Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 13, 1995 TAG: 9505150083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY LENGTH: Medium
Also Friday, a man wounded in the April 19 explosion died in a hospital, raising the death toll to 168.
Federal marshals arrested Steven Garrett Colbern on a federal firearm charge in Oatman, Ariz., after a hotel owner recognized him from a photograph that agents showed around town.
Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg merely confirmed that Colbern was arrested in Oatman, but gave no other details.
A senior federal official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Colbern may have links to McVeigh.
``We have found a letter from McVeigh addressed to ``S.C.'' and Colbern is thought to have used McVeigh's mailbox address in Arizona,'' the official said Friday night. ``The arrest of Colbern is part of a search for an associate of McVeigh who might help us clear up the mystery of John Doe No.2. We are not saying he is John Doe No.2.''
John Doe No.2 is the square-jawed suspect in FBI sketches distributed shortly after the bombing.
Earlier, authorities said they were searching for a man who may have driven a brown pickup alongside McVeigh's car immediately after the bombing. However, a brown pickup linked to Colbern may not have been moved for some time, the official said.
Ted Tonioli, who owns the hotel in Oatman, about 20 miles northeast of Needles, Calif., said Colbern had been in town a month or two, apparently working at a gold mine.
Colbern pulled a .38-caliber gun on agents when they approached him on the street, said Tom Nixon, chief deputy in the marshal's office in Phoenix. Officers struggled with him and pushed him to the ground.
Colbern, 35, was scheduled to be arraigned today before a federal magistrate in Phoenix, Nixon said.
McVeigh was pulled over in Perry, Okla., 75 minutes after the bombing for not having a license plate on his car and was jailed after a gun was found on him.
According to the federal official in Washington, a witness told investigators that a brown pickup that appeared to be traveling with McVeigh pulled over in front of McVeigh's car, waited, then moved on.
Authorities are checking to see if the pickup appears in a videotape from a camera in the Oklahoma police car.
Colbern was described in a news release from police in Upland, Calif., just east of Los Angeles, as ``Steven Garrett Colbern, AKA John Doe No.2.'' Colbern was arrested in Upland in July after police found weapons in his possession during a traffic stop. He was freed on bail but failed to appear in court and is considered a fugitive, Upland police Sgt. Kevin Cushman said.
Describing Colbern as the ``suspect du jour,'' one federal official said, ``I don't know if he's involved. He's got an interesting background.''
Colbern, described by a neighbor as a ``weirdo'' who dressed in camouflage and ``liked to play soldier,'' is believed by authorities to have ties to the Arizona Patriots, an anti-government group.
Though Colbern is about the height and weight of the suspect portrayed in an FBI composite, officials noted that he is not known to have a tattoo. Witnesses told authorities they saw a tattoo on the left arm of John Doe No. 2.
by CNB