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Lloyd R. Woodson

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Lloyd R. Woodson
StatusIn Somerset County Jail
NationalityU.S.
SpouseTracey Everett
Conviction(s)1997: Criminal possession of a weapon.
Criminal chargeState charges: Initially – Second-degree unlawful possession of weapons; fourth-degree possession of prohibited defaced firearms and prohibited weapons-armored penetrating bullets; fourth degree possession of a large amount of ammunition; obstruction of justice; and resisting arrest.(January 26, 2010)
State indictment: Numerous charges, including second-degree attempted robbery and multiple weapons offenses, including second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree possession of hollow nose bullets. (February 25, 2010)
Federal charge: Possession of firearms by person previously convicted of weapons offense.(January 29, 2010)

Lloyd R. Woodson (born 1966 or 1967 (age 57–58), in New York)[1] was arrested in central New Jersey by officers responding to a report about a suspicious person on January 25, 2010.[2] Woodson was heavily armed. He had in his motel room a large cache of military-grade weapons and ammunition (some illegal), a detailed map of the Fort Drum U.S. military facility, and a traditional red-and-white Middle Eastern headdress.[3][4] He admitted he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime. Fort Drum was notified immediately. Their Commander said he felt the post was secure, based on various security measures.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said he did not "appear to have any connections to known terrorist groups, nor any terrorist plot," while stressing that those were only preliminary findings, and that the matter was under investigation.[5] A law enforcement source said other items were recovered that could indicate ties by Woodson to radical Islam, and a militant Islamic group based in the U.S. The Washington Times, noting the Obama administration's reluctance to associate even the Fort Hood shooting with terrorism, said in an editorial: "If this is not the behavior of a terrorist, what is?"

On January 26, Woodson was charged in state court with various criminal charges. Bail was set at $75,000. On January 29, he was charged in federal court, and consented to be held without bail.

On February 25, a county grand jury indicted Woodson for attempted armed robbery (second degree), possession of a firearm for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a rifle, possession of a defaced firearm, possession of hollow-nose bullets, and possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines.[6][7]

Early life

Woodson, 43 years old at the time of his arrest, is an African American from Reston, Virginia. He had lived in Reston for less than a year, and previously lived in District Heights, Maryland, Queens, New York, and Brooklyn, New York.[8][9]

Woodson joined the U.S. Navy in February 1988, serving aboard the USS Orion, a submarine tender, for under a year before deserting in April 1989.[10] Eight years after he went AWOL he was returned to the Navy's custody. He was ultimately given a dishonorable discharge a month later, in August 1997.[11][4][12]

On or about April 10, 1997 he was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in Kings County, New York, Superior Court in Brooklyn, New York.[13][14][15] That is a felony offense, punishable with a prison term greater than one year.[16][13]

In 2008, Woodson's wife, Tracey Everett, sought a protective order against him in Forestville, Maryland. In court papers, she said he deserted her and her children months earlier, and described a confrontation outside their Forestville townhouse in which "he responded by saying if I did not let him back in, I would be sorry." She had not spoken to him in more than a year, and had tried unsuccessfully to find him to serve divorce papers.[9]

Arrest

The officers responding to a call from a female clerk in a convenience store whoencountered an "extremely nervous" Woodson at 3:55 a.m. at the Quick Chek store at 1296 Route 28 in Branchburg, New Jersey, about an hour west of New York City. He was wearing a green military-style jacket, that had a large bulge in the front.[17] As Patrolman Steven Cronce began to question him, Woodson ran out of the back of the store, towards the nearby Regency Trailer Park.[18] The officers found him hiding in the bushes, drew their guns and ordered him to surrender, and when he tried to run away again they tackled him and—as he fought them—subdued him with pepper spray.[4][19]

Woodson was wearing a military-style bulletproof vest; a ballistic vest with a reinforced front steel plate. He was also carrying a high-powered loaded .223 caliber (5.56 mm) semiautomatic Bushmaster assault rifle, which had a defaced serial number and which had been altered to fire and loaded with .50-caliber rounds, concealed under his green, military-style jacket, and had four more loaded banana clip magazines with ammunition, some of which were hollow points (which are of a restricted legality in NJ) and which could penetrate the officers' vests "and their police car door, and maybe through the other side of their police car", according to Branchburg Police Chief Brian Fitzgerald.[13][20][21][4][22][19][18]

