Vic Ryckaert

The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — When police in Indiana busted a 31-year-old man with bomb-making materials, a rifle and a homemade silencer, they thought he might have been targeting a mall.

Christopher Byrne was in the parking lot of Greenwood Park Mall when a Greenwood police officer stopped him. But new evidence released in court this week shows he had home addresses for law enforcement officers and a judge.

According to court records filed Monday, authorities unlocked Byrne's cellphone and discovered "the defendant had obtained the home address of the presiding judge in this case, via Google maps, just a few days before his arrest."

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The same day the information came to light, Johnson Superior Court Judge Cynthia Emkes recused herself and ordered that the Indiana Supreme Court assign a special judge to preside over Byrne's sentencing hearing.

At the time of his August arrest, Byrne had been awaiting trial felony gun and habitual traffic offender charges stemming from a February 2015 arrest. He's since pleaded guilty to those charges, in Emkes' court, and faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison. A new judge will be assigned to hear the sentencing.

Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said a search of Byrne's electronics also showed he found home addresses of a deputy prosecutor and a Greenwood police officer.

There is no evidence of a direct threat, Cooper said, and possessing the addresses is not enough to warrant more serious charges of intimidating the judge or law enforcement officers.

"Can you make that inference?" Cooper said. "I believe the judge made that inference and that's why she recused herself."

Byrne was arrested after Greenwood Police Department Officer Eric McElhaney saw him driving through the parking lot at Greenwood Park Mall. Police were watching the lot after a spree of car break-ins.

McElhaney saw Byrne commit an unspecified traffic violation and stopped him.

Byrne refused to give the officer his identification and said he was a "sovereign national."

Police arrested him for being a habitual traffic violator. In his car, officers found a Ruger 10-22 rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, a scope and homemade silencer.

Officers also found chemicals that could be combined to make a bleach bomb along with instructions, Cooper said.

Byrne also was convicted of theft in Marion County,Ind., in August 2015 after officers searched his apartment and found stolen police equipment, including an AR-15 rifle stolen from the car of Greenwood Officer Michelle Richardson in October 2014. Richardson's marked police car was set on fire after the theft.

In Johnson County, Byrne faces another habitual traffic offender charge in connection with the arrest at the mall. Cooper said he did not press a weapons case because he hopes U.S. Attorney Josh J. Minkler's office will file federal charges.

Federal charges had not yet been filed. Tim Horty, Minkler's spokesman, said he can't comment on any open investigation.

Contributing: Holly Hays, The Indianapolis Star. Follow Vic Ryckaert on Twitter: @vicryc