1 00:00:11,750 --> 00:00:14,710 - A bomb plot at The Home Depot in Long Island. 2 00:00:14,797 --> 00:00:16,320 - Well, that's pretty serious stuff. 3 00:00:16,407 --> 00:00:18,409 - Why that Home Depot? Why is this happening? 4 00:00:23,023 --> 00:00:24,502 - What's wrong with this guy? 5 00:00:24,589 --> 00:00:26,200 Why is he putting so many people in danger? 6 00:00:26,287 --> 00:00:28,158 [sirens wailing] 7 00:00:28,245 --> 00:00:31,074 We had dispatched hundreds of detectives and agents. 8 00:00:34,382 --> 00:00:37,167 - This is a callous, calculating, 9 00:00:37,254 --> 00:00:39,256 horrible individual. 10 00:00:39,343 --> 00:00:41,519 But we didn't have a lead on this guy. 11 00:00:41,606 --> 00:00:44,000 And then at the same time as this investigation, 12 00:00:44,087 --> 00:00:44,696 there's gonna be a storm. 13 00:00:44,783 --> 00:00:46,829 [tense music] 14 00:00:46,916 --> 00:00:49,266 - Sandy is expected to head up the coast, 15 00:00:49,353 --> 00:00:50,746 then turn west, 16 00:00:50,833 --> 00:00:52,269 making landfall near New Jersey 17 00:00:52,356 --> 00:00:53,401 on Tuesday. 18 00:00:53,488 --> 00:00:55,794 ♪ ♪ 19 00:00:55,881 --> 00:00:57,274 - Hurricane Sandy is threatening 20 00:00:57,361 --> 00:01:00,625 to wipe out our entire investigation. 21 00:01:00,712 --> 00:01:02,497 - You guys gotta keep the case going, right? 22 00:01:02,584 --> 00:01:04,803 - We're doing everything you can possibly do. 23 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:06,066 And there's not a lot of time. 24 00:01:08,503 --> 00:01:11,114 [explosion] 25 00:01:15,901 --> 00:01:19,775 [dramatic music] 26 00:01:19,862 --> 00:01:22,777 - In the FBI, we make a lot of headlines. 27 00:01:22,865 --> 00:01:25,868 ♪ ♪ 28 00:01:25,955 --> 00:01:27,435 Drug busts, 29 00:01:27,521 --> 00:01:30,307 mob stings, 30 00:01:30,394 --> 00:01:32,092 terrorist takedowns. 31 00:01:32,179 --> 00:01:33,963 - Get down! Get down! 32 00:01:34,050 --> 00:01:36,574 - We understand why people want to tell stories about us. 33 00:01:36,661 --> 00:01:37,923 - Mark it. 34 00:01:38,009 --> 00:01:39,142 - Freeze! - FBI. 35 00:01:39,229 --> 00:01:40,839 - FBI! - Action! 36 00:01:40,926 --> 00:01:43,146 - But they don't know the half of it. 37 00:01:43,233 --> 00:01:44,277 [indistinct radio chatter] 38 00:01:44,365 --> 00:01:46,410 What really goes down, 39 00:01:46,497 --> 00:01:48,717 we save that for each other 40 00:01:48,804 --> 00:01:50,936 when we're talking agent to agent. 41 00:01:51,023 --> 00:01:53,896 ♪ ♪ 42 00:01:53,983 --> 00:01:56,854 This is "FBI True." 43 00:02:01,991 --> 00:02:04,776 [tense music] 44 00:02:04,863 --> 00:02:06,474 ♪ ♪ 45 00:02:06,561 --> 00:02:09,693 - Cindy Coppola is a 23-year veteran of the FBI. 46 00:02:09,781 --> 00:02:11,174 She worked on cases that included 47 00:02:11,261 --> 00:02:13,655 organized crime and terrorism 48 00:02:13,742 --> 00:02:16,136 and took part in multinational investigations 49 00:02:16,223 --> 00:02:18,486 into drug trafficking and money laundering. 50 00:02:18,573 --> 00:02:20,836 Coppola finished her career with the Los Angeles division 51 00:02:20,923 --> 00:02:23,969 running two offices, supervising investigations, 52 00:02:24,056 --> 00:02:26,798 and providing undercover security for special events. 53 00:02:26,885 --> 00:02:28,887 - Steve, I'm so glad we could grab a beer today. 54 00:02:28,974 --> 00:02:30,498 Remind me, when did you come in? 55 00:02:30,585 --> 00:02:32,064 What year was it? - I actually started 56 00:02:32,152 --> 00:02:34,632 in the Bureau back in 1988. 57 00:02:34,719 --> 00:02:39,115 - Steve Troyd was an agent with the FBI for 28 years. 58 00:02:39,202 --> 00:02:41,683 He was an investigator on the terrorist attacks 59 00:02:41,770 --> 00:02:43,641 of September 11th. 60 00:02:43,728 --> 00:02:45,904 Troyd was also a supervisor 61 00:02:45,991 --> 00:02:48,994 in the FBI's New York Metro Gang Task Force. 62 00:02:49,081 --> 00:02:50,996 ♪ ♪ 63 00:02:51,083 --> 00:02:52,433 - How did you end up getting to LIRA? 64 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,565 - Certain areas, like Long Island, 65 00:02:54,652 --> 00:02:56,611 had actually developed quite a gang problem. 66 00:02:56,698 --> 00:02:58,395 - But as things happen, 67 00:02:58,482 --> 00:03:00,919 you get there and you get other cases. 68 00:03:01,006 --> 00:03:04,575 And, you know, we had a bomb-- an extortionate bomb--case 69 00:03:04,662 --> 00:03:06,708 targeting Home Depot around that time. 70 00:03:06,795 --> 00:03:08,362 - I want to hear about the case now. 71 00:03:08,449 --> 00:03:09,537 A Home Depot case? - Sure. 72 00:03:09,624 --> 00:03:10,277 - What was that? - Yeah. 73 00:03:13,976 --> 00:03:16,761 It was a very successful store. 