Spokane MLK Day bomb suspect tied to hate group

SPOKANE, Wash. — A man tied to a white supremacist organization was arrested Wednesday on charges that he left a sophisticated bomb along a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route in Spokane.

Kevin William Harpham, of the Colville area in northeastern Washington, was scheduled to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Spokane after he was charged with one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and one count of possessing an unregistered explosive device.

A federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity and declined to provide additional details because the case is ongoing confirmed the suspect was a white supremacist.

No one was injured in the Jan. 17 incident, but the case raised fears especially since the region had once been a hotbed of white supremacist fervor and a headquarters for Richard Butler's Aryan Nations, whose members were lured by the small number of minorities.

About an hour before the start of the parade, three city workers discovered the bomb after it was left in a backpack on a bench, and they alerted authorities, who defused the device.

The Rev. Happy Watkins of the New Hope Baptist Church in Spokane said he was relieved by the arrest.

"There is some sunshine through this dark cloud of terrorism and this hatefulness," said Watkins, who often recites King's "I Have A Dream" speech as part of the city's celebrations.

Agents on Wednesday searched a home linked to Harpham near the town of Addy, in rural Stevens County. Investigators have said that two T-shirts found inside a backpack with the bomb were linked to the area.

Harpham was a member of the white supremacist National Alliance in 2004, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. But the organization doesn't know when Harpham joined the group or whether he left it.

The National Alliance fell on hard times following the death of its founder, Potok said.

A search of Washington State Patrol arrest records came up empty for Harpham. His only previous run-in with police in the state dates to a 1994 charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol, according to a review of state court records.

A voice mail message left at a phone number associated with Harpham was not immediately returned, and it was not clear whether he had a lawyer. The director of the federal public defender's office in Spokane did not return a call or e-mail seeking comment.

The federal complaint unsealed Wednesday provided no details of the investigation; an FBI affidavit made in support of the charges remained under seal.

The bomb, which contained shrapnel and a chemical component, was sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., and the agency offered a $20,000 reward for information from the public. The FBI has said it received plenty of photos and video tips, but it wasn't clear if any led to the arrest.

One of the shirts was distributed last year at the "Relay for Life" race in Colville. The second shirt — which had the words "Treasure Island Spring 2009" on the front — was from a local theater production in 2009 in the town of Chewelah.

U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby of Spokane said he planned to release information later Wednesday.

"We don't have the whole picture yet," Ormsby said.

Officials with the FBI in Spokane declined to comment on the developments, but the agency has said the timing of the placement of the bomb raised concerns that racism was a motivation.