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A U.S. Capitol Police bomb squad supervisor lost his position after police failed to find explosive materials in a truck parked near the Capitol, according to federal officials.
Sgt. Michael DeCarlo was not demoted and retains his rank of sergeant, according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider.
He was, however, shifted to a less prestigious position on the House of Representatives security detail following an internal investigation by Capitol Police into why there was a delay in finding the explosive materials, according to three well-placed Capitol Police sources.
Police have alleged that the truck was driven by Michael Gorbey, 38, who has been charged with carrying a loaded shotgun near the Capitol while walking to the Supreme Court. He has also been charged with manufacturing weapons of mass destruction — several shotgun shells taped to a canister of gunpowder.
News of DeCarlo emerged when U.S. Assistant Attorney John Cummings, who never referred to DeCarlo by name, said a bomb supervisor was “demoted because his team was in charge of missing this device.” Cummings made the comment on Monday during a D.C. Superior Court pre-trial hearing on motions related to Gorbey’s case.
Without naming DeCarlo, Cummings said the U.S. attorney’s office does not plan on calling on him to testify in Gorbey’s case. He also indicated DeCarlo did not participate in the search of the vehicle with the explosives.
No one was injured in connection with Gorbey’s arrest or the discovery of the explosives, which were not capable of detonating in the state in which they were found.
During Monday’s proceedings, Gorbey, who is representing himself, worked to convince Judge Gregory Jackson that his subpoenas for personnel records of officers involved in the investigation of his arrest was necessary for his defense to determine if there was any incompetence among them.
Jackson, however, dismissed the subpoena request, and said he had “no desire to conduct a fishing expedition” through the personnel records of officers to see if Gorbey could discover information to use against officers who may be called as witnesses in the trial.
Cummings and fellow U.S. Assistant Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff introduced more than a dozen pieces of evidence, including videotapes, photographs and copies of documents police allege Gorbey had at the time of his arrest.
Kerkhoff called Detective Mark Crawford, a special agent with U.S. Capitol Police’s Criminal Investigation section, to testify on the events surrounding Gorbey’s arrest and the subsequent investigation.
After Kerkhoff finished questioning Crawford, Gorbey posed a series of detail-oriented questions to the agent aimed at exposing discrepancies in the times and dates on the various documents related to Gorbey’s arrest.
Jury selection for the trial is set to begin on Tuesday. |
