According to Arpaio, death threats are part of his job. When a suspicious package addressed to Arpaio was discovered at a mail facility leaking what was identified as explosives, Arpaio said is was probably the Mexican drug cartels. (See my article last April.)
Well, thanks to our friends at the FBI, a suspect has been arrested and charged in the incident. Was he charged with attempted murder? Well no, because the bomb wasn’t actually wired to explode.
The prevailing theory is that Gregory Lynn Shrader mailed the package to Arpaio in order to get someone else in trouble (whose name was on the return address) because of past dispute.
I used to get evacuated for bomb threats all the time—the building where I worked housed a bank, the FBI, the Secret Service, the IRS and two radio stations. 😯
Read more on this story at the Phoenix New Times. And read even more about Sheriff Arpaio at the New Times.
From the article:
“A search warrant was served at Shrader’s place, and the woman who was with Shrader said that she went to Arizona with Shrader for the purpose of mailing a package, and Shrader dropped off that package while wearing surgical gloves, according to the indictment. She also identified the precise drop-off box where Shrader had left the package.”
Apparently the guy thought he made a good bomb, despite it being crap.
In what I recall from news reports, most often bomb squads blow up bombs. If that had happened in this case, and it hadn’t been x-ray scanned, analysis of the parts might not have revealed that the bomb wasn’t properly wired to explode. Also the leaking gunpowder suggests that it was never intended to reach Arpaio. The gloves were to prevent fingerprints being left.
Aha! I hadn’t considered that. I have to admit, I do not know how to think like a criminal.
Well, you’re not alone: I hadn’t read about the case, so my first thought on reading the headline was that someone had flooded his email box with “Buy your Viagra from Canadian pharmacy” and “Help me transfer money out of Uganda” ads.
According to a couple of press reports, Arpaio doesn’t know how to use a computer or email.
Yeah, if it doesn’t involve applying pointer finger polish and scowling cream, he can’t be bothered with learning it.