Michael Curtis Reynolds … American al-Qaida Enemy Within, Charged with Helping to Blow Up Refineries

Michael Curtis Reynolds … The enemy within. Michael Curtis Reynolds was indicted by a federal grand jury for offering to help al-Qaida blow up fuel facilities in at least three states.

Michael Curtis Reynolds was charged in U.S. District Court in Scranton Tuesday with two counts of providing material support for a terrorist organization and two counts of seeking to take part in the destruction of property used in interstate or foreign commerce.

Michael Curtis Reynolds was arrested as part of a sting operation.

The FBI arrested Reynolds in December after authorities said he tried to meet a purported al-Qaida contact in a sting operation about 25 miles from a motel in Pocatello, Idaho, where he had been staying.

Authorities said he expected to receive $40,000 to finance an alleged plot to blow up pipelines and refineries. The man Reynolds met with was a Montana judge who was working for the FBI.

Reynolds wanted to help al-Qaida units attack fuel facilities “to reduce energy reserves, create environmental hazards, increase anxiety, and require substantial expenditure of funds and government personnel, including the military, to protect those locations,” the indictment alleges. (Houston Chronicle)

Man accused in terrorist plan charged
Former W-B man Michael Curtis Reynolds allegedly sought to help al-Qaida blow up gas pipelines

According to prosecutors, Reynolds tried to disavow any intent to conspire with al-Qaida when he was arrested and questioned by FBI agents. Authorities have said Reynolds told them that he was a patriot and was trying to expose an al-Qaida cell inside the United States.

But authorities said Reynolds’ letters, computer drawings and e-mails show in great detail his plot to detonate trucks filled with propane along the Alaskan pipeline, and plans to blow up a section of a natural-gas pipeline that runs from the Gulf Coast through Pennsylvania to New Jersey and New York City.

If convicted of all the charges, Reynolds faces a maximum of 80 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million. He is jailed in the Lackawanna County Prison. (Times Leader)