Lloyd R. Woodson
Encyclopedia
Lloyd R. Woodson is an American whose arrest in central New Jersey on January 25, 2010 received national attention in the United States. Woodson was armed with a semi-automatic assault
rifle and was wearing a military-grade ballistic vest at the time of his arrest. A subsequent search of his motel room uncovered a large cache of military-grade weapons and ammunition including a grenade launcher, a night vision scope, a police scanner, a Middle Eastern headdress, and a number of maps including one of the nearby Fort Drum
U.S. military facility; .
Woodson admitted he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime but appeared to have been acting alone. A spokesman from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) said initially Woodson did not "appear to have any connections to known terrorist groups, nor any terrorist plot."
On January 26, 2010, Woodson was charged in state court with various criminal charges. Bail was set at $75,000. On January 29, he was charged in federal court, and consented to be held without bail. On February 25, a county grand jury indicted Woodson for attempted armed robbery (second degree), possession of a firearm for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a rifle, possession of a defaced firearm, possession of hollow-point bullets, and possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
from Reston, Virginia
. He had lived in Reston for less than a year, and previously lived in District Heights, Maryland
, Queens and Brooklyn, New York.
Woodson joined the U.S. Navy in February 1988, serving aboard the USS Orion
, a submarine tender
, for under a year before deserting in April 1989. On or about April 10, 1997 he was convicted by the Superior Court
in Brooklyn of criminal possession of a weapon in Kings County, New York – a felony
punishable with a prison term greater than one year. Eight years after he deserted
he was returned to the Navy's custody, he was given a dishonorable discharge in August 1997.
In 2008, Woodson's wife, Tracey Everett, sought a protective order against him in Forestville, Maryland
. In court papers, she said he deserted her and her children months earlier. She had not spoken to him in more than a year, and had tried unsuccessfully to find him to serve divorce papers. She said that although he collected guns, she did not believe Woodson was violent: "He's just a loner. He just needs psychological counseling."
.
Woodson was wearing a military-style ballistic vest with a reinforced front steel plate. Concealed under his green, military-style jacket was a loaded semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle, which had a defaced serial number and had been modified to chamber .50caliber
cartridges instead of the stock .223
caliber (5.56 mm) ammunition. Also concealed under Woodson's jacket were four additional high-capacity magazines all loaded with ammunition, some of which were hollow points. Branchburg Police Chief, Brian Fitzgerald, who was concerned that Woodson's .50caliber bullets could penetrate officers' protective vests, "police car door and maybe through the other side of their police car", awarded the Exceptional Duty Award to three Branchburg police officers who responded to the Woodson report during a township committee meeting.
Detectives subsequently searched his room at the Red Mill Inn motel in Branchburg where he had been staying for a week. There, they found a cache of weapons and equipment including another Bushmaster .308
caliber semiautomatic rifle with a defaced serial number and a flash suppressor
, a 37 mm
Cobray grenade launcher
, a second bulletproof vest, a Russian-made rifle-mountable Nightsight Illuminator NP75 night vision scope, a police scanner, and hundreds of rounds of armor-piercing .50caliber and .308caliber ammunition, both ball-type and hollow-point bullets, as well as military wear, and garrison equipment. According to a New Jersey court filing, Woodson had waived his Miranda rights, said he bought the firearms on the streets of New York, obliterated the serial numbers on them, and he brought them to New Jersey from Virginia. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said that for private citizens to have this type of armament is "quite unusual in Somerset County."
Also in his room were a detailed map of the Fort Drum
U.S. military facility in upstate New York near the Canadian border, a five-hours' drive from Branchburg, and a map of a town in a state other than New Jersey. NBC
reported that the map of Fort Drum was a concern to authorities. Detectives also found a traditional red-and-white Middle Eastern headdress
; the Canada Free Press cited a New Jersey law enforcement source that other items recovered could indicate Woodson had ties to radical Islam and a militant Islamic group based in the U.S.
and Rick Sanchez
explored whether there was a terrorist link on January 26, 2010. An editorial in The Washington Times
drew parallels with Nidal Malik Hasan
. It said "When a man is apprehended with a cache of weapons, body armor, a map of a military installation and jihadist personal effects, the natural response of most Americans is to assume the situation is terrorist-related" and suggested the Obama administration's
definition of terrorism was too narrow.
