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Fire the beam weapons! A man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison over his dream of a novel "weapon of mass destruction":
A 52-year-old industrial mechanic who was the first person in the U.S. convicted of trying to produce a weapon of mass destruction under a 2004 law intended to stop terrorists from using radiation-dispersing "dirty bombs" was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
Glendon Scott Crawford, of Galway in upstate New York, planned to kill Muslims because of their religion as well as other people whose political and social beliefs he disagreed with, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said. "This is a classic case of domestic terrorism," Hartunian said after Crawford's sentencing by U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe.
Investigators began tracking Crawford in 2012 after he approached two local Jewish groups with his idea for how they could defeat their enemies using a mobile X-ray weapon. Prosecutors said Crawford also sought support for the device in 2013 from a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard in North Carolina who was an FBI informant.
Also at NBC New York. Here's a story about Glendon Crawford and his friend Eric Feight being charged back in 2013.
The moral of this story? Trust no one and do it yourself.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 19 2017, @01:04AM
The question I have is: did he actually build something lethal, or just have access to components to build something lethal plus the idea to combine them, or was he just shooting his mouth off? In other words: how much of a thought crime was this? Since, I presume, he hasn't actually harmed anyone.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RS3 on Thursday January 19 2017, @03:40AM
You must be from the Olden Times, when there was a horribly dangerous thing called "Freedom of Speech". People said things, sometimes crazy things, and other people just laughed, said things back, or shrugged and went on with their lives. It was a frightful time to be alive.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 19 2017, @01:52PM
Wow, so, now you just have to be a Hollywood script writer to be licensed to tell stories of mass terror attacks. Guy should have at least tried to get a SAG card, might have saved him 30 years in prison.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday January 19 2017, @06:05PM
Yes, and there's more! Once you have that protective SAG card, the FBI will go after anyone you accuse of stealing / pirating your works, even in other countries. That SAG card has far more power than people realize. And with it you can never be held accountable for shouting "FIRE!" in a crowded theater- you will always be able to say "it was in the script" and "I was just doing my job" and you're off the hook, no matter how many people were trampled.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday January 19 2017, @06:21PM
It was in the news a while back. From what I remember, he actually built it in the back of a van.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 19 2017, @08:55PM
Did he at least kill a chihuahua or some other deserving test subject before getting arrested? I mean, it could have been a science experiment to try to talk with aliens and he was just talking about other potential uses for it...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday January 22 2017, @09:36PM
From what I remember, the thing didn't work but since he had tried to kill someone with it, he was charged with attempted murder.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 23 2017, @04:26AM
O.K. - I'll buy attempted terror, kind of like buying a gun you don't know how to use and trying to shoot someone.
🌻🌻 [google.com]