U.S. Navy Veteran Arrested With Heavy Arsenal; Also Found Was “Middle Eastern Red and White Traditional Headdress”

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U.S. Navy Veteran Arrested With Heavy Arsenal; Also Found Was “Middle Eastern Red and White Traditional Headdress”
January 26th, 2010
Via: Star-Ledger:

Somerset County investigators seized a cache of weapons including a grenade launcher and hundreds of rounds of ammunition today from the Branchburg motel room of a Virginia man, who also had maps of a U.S. military facility and an out-of-state civilian community.

Lloyd Woodson, 43, whose last known address was Reston, Va., today faces multiple offenses, including second-degree unlawful weapons possession and fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said.

At the time of his arrest, Woodson was wearing a military-style ballistic vest with a reinforced steel plate and carrying a .223-caliber assault rifle that had been altered to fire .50-caliber ammunition, Forrest. He was also carrying four loaded magazines with hollow-point ammunition, Forrest said.

Branchburg police confronted Woodson at 3:55 a.m. at the Quick Chek convenience store on Route 28 after receiving a call reporting a suspicious person. Branchburg Patorlman Steven Cronce noticed a large bulge beneath the green, military-style jacket that Woodson was wearing, which was later determined to be the assault rifle with a defaced serial number, Forrest said.

Woodson appeared “extremely nervous” as Cronce questioned him, and he ultimately ran from the convenience store toward the Regency Trailer Park on Route 22, Forrest. Officers found Woodson hiding in the bushes and he attempted to run, Forrest said.

Officers tackled him and used pepper spray to subdue Woodson, Forrest said.

Detectives later searched Woodson’s room at the Red Mill Inn on Route 22 and found weapons including a .308-caliber semi-automatic assault rifle with a defaced serial number, a grenade launcher, hundreds .50-caliber and .308-caliber rounds, a police scanner, and the maps of a U.S. military installation and an out-of-state civilian community, Forrest said. Woodson, who is a Navy veteran, had been staying at the hotel since last week.

Investigators also found Middle Eastern red and white traditional headdress, Forrest said.

Calls placed to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington D.C. and the FBI’s Newark office late this afternoon were not immediately returned.

The investigation is ongoing, Forrest said. Anyone with information is asked to call Branchburg police at (908) 526-3830, the prosecutor’s office at (908) 231-7100 or Crime Stoppers of Somerset County at (888) 577-TIPS (8477). Citizens can also go online to www.888577tips.org and click “Give Tips” or www.scpo.net and click “Crime Stoppers.”

Update: FBI Finds no Terrorism Link to Virginia Man with Weapons Cache in N.J. Motel Room

Via: AP:

The FBI said a man charged with multiple weapons offenses after a cache of weapons and maps of a military facility were found in his New Jersey motel room has no known terrorism link.

Special Agent Bryan Travers said the FBI was asked to investigate after Lloyd Woodson of Reston, Va. was arrested early Monday. The arrest came after a report that the 43-year-old was acting suspiciously in a convenience store before dawn in Branchburg.

Prosecutors said he was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a semiautomatic rifle. Authorities found a cache of weapons in his motel room, including rifles, a grenade launcher and a night vision scope. They said he also had maps of a U.S. military facility and a town outside New Jersey.

Woodson is expected to be arraigned today.