Glendon Scott Crawford, 51, was found guilty of plotting to acquire a radiation device in order to kill "enemies of Israel," and harm President Barack Obama. The professed member of the Klu Klux Klan is now facing life in prison for planning to use the device which he called "Hiroshima on a light switch."
The full charges Crawford was convicted of include use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to build and use a radiological dispersal device, and distributing information with respect to a weapon of mass destruction.
In an initial criminal complaint by the FBI in June 2013 revealed, "experts have advised the investigation that the remote initiation device and X-ray systems Crawford plans to weaponize would produce a lethal, and functioning, remotely controlled radiation emitting device." The report also revealed that the remote trigger for the device was successfully tested in May 2013.
Crawford was reported to the FBI by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady and the Israeli Embassy in Washington, after asking them to help him obtain a commercially available industrial-grade X-ray machine so he could kill "enemies of Israel." The agency later sent undercover agents to Crawford with an x-ray device which they rendered inoperable. The man and his accomplice, Eric J. Feight, 56, acquired parts from their employer, General Electric, to build a test switch which prosecutors argued could have activated the radiation machine.
The men planned to park the machine in a van or truck and trigger remotely, exposing them to lethal doses of radiation that wouldn't have been detectable until it was too late. One of the planned targets was the Governor's Mansion in Albany.
Crawford's sentencing is set for December 5, where he faces a $2 million fine for the radiological dispersal charge, and he also faces a mandatory 25 year to life sentence.
Source: The Guardian
