Monday, April 26, 2010

Arrest of Ohio Man during the President's Visit to North Carolina Raises Questions: Why did the Arrested Man have possible Police Car and Gear ?


Sunday at the Ashville NC airport in a Rental Car lot adjacent to the Airport Sean McVey of Coshcochtan Ohio was arrested on a "misdemeanor" charge: "Going armed to terror the public" and is being held on $100,000 bail. The different papers state that he was charged with being a threat to the public.It is unclear as to his purpose for being at the airport and why he was armed.Supposedly he did have permit for the sidearm.

It is stated in the articles that he also had Rifle Scope codes with him in the car, yet no articles state whether he had any other weapons in the car or an actual rifle. The articles do also state that he had police gear in the car, which raises more questions. CNN story goes as far as to state that he was impersonating a Police Officer, you can read more here None of the stories posted have stated what he was wearing when arrested or his actual occupation or if he has Miliary or Police training.
CNN Story as of Sunday Night:
"Man arrested after Obama leaves North Carolina
Police in Asheville, North Carolina, arrested a man they said was impersonating a police officer at the city's airport after President Obama flew out of town on Sunday.Joseph McVey, 23, was being held on a charge of going armed to the terror of the public, according to the Buncombe County jail's booking office. McVey's bail was set at $100,000, Officer Donna Player told CNN.Journalists saw police put the handcuffed man into an Asheville Regional Airport police car in the facility's parking lot after Obama's plane departed following the first family's weekend vacation in the western North Carolina mountains.

Airport police Capt. Kevan Smith said the suspect was driving a car that was made to look like a law enforcement vehicle with working lights and sirens. He would provide no further details about the suspect, but emphasized that the president was never in any danger.Additional charges were pending Sunday evening, he said."{ CNN's Jeremy Ryan and Matt Smith contributed to this report.}

Just an Ohio kid with a Walkie-Talkie and a gun or something much more worrisome and premeditated and coordinated is the bigger question ? Its interesting to note that the Stories as they appear in different papers have a different slant as to the young man's intentions. MSNBC 's story on the man included very little details regarding the Actual event at the airport, including omitting the information about the Rifle Scope codes and the fact that he was communicating with another individual via a headset, or that the scanner was listening to the actual Police Feeds for that area. The Citizen Times article below raises some much more troubling issues, including the police scanner and the fact that the young man was in communication with someone else.

All Press Releases on this arrest state that the man had "Police gear in the car". Even this AP story mentions the "police gear" and that the car was also equipped with police issue strobe lights and that the trunk had 4 antennas on it. It also stated that the car had hoodmounted digital camera. Some of what was described sounds similiar to an unmarked police car ? It is also to be noted that the stories all mention that a Driver's License check was run on McVey,but nothing is said about an actual check on the car. Was the car from a Police Dept ? It did have LED strobe lights, a siren box, and a digital camera hoodmounted as well as scanner equipment and "police gear" in the car. Was this car registered to the Police or Authorities in Ohio ?

AP story:"McVey told an officer in the airport parking lot he wanted to see the president and he had a car equipped with police gear, including a siren and flashing lights, though he did not work in law enforcement, authorities said."
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This is the CitizenTimes article in it's entirety from Sunday:

"ASHEVILLE — Asheville Regional Airport police arrested a 23-year-old Ohio man who was carrying a handgun and listening to police radio scanners near the runway around the time President Barack Obama’s flight was leaving Asheville, according to investigators.Joseph Sean McVey, of Coshocton, in southeastern Ohio, pulled his vehicle in front of a gate in the rental car parking lot as Air Force One was taxiing on the runway just before 2 p.m., according to a case summary filed by police.
McVey has been charged with going armed to the terror of the public, a misdemeanor offense. He is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on $100,000 secured bond.

He did not get near the president.The car’s Ohio plates and other equipment including a digital camera on the dashboard and four large antennas on the trunk lid caught an airport police officer’s attention, according to the case summary.

McVey got out of the car and started talking on a handheld radio attached to a remote earpiece and the officer noticed he was wearing a sidearm.The officer and Secret Service agents asked for McVey’s identification and when they ran his driver’s license number through a computer it did not come back as valid, according to the case summary.When the officer asked what he was doing, McVey stated “he heard the president was in town. He stated he wanted to see the president,” according to a case summary.Officers then removed McVey’s Springfield XD 40 handgun and detained him.While searching his Pontiac Grand Prix, investigators heard police department radio traffic “indicating he was monitoring our frequency when he arrived,” according to the summary.Officers also found a siren box under his steering wheel, several pieces of paper with agency frequencies written on them and a sticky note in the cup holder with rifle scope formulas on them."

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From his Twitter Page it appears he is a Ham Radio kid, but not much else was learned of his intentions or relationships.
His Last four tweets yesterday show he was driving to North Carolina and twittering on the road ( not clear if it is with an iphone). Nothing mentioned of his intentions or plans when he was to arrive in NC.

