Man arrested in bombing near Colorado NAACP office

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

DENVER (AP) — A man has been arrested in a small explosion last month near the offices of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP, a law enforcement official said Friday.

Thaddeus Murphy is in custody and is due to appear in federal court later in the day, according to the official, who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition anonymity because the information has not been publicly released.

No one was hurt in the explosion adjacent to a wall of Mr. G's Hair Design Studios, a barbershop.

The FBI investigated the blast as a possible hate crime. However, it wasn't immediately clear what Murphy would be charged with or whether authorities believe he was targeting the NAACP office.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/77c050617bc74a6192471a4492807042/man-arrested-bombing-near-colorado-naacp-office

[PoliticAverse]

1. Good.

[Bonx]

2. So it had nothing to do w/ the NAACP

That's good.

[jeff47]

3. We don't know that yet.

The firebomb was place by the back door in a strip-mall-style building. He could have mistakenly chose the wrong door.

[Bonx]

4. Sure we do.

From the OP article: "investigators say the venerable civil rights organization was not the target. Instead, Murphy was in a rage over his financial problems and was targeting his accountant's office, according to court documents filed Friday."

[jeff47]

5. That's his story. Which conveniently makes it not a federal crime.

The problem is he part where he believed the accountant's office was in that building.

If he was having so much trouble getting documents from that accountant, wouldn't he know where the accountant was? And wouldn't he have noticed that this was a barber shop? It's not like his claimed target was the next store over.

[Crabby Appleton]

6. He's charged with 2 Federal crimes nt

[VScott]

8. Constructing and detonating a bomb in a public place (for whatever reason)...

is a federal crime. There's a reason for the 'E' in BATFE.

It also looks like this accountant has a bit of a shady past...

A federal judge on Friday sentenced a Colorado Springs certified public accountant to three years in prison for his guilty plea to inflating deductions for clients so they would get bigger tax returns.

Judge Wiley Y. Daniel imposed the sentence on Steven DeHaven in U.S. District Court in Denver. Daniel also ordered DeHaven, 58, to pay the government $141,951 in tax revenue lost on 84 false tax returns filed from 2003-2006.

DeHaven, a CPA in Colorado since March 1984, has until Oct. 8 to report to a federal prison. His license to practice as a CPA in Colorado was revoked on Dec. 7, 2009.

On June 10, DeHaven pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return by falsely stating a couple’s charitable contributions, business expenses and bad debts.

Read more at http://gazette.com/springs-cpa-gets-3-years-in-prison-for-filing-false-tax-returns/article/104109#eegqxP8dG0lDaDLh.99

http://gazette.com/springs-cpa-gets-3-years-in-prison-for-filing-false-tax-returns/article/104109

[Crabby Appleton]

7. Here's a link to the Federal Criminal Complaint

Criminal complaint:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.gazette/Thaddeus%20Murphy%20complaint.pdf

excerpt:

45. On February 19, 2015, Thaddeus Murphy was interviewed by investigating Agents. Murphy was read his Miranda Rights and signed a form consenting to the interview. During the interview, Murphy admitted to conducting the bombing at the building located at 603 S. El Paso Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The interview was recorded and the following is a summary of some of what Murphy stated and is not a verbatim transcript of the interview: An accountant by the name of Steve Dehaven wouldn’t return to him (Murphy) his tax records from 2006 to the present and wouldn’t return his phone calls. Dehaven operated his business out of the building located at 603 South El Paso, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Murphy had to declare bankruptcy and need the records because he had financial issues. Murphy believed Dehaven destroyed his tax records. Murphy admitted to manufacturing a pipe bomb. Murphy believed that he set the pipe bomb outside of Dehavens office on January 6, 2015. Murphy believed that Dehaven and his son intentionally were keeping him (Murphy) from his tax records and were giving him the run around. Murphy stated that he “flipped out” because of his financial problems. Murphy built the pipe bomb as a warning to Steve Dehaven.