(Newser)
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A 23-year-old from Illinois has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to blow up 48 churches in northeast Oklahoma. Gregory Weiler, who has a long history of mental illness, was arrested after motel workers in the town of Miami spotted suspicious items in a garbage bin, CNN reports. Police found 50 Molotov cocktails in the trash and bomb-making materials in Weiler's room, along with documents outlining his plans to set off bombs at dozens of churches. He has been charged under state anti-terrorism laws.
Miami's police chief says Weiler's answers in custody ranged from rambling to coherent and it's not clear whether he was going to actually carry out the plot. "He had the means and the ability to carry this out," the chief tells the AP. "How does one assess the threat?" Weiler's parents both committed suicide and he has battled drug addiction and "a lot of mental illnesses," his cousin says. "With his medication, he was perfectly fine and functional," but family members believe he must have stopped taking the medication, the cousin says.
