Thread: Explosives found in vehicle at Army base in Georgia

Explosives found in vehicle at Army base in Georgia

Posted 4m ago

FORT GORDON, Ga. (AP) — The FBI was investigating after a civilian was arrested with explosives in his vehicle on an Army base in Georgia that is headquarters to the service's global communication and information systems, authorities said Wednesday.

Military authorities were not treating the case as a terrorist threat, said Buz Yarnell, a spokesman for Fort Gordon near Augusta.

The arrest Tuesday came a day after an AWOL serviceman was arrested in Florida for trying to enter an Air Force base there with fake ID and weapons, although authorities did not link the two and the Florida case was also deemed not terrorism.

Yarnell gave few other details. A news conference was scheduled at Fort Gordon later Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Savannah named the man arrested Tuesday as Anthony Todd Saxon, 34. It said charges were expected to be filed Wednesday.

Yarnell said a search of the civilian's vehicle Tuesday uncovered a knapsack containing military hand grenades. He said the man arrested is a suspect in a theft of military equipment from Fort Gordon in April.

FBI spokesman Steve Emmett in Atlanta said federal charges are forthcoming but he does not expect them to involve explosives or terrorism. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating.

Yarnell says the vehicle was parked in a remote area when it was discovered. He says it did not pose a threat to command operations or military housing.

Fort Gordon is the home of the Army Signal Corps and the Eisenhower Army Medical Center, one of largest military hospitals in the Southeast.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... ives_N.htm

RELATED

Armed pair held at Central Command base

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-202856.html

Man seized at Army base had land mine, laser scope

Updated 1h 59m ago

FORT GORDON, Ga. (AP) — A civilian pretending to be a soldier convinced an Army officer to give him a sophisticated laser sight for military rifles before he was caught hours later on the base with a land mine, several grenades and night vision devices, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that Anthony Todd Saxon, 34, falsely pretended to be an Army master sergeant on Tuesday and sought to steal the infrared laser targeting sight. He was expected to appear in federal court later Wednesday.

Saxon was wearing a full combat uniform, including rank and insignia, when he was stopped at Fort Gordon by military police and questioned about his activities, according to the complaint. After Saxon gave them consent to search his vehicle, authorities said they found several grenades and the land mine, among other equipment.

According to the complaint, Saxon told investigators he was able to obtain the laser sight by telling a captain in the base's military police office that he was a master sergeant in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and that he needed it to train a soldier.

He told investigators he was able to obtain the device after signing a receipt, according to the court documents. He also said he was a member of the Army National Guard between 1993 and 1995, but was medically discharged for heart problems, according to the records.

Fort Gordon spokesman Buz Yarnell said Saxon was stopped on the Army post because his car matched the description of a vehicle suspected in an earlier theft of military equipment from the post in April. Yarnell would not say what had been stolen.

Yarnell said the grenades, called "flash bangs," use blinding light and loud noise to stun people but don't explode into lethal shrapnel.

"He couldn't have done any serious damage," said Yarnell, who would not say whether the explosives were detonated.

He said there's no suspected connection between Saxon and an AWOL serviceman arrested Monday in Florida after he tried to enter MacDill Air Force Base with weapons and ammunition in his vehicle. But Yarnell said military authorities still don't know what Saxon was doing on Fort Gordon.

Yarnell also didn't know if Saxon used a military ID, either fake or real, to get onto the base. Fort Gordon, near Augusta, is home to the Army Signal Corps, which is in charge of the service's global communication and information systems. He said the post, which is also home to the Eisenhower Army Medical Center, typically allows civilians to enter if they show some form of identification.

"Anybody can get on Fort Gordon with a driver's license," Yarnell said. "It's open to the public, basically."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... ives_N.htm