Judge: No bond for suspect in bogus-bomb case

[January 13, 2011]  EAST ST. LOUIS (AP) -- An explosives-trained Army veteran accused of strapping a fake bomb to his body during a threat-filled day that ended with a seven-hour standoff must remain in jail until his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Wilkerson sided with prosecutors in denying bond for Roman Otto Conaway. The suspect's attorney asked for his pretrial release, arguing Conaway "was chocked full of a chemical cocktail of (prescription drugs) that were affecting his behavior" on Sept. 21 and since has turned lucid, drug-free and safe while jailed.

Federal agents have alleged the standoff at Conaway's Fairview Heights home in suburban St. Louis followed his telephoned threats to a St. Louis-area mosque in which he pledged to "start an apocalypse" and ignite a war between Christians and Muslims. On his Facebook page, authorities said, Conaway said he would publicly burn a copy of the Quran and invited area television stations to document it.

Prosecutors initially charged Conaway, 50, with threatening President Barack Obama but dropped that count without explanation in an October indictment, which now accuses the man of making a false threat to detonate an explosive device and a related count of influencing a federal agent by threat. In court papers, federal investigators say Conaway admitted calling the mosque but denied threatening Obama.

Conaway, a lanky, bearded man with a shaved head that after his arrest had sported a mullet, showed little reaction to Wilkerson's decision to deny him bond.

Conaway's legal troubles mushroomed on Sept. 21, when investigators allege a caller to the mosque pledged to "start a war between Christians and Muslims," "kill President Obama and other government officials to start a war," end the military conflict in Afghanistan and ensure North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would "have some pain and cry."

"I want to start an apocalypse," FBI Special Agent Richard Box, in a federal affidavit, wrote that the caller proclaimed.

Federal agents notified by the mosque about the threats traced the number to Conaway's home, from where he emerged wearing his fake explosives belt, according to Box.

Warning that he had Army experience with explosives, Conaway threatened to commit suicide and blow up the neighborhood as well as the agents negotiating with him, Box wrote. The neighborhood was evacuated.

Conaway insisted that a bulky, meshy belt he wore and three storage containers on his property were laden with explosives, Box wrote. But investigators say the belt turned out to be carrying harmless material similar to children's molding clay with wires attached to a curling iron Conaway claimed was a triggering device. Only water was found in the storage drums.

Conaway later told investigators the he considered himself "anti-government" and, just hours before he called the mosque, was barred by a judge from having contact with his grandchildren, Box wrote.

"I humbly apologize for my actions," Box quoted Conaway as saying.

In pressing Wednesday that Conaway stay jailed, federal prosecutor Steven Weinhoeft argued that court-ordered psychiatric testing determined Conaway has an "adjustment disorder" that makes him troubled when faced with stress. That affliction may be even more pronounced now that he faces the stress of felony charges, Weinhoeft insisted.

"There is a wide array of threats and dangers this individual represents" if allowed free, Weinhoeft told Wilkerson, noting that "the totality of the circumstances and the magnitude of what he had done" warrant the continued detention.

Conaway's public defender, Phillip Kavanaugh III, countered that specialists at a mental health center where Conaway was taken at his request after his arrest concluded he was in a "drug-induced psychosis" that made him irrational. Jailed since his arrest, Conaway has rid his system of the drugs and been behaved, Kavanaugh said.

"He is one of the more cordial clients I've had for some time," the attorney said, insisting that if released Conaway would try to return to work at Walmart.

Weinhoeft dismissed the psychosis claims, saying Conaway's apology and remorse after his arrest reflected a man who knew right from wrong.

"His mental state certainly was sound," the prosecutor said.

[Associated Press; By JIM SUHR]

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