So How Did The Feds Glom Onto This So FasT?

[Me.]

Were they tipped off?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. delete. meh.

[blogslut]

2. Workers in the Federal building called them

When the young men tried to get access to the telephone closet, the people in charge of it asked them for ID and the bumblers gave some "It's in the car" excuse. That's when the FBI was called.

[Me.]

5. Thanks

Smart people/dumb criminals

[H2O Man]

9. Right.

Their planning did not include the possibility that they were not far smarter than everyone else.

[yellowcanine]

3. Because the would be buggers were bumbling idiots.

Posing as telephone repair men? How obvious can you get?

[EFerrari]

4. They were so bad, the FBI actually caught them.

[hlthe2b]

6. Exactly... Building security simply following normal procedures

No great detective work here... The guys were total jack-assed morons, with arrogance that far exceeded their minimal intelligence.

[Me.]

7. Excellent Description

[H2O Man]

10. Yep.

Very well said.

[katandmoon]

8. I'd still like to know how they got inside the building in the first place

Security at Federal buildings is pretty strict. At least it was in the FB I used to to work in. Building visitors had to identify whom they were visiting, provide ID and pass through a metal detector at the building guard station, and the employee being visited either had to notify the guard station in advance to confirm that the visitor was expected, or be contacted to confirm the visit.