74 00:03:16,848 --> 00:03:21,113 It was in Huntington, up Rogues and 10th. 75 00:03:21,201 --> 00:03:23,246 Around the middle of October, 76 00:03:23,333 --> 00:03:26,206 a manager, Andy, got a letter in the mail. 77 00:03:29,948 --> 00:03:31,776 - What was exactly in the letter? 78 00:03:31,863 --> 00:03:33,474 - Well, the letter starts off as: 79 00:03:33,561 --> 00:03:34,910 "To the store manager..." 80 00:03:52,797 --> 00:03:54,234 "I want 2 million, 81 00:03:54,321 --> 00:03:56,540 "or I will shut down all your Long Island stores 82 00:03:56,627 --> 00:03:57,324 on Black Friday." 83 00:04:09,423 --> 00:04:11,425 "And pay me this one time, 84 00:04:11,512 --> 00:04:14,602 "and you will have my word you will never hear from me again. 85 00:04:14,689 --> 00:04:17,430 "I will call your store at noon on October 17th 86 00:04:17,518 --> 00:04:19,781 to see what you decide." 87 00:04:21,608 --> 00:04:23,350 - Well, that's pretty serious stuff. 88 00:04:23,437 --> 00:04:24,612 - Yeah. 89 00:04:24,699 --> 00:04:26,396 - Obviously, the manager's thinking, 90 00:04:26,483 --> 00:04:29,007 "Holy shit, there's a bomb in one of my stores." 91 00:04:29,094 --> 00:04:30,792 Home Depot, what did they want to do? 92 00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:32,359 - They evacuate The Home Depot. 93 00:04:36,014 --> 00:04:38,365 And the bomb squad go to the lighting department area, 94 00:04:38,452 --> 00:04:40,541 which was indicated in the ransom letter. 95 00:04:40,628 --> 00:04:42,151 They look through the lighting department, 96 00:04:42,238 --> 00:04:43,674 and they find the bomb. 97 00:04:47,548 --> 00:04:50,290 - A bomb plot at The Home Depot in Long Island. 98 00:04:50,377 --> 00:04:52,553 The FBI confirming a pipe bomb 99 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,033 planted inside on or near a shelf 100 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,863 where innocent people could find it and get hurt. 101 00:04:58,950 --> 00:05:00,648 - This person had rigged it 102 00:05:00,735 --> 00:05:04,565 so that there was a string attached to the shelving. 103 00:05:04,652 --> 00:05:07,437 And if they pulled the box off the shelf, 104 00:05:07,524 --> 00:05:10,658 that would trigger the explosion. 105 00:05:10,745 --> 00:05:12,355 Using one of those robots... 106 00:05:16,446 --> 00:05:18,274 They move the bomb into an area 107 00:05:18,361 --> 00:05:21,408 where no one's gonna be hurt if it goes off. 108 00:05:23,584 --> 00:05:26,282 They X-ray it. They see there's a pip in there. 109 00:05:26,369 --> 00:05:29,241 They decide they're gonna shoot the bomb with a round 110 00:05:29,329 --> 00:05:31,940 that's supposed to knock off the endcap on the pipe 111 00:05:32,027 --> 00:05:34,246 'cause the pipe has two endcaps on it. 112 00:05:34,334 --> 00:05:36,031 And when they're in the process of doing that, 113 00:05:36,118 --> 00:05:37,641 the thing explodes. 114 00:05:37,728 --> 00:05:40,340 [explosion] 115 00:05:42,429 --> 00:05:43,952 So it was a real bomb. 116 00:05:44,039 --> 00:05:45,693 Nobody got hurt, thank God, 117 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:48,913 but it was pretty damaging for a small pipe bomb. 118 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,828 You know, it shot into a steel door, 119 00:05:50,915 --> 00:05:53,091 and it left a lot of damage on the door. 120 00:05:53,178 --> 00:05:54,354 It shot through the ceiling. 121 00:05:54,441 --> 00:05:56,573 And the walls had debris. 122 00:05:58,749 --> 00:06:00,621 And I was just, like, thinking, 123 00:06:00,708 --> 00:06:02,231 my God, what's wrong with this guy? 124 00:06:02,318 --> 00:06:04,842 Why is he putting so many people in danger? 125 00:06:04,929 --> 00:06:06,757 This is a person who doesn't care 126 00:06:06,844 --> 00:06:10,065 about, you know, your regular guy going into Home Depot 127 00:06:10,152 --> 00:06:11,936 to buy a light for his bathroom. 128 00:06:12,023 --> 00:06:14,069 The question in my mind was, like, who's doing this? 129 00:06:14,156 --> 00:06:17,551 - Going back to the letter, did you send it to the lab? 130 00:06:17,638 --> 00:06:20,380 I mean, 'cause the lab can detect prints, anything. 131 00:06:20,467 --> 00:06:23,295 - So the letter was sent for prints and DNA analysis. 132 00:06:23,383 --> 00:06:24,601 - Anything off of the bomb? No? 133 00:06:24,688 --> 00:06:27,387 - We didn't get any clues from that. 134 00:06:27,474 --> 00:06:30,651 But they did find cat hair in the letter. 135 00:06:30,738 --> 00:06:32,000 - You guys find cat hair? 136 00:06:32,087 --> 00:06:33,218 - There's cat hairs in the letter, yeah. 137 00:06:33,305 --> 00:06:34,611 - That's a little strange, 138 00:06:34,698 --> 00:06:36,700 but at the same token, he's a little crazy. 