Sorting Out Simple Hate From Terrorism

ByABC News
August 13, 2004, 12:21 PM

Sept. 21, 2004 -- The mother of a Michigan teenager accused of plotting a terror attack on his school said her son is a good boy, but something bad got into him.

Some of that may have been unveiled last week when police displayed some of the items they say they found at the teenager's home when they arrested him Friday. Along with an AK-47, two rifles, pipe bombs, bomb-making supplies and other weapons were Nazi paraphernalia and literature, police said.

And what brought Andrew Osantowski, 17, of Clinton Township, to the attention of authorities was an Internet dialogue he allegedly conducted with an Idaho girl who was so shocked by the virulence of the white supremacism, race hatred and threats of violence she read, that she told her police officer father.

Osantowski did not belong to any known hate group, and apparently had little or no personal contact with others who might have shared his views, police said.

But Osantowski, who is being held on $1.35 million bail facing charges of threatening an act of terrorism, receiving and concealing stolen firearms, and larceny, among others, seems to fit with what some experts on extremist groups say is a growing face of hate disaffected suburban white youths, acting alone, inspired by what they see on the Internet.

"This kid's a loner," Clinton Township police Capt. Doug Mills said. "But everything we've seen says he is a definite believer in these kinds of beliefs. He's like an encyclopedia."

Mills said the FBI has joined the investigation, looking into "the aspect of the hate-type crimes and possible involvement with groups like the Aryan Nation."

DIVERSITY KILLS

Osantowski's father, Marvin, 52, was also arrested on charges of concealing stolen weapons. He pleaded not guilty and was being held on $600,000 bail. Mills said it does not appear that the man knew anything about what his son allegedly planned to do with the arsenal, which was stored in an attic accessible from the teenager's bedroom and an attic over the garage.