Phelps purports to identify pair responsible for explosion

The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. called a news conference Thursday to announce the names of two young men he alleges were responsible for an explosion Sunday night outside the home of one of his daughters.

No arrests had been made in the case by late Thursday. Investigators said they would look into Phelps’ claim of the two men’s involvement just as they would any potential lead.

Topeka Fire Department investigator Jack Alexander said Phelps – by releasing the two names to the public before providing them to investigators – may have hampered authorities’ probe into the case.
The two men Phelps named didn’t return telephone calls Thursday from The Capital-Journal.

Phelps said he developed the pair as suspects based on information provided by two informants, unknown to each other, who contacted Phelps asfter his Westboro Baptist Church offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the explosion.

Phelps acknowledged he risked facing a lawsuit for slander if the men were innocent, but he said he wasn’t afraid of a suit.

“When all you get from local authorities is curt, short replies, and it takes them four years to do anything, you’re willing to take a minimal risk (of slandering someone) to do something about it,” he said. “Let them sue me. I welcome it.”

Phelps provided the media with names, employment information and other data about the men he accused of involvement in the explosion.
No injuries wee reported in the blast, which occurred at 11:20 p.m. Sunday at 3640 S.W. Churchill outside the home of Brent Roper and Shirley Phelps-Roper, who is the daughter of Phelps.

A 12-passenger van parked at the residence sustained an estimated $1,000 damage, while a wooden fence had an estimated $150 damage, according to police reports.

Phelps said that after he offered the $5,000 reward Tuesday, he heard from two informants. One telephoned him and the other stopped by the church.

Phelps said the informants told him both suspects had been bragging about their involvement in the explosion. He said one informant told him the explosion was detonated at Phelps-Roper’s house in the mistaken belief it was her father’s home.

Phelps said he hadn’t paid the informants the reward because it was dependent upon the conviction and he didn’t want to give up the money yet incase the information came as part of a hoax.

Phelps said he planned to give the names later Thursday to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

The ATF began assisting local investigators in the case Wednesday, after Phelps asked for federal intervention under civil rights laws. The agents sent debris recovered after the explosion to a laboratory in Washington D.C. for analysis.

However, Alexander – who interviewed Phelps in the case Thursday afternoon – said the ATF might be taken off the case because the blast occurred on the property which, though adjoining a church, isn’t used for religious purposes.