The Associated Press reported that the weapons and the map raised questions about whether Woodson was planning an attack on Fort Drum; Somerset County prosecutor Wayne Forrest did not comment on whether he thought Woodson had been planning to attack the New York facility. Fort Drum's Garrison Commander, Col. Kenneth Riddle, issued a statement on January 27, 2010, saying the garrison had been notified immediately when the map was discovered in Woodson's possession; he felt the post was secure due to security measures already in place.
Prosecutor's Office, and that it was possible Woodson could face federal gun charges. Woodson was charged in state court on January 26, 2010, with second-degree unlawful possession of weapons, fourth-degree possession of prohibited defaced firearms and prohibited weapons- armor penetrating bullets, fourth degree possession of large capacity ammunition magazine, obstruction of justice, and resisting arrest. Bail was set by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge John Pursel in Somerville
at $75,000.
On February 25, 2010, Woodson was indicted by a Somerset County grand jury
on numerous charges, including second-degree attempted robbery and multiple weapons offenses, including second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree possession of hollow-point bullets. Chanel Hudson, Woodson's public defender on the state charges, noted that she has not yet received all of the discovery. Hudson said that attempted robbery was not an initial charge, and would like to see the evidence they have to support it.
On April 10, 2010, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. On August 20, 2010, his defense lawyer asserted in New Jersey Superior Court that a defense psychiatrist’s report indicated Woodson is competent to stand trial, but suffers from paranoid schizophrenia “which rendered him incapable of committing the crimes he’s charged with.”
Subsequently, federal authorities charged Woodson in a criminal complaint with violating the federal law prohibiting a felon previously convicted of a weapons offense from possessing firearms. He appeared briefly in federal court on January 29, 2010, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark. He was assigned a public defender
and waived his right to a detention hearing, and his lawyer said he would consent to being held in custody without bail. The prosecutor told the judge that Woodson admitted in an interview that he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime
, though the prosecutor did not explain further, and the U.S. attorney's office spokesman said he would not elaborate. The federal charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison, with a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Greg Reinert indicated that, given the detainer
on him for the federal charge, Woodson would not be released even should he succeed at making bail at the county level.
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
rifle and was wearing a military-grade ballistic vest at the time of his arrest. A subsequent search of his motel room uncovered a large cache of military-grade weapons and ammunition including a grenade launcher, a night vision scope, a police scanner, a Middle Eastern headdress, and a number of maps including one of the nearby Fort Drum
Fort Drum
Fort Drum is a United States Army base in New York near the Canadian border.Fort Drum may also refer to:*Fort Drum, Florida, a nearly-uninhabited town in the United States*Fort Drum , Philippines...
U.S. military facility; .
Woodson admitted he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime but appeared to have been acting alone. A spokesman from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) said initially Woodson did not "appear to have any connections to known terrorist groups, nor any terrorist plot."
On January 26, 2010, Woodson was charged in state court with various criminal charges. Bail was set at $75,000. On January 29, he was charged in federal court, and consented to be held without bail. On February 25, a county grand jury indicted Woodson for attempted armed robbery (second degree), possession of a firearm for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a rifle, possession of a defaced firearm, possession of hollow-point bullets, and possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Personal life
Woodson, 43 years old at the time of his arrest, is an African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
from Reston, Virginia
Reston, Virginia
Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
. He had lived in Reston for less than a year, and previously lived in District Heights, Maryland
District Heights, Maryland
District Heights is an incorporated city in. Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located near Maryland Route 4. The population was 5,837 at the 2010 census...
, Queens and Brooklyn, New York.
Woodson joined the U.S. Navy in February 1988, serving aboard the USS Orion
USS Orion (AS-18)
USS Orion was a of the United States Navy. She was laid down 31 July 1941 at the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California; launched 24 June 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Robert A. White; and commissioned 30 September 1943, Capt. C. S...
, a submarine tender
Submarine tender
A submarine tender is a type of ship that supplies and supports submarines.Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies, nor to carry a full array of maintenance equipment and...
, for under a year before deserting in April 1989. On or about April 10, 1997 he was convicted by the Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
in Brooklyn of criminal possession of a weapon in Kings County, New York – a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
punishable with a prison term greater than one year. Eight years after he deserted
Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
he was returned to the Navy's custody, he was given a dishonorable discharge in August 1997.
