Cops Capture "Bishop" Bomber

Dubuque man charged with mailing pipe bombs to investment companies
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 26, 2007 8:25 AM CDT
Cops Capture 'Bishop' Bomber
In this undated handout image from television provided by KWWL-TV, Waterloo, Iowa, is John P. Tomkins is shown. Tomkins, 42, was arrested Wednesday, April 25, 2007, in Dubuque, Iowa, and charged with sending dud pipe bombs and threatening letters to investment companies in Denver and Kansas City in...   (Associated Press)

Police nabbed "The Bishop"—the bandit who's been sending unwired pipe bombs to Midwestern investment firms for the last two years—they announced yesterday. John P. Tomkins, a 42-year-old machinist in DuBuque, Iowa, was charged with one count each of mailing an extortion letter and possessing an unregistered explosive device.

Investigators used handwriting, financial records, and a glimpse of Tompkins's car window, caught in a photo accompanying one of the bombs, to narrow in on their suspect. A search of his home and a nearby storage unit yesterday afternoon turned up multiple packages containing bombs, which were detonated by authorities at the site.

(More The Bishop stories.)

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