LONGMONT, Colo.—A man accused of keeping explosive chemicals in his home also had at least seven handguns, ammunition and magazines from an animal rights organization that the FBI considers to be a terrorist group, police said.
Ronald Swerlein, 50, was arrested last weekend on suspicion of possessing and making explosives. He told police he was developing fuel for model rockets.
Police Sgt. Tim Lewis said investigators have found no indication Swerlein intended to attack anyone or that he was working with anyone else.
“I have found no targets, no specific intent to harm anyone or anything with his activity,” Lewis told the Longmont Times-Call in Thursday’s editions.
“He wasn’t interacting with anyone else to show them his explosives,” Lewis said. “He was doing them on his own.”
Swerlein is free on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court on Friday.
Swerlein is a retired electrical engineer who worked for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent and has nine patents registered in his name. He retired after he was injured in a head-on collision in 2004.
Swerlein was arrested Sunday after the initial police search of his home. A second search on Tuesday turned up four magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, Lewis said. The magazines described arsons and the use of explosives claimed by the group, a search warrant affidavit said.
The FBI’s top terrorism officer has described ALF as a terrorist group that uses criminal violence against the fur industry, restaurants and animal research labs. On its Web site, ALF says it works to reduce animal suffering and that its actions “may be against the law.”
Swerlein has a right to have the ALF publications but police will include them as part of their investigation, Lewis said.
Police first searched Swerlein’s home on June 15 after a neighbor reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier. He was arrested on Sunday after police confirmed the nature of chemicals found in the house.
Police said the 400 chemicals they found included homemade nitroglycerin and MEKP, a volatile chemical that had been stabilized and hidden in the basement.
Officers said they also found model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets, books on homemade explosives, expensive chemistry glassware, a handwritten “to-do” list and warning note, flare guns, a Taser weapon and three metal grenade shells.
Police would not discuss the contents of the list or the note.
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Information from: Daily Times-Call,