139 00:06:36,787 --> 00:06:39,007 So what did you do then? 140 00:06:39,094 --> 00:06:41,575 - We look at the most likely suspect-- 141 00:06:41,662 --> 00:06:43,881 in this case, the manager-- 142 00:06:43,968 --> 00:06:45,448 you know, 'cause he's the guy that brings the letter 143 00:06:45,534 --> 00:06:46,841 to our attention, so right away, it's like, 144 00:06:46,928 --> 00:06:49,060 hmm, is he doing something wrong? 145 00:06:52,237 --> 00:06:57,678 We went into Home Depot, and we met with the manager. 146 00:06:57,765 --> 00:06:59,897 But he was a good guy. He cooperated completely. 147 00:06:59,984 --> 00:07:02,552 He loved working there. He was happy to be there. 148 00:07:02,639 --> 00:07:04,119 He was bragging about the company. 149 00:07:04,206 --> 00:07:06,991 He thought that the corporation was good to the people. 150 00:07:07,078 --> 00:07:10,038 And I ruled him out as a suspect pretty quickly. 151 00:07:17,349 --> 00:07:19,134 The bomber said in his letter 152 00:07:19,221 --> 00:07:22,790 he was gonna call back the manager on October 17th. 153 00:07:22,877 --> 00:07:25,314 We had agents standing by at the location 154 00:07:25,401 --> 00:07:26,750 waiting for that one phone call. 155 00:07:26,837 --> 00:07:29,753 And we were going to try and trace him. 156 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,060 [phone ringing] 157 00:07:32,147 --> 00:07:34,758 - So the manager gets the call. 158 00:07:34,845 --> 00:07:37,326 - Yeah, he gets the ransom call at noon, 159 00:07:37,413 --> 00:07:39,937 and we were listening to every word. 160 00:07:53,298 --> 00:07:54,996 - The phone call was kind of brief. 161 00:07:55,082 --> 00:07:56,911 - What did you learn from that phone call? 162 00:07:56,998 --> 00:07:58,826 - The fact that they knew what number to call. 163 00:07:58,913 --> 00:08:01,785 We're suspicious that it's an employee. 164 00:08:01,872 --> 00:08:04,048 - So it wasn't the general number for Home Depot. 165 00:08:04,135 --> 00:08:05,354 It was a specific extension. - Yeah, it was 166 00:08:05,441 --> 00:08:06,964 a specific extension that he had chosen. 167 00:08:07,051 --> 00:08:08,270 And he showed that he had 168 00:08:08,357 --> 00:08:09,924 at least done some surveillance work. 169 00:08:10,011 --> 00:08:13,014 And he knew where he had a internal phone list, 170 00:08:13,101 --> 00:08:15,016 so it made us think that this is somebody 171 00:08:15,103 --> 00:08:16,539 that is working there. 172 00:08:19,586 --> 00:08:22,763 So we were looking through lists of employees 173 00:08:22,850 --> 00:08:24,939 who had been disciplinary problems, 174 00:08:25,026 --> 00:08:27,463 had quit under bad circumstances, 175 00:08:27,550 --> 00:08:29,160 but nobody stood out. 176 00:08:29,247 --> 00:08:31,511 And then the first phone call, we were able to identify 177 00:08:31,598 --> 00:08:34,034 through the computer system at Home Depot. 178 00:08:34,121 --> 00:08:35,645 And it came back to a phone 179 00:08:35,732 --> 00:08:39,606 that was one of those pay-as-you-go phones. 180 00:08:39,693 --> 00:08:42,217 So that's our one solid link. 181 00:08:42,304 --> 00:08:45,133 But it was hard to kind of track who the buyer was 182 00:08:45,220 --> 00:08:48,049 because it was purchased with cash from a 7-Eleven. 183 00:08:48,136 --> 00:08:49,877 And I have two agents. 184 00:08:49,964 --> 00:08:51,835 And they look at the history of the phone. 185 00:08:51,922 --> 00:08:54,708 So we were able to identify that phone number. 186 00:08:54,795 --> 00:08:56,753 So then we check some of the numbers. 187 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,365 I saw that there was, like, these calls months before. 188 00:09:00,452 --> 00:09:03,455 Calls out to Craigslist ads. 189 00:09:03,543 --> 00:09:07,198 When we had, like, a team of analysts, 190 00:09:07,285 --> 00:09:08,809 they followed up on the phone numbers. 191 00:09:08,896 --> 00:09:10,985 And they looked at the Craigslist ads. 192 00:09:11,072 --> 00:09:12,900 They kind of subpoena it backwards. 193 00:09:12,987 --> 00:09:14,858 - Right, to find out who was buying this stuff 194 00:09:14,945 --> 00:09:16,381 or potentially looking at the ads. 195 00:09:16,468 --> 00:09:17,992 - Exactly. Exactly. - Yeah. 196 00:09:18,079 --> 00:09:20,560 - And they found that this target is buying 197 00:09:20,647 --> 00:09:23,998 a jet ski, scuba gear, 198 00:09:24,085 --> 00:09:25,782 some oxygen bottles. 199 00:09:25,869 --> 00:09:27,958 - So that number that called The Home Depot... 200 00:09:28,045 --> 00:09:29,481 - Right. - Had called these Craigslist-- 201 00:09:29,569 --> 00:09:32,310 - Yeah, and they were getting descriptions 202 00:09:32,397 --> 00:09:35,444 from the people that were selling stuff to the subject, 203 00:09:35,531 --> 00:09:37,185 like he's in a green van-- 204 00:09:37,272 --> 00:09:39,274 in a Ford van, I believe. 