Chicago – An Iowa man accused of mailing pipe bombs to investment companies and sending threatening letters signed “The Bishop” in hopes of driving up stock prices faces 15 federal securities fraud and explosives charges, officials said Wednesday.
An indictment was returned Tuesday against John P. Tomkins, 42.
The charges replace a criminal complaint filed in April, when the machinist and former mail carrier was arrested in Dubuque, Iowa.
Tomkins’ attorney, federal public defender Rosalie Jane Lindsay, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
According to the indictment, Tomkins bought stock and options in multimedia and home-entertainment company Navarre Corp. and 3Com Corp. It said he intended to sell when his threats prompted the investment companies to drive the shares and options to artificial highs.
But none of the investment companies that received letters complied with the demands, federal officials said.
The indictment said that, in all, Tomkins sent 17 letters and two explosive devices to investment firms that traded in securities markets.
Both parcels sent to investment houses contained pipe bombs whose firing circuits were not fully connected, the indictment said. It said that had the circuits been connected to batteries, the bombs would have exploded and might have killed someone standing nearby.
“The only reason you are still alive is that I did not attach one wire,” the indictment quoted a letter sent with each parcel as saying.
