FBI Found IED Components in Thomas Robertson's Home: Report
By: KlasfeldReports (Law Crime)
I'm sure he was just a peaceful protestor, taking a tour of the capitol, and those devices were for... training purposes...
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Thomas Robertson is seen in the image on the left, via an FBI affidavit. The image on the right depicts a "Main Charge Container and Hobby Fuse - Non-Electric Fuzing System," as labeled in the FBI report as an item allegedly found in his home.
The day after urging a federal judge to keep an ex-police officer behind bars pending trial, federal prosecutors on Thursday revealed the FBI report concluding that components found in the accused U.S. Capitol rioter's home "could be used to readily assemble" an "improvised explosive device."
Thomas Robertson , a 47-year-old former Rocky Mount, Va. police officer, has been released since less than a week after his arrest in January. The discovery of those materials could jeopardize that status for him. Robertson claimed that what prosecutors describe as a "partially-assembled pipe bomb" found in his home in June was actually a "prop for training."
Unsatisfied with the explanation, prosecutors provided U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper with a copy of the FBI's report featuring analysis by the Quantico Laboratory.
Dated Wednesday, the report materials that authorities claim the FBI found when searching Robertson's home less than a month ago on June 29: a powder sample, a metal pipe with two end caps, a fuse and a piece of a fuse.
The Quantico lab's conclusion was categorical.
"It is the opinion of this Explosives and Hazardous Devices Examiner that contained in the submitted items of evidence are components that could be used to readily assemble one (1) improvised explosive device (IED)," the report states.
Robertson's lawyer Mark Rollins argued that authorities glossed over important context—namely, that the materials were found in a box labeled "ALERRT kit, props, and booby trap sims."
Short for "Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training," ALERRT was developed by Texas State University and was subsequently named by the FBI as a standard in active shooter response training. The FBI's website discusses the program in greater detail.
"Furthermore, this partially assembled pipe found inside the box is not a destructive device as this device is used to teach students (Safety) in law enforcement as part of the ALERRT class," his defense memo states. "Mr. Robertson was a level II instructor for ALERRT. This pipe is not active as it is a prop for training."
Robertson was reportedly fired from his job in late January.
The materials in question were allegedly found in his home in June.
Despite the box's markings labeling the contents a "prop," the FBI said that the components could have formed a deadly weapon.
"The resulting explosion from an IED of this type could cause property damage, personal injury and/or death," Christopher Rigopoulos , of Quantico's explosives unit, wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi called that conclusion "highly relevant" to the judge's pending ruling on whether to revoke Robertson's conditions of release.
"Attached is an FBI laboratory report received by the undersigned this morning concluding that the defendant possessed components that could be used to readily assemble an improvised explosive device (IED), despite being ordered not to possess a firearm, destructive device, or other dangerous weapon," Aloi wrote on Thursday.
Robertson appeared enthusiastic about the siege of the U.S. Capitol.
"CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business . . . [t]he right IN ONE DAY took the f***** U.S. Capitol," he is quoted as saying in social media posts, according to the FBI. "Keep poking us."
Robertson's attorney Mark Rollins , from the Washington, D.C.-based firm Rollins & Chan, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Read the FBI report at the seeded source.
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and all those alleged hoods in his dresser were really just defective pillow cases he forgot to return to walmart...
please remember to help keep fascism and white supremacy off the NT front page by commenting and voting up seeds like this one - thank you
You don’t store your gunpowder in sturdy metal pipes?
... with glass shards and carpet tacks, and only after I dremel tool a cross-hatch pattern on the surface.
Did they ever find the person or persons who planted the pipe bombs around the Capitol that day?
No, but I think I saw somewhere that they had a picture of a suspect for that.
With today's forensic science they can determine if the pipe bombs found at both the capitol and his home are the same.
What a surprise, an insurrectionist with the making of pipe bombs.
Nothing say, "Love and Hugs", more than as IED...
Who was this yahoo teaching to make pipe bombs?
the goober cops that failed on the pistol range...
I always use real gunpowder in my training props.
He could have been a loving tourist.