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Illinois Man Accused of Plotting to Bomb 48 Churches Is Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

A file photo of Gregory Arthur Weiler II, who has been charged with plotting to bomb 48 churches.
A file photo of Gregory Arthur Weiler II, who has been charged with plotting to bomb 48 churches. | (Photo: Ottawa County sheriff's department)

An Illinois man accused of plotting to bomb 48 Oklahoma churches was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity.

Gregory Arthur Weiler II had been charged with one count of possessing an unregistered, destructive device, before he was acquitted on Jan. 17. If convicted, he had faced up-to 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine.

Weiler was arrested and charged in 2012 after a worker in the motel in which he staying discovered brown bottles, gasoline cans and other seemingly bomb-making devices in the garbage bin. No explosives were ever set off nor anyone injured.

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Police later discovered pieces of paper in the trash can in his room that detailed Weiler's intentions to videotape the bombings and a note with the writing "Try to get away with it ... maybe a plan out of town?" They also found a list of 48 churches with an outline of a plan to plant bombs on the sites.

After his arrest, local police officials indicated that Weiler's family had a long history of abuse and that the suspect had been admitted to a mental hospital several times and had suffered from alcohol and heroin addictions. They also noted that both of his parents had committed suicide when Weiler was in middle school.

Weiler had been living in a homeless shelter in Kansas City, Mo., several months before he was arrested.

"We really, really tried hard to love Greg and put up with his sort of sullen detachment," Doug Perry, who pastored the church that hosted the homeless shelter where Weiler had been living, told The Associated Press in 2012. "We poured a whole lot of love, a whole lot of time, a whole lot of prayer into trying to help him. I grieve because I really do love the kid."

Perry added that he believed Weiler had blamed himself for his parents' deaths.

Both the prosecution and defense had agreed that Weiler had suffered from mental illness inhibiting him from understanding the gravity of his actions.

"Further, the parties agree and stipulate that the defendant, Gregory A. Weiler II., was suffering from a mental disease and/or disorder that rendered him unable to appreciate the nature, quality or wrongfulness of his actions," the document said.

In April 2013, a judge sent Weiler to a federal facility for treatment and declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial. Although he was found mentally competent earlier this month, "Weiler's attorney said he was made competent through the use of medication."

Weiler will be back in court on Feb. 21 following a psychiatric examination, ordered U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan.

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