205 00:09:39,361 --> 00:09:40,841 White male. - Oh, well, that helps. 206 00:09:40,928 --> 00:09:41,711 - Yeah. - That helps, right? 207 00:09:41,798 --> 00:09:43,017 'Cause you didn't have anything. 208 00:09:43,104 --> 00:09:44,671 - You're developing some information-- 209 00:09:44,758 --> 00:09:47,021 some identifying information. 210 00:09:47,108 --> 00:09:48,849 But we still don't know who he is. 211 00:09:52,069 --> 00:09:53,593 And then a few days later, 212 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,117 a second ransom letter arrives at Home Depot. 213 00:09:56,204 --> 00:09:59,381 Four days before Black Friday, 214 00:09:59,468 --> 00:10:01,557 the biggest shopping day of the year. 215 00:10:01,644 --> 00:10:04,473 [cheering] 216 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:06,736 The letter reads... 217 00:10:13,787 --> 00:10:15,876 "To keep from being shot from a distance, 218 00:10:15,963 --> 00:10:18,487 I am going to be wired up like a Christmas tree." 219 00:10:30,151 --> 00:10:32,675 "I'm going to deposit in one of your stores 220 00:10:32,762 --> 00:10:34,590 "the morning of the drop 221 00:10:34,677 --> 00:10:36,070 "a new device I designed. 222 00:10:36,157 --> 00:10:37,811 "If you drop off anything 223 00:10:37,898 --> 00:10:39,813 "besides U.S.-circulated currency, 224 00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:43,207 I will end Black Friday." 225 00:10:43,294 --> 00:10:46,950 This letter caused a lot of activity on our part 226 00:10:47,037 --> 00:10:50,171 because it basically shows us how callous this individual is. 227 00:10:50,258 --> 00:10:52,303 - And who knows if there was another bomb somewhere else? 228 00:10:52,390 --> 00:10:53,696 Right? - Absolutely. 229 00:10:53,783 --> 00:10:56,046 And at the same time of this investigation, 230 00:10:56,133 --> 00:10:58,266 we were hearing on the news that there was gonna be 231 00:10:58,353 --> 00:11:00,311 this incredible storm coming, you know? 232 00:11:00,398 --> 00:11:02,574 - Hurricane Sandy is churning its way 233 00:11:02,662 --> 00:11:04,315 up the east coast this evening, 234 00:11:04,402 --> 00:11:06,927 heading for landfall in the mid-Atlantic region 235 00:11:07,014 --> 00:11:08,537 early next week. 236 00:11:08,624 --> 00:11:10,670 - I said, you know, these weather guys are always wrong. 237 00:11:10,757 --> 00:11:12,323 You know? - Yeah. 238 00:11:12,410 --> 00:11:14,325 - So I don't think there's gonna be a storm, you know? 239 00:11:16,023 --> 00:11:17,981 But if a storm does hit the east coast, 240 00:11:18,068 --> 00:11:20,462 the investigation could be turned on its head. 241 00:11:25,162 --> 00:11:26,294 - So what do you guys do next? 242 00:11:26,381 --> 00:11:27,643 - The concern was that it was somebody 243 00:11:27,730 --> 00:11:29,732 who was, you know, working at Home Depot, 244 00:11:29,819 --> 00:11:32,561 was querying this list of Craigslist sites. 245 00:11:32,648 --> 00:11:34,606 We did have people that we interviewed 246 00:11:34,694 --> 00:11:36,391 and questioned for long periods of time 247 00:11:36,478 --> 00:11:38,001 because they were electricians 248 00:11:38,088 --> 00:11:40,700 and they had basic skills to create a bomb. 249 00:11:40,787 --> 00:11:42,484 - Yeah, I mean, well, if you think about it, 250 00:11:42,571 --> 00:11:45,139 people that work at Home Depot have some handyman skills. 251 00:11:47,619 --> 00:11:48,882 - But they were not panning out. 252 00:11:51,014 --> 00:11:52,799 - So were you able to finally track them down? 253 00:11:52,886 --> 00:11:54,409 - There's an IP address. 254 00:11:54,496 --> 00:11:57,368 By stepping out into the modern world 255 00:11:57,455 --> 00:12:00,067 and using a phone, he kind of revealed himself. 256 00:12:00,154 --> 00:12:01,938 And then we were able to subpoena some information-- 257 00:12:02,025 --> 00:12:03,940 - Sure, you can do ping order. 258 00:12:04,027 --> 00:12:05,420 Or everything. - Yeah, you can do everything. 259 00:12:05,507 --> 00:12:08,336 And we start getting some specialists involved 260 00:12:08,423 --> 00:12:12,035 who track cell towers. 261 00:12:12,122 --> 00:12:13,036 And we found him. 262 00:12:16,736 --> 00:12:18,955 - This guy matches the description 263 00:12:19,042 --> 00:12:20,957 of the guy who was buying stuff off of Craigslist. 264 00:12:21,044 --> 00:12:23,655 And it turns out that he has a green van, 265 00:12:23,743 --> 00:12:26,397 just like the target that we were looking for. 266 00:12:26,484 --> 00:12:29,836 And he's an employee of Huntington Home Depot. 267 00:12:29,923 --> 00:12:31,489 - What's his name? - Daniel Patrick Sheehan. 268 00:12:33,404 --> 00:12:35,276 And it's a relief to think that, 269 00:12:35,363 --> 00:12:38,235 okay, we have a viable subject here 270 00:12:38,322 --> 00:12:39,933 because, you know, he's saying 271 00:12:40,020 --> 00:12:43,588 that he's gonna plant more devices in the Home Depots 272 00:12:43,675 --> 00:12:46,330 and, you know, we're hoping to stop that if we can. 273 00:12:49,464 --> 00:12:51,248 - You know where he lives now, right? 274 00:12:51,335 --> 00:12:52,684 - Yeah, he lives in a nice little home-- 275 00:12:52,772 --> 00:12:54,338 a tudor home-- in Deer Park. 276 00:12:54,425 --> 00:12:55,862 And he's got a wife and a child. 277 00:12:55,949 --> 00:12:57,689 And they have two cars. 278 00:12:57,777 --> 00:12:59,256 - So you know the guy's name now, 279 00:12:59,343 --> 00:13:01,171 you know where he lives, all that stuff. 280 00:13:01,258 --> 00:13:02,825 So what do you guys do next? 281 00:13:02,912 --> 00:13:04,696 - The next thing we're gonna do is we're gonna put, 282 00:13:04,784 --> 00:13:08,526 you know, a tracking device on him to keep tabs on him 283 00:13:08,613 --> 00:13:10,572 to have him under surveillance-- 284 00:13:10,659 --> 00:13:13,531 technical surveillance, physical surveillance, 285 00:13:13,618 --> 00:13:15,403 phone surveillance. 286 00:13:15,490 --> 00:13:17,492 We had all these different parts, 287 00:13:17,579 --> 00:13:20,321 and it all came together very quickly. 288 00:13:20,408 --> 00:13:22,062 But we don't want to scare him off 289 00:13:22,149 --> 00:13:23,890 because we still need more evidence. 290 00:13:23,977 --> 00:13:25,630 And to make matters worse, 291 00:13:25,717 --> 00:13:27,894 Superstorm Sandy was about to hit. 292 00:13:27,981 --> 00:13:30,548 - Businesses are bracing for Hurricane Sandy. 293 00:13:30,635 --> 00:13:34,726 And residents are hoping walls of sandbags will hold. 294 00:13:34,814 --> 00:13:36,293 - There were thing happening around me that I saw-- 295 00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:39,731 that, like, people were, you know, boarding up windows. 296 00:13:39,819 --> 00:13:41,559 Nobody had a second to do anything for their families. 297 00:13:41,646 --> 00:13:44,040 - Right. And you guys got to keep the case going, right, 298 00:13:44,127 --> 00:13:45,781 in spite of this storm? 299 00:13:45,868 --> 00:13:48,131 - Yeah, and this storm is bringing even more people 300 00:13:48,218 --> 00:13:50,873 to Home Depot who are desperate for supplies. 301 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,222 We got to catch this guy. 302 00:13:52,309 --> 00:13:53,920 He was threatening something 303 00:13:54,007 --> 00:13:56,400 that could have terrible consequences. 304 00:13:56,487 --> 00:13:58,881 - The entire eastern seaboard of the United States 305 00:13:58,968 --> 00:14:00,143 has been put on alert. 306 00:14:03,930 --> 00:14:05,932 - This thing hits, and I'm sitting in my living room, 307 00:14:06,019 --> 00:14:06,933 thinking, oh, man. 308 00:14:09,587 --> 00:14:11,328 - Welcome to "CBS This Morning." 309 00:14:11,415 --> 00:14:13,678 As daylight arrives, much of the east coast 310 00:14:13,765 --> 00:14:16,072 is waking up to see the full devastation 311 00:14:16,159 --> 00:14:17,944 of Superstorm Sandy. 312 00:14:18,031 --> 00:14:20,163 - The storm was pretty bad. 313 00:14:20,250 --> 00:14:21,686 There were some trees down. 314 00:14:21,773 --> 00:14:23,340 There were power outages all over the place. 315 00:14:23,427 --> 00:14:24,689 - Did you lose power? - I lost power. 316 00:14:24,776 --> 00:14:26,256 - Your whole life's disrupted, you know? 317 00:14:26,343 --> 00:14:28,302 - Oh, yeah, terrible disruption. 318 00:14:28,389 --> 00:14:30,478 You know, you're sleeping in the cold, dark. 319 00:14:30,565 --> 00:14:33,611 I'm charging my phone in the car. 320 00:14:33,698 --> 00:14:35,091 You know, you're showering in the gym, at the office, 321 00:14:35,178 --> 00:14:36,832 'cause they have power there. 322 00:14:36,919 --> 00:14:40,662 - And your suspect is still at large, right? 323 00:14:40,749 --> 00:14:42,751 - We had sent a detective to his house 324 00:14:42,838 --> 00:14:44,665 on some other ruse call 325 00:14:44,753 --> 00:14:46,320 just to see what was going on at the house. 326 00:14:46,407 --> 00:14:48,757 - Don't you have enough evidence to arrest him? 327 00:14:48,844 --> 00:14:50,759 - No, we needed to catch him with the phone, 328 00:14:50,846 --> 00:14:52,369 but it had been turned off for a while. 329 00:14:55,372 --> 00:14:57,287 So I figured I'd walk into Home Depot 330 00:14:57,374 --> 00:14:59,637 and try to find him myself. 331 00:14:59,724 --> 00:15:01,944 He's in the window and doors department. 332 00:15:02,031 --> 00:15:04,164 I found him. 333 00:15:04,251 --> 00:15:05,992 When I met him face-to-face, 334 00:15:06,079 --> 00:15:09,212 it was strange to see how normal he was. 335 00:15:09,299 --> 00:15:11,649 And I said, "Hey, are there any generators?" 