Man pictured on Klan Web site arrested on federal weapons charges

Associated Press/February 14, 2003
By Allison Schlesinger

Pittsburgh -- Federal authorities said a man who is pictured in a Ku Klux Klan Web site as the group's leader planned to attack abortion clinics with hand grenades and bombs.

David W. Hull, 40, was charged with giving a disassembled pipe bomb to someone who is cooperating in a federal firearms investigation. Hull was arrested Thursday at his home in Amwell Township, Washington County on the charge, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A Web site calling itself the home page of the order of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan includes a photo of Hull holding a gun in front of a Confederate flag, his address, and calls Hull the group's "Imperial Wizard."

Bettysue Feuer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League office in Cleveland, said Hull is the leader of the White Knights of Pennsylvania. The ADL tracks white supremacist groups.

Hull declined to comment after a court appearance, during which he held a small handkerchief with Confederate flag designs.

He was charged with unlawful possession, transfer and manufacture of a destructive device and was being held without bail in Allegheny County Jail.

According to the complaint, Hull and the informant met at a truck stop in November, and Hull arranged to buy five hand grenades worth $1,000 from the informant. Hull told the informant he planned to use the grenades to attack abortion clinics, the complaint said.

When the two discussed possible injuries, Hull said, "If they're there, they are killers or a woman killing a fetus," according to the complaint.

The two went to Hull's home, and Hull gave the informant materials including explosive powder and instructions to build a pipe bomb, but the informant mistakenly left the bomb's fuse at Hull's house, the complaint said.

In January, Hull sent the informant a package that included the fuse and a copy of a Klan newsletter.

The informant also told federal investigators that two men tried and failed to retrieve two bombs that Hull had buried on state game lands, and that a woman was trying to secure blasting caps for Hull, the complaint said.