FBI arrests second man tied to local arms stockpile

The Tennessean/January 10, 2002
By Sheila Burke

The FBI in Oklahoma City has arrested a man accused of helping a Nashvillian - who police say pointed an assault rifle toward a Jewish school last week - stockpile enough weapons to arm a ''platoon.''

Oklahoma City agents arrested Jack Ray Spores, 33, at his workplace Tuesday without incident, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said.

The arrest, Johnson said, was made after FBI agents in Nashville swore out a warrant after talking to Michael Edward Smith.

Smith, 31, is being held on federal weapons charges here. He is accused of pointing an AR-15 assault rifle at the Sherith Israel Congregation school, 3600 West End Ave., and stockpiling a cache of weapons and explosives.

Johnson said Spores made refilled hand grenades and pipe bombs with Smith.

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Nashville says Smith made four pipe bombs in Oklahoma in May 2000 and brought them to Tennessee that month. The complaint states that Smith ''manufactured the remaining nine pipe bombs in July 2001 in the Nashville, Tennessee area.''

''He admitted to purchasing armor piercing ammunition from a white (supremacist) associate in Oklahoma City.''

The complaint said Smith was trained by the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazi group National Alliance in the use of weapons and sniper techniques. FBI agents have not determined whether Spores has ties to racist groups in the Oklahoma City area, Johnson said.