FBI: Tyngsboro Incendiary Devices Suspect Left Note Threatening Attacks
BOSTON (CBS) -- The man arrested Saturday in connection to incendiary devices that were found on power lines in Tyngsboro left a note threatening more attacks on infrastructure and railing against the government, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent Monday.
Police say Dan Kelly, 61, of Chelmsford, placed the devices and authored the note. He was arrested Saturday morning, and faces a charge of attempting to destroy property used in interstate and foreign commerce by fire.
The note, which FBI Special Agent Scott McGaunn said was found on a pole at the scene of a brush fire in Tyngsboro where several incendiary devices were found hanging from power lines last Thursday, claims responsibility for the devices and attempted cutting of the lines. One of the devices is suspected of having caused the brush fire.
The note complains about the Department of Justice and the FBI, calling them "lying, bottom feeding, and corrupt organizations." In it, the writer also threatened to release instructions for making the incendiary devices on the internet "If these bottom feeders bother me at all, or I feel they are out to get me."
The writer also threatens further use of the devices, which they refer to as "cutters," to destroy cable and telephone lines, transportation, and other infrastructure, at one point writing, "say goodbye to gas lines!"
In an interview with FBI agents shortly before his arrest, the affidavit claims Kelly made several statements similar to those made in the note. Those statements included complaints about the courts, the state of the middle class, and wanting to be compensated for "what had been taken from him."
It was noted in the affidavit that Kelly filed several civil suits against the town of Chelmsford over property rights.
The affidavit also claims Kelly purchased chemicals on Ebay from a company in Missouri that were used in building the devices later left on the power lines. The FBI said Kelly claimed in the interview to have bought the chemicals for the purpose of "playing" with them.
Kelly pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges in 2005 for, the affidavit claims, cutting eighteen power lines and threatening to cut more unless he received payment. He was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $378,041 in restitution to Verizon.
"When I was chief in Chelmsford, he cut a lot of communication lines," Jack Parow, Kelly's neighbor and Haverhill fire chief, told WBZ-TV's Paul Burton on Saturday. "We lost all our 9-1-1 system and a lot of telephone lines."
"There may be more of a mental illness rather than someone trying to take the government down," Parow added.
Kelly is due in U.S. District Court in Boston Monday afternoon.