336 00:15:11,736 --> 00:15:12,955 And then, you know, he said, like, 337 00:15:13,042 --> 00:15:14,696 "Home Depot was unprepared." 338 00:15:14,783 --> 00:15:16,654 You know, and I thought to myself, oh, that's interesting. 339 00:15:16,741 --> 00:15:19,831 You know, he's critical... both: Of Home Depot. 340 00:15:19,919 --> 00:15:23,748 - He's obviously angry with the corporate structure, you know? 341 00:15:23,835 --> 00:15:25,185 Even if it was just a passing comment, 342 00:15:25,272 --> 00:15:27,709 that was just his gut reaction. 343 00:15:27,796 --> 00:15:30,320 And I said, "Okay, thank you," and I just moved along. 344 00:15:30,407 --> 00:15:31,539 You know, it kind of clicked with me 345 00:15:31,626 --> 00:15:32,627 what kind of person he was. 346 00:15:32,714 --> 00:15:34,324 - Disgruntled. - Disgruntled. 347 00:15:34,411 --> 00:15:36,109 Cynical, right? 348 00:15:36,196 --> 00:15:37,501 Everybody's out for themselves. 349 00:15:37,588 --> 00:15:38,850 - When did you guys get enough evidence 350 00:15:38,938 --> 00:15:40,417 to arrest this guy? 351 00:15:40,504 --> 00:15:42,898 - We're doing everything you can possibly do. 352 00:15:42,985 --> 00:15:45,118 We're waiting for his burner phone to be turned back on 353 00:15:45,205 --> 00:15:47,033 so we can see what he's up to. 354 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,600 And I get a call from the surveillance operation guys. 355 00:15:49,687 --> 00:15:51,428 And they're like, 356 00:15:51,515 --> 00:15:52,908 "The phone just went on for, like, ten seconds." 357 00:15:52,995 --> 00:15:54,910 - Oh, my gosh, finally. 358 00:15:54,997 --> 00:15:57,739 - And this guy is in a Home Depot parking lot. 359 00:15:57,826 --> 00:15:59,523 It's not the one he works in. 360 00:15:59,610 --> 00:16:01,047 He worked in the Huntington one, 361 00:16:01,134 --> 00:16:03,266 and he went to the Commack one. 362 00:16:03,353 --> 00:16:05,529 And he basically turned the phone on. 363 00:16:05,616 --> 00:16:07,314 And he's sitting in his van 364 00:16:07,401 --> 00:16:09,577 in the Commack Home Depot parking lot. 365 00:16:09,664 --> 00:16:11,187 We're like, okay. We told the SO guys, 366 00:16:11,274 --> 00:16:13,233 "Keep on him. We'll be right there." 367 00:16:14,974 --> 00:16:16,627 A bunch of us jumped in the car. 368 00:16:16,714 --> 00:16:18,542 So we're driving up there now and find out 369 00:16:18,629 --> 00:16:21,893 he's driving around the mall slowly. 370 00:16:21,981 --> 00:16:22,851 - But you don't know what he's doing. 371 00:16:22,938 --> 00:16:24,679 - We had no clue. 372 00:16:24,766 --> 00:16:25,897 For all we knew, he could be using the phone 373 00:16:25,985 --> 00:16:28,248 to detonate a bomb. 374 00:16:28,335 --> 00:16:31,077 So we had to act fast. 375 00:16:31,164 --> 00:16:33,601 So we tell SO to stop him. 376 00:16:33,688 --> 00:16:35,603 And we're gonna engage this guy. 377 00:16:39,737 --> 00:16:41,609 So they stop his van. 378 00:16:41,696 --> 00:16:44,177 SO goes over to him. 379 00:16:44,264 --> 00:16:46,527 It's a very tense situation. 380 00:16:46,614 --> 00:16:48,224 And he says, "Hey, listen, 381 00:16:48,311 --> 00:16:51,401 "you know, we're getting a report about some stolen iPads 382 00:16:51,488 --> 00:16:53,360 from a location," an Apple Store, something, 383 00:16:53,447 --> 00:16:55,362 "and your van matches the description 384 00:16:55,449 --> 00:16:57,190 "of the van that was observed in the area 385 00:16:57,277 --> 00:16:58,582 "during one of the robberies. 386 00:16:58,669 --> 00:17:00,149 "And would you mind giving us consent 387 00:17:00,236 --> 00:17:01,672 so we can just eliminate you?" 388 00:17:01,759 --> 00:17:03,109 And, you know, he's like, "Yeah. 389 00:17:03,196 --> 00:17:04,762 No, I didn't steal no laptops." 390 00:17:04,848 --> 00:17:07,722 You know, he's completely oblivious to it. 391 00:17:07,809 --> 00:17:11,247 And then SO looks in the van, and he sees the Tracfone. 392 00:17:13,249 --> 00:17:14,598 And the battery's out of it. 393 00:17:14,685 --> 00:17:17,384 And he puts the phone together and calls me. 394 00:17:17,471 --> 00:17:18,819 - Oh, with the phone? 395 00:17:18,906 --> 00:17:19,907 Oh, that's awesome. - Yeah. 396 00:17:19,994 --> 00:17:21,344 So I'm like, it's the phone. 397 00:17:21,431 --> 00:17:23,303 And then we decided we're gonna arrest him. 398 00:17:25,392 --> 00:17:27,133 - Awesome, right away. - Yeah, which is great. 399 00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:29,309 - That's great, yeah. - Great collaborative effort. 400 00:17:31,137 --> 00:17:33,269 - What was his reaction? 401 00:17:33,356 --> 00:17:35,706 - He's basically in denial. 