Informant Told FBI of Alleged Y2K Plot

SACRAMENTO — A mystery informant familiar with an alleged Y2K bombing plot guided federal agents on an undercover tour of anti-government hate groups, letting them eavesdrop on meetings with militia members and discussions of bomb-making ingredients.

The informer supplied the agents with a “telephone tree” listing members of a Central Valley anti-government militia who sought to cause so much disorder that the government would be forced to declare martial law.

The unnamed FBI informant, who belonged to that group, helped lead investigators to Kevin R. Patterson, who was arrested earlier this month in connection with a plan to blow up two huge propane tanks near Sacramento.

The portrait of the goateed Patterson, 42, that emerges from an affidavit filed in the case is of a restless “demolitions expert” so troubled by the approach of the year 2000 that he stashed away a four-month supply of food and water.

He roamed the West in rented cars to collect hard-to-find gun parts at gun shows and spoke in a cryptic code, referring to the propane tanks as the “twin sisters.” Even as he allegedly mapped his plans, Patterson fretted that he would be caught by investigators.

The story told by the affidavit, which was unsealed earlier this month in a federal crackdown on suspected Y2K terrorism, unfolds like the script of a movie thriller, complete with references by Patterson to “The Poor Man’s James Bond,” a terrorist manual.

It provides a glimpse into the nether world of anti-government groups seeking to provoke social unrest in Northern California and other parts of the nation.

The document also provides insight into how a federal anti-terrorist task force based in Sacramento is pursuing fringe groups as the new year approaches. The task force is infiltrating the militia underground and employing wiretaps and high-tech equipment--even undercover agents--to monitor movements of suspected terrorists.

Along with a friend, Charles D. Kiles, 49, of Placerville, Patterson was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday on firearms charges. Patterson also was indicted on possession of bomb-making materials and drug charges. Kiles and Patterson, both of whom were already in custody, are described by the government informant as members of a group called the San Joaquin County Militia.

In Patterson’s case, the affidavit alleged in detail how he talked about blowing up the propane tanks, the California Aqueduct and other sites. U.S. prosecutors and Patterson’s own attorney have indicated that a grand jury soon may indict Patterson on charges directly related to the alleged bomb plot.

Dwight Samuel, Patterson’s attorney, declined to discuss whether Patterson is a militia member.

During a recent bail hearing, he said Patterson grew up in the Modesto area and was not a likely flight risk. Patterson’s mother was prepared to post a $125,000 property bond to secure his release, but a magistrate rejected her son’s bid for bail.

Regina Patterson said she found the allegations about her son “difficult to believe,” adding that Kevin Patterson told her “that he would never hurt a human being.”

The informer, however, painted a picture of a discontented person preparing to attack the propane tanks near some of the fastest-growing suburbs south of Sacramento.

(The paid informer, who is not identified as male or female, is said in the affidavit to have provided assistance in exchange for possible leniency in the person’s own firearms case.)

One conversation between the undercover guide and Patterson especially sheds light on Patterson’s knowledge of how to manufacture explosives. In a Feb. 20, 1999, discussion monitored by agents, Patterson described a way to purify commercial fertilizer for use as an explosive.

The informant told Patterson he understood that in the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, true ammonium nitrate was no longer sold in fertilizer lest it be turned into an explosive device. Ammonium nitrate was the basic ingredient in the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City explosions.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out. Let’s buy a pack . . . and try it,” Patterson shot back.

“You dissolve it, and whatever there is, hopefully, is less soluble than the ammonium nitrate. It sinks to the bottom and you’ve got your nice pure ammonium nitrate,” Patterson said.

To bolster allegations about Patterson’s knowledge of explosives, the affidavit quotes an Austin, Texas, police officer as recalling Patterson from a mid-’90s investigation of the Republic of Texas and the Texas Constitutional Militia. The Republic of Texas reportedly believes Texas should be a separate nation, and the Texas Constitutional Militia advocates a constitutional right to bear arms (it should not be confused with any branch of the U.S. military).

According to the affidavit, the Austin police officer saw Patterson “demonstrate the use of ammonium nitrate and pipe bombs as explosive devices.”

The officer said Patterson also “was known in the group as a methamphetamine ‘cook’ who provided substantial funding” to the two groups. The amount was not spelled out.

Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms became aware of Patterson in 1998 during an investigation of Donald K. Rudolph, described as the head of the San Joaquin Militia.

The informant told agents that Rudolph and Patterson chatted about possibly targeting the propane tanks in June 1998, when they were returning from Billings, Mont., where they helped other militia members conduct surveillance on the Yellowstone County Jail in anticipation of an attempt to break the Montana Freemen out of custody.

Rudolph was arrested last March on firearms charges and is in prison. Patterson reportedly broached his scheme to the informer at a Reno gun show on Nov. 21, 1998, and over the next year sought to enlist that person in the effort.

In a telephone conversation last June, Patterson, who lives in the small foothill town of Camino east of Sacramento, told the informer that he would purchase a drill press “this week” to facilitate his plan to bomb the propane tanks.

To watch Patterson over the summer, agents even placed a tracking device in a car he rented for a trip to Nevada.

In late August, the informant met with Kiles and Patterson near Patterson’s home. Patterson insisted that they walk to a nearby river. He told the informer that he no longer needed ammonium nitrate fertilizer because he already had what he needed to attack the propane facility and other targets, possibly television transmission towers, according to the court document.

By the end of November, the FBI informer asked Patterson about the scheme and Patterson predicted it would be several months “before he could do the ‘twin sisters.’ ”

“Patterson explained that he would use two charges, both launched from a large, shotgun-type weapon,” according to the affidavit. Two weeks later, Patterson and Kiles were arrested. They are scheduled to be arraigned today on the grand jury charges.