Baptist minister, head of "Hands of Hope" arrested in Staten Island chemical bust

[Ian David]

Raid on House Rattles S.I. Neighborhood

A raid on Thursday night on a house on the western part of Staten Island that was believed to be involved in the online sale of commercial chemicals, including potassium nitrate and sulfur, forced the evacuation of dozens of residents and quickly became one of the more bizarre news stories of the day. In The Times, Al Baker and Jennifer 8. Lee report that Miguel Serrano, who lives at the house, at 199 Ada Drive in the Graniteville neighborhood, was in the custody of law enforcement but had not been charged with a crime. Mr. Serrano was believed to have bought the chemicals wholesale before selling them in smaller quantities over the Internet. The Staten Island Advance reports that the authorities have ruled out any connection to terrorism and found no evidence that Mr. Serrano was trying to mix chemicals or make bombs. The Advance reports:

Serrano is the reverend and director of the nondenominational faith-based group, Hands of Hope, according to Advance archives. He was previously the pastor of the Sowers First Missionary Church and was also involved with the New Dorp Baptist Church. He reportedly has a past felony conviction and served federal time at a Connecticut prison, being released in 1988.


The Post reports that the authorities were tipped off by a chemical vendor. The Daily News reports that the raid and evacuation alarmed residents throughout the neighborhood.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/a-lightning-strike-new-ferries-scrutiny-of-the-mayor-and-more/


See prior threads:

Feds find huge stash of chemicals in Graniteville home and Mariners Harbor storage facility
Topic started by IanDB1 on Jun-29-07 08:50 AM (7 replies)
Last modified by ReadTomPaine on Jun-29-07 03:23 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=116&topic_id=15576

For 2nd time in 5 days, Staten Island homes evacuated for "suspicious packages"
Topic started by IanDB1 on Jun-28-07 07:25 AM (0 replies)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=116&topic_id=15569

[youngdem]

1. Most people heavily involved in religion are attempting to overcompensate for something

Pedophilia, homosexuality, cheating on the spouse, fraud, you name it....If someone feels guilty about it, they are at Jesus' Big House trying to make a deal with the invisible man in the sky.

Amazing we aren't extinct yet.

[Richard Steele]

2. So a man is selling bomb SUPPLIES over the net, and "terrorism" is ruled out IMMEDIATELY.

He must not be BROWN, is all I can figure. :shrug:

[TheMadMonk]

3. Looks more like he's selling stuff to make roll your own fireworks.

Potassium nitrate & sulfur and a bit of charcoal will get you black powder. Not exactly first choice when choosing bomb making materials for the discerning terrorist.

[Richard Steele]

4. I'm just saying that the story would be SPUN very differently if he was Muslim, not Baptist.

If an Imam were discovered running an identical home business,
FoxNews would be screamin "Terra" around the clock, and droves
of "reporters" would be digging through the guy's life history
to find proof that he once met someone who said something bad
about the government.

[Crowman1979]

5. Some of these fundies are getting desperate.

Looks like they are trying to speed up the apocalypse for some reason. Must have lost patience with God or something.