Man jailed in alleged plot to kill

A Coeur d’Alene man recently kicked out of the U.S. Army has been arrested in Spokane for allegedly plotting to kill a Spokane County sheriff’s sergeant and his girlfriend after setting off pipe bombs in a terrorism diversion plot.

The plot that Brian Dean Simmons confessed to hatching was never fully carried out, but a pipe bomb he admitted making was found in January under a police car parked near the Public Safety Building, court documents say.

Simmons, who is believed to be in his early 20s, was arrested without incident Tuesday by agents assigned to the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Simmons is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear at a detention hearing today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno.

Simmons is charged in a federal complaint with interstate travel with the intent to kill, injure, harass or intimidate.

FBI Special Agent Norm Brown, a spokesman for the terrorism task force, said information concerning Simmons was referred to the task force in early August by the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Army investigators learned in May that Simmons had sent a series of e-mails threatening to travel to Spokane to kill James L. Hughes and Donna Gilmore to regain custody of Simmons’ 2-year-old son.

The child was born to Simmons’ wife, Debbie Simmons, who is Hughes’ sister.

Hughes and Gilmore were awarded temporary custody of the child on the grounds the Simmonses were unfit parents, apparently triggering Brian Simmons’ anger and e-mail threats.

Hughes is a Sheriff’s Office sergeant assigned to the Spokane County Jail, according to court documents.

Brian Simmons told Army investigators that he was “plotting out of madness in my head” to “kill my wife’s brother” after diverting attention with a “terrorist attack by attacking cops.”

“He plotted to kill his targets by using terrorist activity in the form of an explosion at some (unspecified) location in Spokane,” a court document says.

Brian Simmons, the document continues, flew Jan. 8 from Fort Campbell to Spokane, where he remained until Jan. 12.

The following day, a pipe bomb was found under a Spokane Police Department patrol car parked near the Public Safety Building.

After returning to Kentucky, Simmons sent other e-mails, suggesting he needed “a sniper rifle with a scope” to accomplish his plan.

The device, rendered harmless by bomb squad technicians, contained military “meals ready to eat,” or MREs, and warmers containing the active ingredient hexamine, but no fuse or blasting cap.

Hexamine is not independently an explosive substance, but it can be used with other components to make crude bombs, similar to homemade C-4 plastic explosives.

After military investigators learned of Simmons’ alleged plan, they closely monitored him and waited for him to take an “overt act.” Court documents say that occurred Aug. 1 when Simmons cashed out a 401(k) account from previous employment, possibly to obtain a firearm.

The Army then gave Simmons an “other than honorable” discharge for having an impaired mental condition and referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane.