Thirty four year old Albert Lea Thielemann was
brought in this afternoon to federal Magistrate
Philippos office in Las Vegas.
He was arrested there Saturday by federal
agents acting on a tip.
Agents painted a bleak picture of a man
besieged with gambling debts who they allege
acted in desperation, placing a bomb
in a suitcase on an airplane that was carrying
his wife and three small children.
The FBI says Thielemann checked in four
suitcases at Austin's Muehler Airport
on October 30th for an American Airlines
flight to Dallas.
Agents say if the plan worked, the woman stood
to have collected one million dollars in
insurance.
The bomb was discovered by ground service
employees unloading the baggage department once
the plane landed at DFW.
The bomb exploded on the ground.
Damage was confined to the baggage department
of the aircraft.
Passengers on the plane heard and felt the
explosion, but no one was injured.
The bomb was found in luggage checked in by
Theilman. He has been a prime suspect from
the beginning. Agents say he cooperated
initially. But Mrs. Theilman reported to
authorities her husband left the couple's home
in San Marcos on November 21st,
which is when the FBI began looking for
Thielemann Bob Leder, Channel 5 News.