Weapons and maps

Detectives subsequently searched his room at the Red Mill Inn motel on Route 22 in Branchburg, at which he had been staying for a week. They found a cache of weapons and equipment including another Bushmaster .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle with a defaced serial number and a flash suppressor, a 37 mm Cobray grenade launcher (or, as described by some of the press (though not the indictment), "flare launcher"),[23][15] a second bulletproof vest, a Russian-made rifle-mountable Nightsight Illuminator NP75 night vision scope, a police scanner, and hundreds of rounds of armor-piercing .50-caliber (federally banned for public sale) and .308-caliber ammunition, both ball-type and hollow-point bullets, as well as military pouches, a military-style backpack, and garrison equipment.[13][24][25][26][27][18] Woodson said the firearms were his, he bought them on the streets of New York, he obliterated the serial numbers on them, and he brought them to New Jersey from Virginia.[13][15][28]

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said:

"In our experience, for private citizens to have this type of armament is quite unusual in Somerset County. If you’re over in Afghanistan, it wouldn’t be rare."[4]

Fort Drum rifle range

Also in his room were a detailed map of the Fort Drum U.S. military facility in upstate New York near the Canadian border, about a 5-hour drive from Branchburg,[29] and a map of a town in a state other than New Jersey.[13][30][31][32][33] It was the map of Fort Drum, NBC reported, that was really a concern to authorities.[34]

Detectives also found a traditional red-and-white Middle Eastern headdress with the weapons and maps.[8][21] The Canada Free Press reported that according to a New Jersey law enforcement source other items were recovered that could indicate ties by Woodson to radical Islam and a militant Islamic group based in the U.S.[35]

Charges and indictment

Woodson is being held at the Somerset County Jail.

State proceedings

Charges and bail

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initially said "It is possible that Mr. Woodson could face federal gun charges, but that has yet to be determined. At this time, the matter is being worked as a state case out of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office."[25] Woodson was charged in state court on January 26, 2010, with second-degree unlawful possession of weapons, fourth-degree possession of prohibited defaced firearms and prohibited weapons-armored penetrating bullets, fourth degree possession of large capacity ammunition, obstruction of justice, and resisting arrest.[36][8] Bail was set by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge John Pursel in Somerville at $75,000.[37][24][38]

Indictment

Woodson, 44 years old at the time, was indicted by a Somerset County grand jury on February 25, 2010, on numerous charges, including second-degree attempted robbery and multiple weapons offenses, including second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree possession of hollow nose bullets.[18][7] Assistant Prosecutor Robert Hawkes is handling the case for the state.[18][7]

Woodson's public defender on the state charges is Chanel Hudson.[18][7] Hudson noted that it is still early in the case, the attempted robbery was not an initial charge, and she has not yet received all of the discovery.[18][7] “I would be interested to see what kind of evidence they have to support such a [attempted robbery] claim,” she said.[18]

Forrest said Woodson also faces federal charges.[18]

Federal proceedings

Charges and detention

Subsequently, federal authorities charged Woodson in a criminal complaint with violating the federal law prohibiting a felon previously convicted of a weapons offense from possessing firearms.[13][39][40][41] He made his initial appearance briefly in federal court on January 29, 2010, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark.[16] He was assigned a public defender, waived his right to a detention hearing, and his lawyer said he would consent to being held in custody without bail.[42] The prosecutor told the judge that Woodson admitted in an interview that he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime, though the prosecutor did not explain further, and the U.S. attorney's office spokesman said he would not elaborate.[43] The federal charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison, with a $250,000 fine.[44]

"Even if he should attempt to make bail at the county level, we have a detainer on him for the federal charge, so he will not be released," said U.S. Attorney Office spokesman Greg Reinert.[45]

Investigation and intentions

The FBI issued the following statement the day after the arrest:

