Saying he wanted to set the record straight, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols has accused a man never charged in the 1995 attack of providing some of the explosives.
In a letter he wrote from prison, Nichols claims Arkansas gun collector Roger Moore gave the explosives to Timothy McVeigh and also provided additional bomb components recently found in Nichols' former Kansas home.
Nichols wrote the letter to Kathy Sanders, who lost two grandchildren in the bombing and has been investigating it independently. A copy of the letter, first disclosed in a Los Angeles Times report, was obtained Wednesday from Sanders' literary agent, Jim Baird.
Moore has denied any involvement in the bombing and testified against Nichols about a robbery of guns and other property from his home.
In the early stages of the bombing investigation, the FBI took a hard look at Moore because of his anti-government views and close relationship with McVeigh. He was never charged.
Nichols' April 18 letter was part of recent correspondence with Sanders. Nichols, 50, said in the letter that he wanted to speak out because "I felt the record should be set straight."
Nichols said in the handwritten, four-page letter that FBI tests of bomb components found about a month ago at his former home in Herington, Kansas, would support his claim that they came from Moore and Moore's girlfriend, Karen Anderson.
"That case of nitromethane came directly from Roger Moore's Royal, Arkansas, home, and his prints should be found on that box and/or tubes, and Karen Anderson's prints may be there as well," Nichols wrote.
"The Fed Gov't knows of Roger Moore's corrupt activities and they are protecting him and covering up his involvement with McVeigh at the OKC bombing!" Nichols wrote.
Anderson also testified against Nichols about the robbery.
FBI agents searched the Herington home on March 31. Officials said that agents found blasting caps and other explosive materials apparently related to the 1995 attack, buried in a crawl space that hadn't been checked earlier.
An FBI spokesman in Kansas City, Missouri, Jeff Lanza, said on Wednesday that material found at the home was being examined for fingerprints and other evidence.
He said there is no indication this material came from Moore and Nichols' letter would not lead to a new investigation.
Prosecutors say Nichols stole an estimated US$63,000 in weapons and other items from Moore's home that were then sold to help finance the terror plot.
Moore testified he was bound and his eyes covered with duct tape by a hooded gunman.
Nichols' attorneys maintained the robbery was staged and that McVeigh, who knew Moore from a gun show and had stayed in his home, helped plan it. Neighbors also testified that they doubted Moore's honesty.
Nichols is serving two life sentences without parole for the 1995 bombing of the federal building bombing that killed 168 people.
McVeigh was executed in June 2001.
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