Lets see who stops posting-G-
Investment house mail-bomb suspect arrested
By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 25, 2007, 8:06 AM CDT
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Federal authorities early today arrested a local man believed to be "The Bishop," an elusive mail-bomb suspect who has spent the past two years making threats against investment firms across the United States.
An investigation led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had intensified after the suspect mailed a pair of explosive packages to firms in Denver and Kansas City in late January. The Denver package was rerouted to an office of a Chicago affiliate, Perkins, Wolf, McDonnell & Co., at 311 S. Wacker Drive.
Both of the explosives were sent from suburban Streamwood.
Officials in Chicago were expecting to announce charges in the case later today.
Investigators said evidence had surfaced in recent weeks that allowed them to trace the mailings back to the man arrested today. He was taken into custody without incident in Dubuque, a riverside city that sits on the Iowa-Illinois border, and searches of his home and another site were under way.
The suspect in custody was identified by authorities as a tradesman. Investigators said they believe his motivation was that he had invested in some of the stocks he mentioned in his letters. The Bishop's 15 communications have included odd demands that the prices of various stocks be set at certain levels.
Some of his mailings had been sent from Wisconsin, and four were mailed from Des Moines, Iowa, on March 13, 2006.
Many of them had included religious references and demands that stock prices be set at $6.66. He had warned: "It is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."
His bizarre writings and tendency to mail packages in waves had alarmed authorities after he moved into sending explosives. While functional, neither device was set to go off.
Still, the change in The Bishop's tactics had set off a massive hunt for him that included the FBI and the Illinois State Police. "It is so simple to kill somebody it is almost scary," The Bishop once warned.
The mailed devices used common gunpowder mixed with buckshot to create shrapnel, and the material was placed inside plastic white piping.
Investigators were piecing together the history of the man in custody. He has no criminal record, they said, and is married with children.
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