Aussie collar bomb suspect faces extradition
Paul "Doug" Peters, seen in this mug shot taken in Oldham County Jail in LaGrange, Ky., is accused of chaining a fake bomb to an 18-year-old Australian woman in a suspected extortion plot. / Oldham County Jail
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An FBI SWAT team descended on a quiet Louisville suburb to arrest a man authorities say broke into a family's home in Australia and chained a fake bomb to a teenage woman's neck as part of an extortion ploy.
Paul "Doug" Peters, 50, faces charges in Australia that include kidnapping and breaking and entering, said Luke Moore of the New South Wales Police. Peters' initial court appearance was set for Tuesday morning in Louisville and the extradition process will take about two months, authorities said.
"It's not a trial. The judge is not going through full-blown testimony [and] render a decision guilty or not guilty. The only finding has to be that a judge is convinced that yes, it appears that a crime took place there. And yes, it appears that this person is the one they're looking for," CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford said of the extradition pricess.
His capture comes nearly two weeks after 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver was attacked in the wealthy Sydney suburb of Mosman. She was alone studying for exams when a masked man broke into the house in the middle of the day, chained a device that looked like a bomb to her and left a note with demands before leaving.
Cops: Extortion was aim in Aussie teen bomb plot
Bomb technicians, negotiators and detectives rushed to the scene. Neighboring homes were evacuated, streets were closed and medical and fire crews waited nearby. Pulver spent 10 terrifying hours chained to the device before the bomb squad was able to free her. She was not hurt, and the device was later found to contain no explosives. Australia's prime minister said the event resembled "a Hollywood script."
Police say a note had been attached to the device, but they haven't released details of what it said.
Moore flew from Sydney to Louisville for the arrest, but would not go into detail about what led police to Peters.
"There was a range of pieces of evidence that led us to identify this suspect," he said at a news conference at FBI offices in Louisville.
Peters is an Australian citizen but has lived in the U.S., including Kentucky. He's a father of three who was educated at The Scots College in Sydney.
The Pulvers were relieved to hear of the arrest. William Pulver, CEO of an information technology company, described his daughter as "a bright, happy young woman who for reasons we still don't understand had her life turned upside down going through this dreadful experience."
"These past two weeks have been a very difficult time for us and we are hopeful that this development marks the beginning of the end of this traumatic ordeal for our family," William Pulver told reporters in Sydney, his wife Belinda at his side.
The normally tranquil subdivision of La Grange, about 30 miles northeast of Louisville, was taken aback at the sight of armed SWAT members descending on their neighborhood.
A neighbor who refused to give his name told The Associated Press that his two daughters were at home doing homework when the SWAT team "came in heavy and hard" to the house next door.
"We had guys with machine guns in our back yard," he said.
No shots were fired and no sirens sounded, he said.
He and his wife estimated that Doug Peters had probably spent about six months out of the last two years at the house. They didn't know him or his ex-wife very well but that there were no problems and they were both congenial. Peters had been involved in various businesses, but authorities would not elaborate on what they were.
An FBI investigator combed through items on shelves Monday night in the neat three-car garage of the five-bedroom, two-story home that's on the market for $400,000, and there is no indication Peters' ex-wife was involved in the case, Moore said. She was not home when her ex-husband was arrested.
Authorities are still investigating why the suspect targeted the young woman, Moore said.
Peters had indirect links to the family but had never been in the Pulver home before the incident, New South Wales State Crime Command head, Assistant Commissioner Dave Hudson, said Tuesday.
"This has been a baffling and frightening experience," said William Pulver. "It has tested us all."
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To whomever wrote this article:
Just where is it that YOU went to school?
And to the editor who approved it: Did you go to school?
Please! If you are going to write an article for publication, use grammar check! It breaks my concentration when I run across a sentence, or sentences, that are completely out of whack.
As for the Aussie being caught, I hope it was a case of using the FINGERPRINTS that IMMIGRATION people are now wanting to share! Looks like it paid off one more time!
Hasta la vista, baby!