
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 30, 1990                   TAG: 9004300281
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

BOMBS SENT TO CLERGY LINKED TO N.C. ADDRESS

The mail bombs that exploded in a church in Texas in January and at Christian Broadcasting Network at Virginia Beach, Va., Friday were mailed from Bladen County and had Fayetteville return addresses, federal officials said Saturday.

The investigation into both bombings is now concentrated in the Fayetteville area, spokesmen for the U.S. Postal Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said.

The announcement came during a hastily called news conference Saturday in the main lobby of the Federal Building in Fayetteville.

The first bomb, which exploded in the 10,000-member interdenominational Lakewood Church in northeast Houston in late January, injured 21-year-old Lisa Osteen, director of ministries.

Paul Lyons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' senior agent in North Carolina, said a joint investigation has disclosed that the package bomb was mailed from the Elizabethtown Post Office in Bladen County on Jan. 26.

On Friday, a bomb in a package addressed to the Rev. Pat Robertson at the Christian Broadcasting Company in Virginia Beach exploded in the mail room when it was opened by a security guard.

The guard, Scott Scheepers, 33, was admitted at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in stable condition with shrapnel wounds of the left leg.

Richard Metz, senior postal inspector for North Carolina and South Carolina, said the package containing the explosive was mailed from the Bladenboro Post Office on April 20.

Sources told The Fayetteville Observer-Times that both packages had Fayetteville return addresses. Metz declined to reveal the exact addresses but said they were "in the Fayetteville area."

Metz and Lyons said their offices had been in contact with Cumberland County Sheriff Morris Bedsole since Friday because of the connection with the bombings and because of the services conducted by television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart Friday and Saturday nights at the Cumberland County Civic Auditorium.

Bedsole said security around the evangelist has been increased since the Virginia Beach bombing. There were no reports of any problems but the sheriff said he was taking no chances.

A $50,000 reward has already been offered in the Houston bombing. There will be an additional reward regarding the mail bomb that exploded in Virginia Beach, Metz said.

Lyons said he does not believe either bomb is connected with any other mail bombs reported "in Georgia or anywhere else."

by CNB