@alutz904 uhhh yar. Get a 10-meter radio! Better, upgrade to KD8KRN/AG and an HF rig.
12:22 AM Apr 25th via TweetDeck from North Carolina, US in reply to alutz904

@Atlacamani don't think so. Each has its own rules. Some are high school level, for example, with obvious age restrictions. #piano
12:21 AM Apr 25th via TweetDeck from North Carolina, US in reply to Atlacamani

@Atlacamani that isn't entirely true. As a pianist, I can attest that one can compete over 30! :} #piano !!!
2:26 AM Apr 24th via TweetDeck from Limestone, NC in reply to Atlacamani

@alutz904 just got phone plugged in. Sup?
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On Monday the Citizen Times story was updated with more information about his Online Life as well as his Ham Radio History and his work history.His Xanga profile page, last updated in 2006, lists his birthday as April 16, 1987.

"In 2007, McVey posted a blog on his Myspace profile that said he got a job working “as IntelliTarget Marketing. (Verifying addresses on magazine subscriptions and, soon, political ‘advertising’ for the One Million Republicans, a new Republican group postered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay).”Other blogs describe girl troubles and his frustrations surrounding his efforts to become a good pianist. He hasn’t posted a new blog since 2008.His Facebook page, which the Citizen-Times had limited access to, lists him as a fan of Asheville and, separately, as fan of downtown Asheville
On his YouTube account, McVey has favorited more than 100 videos, including multiple law enforcement-related videos and one that allegedly shows U.S. soldiers accidentally killing civilians in Iraq .None of the sites examined by the Citizen-Times included any mention of President Barack Obama."
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In closing more should be reported on his Status, MSNBC downplayed story while CNN focused on his possible Police Impersonation. Hopefully the Police Angle of this situation will be further investigated including did he have Police and Military training and the question will be answered as to whether he was driving an unmarked Police Car or was the car also being made to appear falsely that it was a Police Car ? And who was he talking to on his handheld radio ? Was he alone in his actions or was he working with someone ? Either way Harmless kid with a Ham radio does not appear to be the Story here and someone needs to ask some hard questions and investigate thoroughly.

7 comments:

nancydrew said...

Also worrisome is that his name is McVey--one has to wonder what all of the recent references to McVeigh may have triggered (no pun intended) in his fantasies.

enigma4ever said...

Greetings Nancy Drew....
I think his name is also concerning...
as you said did it feed a fantasy...

Today the news has not even mentioned...
cnn or msnbc ..
and local Ohio news was busy reporting on the runaway wife from Ohio who ran to Fla.( like a flakey woman on the run was much more important than a possible crazyman stalking the president)..

I am annoyed because I think it is a relevant story-
esp in light of the OH Hutaree group just a month ago-not all members of that group were arrested-only 8 members were arrested. Also the "kid" was talking to Someone and why did he have rifle codes? and why would he have an unmarked police car ( complete with lights,siren and digital camera).

( in one of the articles I read it did say that one of the Hutaree plots did involve impersonating police).

Obviously I am just very suspicious person-but the lack of details is concerning...just simply knowing what "police gear" was in the car and what was he wearing would say alot...

Kittie Howard said...

As always, Enigma, your infor is more complete than what I learned earler. There's something about this incident that doesn't sit right. You're right, some hard questions need to be asked. And, I also thought what nancydrew wrote.

Unknown said...

I agree with the you on the absence of consistent information. Being from the south, I hear of how militias are on the rise. I wouldn't be surprised if this is in some way related to that. I do think that it is odd, that his car had so many police details and that he had been monitoring their frequency. Makes you wonder what he really had planned for the day, or if he was/is acting alone.
For items of that magnitude and his youth, I find it highly unlikely that he didn't have help. Probably from the inside.

enigma4ever said...

Karmasoulbeauty...

thank you for your thoughts....you are right -he is awful young...really is questionable whether he was acting alone....and yes, I guess in the South, and according to Southern Poverty Law Center...militias are on the rise. This young man was training or part of Something....

Kittie::
thanks...sadly his name alone is chilling...and then some of the smaller details that didn't make it to the news....rifle scope codes...we shall see if it gets buried below the fold or gets some attention and investigation that it needs....again I don't think he was alone...

tom said...

I think the lack of mention is due to the fact that it is NOW COMMONPLACE for folks to be hanging out with guns where Political events are happening...
Sick Sick people and he had a gun
You see it's apparently OK to intimidate progressives and carry guns near a Democratic President
The 30 year long barrage of don't trust the government has finally worked for the repukes
It's not the country they love...

D.K. Raed said...

I read this story when it broke but never saw anything on the cable news. Then yesterday CNN said they were following up on a previous story (whaaa? I don't recall them covering it all) to say Ohio has rescinded Mr McVey's concealed carry license. Their cavalier matter-of-fact attititude bothers me. All I can think is the daily death threats must be off the charts.

I had to ask the hub, Mr Marine Marksman, what "formulas for rifle scopes" are ... ulp, and McVey carries them in his cupholder?

This guy was/is trouble. I'm glad he is in custody but worry about the next. Militias are not only on the rise in the south. UT has/had a chapter of hutaree. And you know they infest the Pacific Northwest inland areas.