402 00:17:35,793 --> 00:17:37,665 Well, we get him back to the office. 403 00:17:37,752 --> 00:17:40,450 We had some guys there that were ready to interview him. 404 00:17:40,537 --> 00:17:41,669 And he's making up stories like, 405 00:17:41,756 --> 00:17:43,540 "That phone is one of the guys'-- 406 00:17:43,627 --> 00:17:44,541 "the day laborers'. 407 00:17:44,628 --> 00:17:45,934 "I let them use that phone. 408 00:17:46,021 --> 00:17:47,370 You know, rather than my phone--" 409 00:17:47,457 --> 00:17:49,633 - So he's bullshitting. - He's bullshitting. 410 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:51,026 So we caught him with the burner phone. 411 00:17:51,113 --> 00:17:53,289 It's a pretty damning piece of evidence. 412 00:17:53,376 --> 00:17:55,030 And we had the two letters he wrote. 413 00:17:55,117 --> 00:17:58,425 Then he's in a position where, "Okay, you got me." 414 00:17:58,512 --> 00:18:01,123 But now he wants to talk about what he did, 415 00:18:01,210 --> 00:18:02,951 you know, like, how it's a ego thing, 416 00:18:03,038 --> 00:18:04,735 like how smart he was, 417 00:18:04,822 --> 00:18:07,129 like how he put cat hair in one of the letters 418 00:18:07,216 --> 00:18:08,696 to throw us off. 419 00:18:08,783 --> 00:18:10,306 And he doesn't have one. He took a cat off the street. 420 00:18:10,393 --> 00:18:11,916 Put hairs... [laughs] 421 00:18:12,003 --> 00:18:14,354 - Jesus, that's weird. 422 00:18:14,441 --> 00:18:16,443 - Just think of the time that this guy spent on this. 423 00:18:16,530 --> 00:18:18,140 You know, and then the Craigslist stuff 424 00:18:18,227 --> 00:18:20,490 was all a part of his plan to get the money. 425 00:18:20,577 --> 00:18:23,450 The wetsuit, the air bottles, the jet ski-- 426 00:18:23,537 --> 00:18:25,539 he was gonna set up a scenario 427 00:18:25,626 --> 00:18:29,543 where he had this jet ski in Huntington Harbor. 428 00:18:29,630 --> 00:18:31,762 And he went out and he bought a cooler 429 00:18:31,849 --> 00:18:34,156 that he attached to the jet ski. 430 00:18:34,243 --> 00:18:35,679 And then, with his wetsuit 431 00:18:35,766 --> 00:18:39,379 and his basically reserve bottles of oxygen, 432 00:18:39,466 --> 00:18:43,731 he was gonna be under the jet ski in the water, 433 00:18:43,818 --> 00:18:45,472 and we were gonna place the money 434 00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:47,648 in the cooler on the jet ski. 435 00:18:47,735 --> 00:18:49,258 And then he was gonna take the money out 436 00:18:49,345 --> 00:18:50,607 from underneath the jet ski. 437 00:18:50,694 --> 00:18:52,174 - Get out. - I swear. 438 00:18:52,261 --> 00:18:55,395 - It's like he's watching too many James Bond movies. 439 00:18:55,482 --> 00:18:57,179 - If you know what a million dollars looks like 440 00:18:57,266 --> 00:18:59,964 when it's a pile of money on a table, it's a giant brick. 441 00:19:00,051 --> 00:19:01,401 - Yeah, he's not gonna be able to, like-- 442 00:19:01,488 --> 00:19:02,706 - And these little bottles? 443 00:19:02,793 --> 00:19:04,273 'Cause we had them in evidence. 444 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:06,841 And he's like, "Yeah, they have 60 breaths each." 445 00:19:06,928 --> 00:19:09,235 And I'm like, "You know how quickly 446 00:19:09,322 --> 00:19:10,758 you can go through 60 breaths?" - 60 breaths? 447 00:19:10,845 --> 00:19:12,151 - You know, and you're underwater, 448 00:19:12,238 --> 00:19:13,500 and you're exerting yourself, 449 00:19:13,587 --> 00:19:14,979 and you're trying to move this money. 450 00:19:15,066 --> 00:19:16,720 And, you know, the whole scheme 451 00:19:16,807 --> 00:19:18,418 depends on whether we're gonna cooperate. 452 00:19:19,332 --> 00:19:21,856 - So did you finally find out 453 00:19:21,943 --> 00:19:23,684 the reason why he wanted to bomb Home Depot? 454 00:19:23,771 --> 00:19:26,643 - He has these ridiculous reasons. 455 00:19:26,730 --> 00:19:28,123 One, he's like, "Well, they only gave me 456 00:19:28,210 --> 00:19:30,734 "nine hours a week to work. 457 00:19:30,821 --> 00:19:33,302 And they made me work on my birthday." 458 00:19:33,389 --> 00:19:35,130 And I'm like, "Okay." 459 00:19:35,217 --> 00:19:36,827 - Oh, I worked many of my birthdays. 460 00:19:36,914 --> 00:19:38,394 - I can't remember the last time I had-- 461 00:19:38,481 --> 00:19:39,526 I used to go out and arrest people on my birthday 462 00:19:39,613 --> 00:19:41,180 'cause that was, like, a great thing. 