In 2008, Woodson's wife, Tracey Everett, sought a protective order against him in Forestville, Maryland
Forestville, Maryland
Forestville is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,707 at the 2000 census...
. In court papers, she said he deserted her and her children months earlier. She had not spoken to him in more than a year, and had tried unsuccessfully to find him to serve divorce papers. She said that although he collected guns, she did not believe Woodson was violent: "He's just a loner. He just needs psychological counseling."
Arrest
Woodson had been inside the Quick Chek convenience store on Easton Turnpike in Branchburg, New Jersey for approximately 40 minutes when a female convenience store clerk phoned the police to report a person behaving suspiciously. Officers responding to the call at 3:55 a.m. reportedly encountered an "extremely nervous" Woodson, who was wearing a green military-style jacket with a "large bulge" in the front. Upon being questioned by the investigating officer, Woodson ran out of the back of the store, towards the nearby Regency Trailer Park. Officers found him hiding in the bushes, drew their guns and ordered him to surrender; he was tackled and subdued with pepper sprayPepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...
.
Woodson was wearing a military-style ballistic vest with a reinforced front steel plate. Concealed under his green, military-style jacket was a loaded semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle, which had a defaced serial number and had been modified to chamber .50caliber
.50 Beowulf
The .50 Beowulf [12.7×42 mm Rb] is a rifle cartridge developed by Alexander Arms for use in a modified AR-15 rifle. The cartridge utilizes a rebated rim, sized to match the rim of the 7.62×39mm and 6.5 mm Grendel rounds...
cartridges instead of the stock .223
.223 Remington
The .223 Remington is a sporting cartridge with almost the same external dimensions as the 5.56×45mm NATO military cartridge. The name is commonly pronounced either two-two-three or two-twenty-three. It is loaded with a diameter, jacketed bullet, with weights ranging from , though the most common...
caliber (5.56 mm) ammunition. Also concealed under Woodson's jacket were four additional high-capacity magazines all loaded with ammunition, some of which were hollow points. Branchburg Police Chief, Brian Fitzgerald, who was concerned that Woodson's .50caliber bullets could penetrate officers' protective vests, "police car door and maybe through the other side of their police car", awarded the Exceptional Duty Award to three Branchburg police officers who responded to the Woodson report during a township committee meeting.
Detectives subsequently searched his room at the Red Mill Inn motel in Branchburg where he had been staying for a week. There, they found a cache of weapons and equipment including another Bushmaster .308
.308 Winchester
The .308 Winchester is a rifle cartridge and is the commercial cartridge upon which the military 7.62x51mm NATO centerfire cartridge is based. The .308 Winchester was introduced in 1952, two years prior to the NATO adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO T65...
caliber semiautomatic rifle with a defaced serial number and a flash suppressor
Flash suppressor
A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a device attached to the muzzle of a rifle or other gun that reduces the visible signature of the burning gases that exit the muzzle. This reduces the chances that the shooter will be blinded in dark...
, a 37 mm
37 mm flare
The 37 mm flare caliber is the specification for a civilian legal variant of the US military's 40 mm grenade system. In contrast to the military 40mm systems, which are rifled and therefore would fall under the NFA, 37mm systems are typically not rifled....
Cobray grenade launcher
Grenade launcher
A grenade launcher or grenade discharger is a weapon that launches a grenade with more accuracy, higher velocity, and to greater distances than a soldier could throw it by hand....
, a second bulletproof vest, a Russian-made rifle-mountable Nightsight Illuminator NP75 night vision scope, a police scanner, and hundreds of rounds of armor-piercing .50caliber and .308caliber ammunition, both ball-type and hollow-point bullets, as well as military wear, and garrison equipment. According to a New Jersey court filing, Woodson had waived his Miranda rights, said he bought the firearms on the streets of New York, obliterated the serial numbers on them, and he brought them to New Jersey from Virginia. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said that for private citizens to have this type of armament is "quite unusual in Somerset County."
Also in his room were a detailed map of the Fort Drum
Fort Drum
Fort Drum is a United States Army base in New York near the Canadian border.Fort Drum may also refer to:*Fort Drum, Florida, a nearly-uninhabited town in the United States*Fort Drum , Philippines...
