By James B. Kelleher
CHICAGO, May 23 (Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday gave
prosecutors more time to assemble their case against two men
arrested on terrorism-related and possession of explosives
charges ahead of the NATO summit.
Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, is charged with making a false
terrorist threat, and Mark Neiweem, 28, is charged with
attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices in the
days leading up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting
on Sunday and Monday, which drew thousands of protesters to
Chicago.
During two brief back-to-back hearings on Wednesday, Cook
County Circuit Court Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. granted the
state’s request to postpone until June 13 the preliminary
hearings in both cases, which prosecutors say are unrelated.
According to court papers, Senakiewicz, who lives in Chicago
but was born in Poland, bragged that he had two homemade
explosives that could “blow up half of an overpass for a train”
and that he planned to use them during the NATO conference.
Senakiewicz said the explosives were hidden in hollowed-out
volumes of Harry Potter books at his home, court papers said.
Based on his threats, police arrested him at his apartment, but
found no explosives.
Neiweem, who is on probation for assaulting a police
officer, is accused of attempting to buy the ingredients to make
a pipe bomb, according to the court records.
His charging documents make no reference to the NATO summit
or other possible targets or motives.
Outside court on Wednesday, one of Senakiewicz’s two
attorneys suggested a police informant got her client drunk and
then egged him on to make the threat.
Three other men arrested in raids ahead of the summit on
terrorism-related charges appeared in court on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said the three were caught making crude gasoline
bombs and had discussed using them against several high-profile
targets in the city, including President Barack Obama’s campaign
headquarters.
A preliminary hearing in their case of the men, dubbed the
“NATO 3” by Chicago media, is scheduled for June 12.
Charging documents for Senakiewicz and Neiweem make no
mention of a connection to the NATO 3 and prosecutors said the
cases are unrelated.
But attorneys for the five men have said they believe the
same two police informants were involved in all the cases and
that their clients, who were arrested in pre-emptive raids ahead
of the summit, were entrapped.
(Editing by Greg McCune and Cynthia Osterman)