463 00:19:41,267 --> 00:19:43,878 And then he goes, "And they took my Homer Award away." 464 00:19:43,965 --> 00:19:45,314 - Homer Award? What is that? 465 00:19:45,401 --> 00:19:47,447 - He goes, "It was a $100 gift card." 466 00:19:47,534 --> 00:19:49,144 And then... - Oh, my. 467 00:19:49,231 --> 00:19:51,451 - All right, so you want $2 million 468 00:19:51,538 --> 00:19:53,714 because you lost your $100 gift card? 469 00:19:53,801 --> 00:19:55,933 - So did you guys proffer him? 470 00:19:56,020 --> 00:19:58,632 And did they offer a plea? - Yeah. 471 00:19:58,719 --> 00:20:02,157 So, you know, he's looking at 30 years for what he did. 472 00:20:02,244 --> 00:20:05,334 But he's insisting, you know, the bomb wasn't active, 473 00:20:05,421 --> 00:20:07,293 the fuse was not attached. 474 00:20:07,380 --> 00:20:10,383 But it doesn't matter. He's gonna go to trial. 475 00:20:13,951 --> 00:20:15,344 His wife is in the back of the courtroom. 476 00:20:15,431 --> 00:20:17,128 And I looked at her face. 477 00:20:17,216 --> 00:20:20,741 And you could just see she was so angry that he did this. 478 00:20:20,828 --> 00:20:22,830 - Yeah, a shame. - And, you know, he's like, 479 00:20:22,917 --> 00:20:25,136 "Honey, I did this for us." - Yeah, I know. 480 00:20:25,224 --> 00:20:26,964 - It was just like, oh, my God, what happened to this guy? 481 00:20:27,051 --> 00:20:29,706 He was like a stone cold killer blowing things up, 482 00:20:29,793 --> 00:20:31,273 and now he's worried his wife is gonna, 483 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:32,622 you know, kick his ass. 484 00:20:32,709 --> 00:20:34,145 - His attorney says he was depressed 485 00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:35,930 over losing work hours. 486 00:20:36,017 --> 00:20:38,237 - The ignition system that he created, 487 00:20:38,324 --> 00:20:41,805 he deliberately left incomplete and left out key components 488 00:20:41,892 --> 00:20:44,330 so that it could not ignite. 489 00:20:44,417 --> 00:20:46,027 So that's the defense. 490 00:20:48,072 --> 00:20:50,292 - He's trying to say, "Oh, I did an extortion, 491 00:20:50,379 --> 00:20:53,948 "but I didn't use a bomb 'cause a bomb would've been reckless. 492 00:20:54,035 --> 00:20:55,645 A bomb would've hurt people, and that's not me." 493 00:20:55,732 --> 00:20:57,952 - But it was explodable, right? 494 00:20:58,039 --> 00:21:00,650 [explosion] 495 00:21:04,872 --> 00:21:06,526 - It blew up when we tried to deactivate it. 496 00:21:06,613 --> 00:21:07,788 - He's trying to minimize. 497 00:21:07,875 --> 00:21:09,268 He was trying to minimize basically. 498 00:21:09,355 --> 00:21:11,618 - Yeah, he's finagling a lesser sentence. 499 00:21:11,705 --> 00:21:12,836 - Sure. - And I said, 500 00:21:12,923 --> 00:21:14,664 "You go to trial and you blow trial, 501 00:21:14,751 --> 00:21:16,753 "you got 30 years you're looking at. 502 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,799 "You're a 50-year-old man. 503 00:21:18,886 --> 00:21:20,757 Like, your life is over essentially." 504 00:21:20,844 --> 00:21:21,932 "No, no." I said, 505 00:21:22,019 --> 00:21:26,589 "If you get a plea for ten years, 506 00:21:26,676 --> 00:21:29,157 you'll still be able to go back and be with your son." 507 00:21:30,071 --> 00:21:32,378 And he said to me, "No, in my opinion, 508 00:21:32,465 --> 00:21:34,597 ten years is as much as 30." 509 00:21:34,684 --> 00:21:36,382 And I'm like, "You're quitting. 510 00:21:36,469 --> 00:21:39,341 "You're quitting on your kid. You're quitting on your wife. 511 00:21:39,428 --> 00:21:41,517 You're quitting on your life." - Yeah, himself. 512 00:21:41,604 --> 00:21:42,866 - "And, you know, you're looking 513 00:21:42,953 --> 00:21:44,825 to blame other people for your failure." 514 00:21:44,912 --> 00:21:46,566 But, I mean, I was of the opinion, like, 515 00:21:46,653 --> 00:21:48,698 how hard am I gonna try to convince this guy? 516 00:21:48,785 --> 00:21:50,613 We had him dead to rights. 517 00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:51,919 The case was solid. - Sure. 518 00:21:52,006 --> 00:21:54,965 - A seasoned prosecutor is gonna destroy this guy. 519 00:21:55,052 --> 00:21:56,619 And-- - You guys are gonna win. 520 00:21:56,706 --> 00:21:57,490 - We were gonna win. - Yeah. 521 00:22:14,289 --> 00:22:17,684 [dramatic music] 522 00:22:17,771 --> 00:22:20,034 I'm so glad we got a chance to get to know each other. 523 00:22:20,121 --> 00:22:21,557 - Yeah. No, it was nice. - And have a beer, you know? 524 00:22:21,644 --> 00:22:23,037 - Yeah. - Congrats. 525 00:22:23,124 --> 00:22:24,647 Good job on the case. - Thank you. Thank you. 526 00:22:24,734 --> 00:22:27,215 - I'm glad you're retired, but I've got one question. 527 00:22:27,302 --> 00:22:28,521 - Uh-oh. 528 00:22:28,608 --> 00:22:30,131 - Do you still shop at Home Depot? 529 00:22:30,218 --> 00:22:31,567 [laughter] 530 00:22:31,654 --> 00:22:33,134 - All the time. - Awesome. 531 00:22:38,269 --> 00:22:41,185 [dramatic music] 532 00:22:41,272 --> 00:22:49,063 ♪ ♪