Fairview Heights Man Charged with Making Threats to Detonate an Explosive Device and Threatening the President

Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on September 22, 2010, ROMAN OTTO CONAWAY age 59, of Fairview Heights, Illinois, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of making false threats to detonate an explosive device; and one count of making a threat against the president of the United States. CONAWAY is in custody and is scheduled to make his first appearance in United States District Court in East St. Louis on Thursday, September 23. Each count carries a potential maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release following his release from any incarceration.

Individuals charged by criminal complaint have the constitutional right to have the case presented to a grand jury to decide whether to return an indictment, which is the formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to information filed under oath in the criminal complaint, the investigation in this case began following a referral of information from an individual associated with a St. Louis area mosque on September 21. This information allowed law enforcement to quickly identify CONAWAY and go to his residence in Fairview Heights, were a stand-off of several hours occurred before CONAWAY surrendered without major incident. According to U.S. Attorney Wigginton, “The speed with which this investigation resulted in an arrest, without injury to any citizen, is a testament to the importance of all law-abiding people, of every religious faith, providing information and cooperating with law enforcement when information about a crime is received.” Stu McArthur, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Springfield Division, said: “Consistent with our mission to protect national security, FBI Springfield’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will leverage the combined resources of all federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to aggressively address every threat until it is successfully resolved.”

The investigation in this case is being conducted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, ATF, the United States Secret Service, the Illinois State Police, the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, Illinois Secretary of State Police, Fairview Heights Police Department, and the O’Fallon Police Department. The case has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Steven Weinhoeft for prosecution.