Spokane7
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June 17, 2010 in Idaho
Pipe bomb suspect in federal custody
Man said he made explosive on SUV
Local authorities conduct a search of the vehicle after a pipe bomb was removed at the Fast Lane Quick Lube in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
A man who approached federal agents last week about an alleged murder-for-hire plot hatched by a former lawyer for the Aryan Nations may have left out a key detail: He’d already rigged an explosive to the intended victim’s car.
Larry Andrew Fairfax, 49, remains in federal custody after appearing in U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday on firearms charges related to a pipe bomb attached to the bottom of Edgar Steele’s wife’s SUV Tuesday. Auto shop employees found the explosive Tuesday during an oil change.
Although federal agents won’t confirm whether it was Fairfax who tipped them last week to the alleged murder plot, citing rules for protecting the identity of confidential informants, they said Wednesday they are not looking for any additional suspects in the case.
“There’s no pending public safety threat,” said Don Robinson, supervisory agent for the FBI’s Coeur d’Alene office.
Fairfax was arrested Tuesday at Coeur d’Alene police headquarters after he told investigators he made the bomb at his home on Ponderosa Road near Sagle, about six miles from Steele’s Talache Road home, which was raided by federal agents Friday.
Fairfax is accused of placing the homemade bomb on the 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor Limited on May 30, one day before Cyndi Steele was to drive to Oregon. He told police that although he planted the first bomb, he manipulated the fuse to malfunction, according to court documents.
Fairfax also told agents he was to place a second bomb on Edgar Steele’s car, which he said Steele planned to ignite after his wife’s death “to provide an alibi or evidence that both he and his wife had been targeted for murder,” wrote Agent Todd Smith of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in an affidavit.
Fairfax had emptied the second device of gun powder and gave it to investigators Tuesday during an interview at the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.
Investigators say the pipe bomb may have been a separate murder attempt from the plan Fairfax previously spoke of that was set for last Friday.
“We’ve got to look at the time and when (the device) was placed,” Robinson said. “Was this a prior attempt that failed to work? These are all questions we hope to answer in the next couple days.”
The case began last week when the FBI learned from an informant of an alleged murder plot by Steele, known for his unsuccessful defense of the Aryan Nations in the landmark 2000 lawsuit that bankrupted the racist group.
The informant told investigators he scouted Steele’s mother-in-law’s house in Oregon City, Ore., and accepted $400 to cover travel costs, which he gave to investigators as evidence. The informant was to be paid $25,000 for the murders and $100,000 if Steele collected on an insurance policy, according to a probable cause affidavit supporting Steele’s arrest.
The FBI monitored two meetings between the informant and Steele and say they have Steele on tape discussing the plot. Steele was arrested at his home Friday; he pleaded not guilty to a murder-for-hire charge on Tuesday, just hours after the bomb was discovered on his wife’s SUV. Cyndi Steele and her son attended the hearing; a judge ordered Edgar Steele not to contact his wife or his mother-in-law.
Fairfax told investigators he stuck the bomb on Cyndi Steele’s SUV at the Steele home on or about May 30. It was still there when she pulled into a Coeur d’Alene auto shop Tuesday about 12:30 p.m. to get an oil change. A Spokane County bomb squad used a robot to detonate the device. The device “could have resulted in death or serious bodily injury to any person nearby” had it exploded, according to an affidavit supporting Fairfax’s arrest.
Fairfax was in police custody by 7 p.m., court records show.
Fairfax’s family and public defender John Miller declined comment after Wednesday’s hearing. Court documents say Sagle lawyer Jim Michaud attended Fairfax’s interviews with police Tuesday night, but Michaud did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Fairfax’s bail hearing is set for Monday afternoon. He’s in custody at the Kootenai County Jail.
Human trafficking suspects released 
monkeyman on June 17 at 9:09 a.m.
Wanna-be James Bond in Idaho?!! Times must me changing…
Steven1 on June 17 at 7:04 p.m.
Fairfax is a criminal and compulsive liar. I’m suprised he didn’t blow himself up making it. He should have been put away 40 years ago. Bonner Co is all the better without him.
TalacheJoe on June 18 at 11:15 a.m.
The real story is not about Edgar Steele, it is about Larry Fairfax, the bankrupt logger supposedly hired by Steele to commit murder.
Last year Larry Fairfax filed for bankruptcy for the amount of $638,898, see
http://www.spokesman.com/search/?q=%22larry+fairfax%22&x=10&y=12.
Fairfax is well known swindler, con artist, criminal mastermind. “Larry the logger” Fairfax stole trees on nearly every logging job for over 20 years. That is a fact. Larry swindled the wages from his workers on nearly every job. That is a fact. Larry stole from the insurance companies, he dropped a tree on his truck when he wanted a new truck.
When Larry’s house burned down, and then Larry ended up with a mansion up on the hill, well you know, we all suspected Larry of arson.
Any insurance company that writes a policy with Larry’s name on it is going to lose money, and lose big. Larry is a mastermind Sagle gangster.
Here are the real questions. Was Fairfax hired by the FBI to frame Steele because the FBI had Larry by the balls for another crime he committed? Was his son Andrew involved in the bomb making and planting? Did Larry plant the bomb or did someone else. Was his worker known as “Griz” involved?
There is much more to the story, Spokesman Review investigative reporters need to get up to Sagle and start digging….lol.
Bbeeniebutton on July 04 at 9:18 p.m.
wow talache joe you sure don’t know your facts do you? there’s two kind of people who live in the country, those who chose to and those who have to. obviously you are a have to because your idiocy is so pronounced it is frightening. if anyone knows talache joe you might want to stay away from him because he is carrying so much anger and hatred inside him you might become his next target. it’s easy to twist things around when you envy someone which you do joe. so a word of warning to the wise avoid joe he’s toxic even to a friend.