"El Diablo" Denied Bond
By: Karl Rundgren
Updated: November 29, 2012
PECOS -- A Pecos County judge has ruled that Jacob Esparza is a flight risk and should not be allowed to post bond.
Esparza was arrested outside of a Pecos gas station earlier this week. Homeland Security officers began looking into him as they investigated a series of threats that had been posted on Topix.com.
The threats targeted police officers and Sheriff's deputies in Fort Stockton, Midland, Pecos and Big Spring. There were also threats that the person behind the posts would set off explosives in towns on Christmas Day.
On Thursday we began to learn more about the case against Jacob Esparza, and about the investigation into the threats themselves. Homeland Security agents testified that Topix.com shared the IP addresses of the initial threats, and they were posted from Apple stores in El Paso and Juarez, Mexico.
As they continued they learned that almost every officer that was singled out had some sort of connection to Jacob Esparza.
On November 12th there were more e-mails sent out to members of the Midland Police Department. Every e-mail had a YouTube link to rap or heavy metal songs that showed signs of violence and murder.
Another threat was sent to Pecos Municipal Court Judge Robert French claiming that his family would be murdered. This IP address was the Fort Stockton library, and they had a record of Esparza signing in. The library also said that he was at the computer for six hours and that no one else used the computer that day.
Eventually Pecos Police found Jacob Esparza sleeping in his truck outside the Flying J in Pecos. He was taken into custody willingly. At the time he was arrested he had a respiratory mask and about ten books, several of which focused on war and how to carry out attacks. There were three different radioactive materials underlined in the books: "Radium, Uranium, and Plutonium." Agents say there were also notes written near these, with saying near radium that the "component was received in June. Uranium has pending shipment for December 14th and Plutonium shipment was canceled."
Police spoke with Esparza's estranged wife and uncle whom he lived with. Both said they felt he was bipolar or schizophrenic. They also established that Esparza's mother died in Ector County on October 21st.
The judge chose to deny bond since Esparza has no permanent address, has trouble holding down a job, and has missed previous court appearances on other matters.
Esparza was arrested outside of a Pecos gas station earlier this week. Homeland Security officers began looking into him as they investigated a series of threats that had been posted on Topix.com.
The threats targeted police officers and Sheriff's deputies in Fort Stockton, Midland, Pecos and Big Spring. There were also threats that the person behind the posts would set off explosives in towns on Christmas Day.
On Thursday we began to learn more about the case against Jacob Esparza, and about the investigation into the threats themselves. Homeland Security agents testified that Topix.com shared the IP addresses of the initial threats, and they were posted from Apple stores in El Paso and Juarez, Mexico.
As they continued they learned that almost every officer that was singled out had some sort of connection to Jacob Esparza.
On November 12th there were more e-mails sent out to members of the Midland Police Department. Every e-mail had a YouTube link to rap or heavy metal songs that showed signs of violence and murder.
Another threat was sent to Pecos Municipal Court Judge Robert French claiming that his family would be murdered. This IP address was the Fort Stockton library, and they had a record of Esparza signing in. The library also said that he was at the computer for six hours and that no one else used the computer that day.
Eventually Pecos Police found Jacob Esparza sleeping in his truck outside the Flying J in Pecos. He was taken into custody willingly. At the time he was arrested he had a respiratory mask and about ten books, several of which focused on war and how to carry out attacks. There were three different radioactive materials underlined in the books: "Radium, Uranium, and Plutonium." Agents say there were also notes written near these, with saying near radium that the "component was received in June. Uranium has pending shipment for December 14th and Plutonium shipment was canceled."
Police spoke with Esparza's estranged wife and uncle whom he lived with. Both said they felt he was bipolar or schizophrenic. They also established that Esparza's mother died in Ector County on October 21st.
The judge chose to deny bond since Esparza has no permanent address, has trouble holding down a job, and has missed previous court appearances on other matters.
