A second man has been identified in the bombing of a fertility clinic last month in Palm Springs. Authorities arrested him late Tuesday and say he supplied large amounts of chemicals that were used by the FBI’s primary suspect to make explosives. KVCR’s Madison Aument reports.
Prosecutors allege Daniel Park, of the Seattle area, mailed some 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Guy Edward Bartkus that were used to bomb the clinic in what the FBI considers an act of terrorism.
Bartkus died during the explosion.
Bill Essayli, who's the U.S. attorney for California’s Central District, says investigators found lab equipment and bomb ingredients at Bartkus’ house in Twentynine Palms.
“Park spent approximately two weeks visiting Bartkus’ residence in 29 Palms in late January and early February of this year, spending time together running experiments in Bartkus’ garage,” said Essayli.
The FBI declined to say how the two men knew each other.
Park is charged with providing material support to a terrorist and could face up to 15 years in prison.
Essayli says that Park, an American citizen, was not in Palm Springs at the time of the explosion and fled to Poland days later.
He didn’t say why Park chose that country as his destination.
Essayli says Park, who is 32, was deported by Polish authorities and arrested late Tuesday at JFK Airport in New York City.
Akil Davis, who’s with the FBI, says Park and Bartkus shared fringe ideologies.
“They don't believe that people should exist. So there's tons of terminology out there... anti-natalism, pro-mortalism, nihilism. These all are intertwined to create their belief system," said Davis.
Davis says a search warrant at Park’s home in Seattle found instructions to make an explosive similar to the one used by Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He says they believe Park was trying to recruit others in online forums.
Park appeared before a federal judge in New York City on Wednesday and is being detained without bail. A spokesman for Essayli says Park will be moved to California in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the doctor who runs the fertility clinic that was destroyed said all the embryos survived and they’ll rebuild.