Presently, there does not appear to be a link to terrorism; Woodson does not appear to have a link to any known terrorist groups, nor a specific terrorist plot. However, the matter is still under investigation, and these should only be considered preliminary findings.[25][5]

After initial investigation and meeting with local authorities, an FBI public affairs officer, told ABC News "We determined it wasn't a terrorism thing." The FBI was joined by the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine that despite the amount of firepower uncovered, the incident was not terror-related. Former FBI agent Brad Garrett commented that most people would consider Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber to be a "homegrown terrorist", but unless they could link Woodson to a specific group, the FBI would probably say it was not terror-related, adding (prior to the federal prosecution being opened): "For whatever reason, they feel like this doesn't rise to be prosecuted in federal court."[46]

Investigators said that Woodson's intentions were unclear as of the day after the arrest, and that the investigation was continuing.[8] The investigation is being conducted by a number of agencies, including local law enforcement, the FBI, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.[47]

Wolf Blitzer and his panel explored on his January 26 The Situation Room CNN newscast the question of whether a terrorist attack was prevented, and CNN correspondent Deborah Feyerick said:

Well, that is exactly what the FBI and other agencies are right now trying to determine, whether Lloyd Woodson was planning some kind of terrorist attack, possibly against a military installation.... So far, authorities have not uncovered a link to terrorism, but they haven't ruled it out totally.[48]

On Rick's List, the CNN news and commentary program hosted by Rick Sanchez, on January 26 Sanchez described what the police found as "not big, it's huge and frightening", and CNN correspondent Brooke Baldwin reported, after speaking to the FBI: "No terrorist tie related just yet."[49] She said as to the Middle Eastern headdress, "It is raising questions, they [the FBI] are still investigating."[49] An editorial in The Washington Times also questioned the Barack Obama administration's definition of terrorism , asking "If this is not the behavior of a terrorist, what is?"[50]

The Associated Press reported that the weapons and the map raised questions about whether Woodson was planning an attack on Fort Drum. Somerset County prosecutor Wayne Forrest said that Woodson admitted in an interview that he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime,[51] although he did not comment on whether he thought Woodson had been planning to attack the New York facility.[52] The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that authorities have not said whether they think he was planning an attack.[53] Fort Drum's Garrison Commander Col. Kenneth Riddle issued a statement on January 27, 2010, saying the garrison had been been notified immediately when the map was discovered in Woodson's possession, and that he feels the post is secure, "based on various visible and many more not-so-visible security measures."[20]

Awards relating to Woodson's arrest

Fitzgerald awarded the Exceptional Duty Award to three Branchburg police officers who responded to the Woodson report, patrolmen Steven Cronce, Robert Farrigan, and Robert Stober, during a township committee meeting.[19][54] He called the arrest of Woodson the most significant one in the department's history.[19] “It was good to see something we had done had made the national news media for all the right reasons,” Stober said.[19]

Fitzgerald also honored Quick Chek manager Linda Yannazzno and employee Michael Murray for calling police to report Woodson.[19] Yannazzno said she knew that Woodson "had something on him", but was uncertain what it was.[19]

See also

References

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  3. ^ "US police arrest heavily armed man with military map", Daily Times (Pakistan), January 27, 2010, accessed January 30, 2010
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  49. ^ a b Sanchez, Rick (January 26, 2010). "Rick's List". CNN. Retrieved March 20, 2010. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  50. ^ "Editorial: Obama won't connect terror dots", The Washington Times, February 1, 2010, accessed February 1, 2010
  51. ^ ""Quick Thinking at Quick Chek," ''CSP TV'', January 28, 2010, accessed January 28, 2010". Cspnet.com. January 28, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
  52. ^ "Cruz, Alicia, "Lloyd Woodson arrested by police in Somerset with grenade launcher, weapons, maps of a military site," Newjerseynewsroom, January 26, 2010, accessed January 28, 2010". Newjerseynewsroom.com. January 26, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
  53. ^ "Man accused of keeping arsenal due in NJ court", The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 29, 2010, accessed March 19, 2010
  54. ^ "3 cops honored for stopping armed man", News 12 Networks Long Island, March 12, 2010, accessed March 20, 2010

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