https://www.oregonlive.c...lf-at-federal-trial.html
Article edited for post by n24Jason Paul Schaefer, the 27-year-old charged with igniting explosives in a cigarette pack as two members of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force moved in to arrest him in October 2017, directly questioned the lead agent in the case as his trial got underway Monday.
FBI agent and bomb technician Wade Mutchler testified that he believed Schaefer intended to kill himself and harm two officers when they moved in to arrest him on Oct. 11, 2017
“We’re all going to die today,’’ Schaefer reportedly told the two officers before he ignited a Camels cigarette pack filled with the explosive Triacetone Triperoxide, or “TATP,’’ in the front seat of his white Honda CRV, federal prosecutor Natalie Wight told jurors in her opening statement.
The explosion tore off two fingers on Schaefer’s left hand. Part of Schaefer’s blown-off fingers hit Washington County Sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Chedester, who was temporarily deafened from the blast, according to Wight.
Schaefer has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assaulting a federal officer, using a destructive device, using an explosive to commit a federal felony, carrying an explosive during the commission of a federal felony, unlawful transportation of explosive materials, possessing an unregistered destructive device and being a felon in possession of explosives.
Schaefer has signaled that he intends to argue that the chemicals found at his Rock Creek apartment were part of his home lab where he was working to make a drug called ibogaine to treat opioid addiction.Mutchler testified that he sought a federal search warrant for Schaefer’s Rock Creek home in the fall of 2017 after the FBI was informed by an online retailer that Schaefer had ordered a large number of hazardous chemicals.
Mutchler said he was particularly concerned that Schaefer, a convicted felon, had ordered electric match igniters, which are regulated and require licenses to hold, and remote firing detonators, which are commonly used in homemade bombs.
Before the task force executed the search warrant on Oct. 11, 2017, Mutchler had arranged for Schaefer to be at an 11 a.m appointment with his Washington County probation officer that day. When Schaefer arrived at the appointment, Mutchler informed him of the search warrant and asked if there were any booby-traps in his unit.
Schaefer said there were not and soon left the appointment.
Members of the FBI task force and bomb technicians began searching Schaefer’s apartment.
They found Schaefer had converted a bedroom into a makeshift chemistry lab, Wight said. In a hallway closet, they found a red locker-type cabinet with black explosive powder inside, an electric match igniter and an antenna protruding from the cabinet.
Mutchler described the discovery as an incinerator that could be remotely detonated to set a fire. Since Schaefer was a convicted felon, he wasn’t allowed to have the electric match, so Mutchler instructed Schaefer’s probation officer to obtain a warrant to arrest him...
...By day’s end, authorities had found 96 other electric matches in Schaefer’s apartment, hazardous chemicals and a book on his living room table that contained a recipe for the hallucinogenic drug LSD. They also raided two storage units Schaefer had. One held a single red box, which contained two bags of the TATP explosive, Mutchler said.
In phone calls to his father from jail, Schaefer admitted igniting the cigarette pack but said he didn’t want to hurt officers, Wight told jurors. He also said officers should have known not to approach his car...
...Schaefer also told his father, “I decided to die because I wanted to get on the news,’’ according to Wight. He shared with his father that he’d been running a large-scale drug lab out of his apartment to create a drug to cure opioid addictions, Wight added.
During his cross-examination of Mutchler, Schaefer asked if it was proper protocol for officers of the FBI-led task force to approach someone suspected of having explosives. “Wouldn’t best practice to be protection?’’ Schaefer asked.
“After you exploded that device in your hand’’ Mutchler testified, “ I did everything in my power to keep you and those around you safe.’’
Schaefer asked if electric matches are regulated explosives and require a license to possess. Mutchler said they are.
“Yet these regulated explosives are being sold on Amazon and eBay without licenses,’’ Schaefer continued. “Obviously, I purchased them from eBay, right?’’
Mutchler said Schaefer bought them via eBay from China.
“Are they still being sold on Amazon and eBay?’’ Schaefer asked.
Mutchler said that matter is something a local ATF agent was told to investigate further.
Schaefer had Mutchler review a September 2017 FBI report, which said Schaefer wasn’t a threat to national security and was believed to be making drugs. Mutchler testified that the report stemmed from an April 2017 encounter with Schaefer, after he had dumped about a half-pound of mercury on the ground near his Beaverton apartment and threatened to harm property managers who he had said were entering his garage. When officers arrived, they found Schaefer, a convicted felon, wearing body armor in violation of state law. Beaverton police arrested him, and he was prosecuted in Washington County...
...That April 2017 FBI assessment didn’t take into account the new information about all the chemicals Schaefer had purchased online, Mutchler said.
Schaefer asked if his probation officer had shared with Mutchler that he was producing chemicals related to the narcotic ibogaine, which he believed was a cure for opioid addiction.
“She told me you were interested in ibogaine,’’ Mutchler said.
“She never told you I had a laboratory?’’ Schaefer asked.
“She told me she was afraid to go in your apartment.’’
-- Maxine Bernstein