PHOENIX – Twin brothers from Ogle County, who authorities say are white supremacists, have been charged in a 2004 bombing that injured the black diversity director in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Twins Dennis and Daniel Mahon, 59, were arrested at 6 a.m. Thursday after federal agents and Ogle County Sheriff’s deputies searched their home at 5794 Blackwood Road, east of Davis Junction. There authorities say they found assault weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and white supremacist materials.
The brothers are charged with conspiracy to damage buildings and property by means of an explosive, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday and filed June 16 in federal court.
The indictment says the brothers intended to “promote racial discord” on behalf of the White Aryan Resistance, a decades-old California-based group that espouses “white separatism.”
Authorities didn’t know if the Mahon brothers had attorneys. There are no telephone numbers listed for Mahon in Davis Junction.
A package detonated in the hands of Don Logan, who is black, on Feb. 26, 2004, in Scottsdale’s Human Resources Complex, injuring Logan’s hand and arm and hurting a secretary. Both required surgery and spent about a week in the hospital.
“We’ve waited five years to hear the news announced today,” Logan said in a statement Thursday. “I remain convinced the judicial process will result in justice to me and my colleagues impacted by the blast.”
Dennis Mahon also is charged with malicious damage of a building by means of explosives and distribution of information related to explosives, according to the indictment.
Authorities at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment until a news conference scheduled for Friday morning.
The indictment says the brothers conspired to build and deliver the bomb to the diversity office, taught others how to build a package containing a pipe bomb, and sent training materials on the production and use of explosives, techniques to avoid detection by law enforcement, and methods to commit domestic terrorism.
The indictment says Dennis Mahon participated in the construction of the bomb, disguising it in a cardboard box that was delivered to the Scottsdale diversity office.
One month before the bombing, the indictment says, Dennis Mahon called the diversity office and left a message saying, “the White Aryan Resistance is growing in Scottsdale. There’s a few white people who are standing up.”
The package was addressed to Logan, who served as an ombudsman for city employees and citizens on diversity issues, including racial and sex discrimination. The bomb was sent through the post office to the city building, which is about a block from City Hall. The explosion forced the evacuation of 25 people in the building.
“This event really struck home,” Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said Thursday. “It caused a lot of fear and grief, and it’s been a long road in the investigation, and we’re certainly glad it’s moving forward.”
A Missouri man’s arrest Wednesday also arose from the bombing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri. Robert Neil Joos, 56, was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms after a search of his property in rural southwest Missouri.
An undercover investigation found that people involved in white supremacist movements throughout the U.S. met at a retreat location in Missouri owned by Joos, according to prosecutors. And an affidavit filed supporting the arrest shows investigators found the first call Dennis Mahon made the morning of the bombing was to a cell phone registered to Joos.