Two issues ago we told you about a bomb being set off near the property room of the Solano (CA) County Courthouse, possibly in an attempt to destroy cocaine which was being used as evidence in the "Third Strike" trial of one of the suspects.

The September 24, 1997, issue of the Los Angeles Times reports that the suspect in that case was convicted of ten drug and weapons counts, but acquitted on one count of unlawful possession of a handgun.  The paper went on to say:

The former rap producer and convicted drug dealer still faces a host of charges stemming from the dynamite bombings of the Vallejo, California, courthouse and a Wells Fargo Bank last January.  Police believe that (he) and five other men were also trying to destroy evidence in a police locker at a local library where children discovered 30 sticks of dynamite in a backpack."

We asked in the Evidence Log, Vol 97, No 1, issue article, "Is this an event, or is it the forerunner of a trend?" We suggested that the situation should be monitored to see if additional instances occured.  Unfortunately, it appears that our suspicions may have been justified.
 

THE VERY NEXT DAY after the above update article, the Los Angeles Times, Headlined

The article described a plot by a man coming to trial in Ventura, California, on charges of securities fraud, a "non-violent" crime.  An ATF Agent stated that the suspect "wanted to have maximum damage at the courthouse to obliterate all of the evidence in his case" before the trial began.  The plans under consideration by the suspect included use of military munitions, and building and detonating a truck bomb.

The suspect had taken reconnaissance photos of the courthouse, and met twice with an undercover ATF agent he thought to be a member of an anti-government militia group.  After the suspect paid the agent a $2,000 down payment to kill and rob a wealthy businessman and his wife to finance the bombing, agents made the arrest.

It appears that security concerns related to evidence storage facilities now will need to include precautions related to destructive devices on the magnitude of truck bombs.  The days of desk drawer evidence storage are gone forever!