Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Remember that guy they picked up in January wandering near the Supreme Court building with a shotgun? They sent the robot to his vehicle to look for a bomb…all clear!

Um…well, it seems there has been a bomb in that vehicle all this time…

Federal officers searching a suspicious pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol in January missed an explosive device that remained undetected behind the seat for three weeks, officials said yesterday.

Michael S. Gorbey, who was initially detained for carrying a loaded shotgun near the Capitol, is now facing charges of planning to set off a bomb, according to an indictment filed in D.C. Superior Court. U.S. Capitol Police are investigating how their top-rated bomb squad failed to spot the hazardous device.

The revelations evoked one of the nightmare scenarios that Congress has spent millions of dollars to avert since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The contraption in Gorbey’s truck, parked about two blocks from the Capitol, “could have caused serious injuries” if detonated, said Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms.

Sources familiar with the investigation said, however, that the device was not in imminent danger of exploding. It was identified in court documents as being made of a can of gunpowder duct-taped to a box of shotgun shells and a bottle containing buckshot or BB pellets.

The device was discovered during a second search of the vehicle in February by Capitol Police. The truck had been sitting in a government parking lot since being seized in January, authorities said.

Gorbey has been charged with trying to possess or make a weapon of mass destruction, “that is, an explosive device capable of causing multiple deaths” or destruction of property, according to an indictment handed up last week.

Gorbey is also accused of making or transporting an explosive device with the intent to use it against people or property. And he faces multiple firearms counts, in addition to the initial weapons charge lodged against him in January.

Gorbey, 38, of Rapidan, Va., has pleaded not guilty and has been jailed since January. He has said he plans to defend himself at his trial, set to begin April 21.

Gorbey was detained by Capitol Police on Jan. 18 as he carried a loaded shotgun and a sword in the 300 block of First Street NE. In his backpack was the title for a 1981 Chevrolet pickup, which was parked illegally on D Street NE between the Capitol and Union Station, according to court documents.

After spotting propane tanks and wires in the pickup, officers called in the Capitol Police bomb squad. The squad did not find any immediate danger, officials said.

One Capitol Police source familiar with the incident said bomb technicians tried to make a careful search of the vehicle, which was crammed with clothing, papers and other goods.

But it was a Friday afternoon and the start of the long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, and people were complaining about road closures related to the bomb scare, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment.

He said that bomb squad technicians were urged by their superiors to hurry and that they missed the device, which was rolled up in old clothes behind the driver’s seat.

Thinking the vehicle was not a danger, police seized it and moved it to a Government Printing Office parking lot off North Capitol Street, officials said. Three weeks later, officers returned with a search warrant to look for papers and other items as part of the investigation.

“What they found was totally unexpected,” the source said.

The Capitol Police bomb squad is considered one of the best of the dozen federal, state and local squads in the area, with top-notch equipment and abundant personnel.

One officer has been removed from the bomb squad and returned to regular duty because of the incident, and the investigation is continuing, the source said.

Yesterday marked the first time officials revealed the potential gravity of Gorbey’s actions. Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, had told The Washington Post last month that the bomb squad had found an unidentified powder in Gorbey’s pickup but that it “was determined not to be hazardous.”

Yesterday, she confirmed that the substance was gunpowder but said she could not provide details about a case that is now in court. She said that the Capitol Police routinely do after-action reviews of critical incidents but that she could not comment on personnel matters.

According to court records, Gorbey has been in and out of prison since 1991 and has been convicted of larceny, domestic violence and illegally possessing firearms and drug paraphernalia. At the time of his arrest in January, he had in his backpack or in the truck numerous documents, tapes and disposable cameras that he said contained evidence of “wrongful doings” by police officers and government agents, according to papers Gorbey filed with D.C. Superior Court.

Gorbey told police officers who detained him that he had a meeting with U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and was carrying the shotgun for protection. Prosecutors said Gorbey did not have such an appointment.

(WaPo)