White supremacist reacts to ATF raid Tom Metzger spoke exclusively with NewsChannel 15 Friday, 26 Jun 2009, 6:25 PM EDT
WARSAW, Ind. (WANE) - ATF agents have been tight-lipped about the reason they raided the Warsaw home of local white supremacist Tom Metzger; but Metzger had plenty to say to NewsChannel 15 about the incident."Very little catches me by surprise," said Metzger.
"A fellow said, we're here to do a search warrant."The ATF isn't saying what was in that search warrant, but we do know they spent several hours inside Metzger's home.
Metzger and his wife were allowed to leave during the search and return when it was done.He tells NewsChannel 15 agents seized CD's, tapes, address books and his computers.
"I live that kind of a life," explained Metzger. "I expect at anytime of the day to have the door kicked in, cause we're living in a country like that."Metzger says, "I've been through this before. What they're looking for is something to connect you to something else."
Metzger believes that something else is a case from Illinois. On Thursday, Metzger's friends Dennis and Danny Mahon were arrested in that case on a number of weapons charges and the bombing of an Arizona diversity office back in 2004."We've been friends for years so they probably really want to look at my stuff and see whether we were conspiring," he told NewsChannel 15.
Metzger was not arrested.Related:
Face to face with 'hate' Head of 'local hate group' gives exclusive to NC 15 Tuesday, 10 Mar 2009Feds make arrests in Scottsdale bombing June 25, 2009
Dennis Mahon and Daniel Mahon were arrested in David Junction, Ill., and appeared in court in Rockford, according to court documents. The three-count indictment alleges that Dennis Mahon built the bomb on Feb. 21, 2004, and it sent it to Don Logan, former Scottsdale diversity director, who opened the package Feb. 26, 2004, injuring him, Renita Linyard and Jacque Bell.Logan, who now works in a similar job for Glendale, was instructed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona not give interviews, but he did release a written statement.
Authorities also arrested Robert Joos, 56, in Missouri Thursday in connection with "a federal investigation" into the Scottsdale bombing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Missouri.A search warrant affidavit for Joos' home says undercover ATF agents from Arizona, with the help of a confidential informant, have been investigating the Mahon brothers since January 2005.
The agents were led to Joos' remote, 200-acre compound by a telephone call Dennis Mahon made to Joos on the morning of the Scottsdale bombing, the affidavit states.Special agent Tom Mangan, spokesman for the ATF, declined comment.
Two ATF arrests awaken theories of conspiracy June 26, 2009Supremacist's home in Warsaw raided June 26, 2009
Federal agents early Thursday raided the home of a vocal white supremacist living in Kosciusko County.Agents served a search warrant on the Warsaw home of Thomas Metzger, according to Special Agent Kim Riddell with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The search warrant was executed without incident and no one was arrested. Riddell declined to comment further, and neither would the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana.