Shannen Rossmiller

Michael Curtis Reynolds, a failure from Wilkes-Barre, leaves Room 205 of the Thunderbird Hotel in Pocatello, Idaho, in December 2005 and heads for a rest stop on a remote stretch of I-15. His agenda for the day is to pick up a bag of money from al-Qaeda so he can destroy America. A belligerent drifter who once tried to blow up his parents, Reynolds, 47, is a regular in the Osama bin Laden Crew chat room, searching for jihadists to help him cripple the U.S. economy. Reynolds has made contact with a self-described Islamic extremist who says he'll pay Reynolds $40,000 for his scheme to blow up U.S. energy pipelines.

SCRANTON - The trial of Michael Curtis Reynolds, a Wilkes-Barre man accused of reaching out to al-Qaeda on the Internet to blow up the Trans-Alaska pipeline, began today, with the U.S. government accusing Reynolds of trying to cause chaos by disrupting the flow and refining of oil. Reynolds' attorney, in turn, described him as a patriot and military veteran who was simply trying to fight al-Qaeda. Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus Jr. said in opening statements that Reynolds caught the attention of Shannen Rossmiller, a former judge who goes online to ensnare terrorists.

Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana judge whose late-night hunts for al-Qaeda on the Web led to the two largest terror convictions in U.S. history, announced yesterday that she would begin teaching others her arcane and dangerous craft. At the first FBI-sponsored International Conference on Cyber Security, held at Fordham University in New York City, Rossmiller, 39, said she planned to team with an as-yet-unnamed defense contractor to form a "cyber corps" of intelligence experts who will search out terrorists on the Internet.

Shannen Rossmiller is a former Montana judge who hunts terrorists online. In her search, she found a National Guardsman who wanted to betray America by giving up tank secrets to al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq. She drew him out to learn his plan. She tells of a Web site that featured pictures of Osama bin Laden and a burning American flag. She explains how an American National Guardsman she'd met on that site wanted to give over U.S. tank secrets to al-Qaeda. And when her nearly full day on the witness stand is done, Shannen Rossmiller has demonstrated to a court-martial jury of nine commissioned officers at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? Remember what you were doing when the airplanes flew into the World Trade Center? Of course you do. Millions of Americans will never forget Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks spurred many to action, to comfort those who lost friends and kin, to do whatever they could to help protect the nation. But perhaps no one took the course of Shannen Rossmiller. In a five-part series that ended Thursday, Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano chronicled Rossmiller's metamorphosis from a small-town judge in Montana into an Internet-savvy terrorist hunter who assists the FBI. Rossmiller's work has been valuable, leading to the convictions of two despicable Americans who sought to ally themselves with the likes of Osama bin Laden and wage war on their own country.

Shannen Rossmiller is a former Montana judge who hunts terrorists online. A Wilkes-Barre man has popped onto her radar with a plan to enlist al-Qaeda to blow up energy pipelines. Michael Curtis Reynolds wants his payday. "I need funds," he writes to a person he thinks is an al-Qaeda operative on the Web. In exchange for information about making and placing bombs to blow up energy pipelines, Reynolds, a Pennsylvania loner whose three children live with his ex-wife in Connecticut, is expecting $40,000 in cash.

Posing as an al-Qaeda operative with cash and a desire to destroy America, a former cheerleader who grew up on a Montana wheat farm helped orchestrate a sting that nabbed an alleged terrorist. Shannen Rossmiller, a 36-year-old municipal judge from Conrad, Mont., manipulated Michael Curtis Reynolds of Wilkes-Barre into thinking she was a radical Islamist eager to underwrite his plan to blow up American oil and gas pipelines. Reeling in Reynolds during six weeks of e-mail exchanges, Rossmiller's male cyber persona finally persuaded Reynolds to travel to a lonely stretch of Idaho highway to pick up a bag containing $40,000.

SCRANTON - A Montana FBI agent testified Tuesday that the bureau had become "very concerned" about Michael Curtis Reynolds, a Wilkes-Barre man who went on the Internet and talked with someone he thought was from al-Qaeda about using trucks filled with propane to blow up energy pipelines in late 2005. "We determined this person may be a threat," special agent Mark Seyler testified. "We wanted to bring the situation to a conclusion as fast as we could. " Reynolds was arrested by the FBI at a snow-covered highway rest stop in Idaho on Dec. 5, 2005, according to the federal government, after going to the spot to pick up $40,000 he believed was payment from al-Qaeda.

In a much-anticipated meeting between hunter and prey, Shannen Rossmiller told a federal court jury yesterday how she discovered and ensnared Wilkes-Barre terror suspect Michael C. Reynolds on the Internet during the fall of 2005. Rossmiller, 38, a former municipal court judge in Montana who pretended to be an al-Qaeda operative on the Web, testified how Reynolds, 49, told her via e-mail how the terrorist organization could blow up the trans-Alaska Pipeline and other elements of the American energy infrastructure.

A Montana FBI agent testified yesterday that the bureau had become "very concerned" about Michael Curtis Reynolds, a Wilkes-Barre man who went on the Internet and talked with someone he thought was from al-Qaeda about using trucks filled with propane to blow up energy pipelines in late 2005. "We determined this person may be a threat," special agent Mark Seyler testified. "We wanted to bring the situation to a conclusion as fast as we could. " Reynolds was arrested by the FBI at a snow-covered highway rest stop in Idaho on Dec. 5, 2005, according to the federal government, after going to the spot to pick up $40,000 he believed was payment from al-Qaeda.

Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana judge whose late-night hunts for al-Qaeda on the Web led to the two largest terror convictions in U.S. history, announced yesterday that she would begin teaching others her arcane and dangerous craft. At the first FBI-sponsored International Conference on Cyber Security, held at Fordham University in New York City, Rossmiller, 39, said she planned to team with an as-yet-unnamed defense contractor to form a "cyber corps" of intelligence experts who will search out terrorists on the Internet.

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? Remember what you were doing when the airplanes flew into the World Trade Center? Of course you do. Millions of Americans will never forget Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks spurred many to action, to comfort those who lost friends and kin, to do whatever they could to help protect the nation. But perhaps no one took the course of Shannen Rossmiller. In a five-part series that ended Thursday, Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano chronicled Rossmiller's metamorphosis from a small-town judge in Montana into an Internet-savvy terrorist hunter who assists the FBI. Rossmiller's work has been valuable, leading to the convictions of two despicable Americans who sought to ally themselves with the likes of Osama bin Laden and wage war on their own country.

Shannen Rossmiller is a former Montana judge who hunts terrorists online. A Wilkes-Barre man has popped onto her radar with a plan to enlist al-Qaeda to blow up energy pipelines. Michael Curtis Reynolds wants his payday. "I need funds," he writes to a person he thinks is an al-Qaeda operative on the Web. In exchange for information about making and placing bombs to blow up energy pipelines, Reynolds, a Pennsylvania loner whose three children live with his ex-wife in Connecticut, is expecting $40,000 in cash.

Shannen Rossmiller is a former Montana judge who hunts terrorists online. In her search, she found a National Guardsman who wanted to betray America by giving up tank secrets to al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq. She drew him out to learn his plan. She tells of a Web site that featured pictures of Osama bin Laden and a burning American flag. She explains how an American National Guardsman she'd met on that site wanted to give over U.S. tank secrets to al-Qaeda. And when her nearly full day on the witness stand is done, Shannen Rossmiller has demonstrated to a court-martial jury of nine commissioned officers at Fort Lewis, Wash.

Michael Curtis Reynolds, a failure from Wilkes-Barre, leaves Room 205 of the Thunderbird Hotel in Pocatello, Idaho, in December 2005 and heads for a rest stop on a remote stretch of I-15. His agenda for the day is to pick up a bag of money from al-Qaeda so he can destroy America. A belligerent drifter who once tried to blow up his parents, Reynolds, 47, is a regular in the Osama bin Laden Crew chat room, searching for jihadists to help him cripple the U.S. economy. Reynolds has made contact with a self-described Islamic extremist who says he'll pay Reynolds $40,000 for his scheme to blow up U.S. energy pipelines.

Michael Curtis Reynolds, a failure from Wilkes-Barre, leaves Room 205 of the Thunderbird Hotel in Pocatello, Idaho, in December 2005 and heads for a rest stop on a remote stretch of I-15. His agenda for the day is to pick up a bag of money from al-Qaeda so he can destroy America. A belligerent drifter who once tried to blow up his parents, Reynolds, 47, is a regular in the Osama bin Laden Crew chat room, searching for jihadists to help him cripple the U.S. economy. Reynolds has made contact with a self-described Islamic extremist who says he'll pay Reynolds $40,000 for his scheme to blow up U.S. energy pipelines.

Apparently agreeing with the government that Michael Curtis Reynolds is a terrorist and not a terrorist-hunter, a federal jury took little more than an hour yesterday to convict the Wilkes-Barre "loner" of trying to help al-Qaeda destroy fuel pipelines and ruin the U.S. economy. Reynolds, impassive and silent, nodded once when he heard the first of four terror-related guilty verdicts, as though he expected that outcome. He had no friends or relatives at the five-day trial. He was immediately led off to jail.

SCRANTON - In a day of high drama, Michael Curtis Reynolds took the stand at his federal terrorism trial to proclaim his innocence, then withstood a withering 70-minute cross-examination from an agitated U.S. attorney who was admonished by the judge to "cool off. " With close-cropped hair and an air of self-possessed confidence, Reynolds sat in an ill-fitting gray suit and told the jury in a soft voice that he "never intended to harm anyone" or...

SCRANTON - In a day of high drama, Michael Curtis Reynolds took the stand at his federal terrorism trial Thursday to proclaim his innocence, then withstood a withering 70-minute cross-examination from an agitated U.S. attorney who was admonished by the judge to "cool off. " With close-cropped hair and an air of self-possessed confidence, Reynolds sat in an ill-fitting gray suit and told the jury in a soft voice that he "never intended to harm anyone"...

A Montana FBI agent testified yesterday that the bureau had become "very concerned" about Michael Curtis Reynolds, a Wilkes-Barre man who went on the Internet and talked with someone he thought was from al-Qaeda about using trucks filled with propane to blow up energy pipelines in late 2005. "We determined this person may be a threat," special agent Mark Seyler testified. "We wanted to bring the situation to a conclusion as fast as we could. " Reynolds was arrested by the FBI at a snow-covered highway rest stop in Idaho on Dec. 5, 2005, according to the federal government, after going to the spot to pick up $40,000 he believed was payment from al-Qaeda.