FBI: Edison Park man planned phony Bin Laden threats from Park Ridge home

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Updated: February 20, 2012 9:05AM

An Edison Park man accused of mailing threatening letters to dozens of businesses and individuals across the country while claiming to be Osama Bin Laden reportedly had a connection to Park Ridge, a document from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reveals.

Timothy P. O’Donnell, 51, of 6661 N. Octavia Ave., Chicago, was indicted Jan. 5 on nine counts of falsely threatening the use of explosives, following an FBI investigation.

O’Donnell has entered a not guilty plea to the charges and was released on bond Jan. 12. He has also been ordered to undergo a mental-competency examination, court documents show.

According to an FBI search-warrant affidavit provided to the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, O’Donnell stands accused of mailing letters to about 45 addresses in 16 states claiming that Al-Qaeda had planted “nuclear bombs throughout the U.S. in schools, stadiums, churches, stores, financials institutions and government buildings.” The “identically-worded” letters, received by schools, law-enforcement agencies, municipalities, a medical facility, private individuals and religious institutions, claimed to be from Osama Bin Laden and were mailed from Chicago during March 2011, the affidavit states.

In the course of the FBI’s investigation it was learned that O’Donnell was reportedly seen visiting a home on the 400 block of South Fairview Avenue in Park Ridge, where a computer was allegedly used in March 2011 to visit the websites of six of the recipients that had received the threatening letters, according to the affidavit. These websites included the city of Miami, Fla.; the police department in Ames, Iowa; a hospital in Boise, Idaho; the Dubuque, Iowa, fire department; a school in Villanova, Pa.; and an individual in Nashville, Tenn.

According to authorities, law-enforcement surveillance was conducted outside the Fairview address in June 2011, where a white vehicle reportedly driven by O’Donnell was seen.

Randall Samborn, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said no residents of the Fairview Avenue address have been charged in connection with this case. A phone call to the home was not returned early this week.

The letters that O’Donnell stands accused of mailing reportedly demanded the neutralization of all nuclear-bomb threats in the United States and a trial held in the style of a popular TV show for all those “responsible for unnecessary crimes of war, poverty and suffering of families in the world.”

“Arrest them immediately and bring to O’Hare Air Force Base for a live, unedited trial on TV, just like ‘American Idol’ where people vote to determine results,” the letters reportedly stated.

The writer also allegedly threatened that if these two demands were not met, “85 percent of Afghan and American families die.” A number of the letters also contained the names of a British financier and a prominent American banker, stating they should be arrested, according to the affidavit.

O’Donnell is also suspected of sending additional letters in July 2011 to 15 addresses in the Chicago area. According to the affidavit, the letters, written in memo form, include the subject line, “this is a nuclear bomb promise and warning — not a threat.”

According to the FBI, O’Donnell’s fingerprint was found on a stamp affixed to the envelope that contained one of the July letters.

Authorities do not believe O’Donnell actually posed a threat.

“While there was never any real danger in Chicago or elsewhere, these charges demonstrate that the FBI and the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force will aggressively investigate all threats and there are serious consequences for those who allegedly make false threats,” said Robert D. Grant, of the FBI’s Chicago Office in a press release issued following O’Donnell’s arrest.

The suspect’s next court appearance is set for March 7.