Christopher Stephens, Threats to Federal Buildings, Texas 2013

"Wichita Falls Man Charged with Threats to Federal Buildings," a 34-year-old man from Wichita Falls, Texas, has been charged with making threats to blow up federal buildings.

Christopher Stephens, who resided at the North Texas State Hospital (NTSH) in Wichita Falls, appeared in federal court on March 5, 2013 and was ordered detained, pending a probable cause and detention hearing.

According to the affidavit filed with the complaint, the Wichita Falls Police Department’s (WFPD) communications center received telephone calls from a caller who identified himself as “Gerald Adams.” In those calls, the caller threatened to blow up the U.S. Courthouse in Dallas. Law enforcement contacted an individual with a similar name who resided at the NTSH; however, it was determined that this individual was not the one who made the telephonic bomb threats.

On March 7, 2013, the WFPD’s communication center received a third bomb threat. During that call, Stephens advised that a bomb had been planted at the U.S. Courthouse in Fort Worth. The operator kept Stephens on the line long enough for WFPD officers to go to NTSH and observe Stephens on the phone speaking with the WFPD. Stephens didn’t deny making the bomb threat.

NTSH provided the officers with letters from Stephens. One letter was addressed to a WFPD officer and one was addressed to the FBI. Both letters provided a detailed description of how Stephens would blow up a federal courthouse, what materials he would use to make the bomb and how it would detonate. Stephens also wrote racial comments in the letter and included Nazi SS symbols.

On March 25, 2013, the FBI Dallas Field Division received a letter, via the U.S. Postal Service, signed by Stephens. That letter read, “I will blow up the Federal Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas.” On April 3, 2013, the WFPD received a mailed bomb threat from Stephens that mirrored the one sent earlier to the FBI, with the exception that the letter depicted three Nazi Swastikas and the words “White Power.”

Stephens is charged with one count of using the mail to willfully make a threat to unlawfully damage or destroy a federal courthouse by means of an explosive. That offense as charged carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, per count.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/wichita-falls-texas-man-charged-federal-complaint-making-threats-blow-federal