U.S. military facility in upstate New York near the Canadian border, a five-hours' drive from Branchburg, and a map of a town in a state other than New Jersey. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
reported that the map of Fort Drum was a concern to authorities. Detectives also found a traditional red-and-white Middle Eastern headdress
Keffiyeh
The keffiyeh/kufiya , also known as a ghutrah , ' , mashadah , shemagh or in Persian chafiye , Kurdish cemedanî and Turkish puşi, is a traditional Arab headdress fashioned from a square, usually cotton, scarf. It is typically worn by Arab men, as well as some Kurds...
; the Canada Free Press cited a New Jersey law enforcement source that other items recovered could indicate Woodson had ties to radical Islam and a militant Islamic group based in the U.S.
Investigation and reactions
CNN journalists Wolf BlitzerWolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
and Rick Sanchez
Rick Sanchez
Ricardo León "Rick" Sánchez de Reinaldo , known professionally as Rick Sanchez, is a Cuban-American journalist, author and former TV news anchor...
explored whether there was a terrorist link on January 26, 2010. An editorial in The Washington Times
The Washington Times
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the...
drew parallels with Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan
Nidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
. It said "When a man is apprehended with a cache of weapons, body armor, a map of a military installation and jihadist personal effects, the natural response of most Americans is to assume the situation is terrorist-related" and suggested the Obama administration's
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
definition of terrorism was too narrow.
The Associated Press reported that the weapons and the map raised questions about whether Woodson was planning an attack on Fort Drum; Somerset County prosecutor Wayne Forrest did not comment on whether he thought Woodson had been planning to attack the New York facility. Fort Drum's Garrison Commander, Col. Kenneth Riddle, issued a statement on January 27, 2010, saying the garrison had been notified immediately when the map was discovered in Woodson's possession; he felt the post was secure due to security measures already in place.
State proceedings
The FBI initially said the matter was being worked as a state case out of the Somerset CountySomerset County, New Jersey
Somerset County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 2010, the population was 323,444. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Somerville....
Prosecutor's Office, and that it was possible Woodson could face federal gun charges. Woodson was charged in state court on January 26, 2010, with second-degree unlawful possession of weapons, fourth-degree possession of prohibited defaced firearms and prohibited weapons- armor penetrating bullets, fourth degree possession of large capacity ammunition magazine, obstruction of justice, and resisting arrest. Bail was set by a New Jersey Superior Court Judge John Pursel in Somerville
Somerville, New Jersey
Somerville is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,098. It is the county seat of Somerset County....
at $75,000.
On February 25, 2010, Woodson was indicted by a Somerset County grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
on numerous charges, including second-degree attempted robbery and multiple weapons offenses, including second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree possession of hollow-point bullets. Chanel Hudson, Woodson's public defender on the state charges, noted that she has not yet received all of the discovery. Hudson said that attempted robbery was not an initial charge, and would like to see the evidence they have to support it.
On April 10, 2010, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. On August 20, 2010, his defense lawyer asserted in New Jersey Superior Court that a defense psychiatrist’s report indicated Woodson is competent to stand trial, but suffers from paranoid schizophrenia “which rendered him incapable of committing the crimes he’s charged with.”
Federal proceedings
The day after the arrest, the FBI indicated its preliminary finding that Woodson did not appear to have a link to any known terrorist groups, nor a specific terrorist plot. It stressed that the matter was still under investigation. After initial investigation and meeting with local authorities, the FBI and the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that, despite the amount of firepower uncovered, the incident was not terror-related. Former FBI agent Brad Garrett commented that unless they could link Woodson to a specific group, the FBI was unlikely to say it was terror-related, adding "For whatever reason, they feel like this doesn't rise to be prosecuted in federal court."Subsequently, federal authorities charged Woodson in a criminal complaint with violating the federal law prohibiting a felon previously convicted of a weapons offense from possessing firearms. He appeared briefly in federal court on January 29, 2010, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark. He was assigned a public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
and waived his right to a detention hearing, and his lawyer said he would consent to being held in custody without bail. The prosecutor told the judge that Woodson admitted in an interview that he intended to use the weapons in furtherance of a violent crime
Violent crime
A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
, though the prosecutor did not explain further, and the U.S. attorney's office spokesman said he would not elaborate. The federal charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison, with a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Greg Reinert indicated that, given the detainer
Detainer
Detainer ; in law, the act of keeping a person against his will, or the wrongful keeping of a person's goods, or other real or personal property...
on him for the federal charge, Woodson would not be released even should he succeed at making bail at the county level.