McVeigh Purportedly Confided in Sister About Robbing Bank

Bombing suspect Timothy J. McVeigh’s younger sister Jennifer has told the FBI that her brother confided to her that he robbed a bank in the months before the Oklahoma City attack and drove around the West in a vehicle packed with explosives, sources familiar with the investigation said.

In the second of two roughly 20-page statements to FBI officials, Jennifer McVeigh says her brother told her that he nearly killed himself last year when he narrowly avoided an automobile accident while carrying explosives. She also said McVeigh asked her to take two $100 bills to a bank and exchange them for smaller amounts so he could get rid of money stolen from a bank, sources familiar with the probe said.

One of Timothy McVeigh’s few confidantes, Jennifer McVeigh made her statements after weeks of pressure by the Justice Department to get her to talk about her knowledge of her brother’s activities before the April 19 terrorist attack. Authorities have been considering whether to charge her as an accomplice, though they apparently have little, if any, evidence of direct involvement.

Authorities weeks ago seized letters Timothy McVeigh wrote to Jennifer, in which he discussed possible surveillance of both. Investigators also have been probing an alleged illegal ammunition shipment from her to her brother in Kingman, Ariz.

Investigators have been exploring a theory that Timothy McVeigh supported himself and financed his alleged bomb plot through a series of robberies. The bank robbery that he allegedly discussed with his sister occurred around the same time as a November, 1994, Arkansas house robbery that netted $60,000 in cash, jewelry and firearms, some of which were recovered in the home of McVeigh’s alleged accomplice in the bombing, Terry L. Nichols.

Tuesday, Timothy McVeigh refused a judge’s order to provide a handwriting sample for a grand jury. Government officials want to compare his handwriting to that on documents they have obtained, specifically a form used to rent the Ryder truck used in the bombing, officials have said.

McVeigh’s attorney was ordered to prepare a brief about why his client shouldn’t be held in contempt.