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ALBANY — Before 9/11, information that young men were making large homemade firecrackers might have resulted in a knock on their door and a clunk on the head from a town cop telling them to cut it out.
But since Sept. 11, 2001, things have changed drastically, and a refocused FBI was never more evident than in a recent counterterrorism case that ensnared three Capital Region men on charges of making and trafficking in "destructive devices."
The investigation broke open on Dec. 5 when the men were arrested in a federal anti-terrorism task force raid of several homes in Watervliet and Troy. Police seized mail-order chemicals and materials used to make explosives, cannon fuses, rifles, BBs, a computer and a small amount of marijuana.
News coverage trumpeted the arrests, and at least one local television station reported the suspects had been charged with "terrorist acts," which was false.
The three-month investigation was headed by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Albany. Its intensive probe of the bomb-making tip appeared to cut no corners, using several agents for surveillance, telephone wiretaps and a carefully planned strategy to see how far the group would go.
Still, there are no terrorism allegations and no proof the suspects — Aaron A. Scorsone, Jonathan D. Plunkett and Scott A. Monroe, all in their 20s — intended to harm anyone, destroy property or attack the government.
For its part, the FBI contends it may be criticized for proactive investigations that involve informants nudging suspects to engage in crimes, but agents would be faulted if they ignored a lead and someone ended up dead or injured or the participants were later tied to terrorist acts.
"It is the FBI's obligation to investigate any potential act of terrorism in a timely fashion. Whether it is al-Qaeda or individuals with potential domestic terrorism intentions, the citizens of our country demand that the FBI dedicate the appropriate resources to address terrorism matters," Special Agent Paul Holstein, chief division counsel in the FBI's Albany office, said in a prepared statement. "In this particular investigation, the NYPD Intelligence Division obtained information from a cooperating witness that individuals were looking to sell bombs in exchange for money. ... This was a proactive investigation in which the threat was neutralized before an incident could occur."
Before their arrests, Plunkett had two misdemeanor convictions for driving while ability impaired while Monroe and Scorsone had clean criminal histories, records show.
According to a federal complaint, Monroe told investigators that last summer he lost his job and "to ease his boredom" he began exploring how to make home-made explosive devices.
"Monroe downloaded bomb recipes from the Internet and ordered the bomb-making chemicals," the complaint states. He sold some of the devices to his buddies, they occasionally smoked pot, and they liked to shoot rifles, according to federal prosecutors.
There are no indications the men were on a path to become the next Timothy McVeigh, a ringleader in the Oklahoma City bombing. Their attorneys cast them as having a fascination with guns — legal rifles — and as young men who simply liked to build large firecrackers and blow them up in fields.
The FBI turned its attention to the group in September on a tip from a New York Police Department, which had an informant, it turned out, who was a former schoolmate of Plunkett's at Hudson Valley Community College and who knew the men allegedly were willing to make and sell explosive devices.
The devices, according to defense attorneys in the case, were a little larger than an M-80, a powerful firecracker that has been sold in the United States for decades, even if illegally.
Over the past several months, the informant began buying explosives from the group for $10 each, records show. It's unclear whether the suspects knew what the informant would do with the devices. But the sting grew more serious in October when records show the informant asked Plunkett if they could add "fragmentation" to the devices.
Plunkett apparently had never done that before, but he went to a local pharmacy and purchased glue that he used to stick BBs on the devices, which have fuses and cardboard exteriors. The addition of the fragments elevated the seriousness of the charges under federal law. Now, rather than the worst-case prospect of under two years behind bars, the three men could face more than eight years in prison if convicted on the top counts of manufacturing and trafficking destructive devices.
Another idea by the FBI also added fuel to the case when, on Dec. 4, the day before the arrests, the informant met Scorsone in a K-mart parking lot in Latham and allegedly gave him an AR-15 assault rifle in exchange for 50 explosive devices. Scorsone, a gun enthusiast, was "very excited" by the prospect of obtaining the gun, according to the complaint.
At a recent detention hearing, when a judge released the men on bond, their attorneys seized on the actions of the government informant, suggesting that the bombs became more dangerous and an illegal machine gun was made part of the deals largely because of the FBI's actions.
In court two weeks ago, Scorsone's attorney, Gene V. Primomo, questioned whether the three-month investigation was worth the result.
"I think it's prudent police work to utilize confidential informants ... in an attempt to catch sharks," Primomo told U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Homer on Dec. 9. "What we have, your honor, are minnows. These devices are homemade fireworks."
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