73 years old.
Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with original music by Trevor Howard, a.k.a. The Former, a.k.a. The Mechanic.
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