WHITE PLAINS – A Tappan
man has been charged with manufacturing an explosive device in his Rockland
County home and then planning to detonate it in Washington, D.C. to kill
himself and draw attention to his radical political beliefs.
Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York office, William
Sweeney, Jr., said had Paul Rosenfeld, 56, been successful, he “could
have claimed the lives of innocent bystanders and caused untold destruction.”
On August and September, Rosenfeld sent letters and text messages to an
individual in Pennsylvania stating that he planned to build an explosive
device and detonate it on November 6, Election Day, on the National Mall
in Washington, D.C. He stated his reason for the action was to draw attention
to his political belief in “sortition,” a political theory
that advocates the random selection of government officials.
On October 9, a law enforcement agent stopped a car driven by Rosenfeld.
He agreed to answer the officer’s questions and said he ordered
large quantities of black power – an explosive substance –
over the Internet, which he transported from a location in New Jersey
to his home in Tappan.
He said he used some eight pounds of the black powder to construct a large
explosive device in his basement and that he installed certain components
in the device to ensure that he would be killed in the blast.
Rosenfeld told law enforcement that he had previously constructed a smaller
device and had conducted test detonations.
He also said he planned to detonate the larger device at the National
Mall on November 6.
Armed with a search warrant, agents conducted a search of Rosenfeld’s
home on October 9 and found a functional explosive device weighing some
200 pounds.
FBI bomb technicians removed the device from the basement and transported
it to a safe location.
Inside the home, agents also found a fusing system for triggering explosive
devices and what appeared to be empty canisters of black powder.
Rosenfeld was charged with one count of unlawfully manufacturing a destructive
device, which carries up to 10 years in prison, and one count of interstate
transportation and receipt of an explosive, which carries a maximum sentence
of 10 years in prison.
