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The state grand
jury indictment filed in Maricopa County Superior Court charged
Thomas Bastian, 39, and Michelle Bastian, 49, with a scheme that
state prosecutors said was intended to kill the prison warden or
others at the sprawling Arizona State Prison Complex – Lewis.
The indictment, handed down on Tuesday, said the offenses were
alleged to have occurred between May 1 and Oct. 12.
Michelle Bastian was arrested at her workplace last week on
suspicion of terrorism and conspiracy for allegedly smuggling
publications distributed by Islamist militant groups into her
husband’s prison.
The indictment marked the first time Thomas Bastian had been
charged in the suspected plot at the prison where he was serving
a life sentence for first-degree murder. A spokesman said he had
since been moved to another Arizona prison.
According to a probable cause statement filed by the state
Attorney General’s Office, the FBI discovered the bombing plot
in September from a “known source” after earlier learning the
inmate had become a radicalized Muslim.
The device would be intended to kill the warden or be placed in
a prison vending machine in an area where inmates meet with
visitors, authorities said.
An investigation revealed that Michelle Bastian was found to
have provided information requested by her husband from al
Qaeda- and Islamic State-linked publications, according to the
statement filed in court.
Included in the information was a piece on how to build a bomb
out of everyday kitchen materials, records showed.
The publications were located in Bastian’s prison cell along
with a stack of detailed handwritten notes on how to build an
improvised explosive device, according to court documents. It
was unclear if any bomb-making materials were found.
Thomas Bastian was indicted on four counts of terrorism,
conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to commit misconduct
involving weapons and conspiracy to promote prison contraband.
Michelle Bastian also faces an additional charge of promoting
prison contraband.
(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Dan Whitcomb
and Peter Cooney)
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