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Vandal's Chemical Stash Discovered

A man accused of vandalizing Wisconsin power stations was charged Monday with storing deadly powdered cyanide in an underground passage that is part of Chicago's mass transit system.

Joseph Konopka allegedly took over a Chicago Transit Authority storage room under the downtown district and stored sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide there. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said he claimed to be the leader of a Wisconsin group of vandals known as the "Realm of Chaos."

Konopka, 25, formerly of De Pere, Wis., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward A. Bobrick on Monday night and was ordered held pending a hearing Wednesday. He was charged with possession of a chemical weapon.

Konopka was said to be unemployed and had been living in the subway under the downtown district for several weeks. In Chicago's downtown Loop district, four CTA train lines are elevated and two others run underground.

Officials told reporters after the Monday night hearing that they didn't want to speculate on why Konopka had the chemicals.

"I'm not a psychologist," Chicago police Superintendent Terry Hillard told a news conference. He said that the chemicals had posed "no immediate danger" to riders on the CTA's Blue Line, which was closed down for several hours while police and agents looked for the passage.

Asked how Konopka had been able to enter various locked rooms and buildings, Hillard said: "He is a burglar by trade. He is someone who has the equipment and skills and expertise to get into those locations."

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald sought to assure subway riders that they had nothing to fear.

"It is a serious situation, but we don't want to blow it out of proportion so that people are afraid to ride the subway," he said.

An FBI affidavit filed in federal court said University of Illinois-Chicago police arrested Konopka and a juvenile Saturday night on suspicion of trespassing. They were found in a steam tunnel under the UIC Education Building, according to the FBI.

Konopka was arrested by university police who had staked out the steam tunnel after a rash of burglaries on campus in recent weeks.

When he was arrested, Konopka was carrying a vial containing sodium cynanide-sodium carbonate, the FBI said.

The juvenile told FBI agents that Konopka had taken over an area within a CTA underground passageway to store chemicals, the FBI said.

Konopka was interviewed Saturday night and admitted he had keys to various CTA substations, the FBI said. It quoted Konopka as saying he had been taking photos of various CTA underground tunnels and posting them on the Internet.

Konopka also admitted stealing two laptop computers from Ameritech, the FBI said.

Bomb technicians from the FBI and Chicago police were able to find the locked room that provided access to an underground CTA passageway where Konopka allegedly stored chemicals, the FBI said.

The passageway was under Dearborn Street, a block from the federal courthouse where Konopka's hearing was held Monday.

Among other things, potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide were discovered in the passageway. The FBI said the chemicals could kill people if ingested or converted to gas.

The FBI said Konopka was wanted on charges of fleeing to avoid prosecution in Wisconsin after failing to appear on charges in Door County alleging vandalism against utility systems.

Konopka was questioned again on Sunday and said that beginning in the spring of 1997 he was involved in various acts of property damage to utilities, cellular telephone facilities, sewers, power stations and water utility facilities, the FBI said.

"During his interview, Konopka also stated that he led a group of associates in Wisconsin known as the `Realm of Chaos,' the purpose of which was to take personal entertainment out of observing the consequences of the property damage," the FBI said.

It quoted him as saying that on several occasions he threw barbed wire across feeder arrays at electrical power distribution substations.

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