Home Depot employee charged in bomb extortion plot www.privateofficer.com

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Long Island NY Nov 12 2012 A 50-year-old Long Island man was charged with trying toextort $2 million from home improvement retailer Home Depot using pipe bombsplanted in a store in Huntington, NY.
Daniel Sheehan has been charged with extortion and use of adestructive device in an alleged plan to coerce money from the business. Ifconvicted of the charges, said the FBI on Nov. 8, he faces a 30-year mandatoryminimum sentence and a maximum of life in prison.
Sheehan, was arrested on Nov. 7 and made an initial courtappearance at a federal courthouse in Central Islip, NY, on Nov. 8.
The complaint alleges Sheehan sent an anonymous ransomletter to the Home Depot store in Huntingtonin mid-October, warning the store manager that he had hidden a bomb in thestore’s lighting department to demonstrate his ability to place the devicewithout being detected. On Oct. 15, law enforcement authorities found anoperational pipe bomb in the Huntington Home Depot’s lighting department, movedit to a safe area, and rendered it harmless through a controlled detonation.
According to the complaint, a letter warned Home Depot thatif it didn’t pay a $2 million ransom, Sheehan would shut down all of HomeDepot’s Long Island stores on BlackFriday  --  the day after Thanksgiving  --  bydetonating three pipe bombs, each armed with a pound of roofing nails, in threeseparate Home Depot locations.
The ransom letter gave a date and time at which Sheehanwould make a ransom telephone call to Home Depot to relay instructionsregarding the ransom payment, according to the complaint, said prosecutors. Atthe appointed date and time, Sheehan placed the ransom call to Home Depot froma cell phone. During the call, he allegedly repeated the $2 million ransomdemand and advised that it had to be paid on a specified date. In a subsequentanonymous ransom letter, said the complaint, Sheehan allegedly lowered thedemand to $1 million, stipulating that payment be made on October 26. He alsoallegedly vowed to show up for the money drop wearing explosive devices andclaimed he had placed another explosive device in a Home Depot store.
Through various investigative techniques, the FBI saidfederal, state, and local law enforcement teamed up to identify, locate, andarrest Sheehan. At the time of his arrest, the FBI said the cell phone used tomake the ransom call was found in Sheehan’s possession.
“As alleged in the criminal complaint, Sheehan put lives atrisk and tried to hold the people of Long Islandhostage to his extortionate demands. He tried to negotiate with Home Depot butfailed to factor in the relentless determination of the dedicated lawenforcement team that worked around the clock to foil his plot. There is nobargaining to be had with human life, and the only payout Sheehan will receivewill be the full measure of justice for his actions. Sheehan’s arrest sends anunequivocal message that those who plot against our economy and the people ofLong Island will be brought to justice,” stated United States attorney LorettaLynch.
 “Whatever hismotivation, the defendant made extortionate demands of Home Depot,” said FBIacting assistant director in charge Mary Galligan. “His threats were accordedthe seriousness assigned to someone with a demonstrated ability to build bombs.The scheme caused economic loss, was a huge drain on law enforcement resources,and threatened the safety of untold numbers of innocent people, any one ofwhich is unacceptable.”