A Colorado man is free on $50,000 bond after a police search of his house discovered a cache of weapons, explosives and volatile chemicals.
Ronald Swerlein of Longmont, CO, attracted the attention of his neighbors by setting off explosions in his garage. Police had been seeking tips after several small homemade explosives were found in a local parking lot nearly three weeks ago.
A police search of the Swerlein home turned up hundreds of volatile chemicals and other weapons, as well as books about bomb-making and revenge.
Swerlein says he's been experimenting with various chemicals to use as rocket fuel.
According to reports from Colorado, police confiscated nitroglycerin, ammonium nitrate, PETN, thermite, and sodium azide, none of which are used as rocket fuels. They also discovered laboratory-grade glassware worth thousands of dollars.
Ammonium nitrate is the basic ingredient in so-called fertilizer bombs; PETN is an ingredient in plastic explosives; sodium azide produces a toxic gas when it comes into contact with metal; and nitroglycerin is a well-known (and extremely unstable) liquid explosive. Thermite, as most 9/11 researchers know, can be used to cut steel and may have been involved in the demolition of the three World Trade Center buildings which disintegrated on September 11, 2001.
Longmont Police Sgt. Tim Lewis said the police had seized "cartloads of weapons ... more than I have ever seen in our armory."
Despite the size of the cache and the volatility of the chemicals involved, Sgt. Lewis told reporters that Swerlein had not created enough chemical explosives “for a terrorist action,” although he did have enough to damage his home and others in his neighborhood.
Sgt. Lewis also said, "This investigation is still in its infancy. We're still trying to determine what his intent was."
Considering that the perpetrators of the most extravagant terrorist attack ever committed on American soil were allegedly armed only with box-cutters, it is incomprehensible that a cache of weapons and explosives larger than the Longmont police have in their armory could be described as insufficient for a terrorist action.
How much nitroglycerin does one need to commit an act of terrorism? Or does that depend on one's religion or the color of one's skin?
And why has this case attracted so little national attention? Or does that depend on religion and skin color, too?
Police have cleaned out all the explosives, weapons, ammunition,
volatile chemicals, and much else from the home of Ronald Swerlein, and
now the 50-year-old former electrical engineer, who is currently free
on $50,000 bond, will return to his home in Longmont, Colorado. But the
police don't want people to be afraid, so they're having a public
meeting -- which will almost certainly be finished by the time you read
this -- just to assure everyone it's quite safe to let Swerlein stay in
his house until he gets his day in court.
Really. There's nothing to worry about. The police detonated his nitroglycerin
in his driveway last Saturday evening (and they evacuated the
neighborhood first, so you know they care about the people's safety!),
and everything else they confiscated was stable enough for them to take
with them, so there's no need for concern. Seriously. Would I lie to
you? Would they?
Listen, they even itemized what they took out of the house:
Along
with about 400 different chemicals and books on homemade explosives,
police also took three metal grenade shells, 15 boxes of military fuel
shells, a Glock 22 handgun, multiple flare guns, multiple stun guns, a
Taser and cartridges, a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, a five-shot
revolver, a 9-mm semiautomatic, a .40-caliber Glock, a .38-caliber
revolver, a Colt .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol, several other guns,
and boxes of ammunition for the guns.
...
Police spent the weekend searching Swerlein’s home at 2404 Sunset Drive
after a neighbor reported hearing explosions at his house June 12.
Investigators returned to the house Tuesday night for a second search,
which yielded more weapons and chemicals.
Neighbors heard and
felt explosions and saw smoke rising from Swerlein’s backyard or
billowing from his garage shortly afterward in recent months, police
said.
...
Pierrette Shields again, with Rachel Carter this time, in the same June 21 The Daily Times-Call:
Police
will meet tonight with neighbors of the man suspected of mixing
explosives in his house and hoarding a huge cache of chemicals, weapons
and bomb-making literature.
Some of Ronald Swerlein’s neighbors
are concerned about their children’s safety and have asked about the
possibility of booby traps in the neighborhood or nearby park, Longmont
Police Sgt. Tim Lewis said.
There is no danger, Lewis said, but
he and Police Chief Mike Butler wants to meet with residents to field
questions and address concerns.
Should be a grand time. I wish I could be there. I'll keep my eyes open for reports.
Speaking
of reports: this story still has not made a single dent in any national
media, and the only coverage it is getting outside of Colorado has come
from a short UPI item which was carried in the Republic of Georgia but not in the State of Georgia.
Writings 
A Colorado man is free on $50,000 bond after a police search of his house 
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