|
|
Bradley T. Kahle, 62, of Clearfield County, stands accused in U.S. District Court in Johnstown of possessing unregistered firearms; namely, the parts to make 16 improvised explosive devices to strike at the government.
Prosecutors said Kahle had empty cans, black powder, and nuts and bolts for shrapnel to create bean-can grenades, an IED.
In the second-floor gun room of his home, Kahle is overheard on government tapes excitedly revealing to undercover state troopers the explosives at his home.
"Whooo-hoo-hoo, here we go!" Kahle said June 6, 2008, as he pulls out one after another of the devices, ranging from about an inch high to nearly 5 inches.
"We're going to make bombs out of every one of these," said Kahle, a member of the Brookville Tigers militia group, anticipating the day government agents came knocking.
"Roll it right out the door at 'em," he said in the tape. He encouraged the troopers - his alleged partners-in-arms - to hit hard in any raid.
"Don't give them a chance to rebound," Kahle said. "Bean-can the ---- out of them."
Defense attorney Blair Hindman cross-examined Trooper William Ray, getting him to say Kahle never made a specific threat against anyone.
Instead, Hindman said, "These guys would sit around and talk about the government collapsing.
"If that time came, they would be armed and ready."
The attorney said Kahle and his handful of buddies were concerned during election year 2008 for their gun rights should Hillary Clinton, primarily, but also Barack Obama become president.
Hindman asked Ray if he would investigate if he overheard someone saying, like the bumper sticker, "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."
"It would be something that would get my attention," Ray replied.
At another point on the tapes, Kahle is heard saying his group is "harmless so far," busy drinking beer, cooking peppers and paying their bills.
Search warrant
Sgt. Dave Hudson, a bomb squad technician for the Erie police, entered Kahle's home in Troutville in June 2008 based on a search warrant signed by federal Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto. Agents for several years had been investigating militia groups through Operation Mountain Lightning.
Suited up in body armor with a Kevlar helmet and face shield, Hudson said he came upon the devices.
"They were not firecrackers. They were improvised explosive devices," Hudson told Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Picking. He said firecrackers are regulated by the government and approved for manufacture.
But under cross-examination by Hindman, Hudson admitted he could not say where the explosive punch of a homemade firecracker ends and that of a bomb begins.
Hindman said the powder rolls ranged in size from about an inch to 4.5 inches in length.
"We could never get him to build one (grenade)," Ray testified. No completed grenade ever was found.
But Kayle - a veteran of the Vietnam War - still could be convicted if he had the materials to quickly assemble an explosive.
Hindman hinted that Kahle could not quickly have built such a device with what was lying around his house.
Prosecution testimony said a starting point for building a grenade is having a bean can with the lid half cut off and with a hole punched in the bottom. Ray testified no such cans were found.
Burn vs. detonate
Picking called to the stand FBI forensic chemist David McCollam, who works at the FBI lab at Quantico, Va. He said he analyzed some of the materials found in the Kahle home and they all contained black powder explosives.
Ray said Kahle had talked at his home of having "M-1000 half sticks," with the firepower of a half-stick of dynamite.
McCollam said his analysis showed the explosives to be low-grade, and that dynamite was a high-grade explosive. High-grade explosives detonate, he said; low-grade explosives burn, or deflagrate, expelling large volumes of gas.
Picking wrapped up her prosecution case Tuesday and Hindman will begin his defense today before U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson.
The four others ensnared in the government militia sting have been convicted.
---
By Bernie Hornick, The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat.
