Security Up After Theft Of Explosives Investigators Consider Anniversary This Month Of Ruby Ridge Standoff

Investigators nervous about this month’s anniversary of the Randy Weaver siege continue the hunt for thieves who stole 500 pounds of mine explosives.

The theft last weekend from the Lucky Friday mine, near Wallace, occurred about the same time as burglaries at two other explosives bunkers in the Silver Valley.

The three break-ins have convinced investigators the thieves were determined to get their hands on explosives.

Investigators are not talking but are pursing leads in North Idaho.

The explosives were stolen three weeks before the third-year anniversary of the shooting and standoff at Weaver’s North Idaho cabin.

That episode and the April 1993 assault on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, are watershed events for militia groups, gun-rights advocates and others critical of the federal government and its power.

The bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building occurred on the second anniversary of the Waco assault.

Authorities are considering whether a similar bombing could mark the anniversary of the Weaver siege.

Weaver’s wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal were killed in the 11-day standoff, which began Aug. 21, 1992.

Federal authorities aren’t talking publicly about the possibility of a bombing.

But officials privately concede that people angry over the Weaver case could target federal buildings in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.

Uniformed guards now patrol all three federal buildings, and other additional security is being added, according to the General Services Administration.

“We’ve taken these steps because of the Oklahoma City bombing and in light of potential occurrences in the future,” said GSA spokesman Rick Desimone.

The Spokane federal building was given a Level 4 rating in a just-completed Department of Justice threat-assessment survey, Desimone said.

The highest designation - Level 5 - was tagged on the FBI headquarters, the Pentagon and CIA headquarters, which are considered the biggest targets.

Federal buildings in Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene each were given Level 3 designations, Desimone said.

The designations are based on the federal agencies and number of employees in the buildings, Desimone said.

Desimone said a Federal Protective Service team in Spokane is supervising security for federal buildings in Spokane, Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene.

The GSA official said Federal Protective Service officers were aware of the theft of the mining explosives.

Authorities weren’t talking publicly about leads in that case, but they confirmed that a third mining area burglary was discovered Wednesday.

Someone broke into empty storage facilities owned by ICI Explosives USA Inc., said Shoshone County Undersheriff Nelson Morris.

That facility, once known as The Kap House, is located about three miles north of Wallace, near the closed Day Rock mine.

The munitions storage site consists of three railroad boxcars secured with steel-protected padlocks to protect against bolt cutters.

Like the two other break-ins, the determined thieves used an acetylene torch to cut around the padlocks.

“They didn’t find anything, because nothing was in there,” said John Mains, an executive with ICI Explosives, at the company’s headquarters in Dallas.

Explosives haven’t been stored in the boxcars for several years, Mains said.

ICI Explosives also owns an underground storage facility at an old Atlas missile silo near Deer Park in Spokane County.

Security there has been improved because of the burglaries in the Silver Valley, Mains said.

The company also has asked the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department for additional patrols in the area.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map of burglary sites near I-90 from Kellogg to Montana