US nabs man who sought al-Qaeda cash to hit energy sites: report

New York (Platts)--13Feb2006

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has in its custody a Pennsylvania
man the agency says tried to conspire with al-Qaeda to blow up US oil and gas
installations, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
     In a story appearing in its Sunday edition, The Inquirer said the FBI
believes that an unemployed man from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Michael
Curtis Reynolds, tried to conspire with al-Qaeda to blow up the Trans-Alaska
Pipeline, a Pennsylvania natural gas pipeline, and energy facilities in New
Jersey and Wyoming.
     The newspaper said the allegations were disclosed in a federal transcript
it obtained, and that the allegations "reveal a convoluted plot that includes
cyberspace intrigue, an elaborate FBI sting, and a clandestine money-drop on a
deserted Idaho road."
     Reynolds has not been publicly charged with terrorism, according to the
report. Reynolds, a US citizen, has been held without bail since Dec 5 on
unrelated weapons charges. The Inquirer said that Reynolds' lawyer, Philip
Gelso, declined to comment on the matter, and that a spokeswoman for the US
Attorney's Office also declined comment on the investigation. But the
newspaper quoted Reynolds' former father-in-law as describing him as a "John
Wayne wanna-be." The newspaper said Reynolds has "a string of bad debts and
criminal convictions--including one for attempted arson."
     In the FBI sting two months ago, Reynolds was drawn to a meeting with a
purported al-Qaeda operative about 25 miles from a hotel in Idaho, "where he
expected to receive $40,000 to finance the alleged plot." The al-Qaeda contact
was actually a judge from Montana who was working for the FBI. The
Inquirer story said that on the day he was arrested, Reynolds' net worth was
$24.85.
     The newspaper, citing the government document, said Reynolds tried to
disavow any intent to conspire with al-Qaeda when he was questioned by FBI
agents, but that he intended to expose an al-Qaeda cell inside the US.
     According to The Inquirer report, federal authorities said Reynolds'
letters, computer drawings and e-mails "spelled out his plot to detonate
trucks filled with propane along the Alaskan pipeline.... He also allegedly
planned to blow up sections of the Transcontinental Pipeline, a natural gas
pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast, through Pennsylvania, to New Jersey
and New York City." The article also says he targeted a facility owned by
Williams in Opal, Wyoming, and a Chevron asphalt plant in Perth Amboy, New
Jersey.

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