A 40-year-old Oklahoma man was arrested Friday after he contacted authorities and confessed to making a potential explosive device and leaving it along a natural gas gathering line.

Daniel Herriman, a resident of Konowa, is charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy property by means of an explosive. The charge was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. He is scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse in Muskogee, OK, at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

According to the affidavit, Herriman contacted the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday and told the 911 operator that he “wanted to turn himself in,” and admitted setting a bomb under an Enerfin Resources pipeline near Okemah, OK. Federal and state investigators found and disarmed the device Wednesday morning (see Daily GPI, Aug. 12).

“His statement in the 911 call and the items found in his house gave us the probable cause to arrest him,” Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Clay Simmonds told NGI on Monday. “We ended up searching his residence and found items consistent with the makeup of the device.”

The affidavit said two Enerfin employees discovered the bomb at a substation and contacted deputies with the Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office, who then began to close roads near the substation. The device consisted of two PVC pipes containing black powder with sealed end caps and silver finishing nails glued to the outside. The device also had a green propane tank, a AA battery, a 9V battery, wires, broken light bulbs and a wind-up alarm clock.

The affidavit added that Herriman said he placed the device under the pipeline on Aug. 7 and set the timer for 2 a.m., although it wasn’t clear what day the device was supposed to go off.

Enerfin spokesman Roy Jennings told NGI that upon discovering the device, the company decided to immediately shut down the pipeline segment, which normally carries between 25 and 30 lbs of pressure. He said service was not disrupted and the pressure was restored after the device was disarmed.

“I sent everybody out to all of our sites to double check to make sure there wasn’t anything else out there,” Jennings said, adding that the Enerfin pipeline is above ground at the location where the device was found. He said a second pipeline operated by Enogex, a subsidiary of ONG Energy Corp., runs below ground at the same site.

Simmonds added that the FBI did not anticipate making any more arrests in the case.

“We really do believe that this was a singular [act] in nature,” Simmonds said. “It’s not tied to any outside groups like al-Qaida or anything like that, nor to any domestic terrorism groups.”

Jennings said Herriman was not a current or former Enerfin employee.

“A couple of our employees kind of knew who he was,” Jennings said. “It’s a small town and they just saw him around town. We had not received any threats here of any kind. We asked all of our employees if anyone has received any threats from this guy and nobody has reported any.

“We’re glad it’s resolved.”

According to Enerfin’s website, the company’s pipeline system in Oklahoma totals more than 1,700 miles, covers 12 counties and consists of five contiguous natural gas gathering systems. The system is located in the Cherokee-Seminole Platform area of Oklahoma between the Anadarko and Arkoma Basins.

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