Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102100149
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: BALTIMORE LENGTH: Medium
FBI agents said that Charles Edward Gresham Jr., 57, Ellicott City, owned 2.2 million gallons of sodium hydrosulfide stored in Norfolk and wanted to destroy the tanks to collect $2.7 million in insurance funds.
The discovery of two bombs last Monday touched off fears of international terrorism related to the crisis in the Persian Gulf. But at a press conference Saturday, Joseph Corless, special agent in charge of the Baltimore FBI office, said that the agency quickly ruled that out.
"It was strictly insurance fraud," he said.
Two men the FBI described as "business associates" of Gresham - Joseph Openshaw, an electrical engineer, of St. Johns, Ariz., and Cecil Howard Ross, of Glendale, Ariz. - were arrested Friday night in Phoenix and also charged in the conspiracy.
FBI agents said that Gresham, a former vice president of the University of Baltimore, planned to clear $500,000 from the insurance payment after expenses, with the two Arizona men splitting another $500,000.
Early last Monday, a square-mile area surrounding Allied Terminals Inc. was evacuated as bomb crews removed the two devices. One was attached to a 3 million-gallon methanol storage tank and the other to the tank holding Gresham's sodium hydrosulfide.
FBI agents said that the plan was to use the highly volatile methanol to detonate the second tank. But the fuses did not work.
At Saturday's press conference, Corless said that storing the chemical in Norfolk was costing Gresham $16,000 a month, and that he was four months behind on his payments.
The insurance policy, whose coverage had been boosted by $2 million in December, would have expired Feb. 20, the FBI said.
The Maryland investigation began Monday when an informant who had heard news reports of the bombs called the FBI in Norfolk to say that Gresham had approached him in an unsuccessful effort to recruit him to set the bombs, Corless said.
According to Corless, Gresham apparently was having trouble selling his inventory of sodium hydrosulfide, a chemical used in tanning, paper making and mining. The Environmental Protection Agency has banned use of the chemical in this country, Corless said.
In December 1990, Gresham decided to increase the insurance coverage on the chemicals about $2 million, Callahan said. To support the need for more insurance, Gresham and Openshaw apparently "created fraudulent documents . . . saying they're about to sell these chemicals in China."
by CNB