He is, he said, an Army veteran and a test engineer for high-tech and electronic firms. He has an abiding interest in all things military, and a love of Thailand, where he traveled to marry a woman he had met online. "It didn't work out," he said.
Accused of using the Internet to help al-Qaeda attempt to blow up portions of the U.S. gas and oil infrastructure, Reynolds said that he was merely drawing out people he had met online whom he thought were terrorists.
He said he came across "someone from al-Qaeda insinuating" terrorist activity.
"I became curious," and wanted "to entice them" into exposing themselves, he said.
When cross-examining Reynolds, Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus energetically challenged everything Reynolds had said and written. Gurganus attacked Reynolds' credibility about his military background, his resume, his work history, his accounts of how hand grenades came to be found among his belongings, and, finally, his claim that he is a terrorist-hunter, and not a terrorist.
Gurganus pointed out that Reynolds had testified that he demanded a face-to-face meeting with the person online he thought was an al-Qaeda operative. But in several e-mails that Reynolds admitted he had written, he seemed to have been saying just the opposite.
The person Reynolds thought was from al-Qaeda was Shannen Rossmiller, described at the trial as an FBI source who regularly goes online to ensnare terrorists. In her guise as a terrorist, e-mail evidence shows, Rossmiller asked Reynolds several times for a face-to-face meeting. FBI special agent Mark Seyler, who took over the Internet sting from Rossmiller, made similar requests. In e-mails, Reynolds demurred.
"You wanted a face-to-face?" Gurganus asked, his voice rising. "Isn't it the other way around?"
