Terrorism Crimes—Anthony Garver

An 18-year-old’s alleged statements in the Spokane County jail have earned him an investigation by an anti-terrorism task force.^[1] Anthony Garver “reportedly told fellow inmates” that he has “ties to al-Qaida” and planned to “blow up a state Department of Social and Health Services building” as well as the “upcoming Pig Out in the Park event.”^[2]

Mr. Garver is currently at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake “for a 90-day mental evaluation as part of an ‘involuntary commitment.’”^[3] Mr. Garver’s parents “have cooperated with investigators and consented to a search of their property in the foothills of Mount Spokane,” where three searches have allegedly yielded “two loaded ammunition clips for an AK-47… a laptop computer reportedly containing an al-Qaida training manual, a GPS locator device, maps, a mask, and other ‘survivialist-type’ gear.”^[4] There were no bomb parts or firearms found, but reportedly, “he planned to build a fertilizer and fuel oil bomb ‘just like Timothy McVeigh.’”^[5]

According to officials, the threats were taken seriously because Mr. Garver had traveled to Morocco twice in the last two years “and might have made terrorist contacts there,” though he has not been tied to any known terrorist organizations.”^[6]

According to Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force (composed of FBI agents and officers from other agencies) spokesman Norm Brown, Mr. Garver has “denied making terrorist threats.”^[7] He also has an “apparent history of mental illness,”^[8] which, as we have shown when it comes to making threats against the president, is sometimes irrelevant. In another part of the country, a West Virginia man claimed he was Osama bin Laden, threatened people with a blender, and led police on a high-speed chase in Ocean City, Maryland.^[9] That man, Tena Bergeno, is currently at Peninsula Regional Medical Center undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

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[1] Arrested Spokane Teen Claims al-Qaida Ties, Plot to Blow Up DSHS Building, AP (via The Olympian), Aug. 24, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Bill Morlin, Man Allegedly Boasted of Bombs, Spokane Spokesman-Review, Aug. 24, 2006.
[8] Id.
[9] Jay Hodkins, Man Claiming to be Terrorist Leads Police in High Speed Chase, Salisbury Daily Times, Aug. 24, 2006.