TYLER, Texas, Sept. 12 -- A Texas man prosecutors say was angry with the Internal Revenue Service was indicted Tuesday in a plot to bomb the IRS regional processing center in Austin. The indictment comes five months after the deadly blast that devastated the Oklahoma City federal building. Charles Ray Polk, 45, of Tyler was named in a six-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury, U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford said. Polk had quit his job as a car salesman in Tyler after the IRS began garnisheeing his wages for back taxes, he said. 'Mr. Polk has expressed very strong, serious, anti-government feelings, and the evidence will show that he intended to carry out -- and made an attempt to carry out -- a plan to retaliate against the IRS,' Bradford said. Between April 4 and July 28, according to the indictment, Polk attempted to use an explosive device to destroy the IRS building and kill people inside the IRS Service Center, which employs thousands of people. Polk allegedly solicited an undercover federal agent to set the device in the building. Officers broke up the plot, however, before a bomb could be assembled or placed in the building, the indictment states. 'Good, sound law enforcement work in this case prevented a possible large-scale tragedy from occurring,' Bradford said. 'Threats to lives and property, as in this case and similar ones, will not be tolerated, and prosecution of those who commit such acts will be strong, swift and thorough.'
The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19 in Oklahoma City killed 169 people. Two suspects have been charged in that attack, and a third has pleaded guilty to related charges in a plea bargain. Polk was charged with: --Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction; --Solicitation to commit a crime of violence, specifically the destruction of a federal building by explosives; --Solicitation to commit a crime of violence, specifically the killing of IRS employees; --Possession of a firearm during a crime of violence; --Unlawful possession of a machine gun; --Making a false statement to a firearms dealer in acquisiton of a firearm. The indictment alleges that Polk unlawfully possessed an AK-47 machine gun July 28 when he was arrested in Tyler, and that between Oct. 7, 1994, and Jan. 23, 1995, he engaged in the purchase of a dozen types of firearms by making false statements to a Texas firearms dealer. If convicted, Polk faces up to life in federal prison and a maximum $1 million fine. Bradford said federal officials are still trying to determine whether other individuals were involved in the plot.
