GI jailed after trying to sell explosive

SAN ANTONIO — A Fort Hood soldier remained jailed Thursday on charges of possessing illicit explosives the FBI said were stolen during a military field exercise.

Spc. Tyler Glen Patrick, 23, waived a preliminary and detention hearing and will stay in federal custody after the FBI arrested him following an attempt this week to sell a 1.25-pound block of C-4, a powerful plastic explosive.

Patrick, whose home of residence wasn't stated in documents released by the Justice Department, was charged with possessing and transporting stolen explosive material. He faces a maximum of 10years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The FBI didn't provide details of the incident, including whether the attempted sale in Copperas Cove, near Fort Hood, was a sting operation.

Neither the agency nor Fort Hood shared a possible reason for the theft and attempted sale, but the post and community have been targeted for violence twice by soldiers over the past four years.

Fort Hood was the site of a shooting on Nov. 5, 2009 in which Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 31 others. Hasan, a Muslim who said he was on jihad that day, was given the death penalty in a military trial this past August.

A fellow Muslim, Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo, modeled a 2011 plot to bomb a Killeen restaurant and kill the patrons as they fled on Hasan's attack. Abdo's plot failed, and he was given a life sentence in August 2012 in a Waco federal court.

Special Agent Daniel Chadwick said both he and agents from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command watched an area where they believed a sale would occur.

Chadwick said in an affidavit signed by U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey Manske that he observed the meeting and arrested Patrick, who the Army said was assigned to a 1st Cavalry Division engineer battalion. The block of C-4, which is typically used by combat engineers, was found in Patrick's vehicle, the FBI agent stated.

“Patrick advised your affiant that he took the explosives during a field exercise on Fort Hood, Texas, and admitted trying to sell it,” Chadwick said in his statement.