Letter carrier admits sending fake pipe bombs

A former Iowa letter carrier has testified that he sent fake pipe bombs and taunting letters signed “The Bishop.”

But 47-year-old John Tomkins was adamant on the witness stand at his federal trial in Chicago on Thursday that the devices he sent weren’t designed to explode.

Tomkins is accused of sending letters threatening to kill recipients, their families or neighbors unless they took steps to raise the price of certain stocks, in which he invested. Prosecutors say the bombs were real and would have exploded had all the wires been attached.

Tomkins is acting as his own attorney and called himself to the stand. He answered questions he wrote himself that were read by a legal adviser.

Tomkins also is expected to deliver his own closing to the jury.