EVERETT — An Everett man charged Tuesday with a federal crime for allegedly mailing potential bombs to government agencies in Virginia and Washington, D.C., appears to have made a rambling 911 call complaining of mind control while at the Mill Creek post office, newly released records show.
That’s the place where Thanh Cong Phan is accused of later shipping off at least one of the packages.
Phan, 43, allegedly sent 11 packages that showed up Monday at government offices in and around the nation’s capital. Each package contained what appeared to be a homemade explosive using a glass bottle filled with black powder, fixed with a fuse and a GPS device, court papers say.
The defendant was linked to the mailings after U.S. Postal Service inspectors used a tracking number on one sent to FBI headquarters. That package was mailed March 16 from a USPS kiosk in Mill Creek. Surveillance photos reportedly show Phan sending the item, according to court papers.
On Jan. 9, Phan called emergency dispatchers in Snohomish County and reported that he was at the post office in Mill Creek and he wanted help, according to Snohomish County 911 recordings.
Phan said he wanted to report that “high-tech neuroscience terrorists” were controlling his body. He appeared to want the dispatcher’s assistance in documenting his troubles and to share that information with the FBI.
It took about three minutes for the dispatcher to persuade Phan that wasn’t possible and that he needed to contact the federal agency himself.
“OK. Then never mind anyway,” Phan said.
Phan made at least six calls to Snohomish County 911 this year, at all times of the day and night. The Herald on Thursday obtained the recordings through a public records request. The longest call stretches nearly six minutes.
Phan told 911 the terrorists were using invisible cameras to monitor his communications and control his body. At times, he mentioned Naval Station Everett.
He said he had tried to report the torture to local police and the FBI for years, but they hung up on him, rebuked him or didn’t listen. He also said he got into trouble for calling 911 too much, he said.
In one call, Phan said he “could not find a federal agent who understands the technology. I know officers don’t understand. They don’t believe this.”
During another call, Phan mentioned MK-Ultra, a clandestine government project that began in the 1950s and lasted into the mid 1970s. It involved the Central Intelligence Agency, drugs such as LSD and attempts at mind control.
Each of the packages Phan is suspected of sending contained a typed letter “with ramblings about neuropsychology, mind control, and other subjects, including terrorism,” according to court papers.
Phan was known to federal agents for having sent numerous similar messages to government officials, according to court papers.
Phan now is charged in U.S. District Court in Seattle with one count of shipment of explosive materials. If convicted of the felony, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars, officials said.
The defendant has a long history of mental problems and brushes with the law, records show.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@herald net.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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